Likelihood of Success

The Sages teach that after the crossing of the “Red Sea” the Israelites watched the riches of Egypt, borne by their frenzied pursuers who now slept forever in the watery depths, wash up on the shore.  They gathered up this wealth before being urged by Moses, who had loftier things in mind, to turn their back on Egypt in every sense and continue forward on their journey to a new and greater destiny.  While the rabbinical sources do not by and large criticize the Israelites for taking belated payment for centuries of brutal servitude and oppression, it does seem clear that there is something about their inability to shake their attachment to the “fleshpots of Egypt” that remains problematic.

Well, I got back to my Egypt, not at Ramses or Pithom but on 34th Street, after the final two festival days of Passover, and after what was really two weeks consumed by comprable lofty ambitions.  And, well… let’s just say while it has all the earmarks of the above experience — drowning; “riches” strewn all about; spiritual confusion — I am, ultimately, still here, and on the correct side of the Sea, at least!

There’s plenty of sorting to do, and I don’t think I will get 40 years to do it.  But on the other hand, I remain hopeful that, unlike that particular group of my ancestors, I will get to personally enter the Promised Land…