Disappointment Is Not Despair

By: Dr. Alan A. Mazurek

I have written about this subject before, and unfortunately it is time to revisit it once again. It was about two months ago, on the seventh day of Pesach. And in Israel, the final yom tov of the holiday. We had been living through constant attacks from Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, periodic clashes with Hamas in Gaza, with occasional salvos from the Houthis in Yemen. With the onset of the American Operation Epic Fury in concert with Israel’s Roaring Lion, which had commenced a month and a half earlier, it appeared the evil, hateful Iranian Ayatollah regime, the bankroller and mastermind of all these other proxy, evil terrorist threats, was near its end. President Trump had issued an ultimatum to Iran: Open the Straits of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern time and capitulate or face total annihilation. At 1:15 a.m., we in Israel were awakened by sirens and a particularly loud, vicious interceptions of incoming Iranian missiles that shook the windows and sent us scrambling to the miklat. I was informed there by my son-in-law that Trump had agreed to a 2-week ceasefire with Iran to allow them to comply. The overwhelming feeling of disappointment that descended on all of us in Israel, as well as our worldwide supporters, was beyond description.

At the time, I wrote about how the word in Hebrew for disappointed is meuchzev, from the same root as the word kozev, liar. This is the word we had been reciting every day since Pesach began in the daily Hallel prayer. We read David Hamelech’s words, the same David who is the father of Melech HaMashiach: “Ani amarti b’chafzi kol ha’adam kozev—I said in my haste all men are liars.” Kozev, a liar, and meuchzev, disappointed. Same Hebrew root that helps us understand the relationship. Both are related to expectations of one result and getting another. If we expect truth and get lies, we are disappointed. We expect a beneficial result and get a harmful one, we start to think everything is a lie and everyone is a liar.

At the time, I wrestled with myself: Did I think Trump was a liar? As a confirmed Trump supporter, grateful for his unparalleled backing of the Jewish state, I argued no. Bombastic, capable of hyperbole like no one else, yes, but as a true friend and ally of both Israel and the Jewish people, he had surpassed any President in history, and perhaps any foreign leader in any era. I believed he was nobody’s fool, would correct the mistakes of the great King Cyrus, who he emulated in his support for the Jews, suppress his inner Achashverosh, and that he would quickly and clearly realize that if his so called “deal” was legitimate or not, act accordingly.

Now, over three months later, I’m not so sure. Liars can exist in two forms: those who lie to others and those who lie to themselves. President Trump seems to firmly believe what he says, but he appears to be lying to himself. He has said in the past that you don’t negotiate with terrorists, you can’t trust the Iranian regime, that he will never accept a nuclear Iran, and I believe when he said those things that he was telling the truth. Yet all of his current words and actions negate these very statements, pointing to the exact opposite. This cognitive dissonance, holding two conflicting ideas in one’s head at the same time, is the definition of lying to oneself.

For evidence of this, we see clearly in Parashat Shelach, where the Nesiim, the princes of the Shevatim, the tribes of Israel, with the exception of Yehoshua and Calev, have convinced themselves they cannot conquer and inherit the land. This despite witnessing the exodus from Egypt, the mightiest empire of the time. Despite the numerous open miracles that Hashem performed for everyone to see, from the plagues to splitting the Sea, to routing the evil Amalekites, to providing constant water and food in the desert, and even providing meat when they complained. And of course, the most miraculous of all, Hashem Himself came down to the mountaintop of Har Sinai and spoke to them directly. And yet, they didn’t, they couldn’t, they wouldn’t believe. We can’t go up to the land, they said. Yes, it’s beautiful, flowing with milk and honey and enormous fruit. But the people are giants, too strong, city fortifications too powerful, we can’t do it. Hashem can’t do it. They lied to themselves and demoralized everyone else.

After 3,000 years of Jewish history, we should not be surprised. Dovid Hamelech told us in Tehillim: “Al tivtechu banedivim, b’ven adam she’en lo teshua—put not your faith in nobles, for in human beings there is no salvation (Tehillim 146:3).” We can only put our faith in Hashem. We must be like Calev and Yehoshua who said respectively, “alo naaleh v’yarashnu ota, ki yachol nuchal la—we shall surely ascend and conquer it for we can surely do it! (13:30)” and “Tova ha-Aretz, me’od, me’od—the Land is very, very good. (14:7).”

We must not, we dare not despair. We must urge our leaders, whether Trump, Netanyahu, or others, to remove the evil that has perpetrated so much death and misery. Not just Jews and Israelis, but also Americans and Iranians. It’s time to finish the job. Now. 

Dr. Alan A. Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA.