For lo these many centuries, since the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE, we Jews have been waiting. Waiting for deliverance from above and beyond. Waiting to be judged worthy of redemption. Waiting for Mashiach.
We watch and we wait. Once in a while, we act. But not too often, and not too much. Somehow, in the deepest part of our psyche, we "know" that we can't do it ourselves. That we have to wait for some divine judgment or intervention. From this neurosis, the Christian notion of dependence on "grace" was born. We disavow it but, sadly, it does have its roots in our tradition.
Once in a while, we rise above it. Bar Kocha tried. The resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto made a valiant, heroic attempt. And then there was a shining interval, a sort of late adolescent rebellion by the founders of the State of Israel and the first generation of their progeny.
But in this respect we seem doomed to return to our roots, just as the Satmar and the Neturei Karta and their counterparts on the Jewish radical left have never departed from them. We can call it self-hate, or delusion, or psychosis, but it is, unfortunately, legitimately rooted in our tradition. This notion that we aren't worthy of redemption until some external force acknowledges that we are. This perverse concept that we can't redeem and save ourselves. This constant self-flagellation and self-deprecation and self-immolation seem somehow inescapable.
And yet there are other messages in our tradition, if only we would hear them. God's rejection of the sacrifice of Issac comes to mind. We really aren't required to sacrifice everything that's most precious to us in order to win God's approval. Our tradition does allow us to defend and protect and redeem ourselves, in the full understanding that those abilities were given to us by our Creator to use, not to squander.
We've all heard the parable of the man waiting to be rescued from the flood. First comes the car, then the boat, then the helicopter. The man refuses them all, claiming he's waiting for God to save him. He drowns. When he gets to "heaven" and asks God why he wasn't saved, God points out that he was given every chance to save himself, but he failed to use the resources provided.
The choice to wait is not the right choice. Mashiach will come when we bring him, or her. When we avail ourselves of the resources with which we've been blessed, both spiritual and secular, instead of waiting for the permission or approval or hechsher of someone else, of something outside of ourselves, as we've done through the last few millenia. Instead of waiting.
For the first time in 2000 years, though the waters are rising, we have a car, a boat and a plane. We have a country, we have an army and we have the ability to control our own destiny. So if not now, when?
