Welcome, again, to Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa and based in Mason City. This week we begin a new "book" of the Torah, Shemot. The non-Jew would know this as Exodus. Shemot means "names" as in, "And these are the names of the Children of Israel who were coming to Egypt with Jacob... (Ex. 1:1). Shemot is also the name of this weeks Parsha (Ex.1:1 - 6:1). My deepest thanks to Rabbi Yitchak Zweig for these thought starters.
Life in Egypt
This week's portion tells a story often repeated throughout history: The Jews become prominent and numerous. There arises a new king in Egypt “who did not know Joseph” (meaning he chose not to know Joseph or recognize any debt of gratitude). He proclaims slavery for the Jewish people “...lest they may increase so much, that if there is war, they will join our enemies and fight against us, driving (us) from the land.” (Ex. 1:10)
This is the root of Antisemitism. Pharaoh was the first person to identify the descendants of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as a nation. Incredibly, IN THE VERY SAME BREATH he also characterizes them as being “a problem.” Thus, we became Egypt’s “Jewish Problem;” a label that has stuck and tragically followed us through three millennia of existence.
Pharaoh’s solution, as we know, was to enslave the Jews. This was the beginning of a horrific trend of persecution, expulsion, and extermination suffered by the Jewish people for thousands of years, culminating in the “Final Solution” to this “Problem” put forth by the evil Adolph Hitler – may his name be eternally blotted out.
Digging Deeper
In order to understand this issue a little deeper we must examine how the Torah characterizes it. This week’s Torah reading includes a fascinating insight; “And they (the Egyptians) were disgusted because of the Children of Israel” (Ex. 1:12).
The famous Biblical commentator known as Rashi explains this verse to mean: “They (the Egyptians) were disgusted with their lives.” He goes on to explain that the Hebrew word for “disgusted” comes from the Hebrew word “thorn” and the Talmud explains that the Children of Israel were like “thorns in their eyes”.
These seem to be two unrelated issues. Having a thorn in one’s eye would clearly be painful, but what does this have to do with being disgusted with one’s life?
From here we see an incredible insight, one from which we may derive the true root cause of antisemitism. What frustrated the Egyptians about the Jews? The Torah states it very clearly: “The more they oppressed them the greater the Jews grew in number and in strength” (ibid. 1:12).
Watching the Jews ascend to ever greater heights, no matter how poorly they were being treated, was supremely painful to the Egyptians. Why was it so painful to them? Because seeing the Jewish people flourish even under the most difficult circumstances made them “disgusted with their own lives.” The Jews transcending their oppression was like having “a thorn in their eye.”
Perhaps the real reason that Jews have been tortured, exiled, and massacred for thousands of years is because our success in each and every place we have been has made the local population feel terrible about themselves and highlighted their own inadequacies.
Today
The Jewish people – wherever they were – built Jewish communities and social infrastructure. As new immigrants they worked extremely hard and sacrificed a lot so that their future, and the futures of their children, would be secure. Coupled with a mentality of being industrious and contributing to the greater good, they also established powerful systems of commerce. Thus, after a couple of generations, they became quite successful and the local populace took notice and began to resent them. Does this sound like early 1900s China, Eastern Europe before the Holocaust, or present day United States? Today, we hear cries about how “Jews own Hollywood,” yet the industry was built by immigrant Jews who weren’t allowed into other professions. When looking at the pattern, it’s scary to think about what might come next.
The Lesson
I will leave you with a parting thought on the subject. As we know, everything that happen in this world is ultimately decreed by G-d. We must ask, what is G-d trying to teach us by all these recent incidents of antisemitism?
Consider how when a nation gets attacked by an outside force it inevitably draws the people together in unified bond (think of the patriotism following 9/11 or how the war with the Russians has united the Ukrainians). I believe the message that we need to internalize is that we must stop the petty infighting between ourselves, our communities, and our people. Because if we don’t create a unified nation, G-d will surely send an enemy to attack us that will then unite us – but it will likely come at a high cost.
So let us make the effort on our own to end all the petty arguments and divisiveness within our people, and usher in G-d’s ultimate redemption of the Jewish people and the entire world.
Thank you for reading and Shabbat Shalom!
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