Rabbi's blog

You can spot a sad soul from a mile away. Sadness projects itself on the face and posture of its carrier. The eyes, lips, shoulders, and gait tell a story of dejection impossible to miss.

Fear, on the other hand, is not as obvious. Yes, it can sometimes force the body to declare “I’m afraid!” But all too often it chooses to hide behind a more sophisticated packaging, making it almost impossible to find the bee in the honey.

Cynicism is one of fear’s best false walls. Cynics come across as non-threatening and are often the life of a party and the popular humorists on the screen. They get us to laugh, cry and internalize their messages, unaware of the poison that we’re swallowing with the syrup.

“The country is corrupt anyway! Your vote has no value!” (Basically a weak disguise for fear of the future. This causes an erosion in the fibre of democracy, which risks devolving into a noose of totalitarianism.)

“Marriage is about two people tackling problems which – had they never married – would’ve never been created in the first place!” (A lame excuse for avoiding or postponing the Adventure/Action/Drama/Thriller/Sci-Fi/Comedy/Romance of marriage.)

“Teenagers are impossible. Talking to the wall is more pleasurable.” (Wishful thinking that one can abdicate parental responsibility during their child’s adolescence while expecting a healthy adult to miraculously metamorphosize out of this child who they stepped away from.)

Cynicism isn’t a new invention. Fear is as old as humanity. 
This week in Shul we will conclude the fourth book of the Torah Bamidbar – Numbers. One can argue that from all the books of the Torah this is most drama-intense of them all. Over and over the Jews challenge their leader and their G-d.

Bamidbar concludes almost 40 years later than when it began. In the beginning of the book we had numerous stories of, “We will never make it to the land! We will die in the desert! You always wanted us dead anyway!”

What happened? Their cynicism was sadly transformed into prophecy. Each year on Tisha B’av about 15,000 Jews would die, until the whole adult generation (600,000 of them) who joined the cynicism during sin of the Spies, had passed on.

Here’s the point: Our attitudes create the future. Optimists and pessimists aren’t merely arguing about the future; they are creating the future!

Our thoughts, words, and actions are super powerful. Lots of research has been done on the impact of words on people, animals, plants and even inanimate water. Loving words create healthy relationships with our fellow human beings. They create bonds with animals. They cause beautiful plants to grow. And they manipulate the colour and structure of water drops.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true as well.

So let’s say goodbye to false facades of fear. Let’s embrace optimism and activism. This is G-d’s world. This is His garden. This ain’t no jungle. Goodness is more powerful than evil. Evil can only succeed when goodness stops believing in itself and its ability. Let’s not give evil that pleasure.

Go vote!

Put on Tefillin!

Put a smile on your face!

Do an act of kindness!

Do something to chase fear out of your life.