Congregation Beth Shalom

Torah Portion: Bo
Book of Exodus
Chaps. 10:1-13:16
January 27, 2012

Did Moses free the Israelites from Egypt, or did the Egyptians expel them?  After the 10th and final plague (slaying of the first-born Egyptians), the Torah writes, “The Egyptians urged the [Israelites] on, impatient to have them leave the country, for they said, [if they don’t leave] we’ll all be dead (Exo. 12:33).”  Sound familiar?  The Israelites must leave Egypt.  Why?  Because they were deemed responsible for the terrible deaths occurring among the Egyptian population.  What about Pharaoh and his courtiers? Don’t they bear some responsibility?

Here is a “new twist” on an old story:  Maybe Moses’ great contribution was not the freeing of Israelite slaves, but re-directing their attention after having been blamed for the plagues and expelled from Egypt.  Moses’ and God kept their spirits up with the promise of a new land where they would be the captains of their own fate. No longer slaves, but a free people guided by a set of moral/ethical standards.  They would enter the “Promised Land” and establish the first Jewish commonwealth.  However, as we know too well, this would not be the end of the story.

Since the beginning of the Common Era, Jews have been expelled from almost every European country and, again, from Egypt.  Between 1290 c.e. and 1956, Jews were forced out of England, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Sicily, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, and Egypt (to name a few!).  These were not just a few families, but entire populations. Why were they expelled?  During difficult economic times, Jews were blamed for the financial distress, the “Black Plague” pandemic of the 14th century was blamed on the Jews, and so on.  Finally, on January 20, 1942, the Nazi leadership decided expulsion was an age-old method proven ineffective.  With regard to the Jews, what was needed was a “Final Solution.”

In fact, each previous expulsion was meant as a final solution to the Jewish problem.  And each time, the Jew-in the spirit of the exodus from Egypt-took their people, language, literature, and Torah to a new place.  The Jew, and his/her message, will not go away!

What is this indestructible message?  One of the best-known stories in the Talmud tells of a non-Jew who approached the great sage Hillel and asked him, “Can you summarize all of Judaism for me while I stand on one foot?”  Hillel answered, “What you don’t like, don’t do to others.  That’s it; the rest is commentary.  Now go and study the commentary!”  Rabbi Harold Kushner writes, “Hillel understood that the essence of Judaism was not just a matter of obeying God or pleasing God. . . .The essence of Judaism is creating holiness in the way we relate to this world and to the people in it.”  To dictators and despots, this can be a dangerous message.  Yet, it is this message transmitted in the way a Jew lives, loves, and learns that continues as an “Ohr La’goyim”-a light unto all nations!

Rabbi Howard Siegel