What would I have done? A question I ask myself often when reading Jewish history— be it Holocaust related or Bible related or anything in between.
There were choices in each of these instances— of people. Real people with real emotions, intellect, families, struggles, financial realities — all so familiar to us — the result of which we get to experience.
This week’s Torah portion relays the joyous and formative story of the Exodus from Egypt. Gd’s abounding mercy and salvation we are all well familiar with, but the individual struggles and decisions of the enslaved people along the way leading up to the emancipation, we rarely consider.
With a moments thought however, we recognize that there were real choices, struggles, ups and downs —the results of which we experience and celebrate today.
We needn’t rewind a few thousand years to find examples. Over the past weeks, as the stories of the released hostages emerge — one by one we read of strength and choice that both inspire and boggle the mind.
Yesterday, after 480+ days in captivity the released hostage Agam Berger was photographed holding a sign that read, “I chose the path of faith and I returned in the path of faith”. It was both a play on words in Hebrew but it conveyed the depth of choice that Agam made in captivity. Foods she didn’t consume chores she refused to do due to it being Shabbat. The strength that she exhibited enough to inspire generations for millennia.
At the end of it all, “what would I have done” is irrelevant. What will I do, is the essential question we all need to ask ourselves. How will I ensure that my decisions create a stronger Jewish experience, family and community.
For after all is said and done, Am Yisrael is Chai and it’s as a result of real people, real decisions — real strength!!