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WISHFUL THINKING

I once knew a man who headed a very large and successful mercantile enterprise. He had a wry sense of humor and all sorts of strange and sometimes humorous sayings decorated the walls of his office and the top of his desk. The one saying that impressed me most and has stuck in my memory ever since was: “Don’t confuse me with the facts. My mind is already made up!” The tendency to prejudge people, situations and events in life is a very strong one. This is especially true if one has an ideological background and certain set beliefs as to how things should really be in the perfect world and that our mind therefore imagines being easily within our grasp.

 

Because of this tendency to deal with life as we wish it to be and not as it is actually, great errors in judgment and behavior and disastrous policies are constantly pursued. Part of the greatness of the biblical narrative and of the words of the prophets of Israel lies in the brutal honesty that its portrayal of life, people and events conveys to the student of its words. The Torah tells it to us as it is without euphemisms, evasions, sugar-coating or engaging in wishful thinking. It is this biblical honesty and reality that has always provided the backdrop for Jewish history and existence. Judaism forbids wishful thinking, about one’s self, about others, about friends and about enemies. Those who whistle past the graveyard oftentimes soon find themselves within that burial ground.

 

All of this being said, simply for psychological health and for the strength to continue to go on, all reality has to be tempered with some hope and belief for better times and conditions. Reality may govern the present, but hope should guide our future. This balance of cold reality when viewing our present world and situation, with of a sense of guarded optimism regarding our future and its potential blessings has always been the Jewish attitude towards the survival and accomplishments of the Jewish people.

 

The pessimist projects the sad reality of the present into his future. The fool refuses to see the present as it is and dreams rosy dreams of a perfect future that somehow can be achieved in the present. The Talmud’s view of the present is kabdehu v’chashdehu - be cognizant of its present realities and be on guard as to its dangers. Nevertheless, be hopeful for better times to arrive. In our present world and in this situation of war it is absolutely essential that we do not engage in wishful thinking.

 

It is clear that our current enemies whose rockets reign down upon our cities and towns aim for our existential destruction. To delude ourselves that this is a “land for peace” situation when it really is a “cease to exist for peace” scenario is suicidal. The Torah’s admonition to remember Amalek and destroy it is based on the realistic assessment of Amalek’s clear intention to attempt to destroy Israel and the Jews. No wishful thinking or Nobel Peace Prize award can change that harsh reality.

 

The mindset of easy answers and pacifist solutions must give way to the reality of the unbridled hatred and determined tenacity of our foes to effectuate our destruction. I know that this is not pleasant to contemplate but it is real and accurate. If there ever was a time for a splash of cold reality to descend upon us, now is certainly that time.

 

With the absence of wishful thinking and of recognition of the true facts of the reality of our situation there must also be a sense of a better future. Judaism is always optimistic about the future, about a great and serene period of “latter days.” Yeshuat Hashem k’heref ayin – the salvation and deliverance from evil occasioned by God’s will is but an eye blink away from us. In looking back over the past two centuries of Jewish life, of Czarist persecution, two horrendous World Wars, the Holocaust, Communism and Stalin’s attempt to eradicate the Jews, continual Arab wars and terrorism, worldwide enmity and anti-Semitism, the UN and its hypocrisy and bias and the terrible toll of assimilation and intermarriage within Jewry itself, one must be impressed and stand in wonder at the resiliency and strength of commitment and tenacity of survival of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

 

This alone should give us hope and promise for our future. The fact of the survival and triumph of the Jewish people over all of these enemies should by itself suffice to allow us to believe in our better future, not as a matter of wishful thinking but rather as a fact that is also a component of our current reality. May this Shabat of comfort cure us of wishful thinking about the present and strengthen our certainty concerning our blessed future.