Friday, January 23, 2009

Big Talk

Fools rush in.

Many of us feel frustrated at Israel’s poor PR effort. Why can’t they just hire a top-notch marketing company to brainstorm and get our side of the story out there? Sure, this time around we’ve had better media representatives than ever, but nobody seems to hear what they say. CNN and co. keep spewing the same “Israel = aggressor” rhetoric despite out best efforts.

Amazingly, as always, the weekly Torah portion is a mirror of contemporary events.

Pharaoh created a high-grade propaganda machine that turned his nation against the Israelites. Who did Hashem send to face off with him? Moshe, a man with a speech impediment!

Oh, but Hashem also backed him up with state-of-the-art miracles to convince Pharaoh that he had better listen. Moshe and Aharon confronted with a lifeless staff and transformed it into a writhing serpent.

Pharaoh remained unmoved. His people could do the same- if not better. The Egyptian sorcerers quickly responded with snakes of their own, water that turned to blood and a swarm of frogs- matching Moshe move for move and dismissing his antics as party tricks in the hub of black magic.

Moshe drew a trump-card. Lice. Witchcraft has no mastery over such tiny creatures, so Pharaoh and his henchmen were stumped. And silenced.

“A fool lets out all his wind, but afterwards a wise man will quiet it”, says King Solomon.

A fool yells a phony message, throwing out “proofs” quickly and loudly, conning the world for a time.

The wise man carries eternal truth. He is quiet and measured, confident that Truth will trounce falsehood again- as it always has.

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