Parashat Bo: Light Years Behind

 I’ve long been a fan of Shakespeare and seen quite a few filmed renditions of his plays, with Laurence Oliver’s Hamlet being my favourite. A few days ago, I watched the “The Taming of the Shrew” with Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband, Richard Burton. What started off as an entertaining and colourful spectacle descended into much darker territory.

I’ll admit that this wasn’t a play that I was too familiar with, although I had a general idea of the theme. If you don’t know the storyline, it features a Paduan nobleman (Baptista) who has two daughters and refuses to allow the younger one (Bianca) to be courted (as they used to call it) until her older tempestuous sister (Katherina played with gusto by Elizabeth Taylor) finds a suitor who will be able to ‘tame’ her, as per the title.

Richard Burton’s Petruchio enters the picture and the expected mayhem ensues resulting in their being married (allowing young student Lucentio to elope with Bianca) and Petrucio subjecting Katherina to all manner of both psychological and physical abuse until he eventually breaks her spirit. She becomes so submissive to his will that she identifies the sun as the moon because this what he has instructed her to say. It is terrible and pitiful indictment of how the fairer sex were depicted (and I would presume, considered) in Shakespeare’s day.

I was greatly troubled by what I saw. Attitudes have definitely changed in recent years, and I doubt that the film could be remade today in the same manner. As a comparison, I also watched an updated version of the story which came out in the late 1990s in the guise of ‘10 Things I Hate About You’. This was set in an American High School and it was certainly more balanced in the way it covered the controversial storyline.

The success of the #metoo movement in light of the appalling behaviour of people such as Harvey Weinstein, is still fresh in our minds, I thought that those days were well and truly behind us.

That was until the events that took place on 7^th   October which as we know should have been one of the most joyous days in our calendar.

What transpired is still not fully known. What we are aware of, is a darkness that descended over our nation, the like of which can only be described as akin to a Pasuk/Verse that we read in this week’s Parasha.

then the l-rd said to moshe,”reach out your hand toward the sky to bring darkness down over egypt -darkness so deep it can be felt..and all across Egypt it was pitch dark for three days..so no one could see anyone else or even move.”                 (shemot 10.21-24)

Like the ancient Egyptians, our people (along with those of other faiths who were also targeted) have experienced a darkness, so deep that it can be felt throughout the extended Jewish community around the world - an appropriate thought to consider today which is designated as JAMI’s annual Mental Health Shabbat.

Keeping the treatment of Katherina in mind, I will now focus on the women who were, are and will be impacted for the rest of their lives - that is the ones who survived.

I don’t need to describe the unbelievably cruel, barbaric and sadistic savagery that was directed towards the female victims because this is very well documented. For those who survived, the darkness they are living through, both physically (particularly those who are being held hostage in Gaza) and metaphorically is unimaginable.

If only that had been the end of it. This was yet to come as we realised that the plight of these women might as well have occurred in Shakespeare’s era. The world’s loudest voices in the guise of UN Women, The Red Cross, Black Lives Matter, Me Too (do you remember them from my previous comment?) stayed silent. Not a single word of condemnation from organisations who were fully aware of the atrocities that had taken place in the days and weeks that followed when more and more horrific details emerged.

It took nearly two months, over 50 days after intense pressure for UN Women to issue a statement on 1^st December which read:

We unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks. This is why we have called for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted, with the rights of the victim at the core.

On 9^th January, more than three months after the fact, the JC reported that:

Two UN human rights experts on Monday called for full accountability for the multitude of alleged crimes, including sexual torture, committed against civilians by Hamas terrorists on October 7, saying they amount to war crimes.

https://www.thejc.com/news/world/un-finally-condemn-october-7-war-crimes-against-women-af0syoj2

This, in addition to the news that was reported last week that hospitals in Israel are prepared for many of these women to be leaving Gaza at various stages of pregnancy. One can only recoil in horror at what these victims have been through and what lies ahead.

All of this not in 16^th Century Italy, but 21^st Century Israel.

My horror at witnessing the treatment of Katherina was compounded by what I have learned over the last three months from the behaviour of some of the evilest human beings on our planet.

I’d like to believe that with the progress humanity has made, albeit haltingly in the last five centuries, attitudes towards women have improved. However, the hypocrisy of movements who claimed to care about women has been laid bare for all to see. Those who chanted and used the hashtag ‘MeToo_Unless_Ur_A_Jew’ outside the United Nations and at many rallies said it all. You can find out more about this movement and sign their petition at: https://www.metoo-unlessurajew.com/

We are being subjected to an almost daily barrage of insults and threats aimed at our people. From the idiotic and ignorant rantings of Gary Lineker to the disgraceful attempt by South Africa to bring charges of genocide against a country whose very formation could have prevented this happening to Jews. It appears to be very dark both inside and outside our small world.

Yet, here we are, on the Shabbat which reminds us of the final plagues directed against the Egyptians. In that same Parasha, Gd instructs us to observe the Passover holiday and provides the template for the Sedarim that we will re-enact in a few months. After all that has taken place, we read of the Exodus. The journey that brought us out of the darkness of Egypt onto the path that would eventually lead us to the Promised Land.

 

In these troubling times, we can derive some comfort in knowing that, despite all that happened on 7^th October, we will emerge bloodied but victorious. The enemy who tried to break us will eventually be subdued and our dignity, which has never left us (though we are scarred, battered and unbeaten) will emerge intact. When our precious women return to us, we will treat them with the respect, dignity and care they deserve. We will do our very best to rehabilitate them.

Unlike Katherina, they will never be subservient and will never call the moon the sun or vice versa because someone tells us to.

In this week’s Parasha, Gd instructs us to create a lunar calendar which we are still using over three thousand years later and will continue doing so.

We have been here before in different iterations, many times and as ever, the nation of Israel lives - Am Yisrael Chai.

Shavuah Tov