VAERA 1980B ROSH CHODESH

One of our biggest failures is that we suffer from illusions.  People don't like to see the world the way it is but they like to see it the way they would like it to be.  We read in the Haphtorah for Rosh Chodesh the phrase "killing an ox is like killing a man."  That's what foolish people believed.  An animal life was equivalent to a human life.  What a perversion.  

But that's what some people are saying today.  Killing animals is worse than human beings.  For the sake of saving the cohabiting grounds of some caribou the Alaskan pipeline was delayed and almost not built.  Why did G-d have to send so many plagues on Pharoah?  Wouldn't one have been enough?  Just let it last a long time?  G-d sent many plagues on Pharoah to disabuse him of his illusions.  Pharoah thought he could have his slaves and no plagues.  G-d had to show him that this was impossible.  He had to see the folly of this illusion.  

We here in America are suffering from the illusion that we can have everything and that we don't need to sacrifice or to have any self-discipline whatsoever.  During the last century every form of self-discipline has decreased except education.  We Jews achieved what we did in this country with a great sense of exhilarating freedom because although we relaxed greatly the self-discipline of our tradition we cast off many, many mitzvahs yet our level of self discipline was still so much higher than the general culture that we rose right to the top.  Our level of self-discipline is still sinking and right now we're getting near the level of general culture.  We're courting disaster though.  We can't say we can have a strong defense and then not have a high level of defense spending.  We can't cut back on taxes and still claim a high level of government services.  We can't have happy marriages and still run around.  We can't tell youngsters learning is fun.  We can't have everything.  Our leaders fail us, too, when say we can have everything.  All right wing Republicans now say shouldn't stop selling grain to Russia, don't cancel Olympics.  Everybody should sacrifice except me.  

Story about man who while eating dinner started to choke.  Told his wife I think I'm going to die.  I have to confess I've been running around.  I know, said wife, that's why I poisoned you. We're poisoning ourselves with our delusions.