All We Have to Fear is Fear Itself

The Torah uses two phrases to describe how God took the Jews out of Egypt — with a mighty hand (Yad Chazakah) and an outstretched arm (zarua natuah).  Why both expressions?

Rav Kook answers as follows.  The mighty hand was employed to weaken Pharoah and force him into letting the Jews go.  But that alone was insufficient — for even if Pharoah was prepared to let the Jews go there was no guarantee the Jews themselves would want to leave.  And thus the need for the outstretched arm — the force necessary to convince the Jews they were not only permitted to leave but actually had to.

While Rav Kook’s answer solves our initial problem, it gives rise to a secondary one.  Why in the world would the Jews not want to leave Egypt.  Wasn’t the world of Freedom awaiting them so obviously better than the slavery they were currently experiencing?

My guess is probably so, but fear of the unknown — even a more positive unknown — prevented them from seeing this fact clearly. 

Here’s an interesting study that might shed light on their psychological state.  A group of volunteers received a series of 20 electric shocks to their right ankles, being warned three seconds before the onset of each one.  Some of the volunteers received 20 high intensity shocks, while others received only three high intensity shocks and 17 low intensity shocks.   One would think, of course, that the latter group was the preferred group, but that’s not what much of the data suggested.  Surprisingly, the group that received only three high intensity shocks had much faster heart rates, more profuse sweating and rated themselves as much more afraid of the whole experience.  Why?

Because the volunteers in the low shock group received shocks of different intensities at different times, which made it impossible for them to anticipate their futures.  They didn’t know what was coming next, and therefore, even though what eventually came next was not so bad — in fact, it was ‘good’ compared to their counterparts — they were not able to appreciate their situation at all.  To the contrary, they subjectively felt more afraid of their objectively better situation.

(To read more about this and many other fascinating studies, see Daniel Gilbert’s excellent book Stumbling on Happiness).

Now let us return to the Jews of Egypt.  As slaves, they knew what to expect.  As free people, though, they did not.  This lack of knowing, this uncertainty, was a source a great fear and actually allowed them to fear freedom more than slavery.  It is for this reason that God had to employ the outstretched arm to convince them to accept freedom.

There is a lesson for all of us today as well.  Very often, we fear the future, but not because there is really something to fear, but more often than not, because we simply don’t know what will happen.  That’s natural of course, but it should not prevent us from taking risks and moving forward nevertheless.  Far too often fear is unfounded but we let it rule our lives nevertheless.  Freedom requires an escape from such fear, which in turn truly liberates us.