Discord within the Jewish people is a silent disease that eats at our core

“When Moshe went out the next day, he saw two Jews quarreling….” (Shemos 2:13)

The Torah introduces us to Moshe with two incidents. Moshe came out and saw a Mitzri striking a Jew. He struck him down and hid him in the sand. The next day, Moshe came out and saw two Jews fighting with each other. The Torah says Moshe was frightened and fled Mitzrayim.

These are the only two vignettes concerning Moshe’s youth in Mitzrayim; they somehow encapsulate Moshe’s life mission. How? (Rabbi YY Jacobson, TheYeshivah.net)

Sibling rivalry is as old as your second child’s age, and the reactions to it are as wide as the sea. Some mothers manage to run a fighting-free home, which seriously impresses me, as that demands complete consistency and a constant hands-on approach. Then you have the oblivious mother who’s still chatting away on the park bench while her sons pound on each other.

Galus consists of two dynamics — oppression from without and erosion from within. The former might be more painful, but the latter is more lethal. As he’s growing into his position Moshe is immediately confronted with these two problems.

On the first and most basic level, galus, from Mitzrayim until today, has been defined by persecution from without. The Jew turns this way and that way and sees, like it says in the pasuk, “that there is no man” who cares enough. The world — the UN — will remain silent.

Yet with all of its crude and incomprehensible brutality, Moshe finds a solution to this crisis. “He struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” There are times when we have no choice but to take up arms and strike the enemy, in order to protect innocent lives.

On the second day, after Moshe rescued his fellow Jew from the external enemy, he’s confronted with a new challenge: a Jew fighting a Jew. One would think that the solution to two Jews fighting among themselves would be easier than external hatred. Yet astoundingly, in this incident, Moshe fails. His attempt to generate reconciliation is scorned: “Who do you think you are to tell me how to behave?”

ON this spectrum of motherhood, I’m more in the middle. I abhor the fighting, but accept that it exists and needs constant monitoring. Everyone has their shitah, but we all agree that disciplining siblings takes time and effort.

Anti-Semitism is dangerous. However, discord within the Jewish people — the strife and mistrust between communities as well as the animosity within communities and families — is a silent disease that consumes us at our core and doesn’t allow us to experience liberation. Its negative potency shows up especially in moments of crisis when we need each other most, but the trust has been eroded.

Today, we suffer from both problems. Just as it was with Moshe, it seems at times that the former challenge is easier to address than the latter. It’s easier to gain a consensus concerning Iran and Hamas than it is to create peace in a family and community. Will we have the courage to dull our egos, open our hearts, and embrace each of our brothers and sisters with unconditional love?

Last week, I witnessed something that shook me clear down to my soul. I pulled up to a busy strip mall and began the frustrating process of finding parking. I turned a corner and there were two cars, nose to nose, with both drivers out of their cars and nose to nose with each other. Apparently, they were fighting over the rights to the single parking space ahead of them. The space was narrow so it was difficult to pass, nor could I make a U-turn, leaving me a forced, unhappy spectator. I watched them fast passing the “my turn” stage of the fight and resorting to name calling. Would they start using fists? Please, no!

I finally managed to squeeze around them and left them to their thing, but I felt so sick inside. We’re surrounded by enemies, all over the globe. What happens when our enemies are within? Why can’t we get along within our famlies, our neighborhoods, our communities, schools, and our political parties? (That last one is a hotbed!)

Who has the power to stand up, declare enough to the fighting and put a stop to all this? If not, what will be? A global Heavenly time-out? Hashem yerachem.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 976)