ACKNOWLEDGING THE GOOD

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ACKNOWLEDGING THE GOOD

A careful reading of the Torah narrative would quickly persuade us that not all of the ten plagues were unleashed by Moses. The midrash, in fact, attributes only three to Moses - those of hail, locusts and darkness. The first three plagues - those of blood, frogs and vermin - are attributed to Aaron, while still three others - insects, pestilence and the death of the first born - come directly from God. Finally, one plague, that of boils, is triggered by all three of them jointly. The midrash does not provide an overall explanation for the pattern. From a modern perspective, I would observe that the multiple authorship of the plagues may have been intended to understate the superhuman prowess of Moses. Though larger than life, Moses never looms before us as superhuman. Moreover at the end, the Torah conceals his place of burial. Moses was and is to be venerated, not worshipped. What is of interest however, is the highly suggestive partial explanation offered by the midrash for Aaron's causing the first three plagues. The story turns on the important rabbinic principle of acknowledging a favor (hakarat ha-tov). As the beneficiary of an act of kindness, we are bound in a lifelong relationship with its progenitor, whether animate or inanimate. There is too little good in the world for us to indulge in ingratitude.

Our life should become a text for others. In this spirit, the midrash has God address Moses. "'The waters that preserved you when you were thrown into them and the dust which protected you on the day that you killed the Egyptian [that is, covered his body] should not be smitten by you.' That is why, they were smitten by Aaron. Put differently, it would have been an act of gross ingratitude for Moses to smite elements of nature to which he owed his very life. So the devastation (including the frogs which came from the Nile) was wrought by Aaron. The same ethical principle prompted the midrash to account for another episode in Moses's life. Prior to his death, he is instructed by God to eradicate the Midianites who had needlessly joined Balak, King of Moab, to induce the gentile prophet Balaam to curse the people of Israel (Numbers 22:2-8). Again an acute reading gives rise to ethical insight. Though the command is directed to Moses (31:2), he sends others to execute it (31:6). According to the midrash, his personal indebtedness to the land of Midian, which gave him refuge, a family and employment when he fled Egypt, forced him to disqualify himself from leading the assault. An ancient proverb says it all: "Never throw a stone into a well from which you have drunk.”

Let not the pain of a recent injustice, obliterate the memory of an earlier gesture of compassion. It is standard rabbinic fare to ground principles as well as practices into Scripture. Thus the Talmud finds proof for the admonition not to muddy the waters which once nourished you, in the Torah legislation to admit an Edomite or Egyptian into the people of Israel in the third generation. Unlike the Ammonites and Moabites, who refused to extend food and water to the Israelites in the wilderness and are therefore eternally excluded, the Edomites and Egyptians are eligible for admission: the former because they are kinsmen and the latter because they once took in our ancestors (Deuteronomy 23:8-9).

In short, the principle of acknowledging a favor is embedded in the Torah itself. Such communal acknowledgment is the basis for a prayer for the government, we are advised to pray for its welfare, for no matter how arbitrary or discriminatory a government might be, as long as it maintains a semblance of law and order it is preferable to mob rule. As the Kingdom of Judah unraveled at the beginning of the sixth century BCE and the Babylonians deported its leading citizens, this is precisely the counsel that the prophet Jeremiah issued: "Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Lord in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper (Jeremiah 29:7). Each of us in our life's journey is beholden to innumerable acts of kindness. Without them, we would not be where we are or who we are; to conceal them serves only to lessen our own accomplishments. Always remember and acknowledge all good things that have been done for you!