In
this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Shemot, we move from the Book of
Genesis, to the Book of Exodus; from stories about the founding
family of the Jewish people, to the “Am Bnei Yisrael,” the nation
of Israel in Galut, exile. And, who calls the Jews a nation first?
The Pharaoh of Egypt, himself (Exodus 1:9).
The story of Shemot – Moses in Egypt
Let’s review the basic story. Pharaoh becomes paranoid that the
Jews might become a fifth column against them, in case an enemy
nation invades Egypt. He decides to recruit them for “Egyptian
national service,” read slavery, to better control them, maybe even
stop their population growth. Since that doesn’t work, he carries
out an infanticide (ordering baby boys drowned), to decimate the
Jewish male population.
Yocheved, Moshe’s mother, after giving birth, puts baby Moses,
in a basket amongst the reeds by the Nile river, hoping to save him.
He’s found by Pharaoh’s daughter, brought home, raised in the
palace, yet surreptitiously nursed by his mother, and grows up
knowing he’s a Hebrew.
Murder and flight
When he gets older, Pharaoh appoints him chamberlain over the
palace. One day he goes out to check out the situation of the Hebrew
slaves, and sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jew. He kills the
Egyptian, and buries him in the sand. The next day he sees two Jews
fighting (Dathan and Abiram), and when he tries to intervene, one of
them asks him, if he’s planning on killing him like he killed the
Egyptian? Realizing that the murder is well known, Moshe gets scared,
and when he finds out that Pharaoh heard about the killing, Moshe
decides to flee Egypt.
Moshe goes to Midian, and rests by a well. Jethro’s daughters
come to the well to water their father’s sheep, are harassed by
other shepherds and saved by Moshe. They go home and tell Jethro that
an “Egyptian” man helped them. Moshe lives with them, and later
he marries one of Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah (Exodus, chapters 1
and 2).
Another lesson from Shemot – did Moses give a
true Jewish answer?
Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook was known to remind people, about a teaching
of the Rebbe of Ostravtza (Ostrowiec), R. Meir Yechiel HaLevi
Halstock. The Rebbe taught, when people meet and ask each other where
they’re from, a Jew should always reply, “I come from Eretz
Yisrael, the Land of Israel.”
Rav Tzvi Yehudah explained that there’s a midrash (Deuteronomy
Rabbah 2:5), that criticizes Moshe in comparison to Joseph. Joseph
identified with Eretz Yisrael. He told the people in prison, “I was
kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews.” (Genesis 40:15). Therefore
he merited to be buried in Israel. Moshe, by contrast, didn’t
acknowledge his homeland in the incident with Jethro’s daughters,
when they told Jethro, “an Egyptian saved us,” Moshe remained
silent. Therefore Moshe didn’t merit to be buried in Eretz Yisrael.
Jews belong to Israel, not necessarily where they
happen to live
The Rebbe of Ostravtza asked, why the midrash finds fault with
Moshe for not saying he was from Eretz Yisrael? After all, Moshe was
born in, and grew up in Egypt, the exile (much like many Jews around
the world today). The Rebbe answered, that because of God’s promise
to give the Land of Israel to Abraham’s descendants, the Jewish
people, Moshe belongs to the Land, he is inextricably connected to
it. And so are all Jews today.
Rav Tzvi Yehudah explained that because of the long exile, Jews
have become accustomed to think that life in Galut, exile, is normal.
They think of themselves as Americans, Russians, French, Brazilian,
etc. and forget that Eretz Yisrael is their natural, healthy,
Divinely-intended place to live.
A Shemot lesson for today: rise of anti-Semitism
and anti-Israelism
One only needs to mention attacks on Jews in Pittsburgh,
Poway, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Monsey, Toronto, Paris, Prague, London,
Berlin, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Uman, and on, and
on, and on…
Do I make my point?
In November 2019, the FBI released data that showed that Jews and
Jewish institutions, were the overwhelming target of religion-based
hate crimes in 2018, as they have been every year since 1991, in
America.
With rising anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism worldwide in the last
several years, increasingly violent and deadly attacks on Jews have
occurred, including in that most “safe of places,” “it couldn’t
happen here,” “the Goldene Medina,” America.
Its not just the neo-Nazis and far-right who are increasingly
attacking Jews in America, but also their “friends” on the
left,including too far gone BDS, pro-Palestine Jews themselves.
Blacks, Muslims, and everyday non-Jews are also getting into the act.
When are the Jews going to become Jew-Woke?
Shemot continues – burning bush, first
interview
D’Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt.
The parsha continues with Moshe getting his revelation at the
burning bush. God sends him back to Egypt, to tell the Hebrews that
the redemption is coming soon. Met by his brother Aaron on the way,
they return to Egypt and tell the Jewish elders the good news, “And
the people believed. And they heard that God had remembered the
Children of Israel, was concerned about them, and had seen their
affliction…” (Exodus chapters 3 and 4).
Moshe and Aaron then go, as commanded by God, to Pharaoh, and tell
him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my
people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the
wilderness.’”
Pharaoh answers them, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him
and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel
go.”
The Pharaoh doubles down
Pharaoh denies that there is any power greater than himself.
Pharaoh claimed to be a god himself. Not yet grasping what’s really
taking place, he begins his fatal plunge into total denial of the new
reality about to unfold before his eyes, that will lead to the
destruction of his country.
D’Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt.
He lashes back at them, “Moshe and Aaron, why are you bothering
the people from their labor? Get back to your work!” Pharaoh then
orders that straw be withheld from the Hebrew brick makers. He tells
the Egyptian taskmasters to let them go and gather straw for
themselves, but that they must keep to the quota, or else.
Shemot – The going gets rough, then and now
The Jewish foremen are then beaten for not keeping to the quota of
bricks produced, and they complain to Pharaoh, about the lack of
straw. He replies, “Lazy, that’s what you are, lazy! That’s why
you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Now get
to work. You won’t be given any straw, but you must produce your
full quota of bricks.”
They leave Pharaoh and find Moshe and Aaron waiting to meet them, they curse Moshe and Aaron saying,
May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.
So quickly has the joy of promised redemption, turned to
bitterness and disgust with Moshe and Aaron. Similarly, the joy of
Israeli independence in 1948, and the liberation of Jerusalem in
1967, has evaporated for many Jews in the exile, to be replaced by
anger toward Israel, and the so-called “occupation.”
Real message of Shemot – God says, “Just wait and see!”
Moshe himself then returns to God and asks, “Why Lord, why have
You brought trouble on this people? Is this why You sent me? Ever
since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he’s done evil to
this people, and You have not rescued Your People at all.”
The vision of redemption is fading quickly, even for the reluctant
messenger, Moshe. God then answers him, “Now you will see what I
will do to Pharaoh, because of My Strong Hand he will let them go;
because of My Mighty Hand he will drive them out of his country.”
(Exodus chapter 5 and 6:1)
Shemot today: do Jews have a hard time believing?
First came bitter slavery, then the hope of redemption, then like
the birth pangs of labor before the baby is born, even greater
suffering. After such great stress, the Jewish people in Egypt focus
exclusively on their suffering and it’s “causes,” Moshe and
Aaron; rather than the end goal, Redemption, Freedom, leaving the
Egyptian Exile and return home to Eretz Yisrael.
Just like the denial of the Jews in Egypt during the Redemptive Process, so too, many Jews worldwide, since 1948, have denied the Redemption taking place in our days, with the rise of the State of Israel, and the freedom to come back to the homeland.
As Rav Tzvi Yehudah said, Jews became accustomed to think that
life in Galut, exile, is normal, even with the increasing
anti-Semitism, brutality and murder taking place there. They’re in
denial that Eretz Yisrael is their natural, healthy,
Divinely-intended place to live.
D’Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt!
Biography
Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a
Master’s Degree specializing in International Relations, Political
Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous
news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest
articles can also be read on his archive: The
Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
© 2020/5780 Pasko
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