Of Revolutions and Rebellions

[00:00:06]Today is an important day — June 19th —  commemorated by the African American community, and now much of America, as Juneteenth — the  day that the emancipation finally arrived to the slaves of Galveston, Texas, the  furthest point West in the Confederacy.

[00:00:26]One of the descendants of the  slaves described it this way: “The way it was explained to me — the  19th of June 1865 wasn’t the exact day the Negro was freed. But that’s the day  they told them that they were free.”

[00:00:49]What a fascinating and true concept.

[00:00:53]The Civil War had ended two  months earlier — on April 9 — with the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox.

[00:01:01]Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued  nearly three years before, in September 1862.

[00:01:09]But the slaves of Galveston were not  free until General Gordon Granger of the Union Army marched into Galveston and  informed the slaves that they were free.

[00:01:22]There are two important lessons here: First — it took an army to  ensure freedom for the slaves.

[00:01:33]Oppressors never voluntarily cease  oppressing — they must be compelled to do so, preferably by nonviolent  means, and if unsuccessful, by force.

[00:01:48]And second — freedom is not only a physical  condition — it is also a state of mind. The slaves were not free until they were told they were free  — until they, themselves, believed they were free.

[00:02:06]We learn these lessons in Judaism as well.  It took the use of force — God inflicting plague after plague on the taskmasters —  to coerce Pharaoh to release the slaves.

[00:02:33]And second — the day the Sea parted wasn’t  the exact day that the Israelites were freed.

[00:02:43]They became free when they  told each other they were free.

[00:02:50]They became free when they were finally convinced that they would never go back to Egypt  — that their destiny was ahead of them, in the Promised Land that none of them had  ever seen, but were committed to nonetheless.

[00:03:06]That element of freedom — the  state of mind — was as difficult, if not more so, than the struggle against Pharaoh.

[00:03:17]According to Jewish tradition, it took a  year from the first to the last plague.

[00:03:25]But it took 40 years to develop  a mindset that was free.

[00:03:31]It took a year to get the slaves out of Egypt — but it took 40 years to get  Egypt out of the slaves.

[00:03:40]In fact, we read in the Torah, that the  generation of the slaves was never truly free.

[00:03:49]Only their children — who had never seen Egypt,  and had never experienced the taskmaster’s whip — only the children of the slaves were  ready and able to enter the Promised Land.

[00:04:03]What transpired during those  40 years in the wilderness was discontent after discontent  — and rebellion after rebellion.

[00:04:14]Challenges to Moses’ leadership started  immediately upon the exodus — even before the Israelites crossed the Sea —  and they continued to the very end.

[00:04:28]This week’s Torah portion describes  the worst of these rebellions.

[00:04:32]One of the leaders of the Israelites  — a man named Korach — recruited 250 followers and launched a mutiny against Moses.

[00:04:43]These were the elites of Israelite society.  Korach was a first cousin to Moses and Aaron.

[00:04:50]And his followers were leaders of the  community — the Torah describes them as nessi’ei edah, anshei shem — princes of  the people, men of renown and repute.

[00:05:06]Looking back, we can understand — and  even sympathize — with the Israelites.

[00:05:12]Slavery was all they knew — they were  not equipped to survive on their own.

[00:05:18]The wilderness was harsh, and there were  constant devastating setbacks along the way.

[00:05:26]So naturally, they rebelled  against Moses, their leader.

[00:05:30]What is much harder to comprehend  — is — the constant refrain of many of the rebels: “Let’s go back to Egypt.”

[00:05:41]Egypt was a cauldron of cruelty.  Egypt was the sweltering, steaming, scalding center of slavery,  suffering, sorrow, sadness and scarcity.

[00:05:57]Egypt was misery, misfortune and melancholy.

[00:06:03]Egypt was destitution, deprivation, desolation,  disillusionment, depression and despair.

[00:06:11]So challenge Moses all you want.

[00:06:14]Challenge his methods, his leadership style,  his decisions — but why this fondness for Egypt?

[00:06:22]How to explain this constant obsession  to return to the House of Bondage?

[00:06:30]Even the construction of the Golden Calf was  really a cry to return to Egypt — to return to the old familiar ways of the worship of the gods they  knew, even though these gods were no gods at all.

[00:06:53]Korach’s men described Egypt as a  land flowing with milk and honey.

[00:07:08]The Midrash points out that two  of Korach’s followers — Datan and Abiram — were reluctant to leave Egypt at all.

[00:07:15]They accused Moses of treason using the following language: “Ki he’eltanu me’eretz zevat  chalav u’devash la-hamitenu bamidbar” — “you have taken us out of a land flowing with  milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness.”

[00:07:33]The milk and the honey of Egypt  was entirely in their minds.

[00:07:38]And until the former slaves could free  themselves of Egypt in their minds, and their heart, and their soul,  they could never be truly free.

[00:07:50]As we mark this important day in the history of  America — and as we approach the celebration of our country’s 250th birthday — we  should absorb these lessons well: First — a free person is willing to fight to win and preserve their  freedom from those who seek to take it away.

[00:08:20]And second — we are not truly free until  we have developed the discipline of mind and behavior of a free person, through our  fierce commitment to liberty and justice for all.