Sermon: Parashat Shoftim – Fear and Mental Health

Written by Rabbi Hannah Kingston — 17 August 2021

Olympic athletes spend their entire lives preparing for their sport. Many start in early childhood and make major lifestyle choices, both for themselves and for their families, based on their training schedules and sporting commitments.

 

But it is not just physical training that Olympic athletes undertake. To succeed in intense competitions, these athletes need to understand the importance of having both their bodies and minds running at optimal levels. Therefore, they have an awareness of the need to look after their mental health with as much care as their physical health, to help them focus and overcome potential overwhelming anxiety and fear of failure.

 

The Tokyo games this year provided unforeseen challenges for the athletes in their preparation. With often no training, gyms or preparatory competitions, athletes needed to resort to creative measures to maintain their training routines at home.

 

It was no wonder that this year’s remarkable games changed the conversation around mental health and competitive sports.

 

When four time Olympic Gold medallist Simone Biles withdrew from the women’s gymnastic team final following her lowest Olympic vault score, a light was shone on the importance of mental health in the sporting world.

Biles said:

“We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do…We’re not just athletes. We’re people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back.”

Biles is not the first athlete to priorities her mental wellbeing. Earlier this year, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French open to preserve her mental health away from the spotlight and scrutiny of the public eye.

 

Although through her statement she recognised the potential frailty in herself, Simone Biles showed a great amount of strength by stepping aside. She was praised for her actions, both by spectators and her fellow athletes.

 

For the spectator, Biles’ courageous choice served as a reminder that Olympic athletes, although seemingly superhuman, are actually just like us. They are doing the best they can.

 

For her fellow competitors, her actions empowered others to put their mental wellbeing above all else.

 

We now have a unique opportunity to move the discussion forward, from just raising awareness of mental health, to acting positively for the preservation of all of our mental wellbeing.

 

In reality this conversation is not new. Whilst we would think that the preparation the Ancient Israelites underwent before waging war bore little resemblance to that of an Olympic athlete, it would appear that a similar, consideration was taken for both their physical and mental wellbeing.

We read earlier the code of conduct that is given to the Israelites before they go to battle. It states as follows:

“When you take the field against your enemies and see horses and chariots—forces larger than yours— lo tira, have no fear of them”

 

This phrase, telling the Israelites not to fear, occurs in our narrative many times during battle. We hear it as we witness the advance of Pharaoh’s army on the shores of the Sea of Reads, and later when Joshua prepares his army for the battle of Jericho.

 

But the phrase is also used at many moments of personal transition or trial.

It is spoken when Avram is first in unchartered territory, fearing a childless future.

When Hagar cries out to God after being cast out into the wilderness.

When the elderly Jacob prepares to journey to Egypt to be reunited with his son after he thought he had died.

 

Throughout our biblical narrative the phrase lo tira ‘do not be afraid’ is repeated so many times, that Maimonides believes it is one of the negative commandments, it is an obligation on us to not feel fear.

 

Further this week our portion continues:

Is there anyone who has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back…Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard but has never harvested it? Let him go back… Is there anyone who has paid the bride-price for a wife, but who has not yet married her? Let him go back.”

 

Like Maimonides, the ancient rabbis deduce that this set of clauses are not merely suggestions but commands. It seems they have a great insight into the psychology of men on the cusp of battle. Concluding that a man may feel embarrassed to exercise his rights, halakha instructs that this was a command of the Cohein. Men are obligated to return from battle if in any of these life circumstances.  According to the Mishnah, these men would instead be placed in non-combat roles, like repairing roads or helping to provide food and water for the army.

 

Although we ourselves are not on a battlefield, or preparing for an Olympic debut, over the past 18 months we have all been fighting against an invisible enemy. Each and every one of us has been personally affected by the pandemic, physically and emotionally, and even as we begin to move towards a new normal, we are still facing challenges that feel as if they can besiege our lives.

 

The introduction of two negative commandments in this week’s parasha, the command not to fear and the command to go back when needed, both require an inherent self-awareness. Our parasha is encouraging us to recognise our personal limitations and to be sensitive to our own needs.

 

 

 

We have now entered the month of Elul. As we approach the marathon of a High Holy Day season, spent yet again not in the way we are used to, we must steel ourselves like an Olympic Athlete, or an ancient Israelite on the way into battle. We are standing at another moment of transition in our lives. And looking forward to the year ahead we are faced with yet more uncertainty.

 

This uncertainty can be compared to a virus, adding fuel to the anxiety burning inside us.

Maimonides states: One who exhibits fear is answerable for the loss of life that is occasioned by this attitude.

Whilst fear can help us to survive by triggering a response that moves us away from danger, it can also spread from person to person, inhibiting our thought processes and overwhelming our lives.

 

Perhaps the loss of life caused by fear that Maimonides is talking about is our own. The loss we will encounter if we give in to our fears and let them overwhelm us, or if we put ourselves in situations that feel uncomfortable to us, fuelling our own anxiety in an unnecessary way.

 

As we approach this High Holy Day season, lo tira, we should not feel afraid.

For we know we have the support of our community, who will stand alongside us in our personal battlefields, steeling us for the fight ahead.

And we know that we are obligated to return ourselves to safety if that is what we feel we need, to stay at home if that is where we find our comfort.

 

May this High Holy Days help us to find our inner strength. May we put ourselves and our needs first. And may we begin the New Year without fear, ready to face the uncertainty that lies ahead.