We are a Persistent and Perservering People
(Sermon delivered For Sisterhood Shabbat by Batya bat Simcha D'vorah)
Friday, January 20, 2012



   I thank the Or Chdash Sisterhood for inviting me to offer tonight’s d’var on Va-Eira. And tonight is the 27th yahrzeit of my beloved mother Celia Doris Somerson Klein/Simchah D’vorah bat Sarah v’Mendel – I dedicate this to her.

   In this portion God reminds Moses of the patriarchal lineage; reveals to Moses a sacred name that is a higher manifestation of Divinity than the name by which the Patriarchs knew God; lists in detail the lineages of the tribes of Israel; and sends Moses back to Pharaoh repeatedly to demand the release of the Hebrews so that they might serve their God. The Torah reminds us three times that it is this Moses and this Aaron we’re talking about – no other! Listen up! Get it? And so we note that listening and hearing are two themes: God to Moses, Moses to the children of Israel; God to Moses and to Aaron; Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh. But beyond the communications agenda of this parsha – and we can all learn from it lessons on clarity, brevity and strategy – I have plucked the qualities of persistence and perseverance from the many themes illustrated in Va-Eira.

   I remember from childhood that when a particularly difficult or perhaps impossible chore or plan was mentioned, someone would say “Go – shlup kop in vant / knock your head against a wall!” At first I thought God’s command to Moses to speak to Pharaoh was a set-up: we know Pharaoh’s going to refuse because God tells Moses "Pharaoh will not heed you." But Moses does not say “Well then You go and talk to Pharaoh!” – Moses goes back again and again – nine agains! – until, by Divine design, Pharaoh, the man-god himself, acknowledges that the God of the Hebrews is the Supreme God, and the liberation of the Jewish people can occur. We get through only seven of the plagues in this parsha, and even though Pharaoh has not relented, we know the story – Moses is going back into the fray until God’s will is done.

   We are a persistent and persevering people: we have learned abundant lessons from our forebears – biblical and recent – in how both these qualities pay off. From Sarah, who waited until “advanced age” to bear her only child, to Jacob and his 24 years under Laban’s roof before getting what he set out to get, to Joseph and his sojourns in sundry pits prior to his elevation to the palace of Pharaoh – we have, we Jews, waited it out, persisted in Ha-Tikvah – The Hope, persevered to return again – and again – to the faith that moves us forward in our individual and communal lives.

   The I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes, in many of its favorable judgments, notes: Perseverance furthers. Whether it's the koach, the strength to get through pain, loss, stress, or the learning curve to master a new technology – we manage to go on. I remember learning about computerized typography in 1974. It was a new phenomenon at the small typography plant, Precision Typography, where I worked in New Hyde Park, New York. We were all excited about the possibilities it offered. For some, it was a mourning period for the inevitable, foreseen death of hot-lead type, with its nit-picking precision that computers would take decades to emulate. But all of us in that shop dug in for the shift and – despite some truly comical and even costly errors on the learning curve – we kept at it until Precision Typography became renowned in its day for meticulous computerized typesetting of mathematical and foreign-language textbooks for MacMillan, Random House, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Wiley and others. Today, this kind of print work is taken for granted, but for us, in 1974, it was our Gutenberg moment. Our computers were the size of industrial freezers, the disks were the size of large pizzas in round inch-thick heavy-impact plastic structures that were lifted out of the housing with a retractable handle embedded in the center; it weighed about seven pounds. But we believed in what we were learning, what we were doing, and we knew that if we kept at it and got good, our work could be a beacon for others who followed. It was.

   Those were the days, my friends. Today we have other realities to deal with. Everywhere on our planet people are persisting and persevering through times unimagined. Here in America, here in Tucson, home-owners are wading through interminable bureaucracies to obtain assistance with mortgages, with utility bills, credit card debt, and prescription drugs – so many needs!

   But there is help, there is resolution, there is reward for persistence and perseverance. In my volunteer work at Interfaith Community Services I get to call back those who have gotten on that morning’s list for assistance with rent and utilities – often no more than five of each for that day. When I return the calls, often the first thing I’m told is, “I’ve been calling for three months and I thought I’d never get through to you.” And I am blessed to be able to say to them, “We’re able to help you with your bills. Let’s fill out a form on the phone now and you’ll be called back today to make an appointment to come in.” Before I can begin filling out the form, the callers often break down – sheer relief! – but almost always, before we hang up, they bless me and thank ICS for all that we do.

   They have persisted, and the reward is far more than the check we write to help pay their bills: it becomes life-changing when you realize that by staying with your goal you have given yourself and those who depend on you a confirmation of your innermost sense that if you go for it just once more – back to the palace to chat with old Pharaoh – you are more likely to get what you need, and maybe even what you want. The people I speak with have already made calls to friends, relatives, churches, utility companies, landlords, guessing rightly most of the time that the answer on the other end will be, “No, we can't help you.” And yet . . . they persisted, they called us again and again, and – perhaps even thanks to redial – they got on the list that brings them the needed relief.

   For me personally, persistence and perseverance are daily vitamins. The goal can be simple: Dear God get me through this day. Or it may be vast: Let me stick with this project – whatever it is – until all involved can derive benefit from it. Or the goal may be a personal challenge: make it through the half-marathon, military press 15 pounds, only one more month of chemo, six more credits to graduate . . . the list is yours.

   We made it out of Egypt, the narrow place – that is what Egypt means in Hebrew – thanks to Moses’ persistence and perseverance. Although he did not enter the Promised Land, his faith and his courage brought a nation into being under his personal leadership. Today we should still put our feet in his sandals and trust that in walking the Path we can bring light where there is darkness and hope where there is despair. One of my personal heroes, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, personifies the qualities of persistence and perseverance: for more than fifty years he has not relented in his quest to obtain autonomy for his people within Chinese-occupied Tibet. I leave you with this poignant poem by the Dalai Lama, and hope that you take its message to your heart:

         Never give up.
         No matter what is going on
         Never give up.
         Develop the heart.
         Too much energy in your country
         Is spent developing the mind
         Instead of the heart.
         Develop the heart.
         Be compassionate –
         Not just with your friends,
         But with everyone.
         Be compassionate.
         Work for peace
         In your heart
         And in the world.
         Work for peace.
         And I say again
         Never give up.
         No matter what is going on around you
         Never give up.

   My gratitude again to Sisterhood for the opportunity to share with you on this Shabbat. Please see the information from Interfaith Community Services that I’ve left on the table regarding our Resource Center offering employment guidance and assistance, and the information about an important conference, “Faith Communities and Mental Illness: Tools for Response and Care,” coming to Tucson in April, co-sponsored by ICS and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona.

Shabbat Shalom.