8/9/2019 Hanna Perlberger Parshat Bshallach 5775

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Hanna Perlberger

Creating Radiant Relationships and Positive Wellbeing Founder of Make the Best of You.com

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Is Your Optimism Grounded In Reality?

Jan 30, 2015

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A man gets into his car, and decides in the name of optimism that he wont buckle up. Is he an

optimist or is he an idiot? After delivering a lecture on optimism to a large tech company, Shawn Achor,one of the gurus of Positive Psychology was being driven to the airport by the CEO. Ignoring the persistent

and annoying dinging of the alarm for not using his seat belt, the CEO smiled at Shawn and explained that

he was just being optimistic.

Optimism is good for a lot of things, thought Shawn, but it will not prevent this CEO from getting into a

car accident, nor will it prevent him flying through the windshield. This is not optimism; rather, its a form

of insanity, otherwise known as irrational optimism.

In this weeks Torah portion, Beshalach, after the Jewish people left Egypt, the Pharaoh sent his army of

charioteers after them and now they were cornered by the army with their backs to the sea. Short of a new

miracle, the Jewish people were facing imminent slaughter, and the Torah records their bitter

remonstrations against Moses crying that they never should have left Egypt and that it would have been

better to have remained slaves in Egypt, than to die in the wilderness.

According to commentary, at that point, the Jewish people were divided into 4 separate camps. One group

wanted to surrender and go back to Egypt. One group was ready to commit suicide. One group wanted to

fight the Egyptian army (I like their style but what were they going to do throw matzos at them?) And

another group started to pray. Moses cried out to God and God replied (in essence) Stop praying and

journey forth Do Something! It was at that point that the famous Nachshon jumped into the sea and

when the water reached his nostrils, the sea began to part. Optimist or crazy? Grounded or irrational? Lets

see

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unarmed and untrained group of men women and children could defeat the onslaught of a mighty avalanche

of charioteers.

Knowing that the Jewish people were liberated through the open and divine intervention of God, and now

that same God was telling them to go, to do something, Nachshon, the Jewish optimist, walked calmly

into the sea, and in so doing, also paved the way for the Jewish expression of faith. And this sets Judaism

apart from any religion that is based just on thought, beliefs, or silent spirituality, because Judaism calls forbelief-driven behavior, and the expression of faith through deliberate action.

So the next time you face a challenge, determine whether grounded optimism is appropriate, and if so, try

adding a little faith. Know that whatever test you are undergoing is the test you were absolutely meant to

have, that you canpass it, and that you will emerge emotionally stronger, intellectually wiser, and

spiritually higher. Become a Jewish optimist, and there is no telling how many seas you will be able to part

in your life.