At the conclusion of Parsha Shemos, Moshe and Aaron are confronted, upon exiting Pharoh’s Palace, by the B’nai Yisrael who are in deeper despair than before because of the increased workload which resulted from Pharoh’s fury at Moshe’s first effort to secure their freedom and exit from Mitzrayim.
Our Parsha begins with the dialogue which Moshe Rebbeinu has with Hashem prior to again speaking to the B’nai Yisrael. And so, after
Hashem rebukes Moshe for his complaint and reassures him that redemption is at hand, Moshe again addresses the B’nai Yisrael as to his meeting with Pharoh.
“And Moshe spoke so [Hashem’s promise of imminent Redemption] to the B’nai Yisrael and they did not listen to Moshe for anguish of spirit
and hard work.” (Sefer Shemos, Perek 6, pusuk 9)
Rabbi Artscroll cites two interpretations; one was held by “most commentators that the verse explains that their negative attitude was due not to lack of faith, but to the difficult physical and emotional circumstances under which they labored.” (Artscroll Stone Chumash, Sefer Shemos, Perek 6, pusuk 9, page 320)
The second interpretation was held by Sforno that Moshe’s message did not evoke in the people a faith in G’d as Avraham had. (Breish’t Perek 15, pusuk 6) “As a result, they lost the priviledge of going to the Promised Land and their children were the ones for whom the promise … was fulfilled. The reason for their failure was their insufficiency of spirit. The pusuk concludes, however, that had it not been for the hard work, they would have overcome their impatience and heeded Moshe’s appeal.” Artscroll Stone Chumash, Sefer Shemos, Perek 6, pusuk 9, page 321)
To these interpretations, this author would then add recollection of a vort from Shem Mishmuel who speaks about the disconnection between intellect and vocalization, and the heart and neshama which took place during the enslavement in Egypt. According to the understanding of this vort, only once the B’nai Yisrael were redeemed, could the circuit; the connection between thought and it’s vocalization and the heart and neshama be completed and the B’nai Yisrael then vocalize it’s deepest, heartfelt words and faith.
How does the above relate to our contemporary times? How does the disconnect of the Jews in Mitzrayim relate to today’s modern-day Israeli disconnect from their land and from Judaism?
For most contemporary Israelis, the horrendous Israeli secular education system has inculcated generations of Israelis with a disconnection from anything Jewish such that the current generation does not know why it is here, sees nothing Kadosh, Holy about the Land of Israel or any part thereof and thus can’t be bothered with anything not directly connected with their getting through the next day, week or month. The Israeli secular system seemingly has succeeded in creating the New Jew, the breeding ground for Emmanuel Feldman’s quote from the Book of Isaiah in a recent article in Jerusalem Post; “Your leaders have become plunderers, associates of thieves, lovers of bribery, pursuers of payoffs.” (1:23).
To brainwashed secular Israelis, the Jews who live in Yehuda and the Shomron; Kiryat Sefer or Beitar Illit or the Jews who lived in Gush Katif are objects of derision and disdain because Secular Israel holds that Israel stole the land from the Arabs and that religious Jews usurped the land as their own. Never mind that, as one person opined in an email to this author, that “the Right should start protesting the fact that a lot of LEFT WING areas, like Ramat Aviv and probably Savyon, are built on Arab lands!”
To Yoseph Q. Secular Israel, Hashem, Jewish history and connection to the Land seems abstract, not real, not tangible and thus meaningless compared with the government’s forced daily matzav of making ends meet and putting food on the table sa well as the government’s forced feeding of Leftist agenda media drivle.
The pintele yid seems too far beneath the surface of many. This seems true even though, at various levels according to statistics, various traditions of Judaism i.e. fasting on Yom Kippur, cleaning the house of chometz on Pesach, lighting Shabbos candles, etc. are kept by many or most Israelis.
This generation’s youth know not how to recite even the Shema in their native Iv’rit peh. And they do not know their history, not 5767 years of Jewish history, not even the events and personalities of their nearly 59 years of contemporary Israeli history. Add to that, he’s up to his eyeballs in red, that’s the red of the bank minus and Ma’as Hachnasah (Tax) bite.
And so, the average Israeli lacks erudition and does not know from the medium of internet, where there still exists the freedom of exchange of ideas. Yosef Q. Secular Israeli is a TV junkie who’s changeable ideology is spoon-fed and inculcated to him by the likes of Shelly Yechemovitch, Ya’ir Lapid, etc.
So how or what do we do as a first step toward confronting Israelis with reality when the heart and soul are disconnected from Jewish intellect, knowledge and speech?
The brainwashing and inculcation of secular Israelis seems soo complete that the common-sense demographics argument, that in truth the Jewish population is growing faster that the Arabs in Israel and that the Israeli government relies for it’s census info on bogus “pa (sic)” demographics statistics reflective of a 1.5 million person gap with the “pa (sic) stats being grossly overstated, eludes the intellectual grasp of most Israelis.
Sadly, these facts are not reaching most Israelis for lack of erudition on the internet, government interference and censorship as well as news boycotting by the leftist agendized Israeli print and electronic media.
But even if the demographic facts were to surface and penetrate the consciousness of Israelis, would they then even wake up and get fired up at the length and breadth of their government’s gross deception?
And it seems that substantial Chareidi segments, perhaps even the majority of Chareidim similarly suffer a disconnect from the Land of Israel. They know that they live when the Shechinah (the direct connection with Hashem) resides, they pray and learn Torah but lack the the third dimension, the translation of tefillah and learning as well as Chesed into the necessary actions to confront the evil regime which acts to undermine Torah at every turn. It will be interesting to watch as litigation procedes in the courts regarding such Chareidi areas as Kiryat Sefer and Beitar Illit to see if the Chareidim put their prayers and learning into action — to physically confront the regime if necessary, or whether they will cut and run if the Israeli High Court of Justice overrides our inalienable Divine right to the Land of israel, including Kiryat Sefer and Beitar Illit.
May it be in this year and in all future years, that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif — the vast majority still seeking their permanent places, our brethren in the North who have had their lives disrupted, been displaced from their homes, their property in many cases destroyed by Katushyas, as well as our dear brother, Jonathan Pollard and the lives of the 3 captive Chayalim are central in our thoughts, prayers, chassadim and actions. May this abominable period of history called hitnatkut be as a bad dream, be retified — our brethren made whole and may hitnatkut be expunged from collective consciousness yet it’s evil never forgotten.
May we be zocha in this coming year to take giant steps toward fulfilling Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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