SO MOSES AND AARON WERE BROUGHT BACK TO PHARAOH AND HE SAID TO THEM, "GO AND WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD! WHO ARE THE ONES TO GO?" MOSES REPLIED, "WE WILL ALL GO, YOUNG AND OLD: WE WILL GO WITH OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS, OUR FLOCKS AND HERDS; FOR WE MUST OBSERVE THE LORD'S FESTIVAL." BUT HE SAID TO THEM, "THE LORD BE WITH YOU THE SAME AS I MEAN TO LET YOUR CHILDREN GO WITH YOU! CLEARLY, YOU ARE BENT ON MISCHIEF."

 (Shemot 10:8-10)

 

Who are the ones to go? Pharaoh said to Moses: Why are you so adamant about going? Do you think you will enter the Land? Who are the ones to go enter the Land? They will all die in the wilderness, except Joshua and Kalev!

Who are the ones to go The numerological equivalent of the phrase is "Kalev and [Joshua] bin Nun.

Moses answered him: We will all go, young and old - The [divine] edict [that the generation of those who left Egypt would die in the wilderness] does not apply to those under twenty years of age, nor to those over sixty years of age.

 (Ba'al Ha-Turim on Shemot 1:9)

 

We will all go, young and old - For they [the young] are obligated to worship, just as the adults are.

And also with our sons and daughters - even though they are not really worshippers.

In any case, we will all go with them, for we must observe the Lord's festival - and that involves joy, and it is impossible to rejoice without the sons and daughters, and we need the flocks and herds for festive sacrifices.

 (Ha'Amek Davar ad loc)

 

 

The lemon tree

In the yard of the house on Levi Street

In Bakka, known as Geulim

Reminds me

Of the flavor of the pear-tree my grand-father planted

In Malz, in the region of Gorodno

In Byelorussia.

A longing

Carried upon

Ancestral tales.

Its leaves have yellowed.

Remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt

Haim Rubenstein

"Historical memory" is an odd concept, something of an oxymoron. In the book, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean M. Auel attempts to develop the unconventional notion that memory is embedded in the human genome. Like a wine stain on a page of an old book, the genome's mutational changes may be thought of as a kind of memory, just as the Syria-Africa fault constitutes a "memory" of past geological events. The term "memory," as it is usually used in psychology or biology, refers to something else, and Auel intended to say that the heroine of her book remembers events from the distant past that are outside her experience, but she remembers them in the usual psycho-biological fashion, which is dependent upon processes such as the strengthening of connections between certain synapses in the brain.

Memory begins with certain actual, physiological events, which, theoretically, are susceptible to measurement. An event is experienced, creating an effect which is stored for some period of time during which it can be "called up" and re-examined. Memory is the key motivator of future action and decision making. Like a sophisticated computer, each living being builds itself a kind of information-bank based primarily upon previous experience, but also upon learning, deduction, and inference. That "bank" helps it with deliberations and decisions relating to a range of activities from blowing air over a cup of hot tea to the filing of a suit in a court of law.

The aforementioned notion, which we shall call "primal memory," does not refer to a collection of ideas founded in the immediate experience of the individual. Rather, its contents are received through various techniques which simulate real experiences. Their effect, the motivation caused by them, is similar to that caused by genuine memories, living memories. One might say that a collection of attitudes and systems of response are constructed which are based upon the experiences of others.

The historical "primal" memory is not connected to concrete experience, but rather combines education and tradition. The experience is transmitted from father to son, by word of mouth. It is carried on by mother's milk, beyond the generations. An oral tradition. The force of the experience reflects the strength of tradition, the might of he who retells it. Its main ingredient is not experience but self-identification. Identification with the teller's experience, with his trials and history. The son or grandson experiences the "original" experience, the virtual experience, by way of the story. He acquires the emotional elements which accompany the experience, while only living through its substitute. Such experiences are gained through symbolic acts, through ritual. Sometimes, such borrowed experiences are stronger than the original, more durable and less vulnerable to challenges. Many have witnessed how emotional the responses to a sensitive issue can be, even though the respondents have no direct experience of the matter discussed.

Old and enduring traditions develop techniques for transmitting foundational experiences and values through experiential and emotional means. Such techniques combine literature, holy writ, customs, and oral traditions which shape "foundational experience" common to the entire community, and which inculcate concepts and feelings into the very depths of life, setting them as the basis upon which are born the demands of society, the group ethos.

The Exodus from Egypt, as described in our parasha, offers an excellent example of this: On that very day, all the ranks of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt (Shemot 12:41). In this parasha and that following it, the historical description of the event is presented together with the symbols that came to represent it throughout the generations. The idea of memory and its various constituents are mentioned several times in the parasha. It is built around festive days: And that day shall be a commemoration and you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout your generations you shall celebrate it as an eternal ordinance (12:14), commandments: You shall observe the matzot, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time (12:17) and it shall be a sign on your hand and a symbol between your eyes, that the Lord took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand (13:16), and traditions: And when, in time , your son asks you, saying, "What does this mean?" you shall say to him, "It was with a mighty hand that the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the house of bondage (13:14).

The basic experience of the Exodus from Egypt is deeply embedded in customs, prayers, and traditions which mark it as the genesis of the Israelite nation. It is an integral part of every Hebrew's "Jewishness." It is woven both into the cycle of life and the cycle of liturgy.

The treatment of "primal memory" is an inseparable element of inter-human dignity. Part of the way in which one relates to a human being, to his values and rights, is through one's attitude towards his traditions and primal experiences, which are collected in his historical memory, his "primal memory."

When someone misuses the symbols which are rooted in historical memory, he undercuts the very basis of dialogue, i.e., mutual respect. Without respect, antagonists become enemies and words are replaced with blows. It is easy to become impassioned in public debate, especially in connection with fundamental issues. It is tempting to let historical comparisons slip into dramatic flights of associative thinking. Such comparisons damage the common primal memory. They trample the opponent's honor underfoot. A great deal of caution is required to identify the "landmines" buried in the field of debate. They are landmines whose explosion is irreversible. "Anyone who causes his opponent to become pale [with humiliation] has no place in the World to Come," because there is no way to return words that have been spoken. By their very nature they are irretrievable.

You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants (12:24). We may apply the principle regarding the Exodus from Egypt to our everyday lives. An institution is required for all time. For an unceasing way of life. Through three verses which constitute one continuous passage, the parasha explains the proper attitude towards the stranger, announces God's command, and recalls the primal memory:

There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you. And all the Israelites did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. That very day the Lord freed the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop. (12:49-51)

Treating the other as we would treat ourselves is a fundamental value for us as Jews. With it, we continue to leave Egypt for all eternity.

Haim Rubenstein, virtual departer from Egypt

 

 

And there was darkness upon the land of Egypt

The word va-yehi [and there was] points to the existence of something. Such language cannot apply to natural darkness, which is a kind of deficiency rather than an existent. That is why existence was not attributed to darkness in the creation story. And so we learn that this darkness [in Egypt] was different from natural darkness... That is why Scripture says and there was darkness, that is to say that a new thing had ben created which made it dark for them...

That is why darkness came in response to their having worked the noble people harshly, as if to say: You oppressed Israel, thinking that the Lord did not see, now you shall be afflicted with darkness so that you may not see. You held My people like prisoners, now the darkness will imprison you, for no one will be able to get up from where he is. You listened to Pharaoh, who said, let them not pay attention to false promises (5:9), now you shall be frightened by false visions.

 (R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio on Shemot 10:21-22).

 

Why was Hametz [Leavened Bread] Prohibited only for One Day of the Passover of the Exodus?

Rabbi Yossi Ha-Galili says: From where do we learn that leavened bread was prohibited for only one day on the Passover of the Exodus? It is learnt from the verse: no leavened bread shall be eaten (13:3), and immediately afterwards [it is written]: This day you go free (13:4).

(Pesahim 96b)

 

[The prohibition of] hametz was only observed for one day of the Passover of the Exodus, and so they wrote that it was not observed as a festive day of rest. In my opinion, this came to tell them something of value for future generations as well, to demonstrate the perfection of His commandments, may He be blessed. For all of the nations make the day of victory, the day of their enemies' downfall, into a victory-holiday. Not so for Israel! They do not rejoice over their enemies' downfall. They will not celebrate that joy, as it says If your enemy falls, do not exult; if he trips, let your heart not rejoice. Lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and avert His wrath from him. (Proverbs 2:17-18). A superior man does not rejoice at his enemy's downfall, since such rejoicing is evil in the eyes of the Lord, and one should hate that which is evil in the Lord's eyes. That is why it is not mentioned in connection to the Passover, the Festival of Matzot, that He afflicted the Egyptians, but rather only that he took the Israelites out of Egypt. However, there is no festival or holiday in Israel celebrating the downfall of enemies.

(R. Meir Simha Mi-Dvinsk's Meshekh Hokhmah on Shemot 12:16)

 

Readers Respond

(An exchange on Avner Ro'í's article from our Vayigash edition)

 

Avner Ro'i correctly identifies the privileges of the Egyptian priesthood as a distortion of society, unlike the "biblical economic plan," whose ideological tendency is more egalitarian.

When Avner Ro'i contrasts the biblical economic plan with today's socio-economic situation, he criticizes, quite justifiably, the school of thought which endorses the strengthening of the owners of capital, and he believes it to represent a great danger. On the other hand, he also criticizes "the proletariat which gave rise to the workers' committees... in order to improve the lot of wage-earning employees have claimed special privileges for themselves. Any attempt to limit those privileges is met by strikes which inflict serious damage to the nation's economy."

Workers' committees do not send the workers out to strike and struggle in order to protect their own (the committees') privileges, but rather in response to the current government's cruel legislation, which tramples workers' rights. Its whole goal is to demolish organized labor and move the workers out of the labor market and into the slave market. It should be recalled that the last strike organized by the Histadrut was a strike of "powerful" dock-workers, government employees, etc., but it was aimed at helping the employees of the local councils, who had not been paid for a long time. The strikers personally sustained their own loss of wages in solidarity with the workers who had suffered an injustice that cried out to the very heavens.

Every labor struggle is painful and damaging, but workers have no weapon at their disposal but strike-action.

It is a shame that despite his noble stand against injustice, Avner Ro'i has internalized the ideology of the owners of capital.

Daniella Yoel

Jerusalem

 

Avner Ro'I responds:

In my article, I wrote about the significance of the "law of the priesthood" in Egypt for situations involving the abuse of privilege. Of course, there is no doubt that when their intentions are pure, those who loyally serve the public are to be blessed.

 

 

 

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