Truth Over Tyranny: Biblical wisdom for defeating the Technocrats.
These are my insights for defeating the Transhumanist Technocracy movement, based on the teachings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, on the weekly Bible portion.
It seems to me that more and more, people who are taking a stand for freedom were once on the “other side.” They were part of the problem, and now they are part of the solution. Here are but some of the many examples:
They took the vaxx once, but never will again.
They voted in elections based on propaganda, but will now vote using their head.
They acted hatefully towards people of different views, but are now more open-minded.
They believed the government should run our lives, but now fight bureaucratic control.
For sure, most of these people were not fully “woke;” so they don’t need a full “awakening” to get on the right path in life. But we have been subjected to so much oppression, and brain washing, and fear-and hate-mongering over the years, we can’t help but get tainted by it to some extent.
All our hands are somewhat dirty. Does that disqualify us from freedom work? Worse – does that make us unworthy of the redemption by God we need to make our freedom dreams a reality?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gives a hearty “No!” and “No!”in answer to these pressing questions. In his commentary on Parashat Shemini called “When Weakness Becomes Strength,” he gives us the key to having faith:
https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/shemini/when-weakness-becomes-strength/
Rabbi Sacks begins by asking the question raised by – I am sure -every person who has adopted a noble cause:
“Have you ever felt inadequate to a task you have been assigned or a job you have been given? Do you sometimes feel that other people have too high an estimate of your abilities? Has there been a moment when you felt like a faker, a fraud, and that at some time you would be found out and discovered to be the weak, fallible, imperfect human being you know in your heart you are?”
We are in good company: the Biblical hero Aaron, the High Priest, felt the same way!
“If so, according to Rashi on this week’s parsha, you are in very good company indeed. Here is the setting: The Mishkan, the Sanctuary, was finally complete. For seven days Moses had consecrated Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. Now the time had come for them to begin their service. Moses gives them various instructions. Then he says the following words to Aaron:
“’Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.’ Lev. 9:7
“The Sages were puzzled by the instruction, ‘Come near.’ This seems to imply that Aaron had until then kept a distance from the altar. Why so? Rashi gives the following explanation:
“Aaron was ashamed and fearful of approaching the altar. Moses said to him: ‘Why are you ashamed? It was for this that you were chosen.’”
Of what was Aaron ashamed? His prior sin:
“Aaron was not simply someone lacking in self-confidence. There was something specific that he must have had in mind on that day that he was inducted into the role of High Priest. For Aaron had been left in charge of the people while Moses was up the mountain receiving the Torah. That was when the sin of the Golden Calf took place.
“Reading that narrative, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it was Aaron’s weakness that allowed it to happen. It was he who suggested that the people give him their gold ornaments, he who fashioned them into a calf, and he who built an altar before it (Ex. 32:1-6). When Moses saw the Golden Calf and challenged Aaron –’What did these people do to you, that you brought upon them this great sin?’– he replied, evasively, ‘They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!’
“This was a man profoundly (and rightly) uncomfortable with his role in one of the most disastrous episodes in the Torah, and now he was being called to atone not only for himself but for the entire people. Was this not hypocrisy? Was he not himself a sinner? How could he stand before God and the people and assume the role of the holiest of men? No wonder he felt like an imposter and was ashamed and fearful of approaching the altar.”
Moses – the great teacher that he was – knew that this sin, this weakness in Aaron, could become his greatest strength:
“Moses, however, did not simply say something that would boost his self-confidence. He said something much more radical and life-changing: ‘It was for this that you were chosen.’ The task of a High Priest is to atone for people’s sins. It was his role, on Yom Kippur, to confess his wrongs and failings, then those of his household, then those of the people as a whole (Lev. 16:11-17). It was his responsibility to plead for forgiveness.
“’That,’ implied Moses, ‘is why you were chosen. You know what sin is like. You know what it is to feel guilt. You more than anyone else understand the need for repentance and atonement. You have felt the cry of your soul to be cleansed, purified and wiped free of the stain of transgression. What you think of as your greatest weakness will become, in this role you are about to assume, your greatest strength.’”
Moses – and other great Prophets – knew this lesson first-hand, because they had experienced it themselves:
“How did Moses know this? Because he had experienced something similar himself. When God told him to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites to freedom, he repeatedly insisted that he could not do so. Reread his response to God’s call to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Ex. chapters 3-4), and they sound like someone radically convinced of his inadequacies. ‘Who am I?’ ‘They won’t believe in me.’ Above all, he kept repeating that he could not speak before a crowd, something absolutely necessary in a leader. He was not an orator. He did not have the voice of command:
“‘Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please, my Lord, I am not a man of words, not yesterday, not the day before and not since You have spoken to Your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’ (Ex. 4:10) ‘Moses said to the Lord, ‘Look, the Israelites do not listen to me. How then will Pharaoh listen to me? Besides, I have uncircumcised lips.’ (Ex. 6:12).
“Moses had a speech defect. To him that was a supreme disqualification from being a mouthpiece for the Divine word. What he did not yet understand is that this was one of the reasons God chose him. When Moses spoke the words of God, people knew he was not speaking his own words in his own voice. Someone else was speaking through him. This seems to have been the case for Isaiah and Jeremiah, both of whom were doubtful of their ability to speak and who became among the most eloquent of prophets.”
We show faith in one another, and that helps us each rise to the occasion:
“The key, according to Rashi in this week’s parsha, is the role Moses played at this critical juncture in Aaron’s life. He had faith in Aaron even when Aaron lacked faith in himself. That is the role God Himself played, more than once, in Moses’ life. And that is the role God plays in all our lives if we are truly open to Him. I have often said that the mystery at the heart of Judaism is not our faith in God. It is God’s faith in us.
“This then is the life-changing idea: what we think of as our greatest weakness can become, if we wrestle with it, our greatest strength. Think of those who have suffered tragedy and then devote their lives to alleviating the suffering of others. Think of those who, conscious of their failings, use that consciousness to help others overcome their own sense of failure.”
I would add this:
Think about the possibilities:
Think about all the doctors going to their colleagues and saying, “I stopped giving my patients the clot shot. You can too.”
Think about all the librarians telling their coworkers, “I no longer support holding drag shows in my library. You don’t either, do you?”
Think about all the teachers telling their union reps, “I cannot forgive myself for backing lockdowns, and mask mandates, and marxist indoctrination. We have to stop!”
These people are using their former sins to fuel their actions for rebuilding and healing, by encouraging others to do the same.
Be strong, be strong, and we will strengthen one another.