Originally published April 13, 2022
https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/6447-do-not-expect-a-savior
As Pesach approaches, the story of the Exodus from Egypt will be told and retold many times. The rich history of Moshe coming back to his people and, as G-d’s emissary, freeing them from bondage. The Jews cried out for a savior for centuries before Moshe arrived, and when he did, they were freed.
That story, which is not only essential to Jewish history but well known worldwide, is deeply ingrained in our cultural psyche. There is hardly a religion or culture that doesn’t have at least one Messianic figure at its root. It’s natural for everyone to believe that all problems, be it monumental like the enslavement of the Jewish people for hundreds of years, or comparatively miniscule like the freedom to say what you want on social media, will be solved by a savior.
That is how the world reacted to the news that Elon Musk became Twitter’s largest single shareholder. The Right believed he was coming to rescue them, to undo all the suspensions and bans. The Left believed he was demonic, coming to give voice to the people who are guilty of wrongthink, people like the former President. When Musk declined a Board seat, the rumors started anew, because there is now a possibility that Musk will not be constrained by the rules of the Board and could pursue a hostile takeover of the company.
Even if it comes to pass that Musk reopens Twitter into the open platform it once was, American culture will not be saved because of it. The problems that are endemic to our society will not wane so easily, because it will take more than one man – even the world’s richest – to fix them.
The same fallacy occurs with politicians. Trump is still viewed by many on the Right as a savior, as is Ron DeSantis in Florida. The Trump administration did many things correctly, and he deserves credit for that. The societal problems that we are having, however, are far greater than anyone can fix on their own. We each must do what we can to save ourselves – not wait for the next great leader to deliver us to the promised land.
First, we must ensure that the massive government overreach that occurred during the pandemic can never occur again. Still to this day, the government is mandating masking on planes and trains. In New York City, toddlers must mask up. Philadelphia is now reinstituting its indoor mask mandate. The arguments against this have been hashed and rehashed over and again, but needless to say, this is lunacy.
It’s been revealed that the public schools have become little more than indoctrination centers for Leftists. Little more, because their success rate in creating a generation of woke, America-hating Socialists has been far greater than increasing students’ math, reading or science scores. The success of the Parental Rights Bill in Florida has led to clone bills in other states – although, if you need a law to stop you from talking to kindergarteners about adult relationships, you shouldn’t be a teacher anyway. The fight to take back the schools should not be limited to public schools, though. For far too long it’s been verboten, especially in New York, to discuss education dollars going to students instead of institutions. This is the battle that must be fought. The government school experiment has failed. Parents should be in charge of where their child goes to school, and they should not have to pay double to do so.
And parental rights should not be limited to the classroom. We have become far too complacent with what we allow our children to consume. The Left has renormalized the culture into believing that traditional values – values that raised hundreds of generations before us – are not only out-of-fashion, but actually evil. This must be fought with every fiber of our being. That is not to say that we should not treat people with respect. It is to say that we want to be treated with respect as well, and that our beliefs were not created by a PhD candidate in Gender Studies, but from a far Higher Power.
Which is why the ultimate lesson of the Haggadah, and the actual Pesach story, is that Moshe is hardly in it. While historically we view Moshe as the savior (especially when he’s played by Charles Heston), religiously we know that only G-d can save us. And as another forefather, Yaakov Avinu, taught us we must fight our own battles and prepare for everything. All of the aforementioned problems can be defeated, not by a savior coming down, but from all of us, looking up.
Moshe Hill is a political columnist and Senior Fellow at Amariah, an America First Zionist organization. Moshe has a weekly column in the Queens Jewish Link, and has been published in Daily Wire, CNS News, and other outlets. You can follow Moshe on his blog www.aHillwithaView.com, facebook.com/aHillwithaView, and twitter.com/HillWithView.
