Is that the sound of a car? She runs to the window peeks out. It’s just a neighbor backing out of his driveway. Again she checks her watch tries his cell phone. It’s off. Where is he? She returns to the kitchen to stack the dishwasher. Three plates and she’s back at the window. Where is he?
Waiting worried for someone you love is an age-old experience: It goes back thousands of years to when the mother of Sisera the warrior looked out of the window waiting for her son to return from the battlefield.
In Shiras Devorah Devorah describes how the women around eim Sisera offer her comfort. “He is still plundering the spoils of war” they tell her. “He’ll be back shortly.” But the mother of Sisera emits 100 sorrowful wails — and the hundred blasts we sound on the shofar correspond to and neutralize this mother’s expression of anguish. What is the inner depth of Sisera’s mother’s wails? What can we learn from this tyrant’s mother whose actions reverberate until today?
In Truth
One of the most fundamental lessons a parent can convey to her child is the Torah prohibition against lying. We sing songs about telling the truth attempt Torah versions of Pinocchio and withhold punishment for misdemeanors as long as our child “owns up.” And yet as a society we are heavily concerned with the way “things look” and “how we’re seen.” We feel compelled to project images of ourselves and our homes and families that at times do not accurately reflect reality. When every meal is served on china and the children are dressed in matching impeccable outfits it’s easy to distract ourselves from the reality of our lives.
