On Wednesday we inaugurated Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States marking, once more, a peaceful transition of power from one administration to another. Two weeks prior, a mob descended on the Congress of the United States, disrupted its certification of the Electoral College vote, and attempted through violence to prevent this peaceful transition.
In our Torah portion this week we begin the Exodus from Egypt. Pharaoh continues to resist God’s will to free the Israelite slaves. He believes that might makes right and that his will and vision can trump reality. God visits three final plagues on Egypt: locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn. Before the Angel of Death passes through Egypt, on the night of the Passover, Moses instructs the Israelites, “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.” In this manner the Israelites mark their houses and remain in them to avoid death.
But why is this action even necessary; can’t an omniscient God discriminate between Egyptians and Israelites? Commenting on this passage, Rashi (12th Century Germany) comments, “once permission is given to the destroying angel to kill, he makes no distinction between righteous and wicked.”
Rashi is teaching us that there are forces that, when unleashed, are indiscriminately destructive. There are those in our society–politicians, social media platforms, news networks, and individuals–who have stoked a politics of resentment and grievance for years as a way to acquire and maintain wealth and power. They may not have imagined that their actions would lead to a democratic crisis in our country or an attempted coup d’etat but, as this week’s Torah portion teaches us, we can never understand the potential for destruction even for a good cause, like human freedom.
How much the more so resentment and grievance are cultivated in the service of racism, anti-Semitism and authoritarian government. Our Torah teaches us that lies and self-deception are dangerous and destructive. Redemption is achieved by seeking truth and maximizing human dignity.
Bo, Exodus 10:1-13:16, Parshat Ha Shavua for Shabbat, Saturday, January 23, 2021
January 22, 2021 by Dean Kertesz • Drashot
On Wednesday we inaugurated Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States marking, once more, a peaceful transition of power from one administration to another. Two weeks prior, a mob descended on the Congress of the United States, disrupted its certification of the Electoral College vote, and attempted through violence to prevent this peaceful transition.
In our Torah portion this week we begin the Exodus from Egypt. Pharaoh continues to resist God’s will to free the Israelite slaves. He believes that might makes right and that his will and vision can trump reality. God visits three final plagues on Egypt: locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn. Before the Angel of Death passes through Egypt, on the night of the Passover, Moses instructs the Israelites, “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.” In this manner the Israelites mark their houses and remain in them to avoid death.
But why is this action even necessary; can’t an omniscient God discriminate between Egyptians and Israelites? Commenting on this passage, Rashi (12th Century Germany) comments, “once permission is given to the destroying angel to kill, he makes no distinction between righteous and wicked.”
Rashi is teaching us that there are forces that, when unleashed, are indiscriminately destructive. There are those in our society–politicians, social media platforms, news networks, and individuals–who have stoked a politics of resentment and grievance for years as a way to acquire and maintain wealth and power. They may not have imagined that their actions would lead to a democratic crisis in our country or an attempted coup d’etat but, as this week’s Torah portion teaches us, we can never understand the potential for destruction even for a good cause, like human freedom.
How much the more so resentment and grievance are cultivated in the service of racism, anti-Semitism and authoritarian government. Our Torah teaches us that lies and self-deception are dangerous and destructive. Redemption is achieved by seeking truth and maximizing human dignity.