YITRO 5782

Are You In Control?

In our Torah reading we have a most dramatic scene where Gd introduces himself to the Jewish people for the 1^st time at Mt. Sinai with the 10 Commandments. Picture this, Gd shows up in Egypt after more than a hundred years of slavery with 10 incredible miracles. The Jewish people can see that Gd is protecting them. At Sinai He sets the stage to meet the people in person—and He blows it out! He’s like the best event planner ever with the mountainous desert, Mt. Sinai blowing fire. Gd’s got the smoke machines going, the laser light show, the powerful blasts of the shofar. If you think about it, Gd’s not going to introduce Himself in person to the people with some boring experience. It was truly awesome!

The Jewish people are standing around Mt. Sinai and a booming voice comes out and they experience Gd directly for the 1^st time. Anyone who has been in the business world knows that whenever you show up for an interview, you can never get a 2^nd chance to make…that’s right, a 1^st impression!

And what a 1^st impression it was. Gd had blown the people away with the 10 plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea. He had them all excited to hear directly from Him as He says, “I am Hashem your Gd”—great opening because it introduces Who He is— “who did what…” If you were Gd’s speech writer, what would you say next? Probably it would be, “I am Hashem your Gd who…created the world! See this place? Yea, I built it. Along with the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Eye of the Sahara, Kilauea Crater in Hawai, the Glaciers. Not bad!”

But what does Gd actually say? “I am Hashem your Gd who took you out of Egypt.” What? That’s Gd’s business card: “took you out of Egypt?” Gd built Egypt; He made Pharoah. Why is Gd lowering Himself and not showing the incredible power that only He has?

Let me try to answer this by asking, why do we remember the going out of Egypt twice a day as we recite the Shema Yisrael morning and evening? Wouldn’t it be so much cooler if we instead recited twice a day that Gd created the world?

You know why? Because when it comes to creation, to our world, we want to control it. The way to Gd, however, is providence—to recognize that Gd runs the world and not us. The one thing about running the world is that our view is limited, and we can’t see the order of things. As our tradition teaches, Tzadik v’ra lo, rasha v’tov lo, sometimes even the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. You look at your life, and try to find order, and you say to yourself, “How does Gd work in this world? I don’t get what He’s doing.”

If I were in control, Hitler would have never been able to kill 6 million Jews…and Iran wouldn’t be here anymore spreading hatred and terror. The understanding that Gd runs the world is very confusing. That’s why Gd introduces Himself as the One Who took us out of Egypt, which means, “I, Gd, run the world.” Gd introduces Himself this way to tell us, “I, Gd, want you to remember when you sometimes ask yourself if there really is a Gd in the world…I’m telling you that I descend at times from my chamber in heaven to go into the gutter to be with you when you need me the most as I did in Egypt.” So, twice a day remember, if you can’t figure out your world…if you want to know why this happened to this person or to that person…I, the One Who created the world am still running the world. It’s not for you to know!”   

In the story of the Exodus, Gd commanded every Jew to smear blood on the doorpost so that every Jew could say that Gd passed over “my” house. This implanted in the minds of every Jew not only that Gd saved the Jewish people…but Gd saved the Kunis household, or the Schwartz household or the Goldberg household. And so this 1^st of the 10 Commandments begins: “I am the Lrd your Gd who took you out of the land of Egypt.” What’s the next phrase? Mibeyt Avadim, from the “house” of bondage to indicate that Gd is not just involved in history, but in the Bayit, in everyone’s “house.”

However, you know what happens to us? We don’t accept it. We don’t want to give up control of the world to Gd. We need to find order in this world and so we look to create and control how Gd runs this world.

For example, when we’re told that someone passes away, what’s the 1^st question we ask? How? What does it matter how they passed away? The family is grieving.

         Oh, they were sick. It’s somehow easier for us to understand that death follows illness because in our minds, the order that we created is that people shouldn’t suddenly drop dead.

         How old was he? 90! 90, ok. Why is it ok if someone dies at 90? Because in our minds, we have a number and we’ve decided that if one lives to this number, it’s old enough. And if one gets close or passes that number it’s ok.

         But when were told, “Not 90, but 19.” Oh no! But when we’re told this 19-year-old was a terrible person—that he was a drug dealer and hurt people. Ok, that makes sense to us.

Why? Because everywhere we go, we’re trying to find order. And in our minds, people who are young stay alive, and people who are good never get hurt. When we hear of a tragedy that challenges this, we have to put it into a box…and we have to figure out what we need to do to not get ouselves into that situation. Everywhere we go we’re looking at the world saying, “I need to control it. I need to put order in the way Gd works in the world.”

When we look at others who don’t have what we have…we feel bad for them. Why? Why do we look at someone who has more money than us, or has a better job…why don’t we feel happy for them? Because we’re trying to find order—how come them and not me! When is it my turn to be successful? It’s like there’s this treadmill of life which says, “When I’m this age then I’ll be at this stage,” because that’s how I make order of my world.

Gd is telling us with this 1^st commandment, when He says, “I took you out of the Land of Egypt, from the House of Bondage,” that although it is Gd that controls the world, we may not be able to understand why this or that happens…why Jews were killed in terrorist attacks on a yeshiva in Denver this past year, or synagogues in Poway CA or The Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg…and why Colleyville Texas was spared last Shabbos.

But what happens to us—to our house—is still guided by Gd for our benefit. So, give up trying to control your world. Do the best you can, let go and let Gd with the understanding that, in the end, Gd will do what’s best for you. Amen!