Why Sugarcoat our Painful Past?

Ps. 105:15

Can we love ourselves enough to also be self-critical, kind but firm?  If we want to evolve - how can we not?

On personal and collective levels  -- this question invites us to seriously consider what stories we tell ourselves about where we come from, what values we prioritize, and what truths we will pass on -- ideally not tall tales and flawed perfections of the world. 

Sugarcoating history will only lead to many generations of rotten teeth, with very little wisdom left in them for future generations.

History, rarely objective, becomes poetry in today’s chapter that includes the biggest hits of Jewish history from Abraham and Joseph all the way to the arrival in Canaan. It’s not just poetic but also very positive - leaving out some of the more problematic and inglorious chapters  and framing them in a surprising light. History becomes here a series of skewed moments that want to pass on a legacy of luster with no shadow stuff at all.  This kind of attitude reminds us of attitudes that not only do not welcome any internal reflective criticism but also endorse a supremacist approach that celebrates particular pride beyond and above all others. 

Sure enough, a famous verse from this chapter regards the entire people as anointed, and all are regarded as prophets. When describing our ancient history of being protected by divine grace even in exile, the poet quotes the threatening words spoken by YHWH to the other nations: 

אַֽל־תִּגְּע֥וּ בִמְשִׁיחָ֑י וְ֝לִנְבִיאַ֗י אַל־תָּרֵֽעוּ׃

“Do not touch My anointed ones;

do not harm My prophets.”

Ps. 105:15

The exhortation to not touch the anointed ones has been used in multiple contexts over the centuries, sometimes as a wished for ideal as Jews were cruelly persecuted. 

It’s also been used, oddly, in recent years, as many in the Ultra Orthodox Jewish community in Israel protest compulsory service in Israel’s army, using these words as their slogans. “The anointed ones” have thus become the men who should study Torah in Yeshiva, rather than defend their country in the secular service of security. 

There are other puzzling tropes in today’s chapter that seem to see reality through a very subjective and eyebrow-raising gaze. 

From those early ancestral days of Genesis the psalm goes on to describe the Exodus (with a surprising version that includes just seven plagues) and the years of wandering in the wilderness.  It includes this description of how the Israelites were fed for forty years: 

שָׁ֭אַל וַיָּבֵ֣א שְׂלָ֑ו וְלֶ֥חֶם שָׁ֝מַ֗יִם יַשְׂבִּיעֵֽם׃ פָּ֣תַח צ֭וּר וַיָּז֣וּבוּ מָ֑יִם הָ֝לְכ֗וּ בַּצִּיּ֥וֹת נָהָֽר׃

They asked, and were brought quail,

and were satisfied with food from heaven. 

God opened a rock so that water gushed forth;

it flowed as a stream in the parched land.

Ps. 105:42

The quail arrived and so did Manna, and yes they were asked for. It’s very close to what we’ve read in the Book of Wilderness, but it’s just too nice and wrapped with ribbons—- what happened to the massive protests and rebellions?  Where have the bitter chapters of crisis and complaints against Moses and God that led to riots and massacres gone? where are the graves of lust with fresh quail in the victim’s teeth, not yet eaten?

Sugarcoated. Hidden painful truth.

The 45 verses of this chapter are an alternative history, even a replacement for the Passover Haggadah - but it’s a version that includes no rebuke, no critical words and no blame on behalf of the ancestors.  Perhaps, in an interest to bolster national unity and a narrative of tribal pride this chapter celebrates the good and carefully rearranges the more challenging memories - even at the expense of the full truth or objectivity. Isn’t that how many individuals, families and nations prefer to remember our origins? 

But chapter 105 does not operate in a vacuum. Coming tomorrow is a historical overview with very different versions of events. Tomorrow’s psalm, perhaps from the pen of a poet who is more mature and able to handle life’s complexities, looks in the mirror and invites us to ask tough questions -- who were our ancestors? What have we inherited and how can we reflect, repair and not shy away from the responsibilities that will create a better future for us all? 

These psalms work together to give us many ways of looking back, looking in, and looking forward - with both pride and purpose, truth that is not always pretty — and the will to evolve, and transform beyond coating our pains with sugar - facing it as is, with a few flakes of salt. This is our only path facing forward - for healing, for hope, and for peace.

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