“Be strong and let your heart have courage,” (Joshua 1:6).
THE UPCOMING JEWISH holiday of Purim tells the story of Esther standing up for the Jews in Persia when they were threatened with a decree of extermination.
She revealed to the king that she was a Jew, which she had hidden when he took her as his queen. She risked his wrath, but her courage was rewarded when he said though he could not revoke the decree of Haman, his court official, the Jews had his permission to fight back.
They did indeed resist and were victorious over the mobs who attacked them. It’s interesting that God is never mentioned in the Book of Esther and that the people themselves stood up and fought the enemies, illustrating that ordinary people can speak up and save themselves.
Public resistance is powerful in confronting lies and speaking the truth.
In Jewish tradition, we are told we must have the courage to challenge decisions and viewpoints even if we had previously supported them. We are enjoined to seek other perspectives and constantly reassess our decisions as we learn new information.
In Genesis, Jacob wrestled with an angel and received the new name of Israel, which means “wrestling with God.” Two core principles in Judaism are that we should always stand for the truth, and we must struggle with, question, and re-evaluate our positions if necessary.
“Know that truth and righteousness are the ornaments of the soul, and they provide the individual with everlasting courage and confidence,” (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon).
We have all occasionally faced situations where we had to make a decision to either continue supporting a viewpoint or realize we were wrong and admit our mistake.
Acknowledging an error takes courage, but it is important to make sure our world is based on a foundation of truth. If we learn that we made a mistake, we must proclaim the truth and make sure that those who continue to spread falsehoods are publicly confronted.
One of the dangers of continuing to spread lies is that they can become accepted as the truth, and it becomes difficult to “undo” the damage they cause.
“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth,” is the propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Once a lie takes hold, it spreads like wildfire and the truth is buried in the flames.
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes” (Mark Twain).
It’s difficult to admit one has been fooled into believing a lie.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth … It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been conned. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back” (Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World).
Our lives feel upended and chaotic when we see good people believe lies, and refuse to embrace the truth. We must become like Jacob and wrestle to uncover the truth so we can put our world on firmer ground.
“Truth is one of the very foundations upon which the world stands. As this is so, if you speak falsely it is as if you are nudging at the world’s foundation” (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto).
May we always find the courage to engage in the struggle to maintain the foundation of our world with truth, encourage others to do the same, and follow the admonition in Exodus to “Keep distant from falsehood,” and in Psalms to “Depart from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it.”
Kein yehi ratzon … may it be God’s will. Shalom.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Suzanne DeBey is a lay leader of the Port Angeles Jewish community. Her email is debeyfam@olympus.net.
