When is enough, enough?

Friday, January 3, 2014 (Parashat Bo, Exodus 10) 

When is enough, enough? In Hebrew we say: dai k’var. Enough already.

When we recount the story of the Exodus from Egypt during our annual Passover seder, we celebrate all that God did for us in getting us out of Egypt, by saying: Dayeinu. It was enough. Any one of the acts that God did – was enough. Had God taken us out of Egypt and not exacted retribution on the Egyptians – dayeinu. Had God split the sea but not taken us out on dry land – dayeinu. Had God drowned our enemies and not satisfied our needs for 40 years in the desert – dayeinu. Had God given us Shabbat but not taken us to Sinai, dayeinu. Had God given us Torah but not taken us to the Land of Israel – dayeinu. (There are many more verses. Maybe 40?)

This prayer is about saying: Thank you God and considering the question: When is enough, enough? Because sometimes, enough is not enough.

The Pharaoh seems to have a hard time knowing when enough is enough. It took him 10 plagues to figure it out. The Nile turning to blood, frogs, lice, swarming creatures, the cattle disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, the killing of the firstborn. The end of Egypt effectively. It took until he lost EVERYTHING for him to realize that enough was enough – out with the Israelites. But even then he still sent his army after the Israelites. It was not enough.

Dai k’var. Enough already.

Only with the Israelites off into the Wilderness and his troops drowned in the sea did Pharaoh accept his defeat. Only then did he stop chasing and refusing. He accepted that enough was enough if for no other reason than the fact that he had to stop chasing and refusing. Because there was no one left to chase and no one left to refuse. His relationship with the Israelites and with God was over.

Dai. It was enough. It was time to accept.

Because most of what I know about Israeli pop society comes from my favorite Israeli rap group, HaDag Nachash, I will turn to one of their popular songs: Lo Maspik. It’s not enough. In this song, they sing about the endless pursuit of stuff and no matter how much we gather, collect, buy, desire – lo maspik. It’s not enough. Listen to the song here.

Living this existence, taking a breath into my chest,

Trying to rise above all the sh*t in this race,

Almost every time finding it very very hard,

Not falling back into this circle.

Buying almost every gadget, reading about every patent,

Every time my car is serviced I change a radio component,

I’m a cellphone client, I’ve got four accounts,

And in facebook and in myspace a thousand friends,

I’m sitting and spinning in an executive’s chair,

And software that records everything that I like,

Through the computer, straight to the DVD, to see on HD,

An Italian mob film.

I’ve got a shelf of alcohol, I drink a quality chaser,

Mixing it with a pose of a professional bartender,

A cash problem is a reality,

It’s not easy for my bank manager with me,

Every identity I’ve lost, every ideology,

I’m just an addict, an addict to technology,

A middle loan, a bridging loan, (various lines of equity) it’s never enough,

And that’s the whole story.

Everything I wanted, everything I bought,

Everything I gathered, it’s not enough.

Everything I saved, everything I covet,

In the end I realized, it’s not enough.

I’ve got a weakness for brand-name products,

My supermarket cart is like in a toy store,

Buying organic food especially green onion,

Loading-up on sorbet as well so it’ll be sweet.

And I’ve also got a weakness for music,

Without a reason I just start moving with it,

La la la la la la la, but it’s not enough.

Everything I wanted, everything I bought,

Everything I gathered, it’s not enough.

Everything I saved, everything I covet,

In the end I realized, it’s not enough.

I don’t stop not even to take a breath,

Just in a hurry towards the next rush.

Give me a beer to the stage, it’s not enough,

Counting the cash receipts, it’s not enough,

We’ve brought a lighting system, it’s not enough,

You’re very beautiful, but it’s not enough.

I’ve got a band, it’s not enough,

We’ve conquered the music chart, it’s not enough,

We’ve played in L.A, it’s not enough,

This song is nice, but it’s not enough.

Living this existence, taking a breath into my chest,

Trying to rise above all the sh*t in this race,

Almost every time finding it very very hard,

Not falling back into this circle.

Whether you are from Israel or the United States or anywhere in between – our accumulative culture has led to these kinds of lyrics that make us uneasy and nod our heads at the same time. Last week, I saw a hysterical billboard for a storage space company in New York City. “Raising a baby in a New York City apartment is like growing an oak tree in a thimble.” (Manhattan MiniStorage.com) But if you’ve seen people’s apartments in NYC, storage is justifiable – but when people have entire homes? We pay to have our amassed stuff stored. We don’t like our reality but what are we willing to do to change the reality of accumulate, buy, amass, obtain … and not fall back into this circle time and time and time and time again?

We pity Pharaoh because he can’t seem to see the reality or his ill-conceived plans. We don’t like Pharaoh because he is mean and vindictive, frightened and intimidated. No matter how much gets heaped on him (let alone his people) – it’s not enough. As the suffering magnifies and intensifies – it’s not enough. The mounds of dead frogs. The piles of destroyed crops. The corpses of cattle – it’s not enough. We don’t like Pharaoh because he is hard-hearted and unforgiving. We don’t like Pharaoh and almost pity him. We don’t like Pharaoh because we see how much enough is not enough for him. We don’t like Pharaoh…because Pharaoh is us.

But wait – we’ll ask: Doesn’t God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Yes, God does. But only after Pharaoh hardened it. God only furthered the work Pharaoh did of his own free-will. Pharaoh could have changed this whole story any number of times along the way. But he chose not to. God has given each of us – from Pharaoh to you to me to Moses to Miryam to every one … free-will. And at every step along the way, we each have a chance to say: dai k’var. It’s enough already.

Born with two inclinations we are: a good inclination and a bad inclination. On one side we are bent on goodness. On the other side we are bent on evil. Pharaoh lived on the side of evil. He is, like other models we have in the Bible and in countless tales told throughout the ages, the symbol of evil. Our ancestors wanted us to learn that evil must suffer total defeat. That is the reason Pharaoh – and Egypt – go down to such a horrible end in this story. We do not rejoice with the downfall of Egypt. In fact, that is why we pour out a little of our wine cup when reciting the ten plagues during the seder. Our freedom came on the backs of those who suffered. And so it is the custom for us to give a bit of our own wine into the cup of redemption – the Elijah’s cup – toward the end of the seder to remember that we must each share in the building up of the world toward a messianic era. The messianic era will come about when we realize that enough is enough. We don’t need things because in our desire to amass them, we will only come to want more. And we use our precious resources all too often for fleeting materialism. So too, when we put aside our evil inclination and our hatred and our lack of peace and our animosity and our unrequited anger … and say enough is enough – it will be a messianic era of peace and harmony for all humanity.

Parashat Bo is a chance for us to consider what is Dayenu. What is enough for us? Take a moment to consider to what we/you are ready to say: enough. And so too, take a moment to consider those things to which we/you must say: lo maspik – it’s not enough. Shabbat shalom.