Turning for a moment from Israel back to Los Angeles, I noticed that the traffic is picking back up again. Granted, the routes I travel are far removed from the areas hardest hit by the fires—but I know no surer sign of life in Los Angeles than its traffic. I can tell, simply by the patterns on good old Scadlock Lane, that more people are back and work, and schools are reopening. Life seems, in some ways and in some areas, to be returning to “normal.” But, of course, it is not.
Tens of thousands of people, including members of our own Wise community and their families—have lost their homes. Even more are still evacuated, awaiting news on damage and remediation. And, of course, the bills are piling up. It is, traffic aside, a time of great upheaval and uncertainty.
So, maybe it is fitting that we find ourselves in the beginning of the Book of Exodus—another time of great upheaval and uncertainty. We enter this week’s Torah portion with a reminder of God’s presence, and the statement which wil—eventually—form the basis of the seder. We read in Exodus 6:6-7 of God’s four promises to the Jewish people:
Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am יהוה. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, יהוה, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6: 6-7)
While we are still months away from Passover, here is a lesson I think we can take from these verses; a reminder that building—and rebuilding—is a process. God’s promises to us are not an immediate transformation, but a becoming in stages. It, like the best relationships, grows as we do, changes as we do, and adapts to our needs.
To borrow, once again, from Lin-Manuel Miranda—the Exodus is not a moment; it’s a movement. We cannot view the Exodus as a single, isolated event, but rather as a prolonged process of change and transformation. The people of Israel did not become so in a moment; the process of rebuilding our lives and our city will take time.
Even more time than LA traffic. And our promise—to our city, our community, and to the Divine—is to stick with it, through the muck and the mire, all the way to the other side.
—Rabbi Sari Laufer