D’var Torah Va-era “Obedience”
Written by Rabbi Nicola Feuchtwang — 24 January 2025
SETTING: An ‘ordinary’ Shabbat – but just preceding Holocaust Memorial Day.
I went to a short but special concert yesterday: it was called Music in Auschwitz – and paid tribute to the musicians who were forced to play in the concentration camps, in the most horrendous conditions, to ‘entertain’ the staff of the camp, but also sometimes to accompany while their fellow prisoners were being counted or even executed.
80 years ago next Monday, on 27th January 1945, the Russian Red Army reached the concentration camp at Auschwitz and ‘liberated’ it. 60 years later, 27th January was designated to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day (HMD). There has been some debate within the Jewish community as to whether we really need HMD – after all, we have Tisha B’Av…
But the idea behind HMD is not to feel sorry for ourselves – it is about honouring the memory of all those who have lost their lives just because they belong to a particular ethnic or religious group. And HMD is about learning – what can each of us do to make sure that ‘Never Again’ really does mean just that.
To quote just a few lines from the HMD website[1]:
- we must make sure that future generations understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences…
- we value the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives to protect or rescue victims…
- we recognise that humanity is still scarred by the belief that race, religion, disability or sexuality make some people’s lives worth less than others’. Genocide, antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and discrimination still continue. We have a shared responsibility to fight these evils.
(Some of you know that my mother survived Auschwitz as a very young woman, and I know that her experiences have affected me directly and indirectly – including in ways that I am probably not even aware of.)
I have been thinking about this week’s parasha Va-era in that context – and particularly how Moses protests to God that he can’t be the one to lead the Israelites: that the people won’t listen to him, that the Pharaoh won’t listen…and yet in the end he accepts that he has to at least try….
Just for a couple of minutes I want to challenge each of us here tonight to reflect on what it is that makes us obey an instruction – or decide not to (whether you are still at school, or at work, or if you happen to be caught in an incident anywhere…)
For example:
- Who is giving the instruction? Do you respect or love or trust the person giving the order? And their motives? If not the individual themself, their role or authority?
- Do you understand what you are being asked to do?
- What is it they asking you to do? Are they asking you to do something that you want to do, or you were going to do anyway, or that you know is right?
- What are the likely consequences of your action? Might you be rewarded for doing it? Or punished for not doing it?
- What will other people think? Whether it is your classmates, or strangers, or members of your family? Are you strong enough to be different?
Would you do something you know to be wrong, if it could save the life of someone you love?
Would you turn in your friend or neighbour to the authorities for doing something good – but which is against the rules (of your school, or even your country)?
You have probably come across the meditation sometimes known as ‘Serenitas’ or ‘The Nun’s Prayer’:
“God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
…and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Can you help me write a new version?[2] Here is my first attempt:
May God give each of us the sense and the capacity to obey those instructions which should be obeyed
The courage to disobey when that is the right thing to do – whatever the cost
…And the wisdom to know the difference.
Shabbat Shalom
[1] https://hmd.org.uk/
[2] Feedback and suggestions welcome.