“Hey! Grab what you can and let’s bounce! Moses said we out!”
“But, I just put some bread…”
“MAAAAN! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Moses said we out and it ain’t gonna long before Pharaoh changes his mind…again! Grab what you can and let’s GO!”
In my imagination, this is how we left Egypt. We didn’t have time for an exit strategy. We didn’t have time to weigh the pros and cons of different approaches in order to determine which course of action would have been the best to take. The decision was made, the people were informed, and the people moved, grabbing whatever they could along the way. Pharaoh had changed his mind before and he might do it again; which in fact he did. Had we waited, we would not have tasted freedom. Had we procrastinated we might not be here today.
Our leadership, at the time being Moses and G’d, saw fit to guide us through the trials and tribulations that immediately followed us gaining our freedom, and when we protested, complained, and even contemplated turning around, our leadership kept a calm, controlled demeanor that gave us reassurance. We faced a desert, a sea, and an incensed head of state leading an army for our destruction; but our leadership remained calm. Our leadership made the necessary decisions and saw us through the peril to the other side.
I say this because as we come out of Pesach this year we again find ourselves in need of an exit strategy. COVID-19 has thrust the world into a situation it was warned about, but still greatly underprepared to deal with. Communities and economies around the world were brought to a halt by the now full blown pandemic with a global death rate nearing 150,000. Responses came in different forms around the world, ranging from dismissal and confusion during the initial outbreak to later responses of complete border and transit shutdowns in numerous cities and countries. In Israel the shutdown was done in segments. First daycare and school with social distancing for 2 weeks, followed by a minor business shutdown for 2 weeks, followed by a full shutdown for a week. Although some might view this as anti-democratic or infringing upon their rights, the restrictions were by and large respected and our numbers stayed relatively low in relation to other developed countries and the government did provide aid to help those affected by it. We have universal healthcare which allowed us free access to testing and were kept up to date on outbreaks, city by city. Now, thank G’d, we’re potentially looking at the other side. Our leadership was strong (although we’re heading into our possible 4th election this year…don’t ask), and reacted in a decisive manner that kept the situation more or less in control and prevented a calamity. Unfortunately, there are also leaders who chose not to react in such a manner and instead chose to play with people’s lives and pass the blame for their failures onto others. Leaders such as these are only interested in preserving their own power and ego and have no real interest in truly leading their populations in a direction of progress. Hopefully, these so called leaders will actually begin to do their elected job and lead their people through this crisis. The Torah tells us to respect and pray for our leaders, but some elected officials make this really difficult.
Now, we, along with the rest of the world, have another problem: When and how do we take that first step to actually begin “crossing the sea”? How do we start reconnecting our society and institutions in a responsible way that still takes into consideration that the crisis is far from over, but life needs to and must continue. Here in Israel, they are planning to reverse the shutdown protocol but with minor changes. As of this week, we had a relaxation of travel restrictions, minor businesses reopened and students restarted school, albeit virtually. If our numbers hold in a controlled manner, in another 2 weeks we’ll relax travel restrictions a little more and reopen offices on a skeleton crew staffing. This is a process that allows people the ability to ease into a return to normalcy while still keeping the situation in control should we have a resurgence.
Is it foolproof?
No. No plan is foolproof. But there needs to be a plan for our exit strategy, and unlike leaving Egypt, this time we have the ability to plan ahead. I pray that our leaders use sound wisdom in deciding the best way to return us to a state of freedom.
