Speaking truth to power

 Bo

Ex.10:1-13:16

 

Précis: God sends additional plagues (locusts and darkness) and alerts Moses that the 10^th and final plague will follow. God instructs Moses on the institution of the Passover. Then, the final plague, the death of the first born, is wrecked upon Egypt. The Israelites, accompanied by the “mixed multitudes,” leave Egypt, carrying with them the “spoils of Egypt” given to them by the Egyptians. The parasha ends with a repetition of the laws regarding Passover.

 

Ex. 10:8 “How long shall this one be a snare to us? Let the men go to worship Adonai, their God! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?”

 

Pharaoh’s advisors, united in their dismay of what they see as a result of the “heart-hardened” ruler, plead with their god/king to allow the Israelites to depart. He again refuses.

Perhaps there are modern lessons to be learned here. When a leader ignores the information and advice received from the most trusted advisors and aids, dismissing the information as “fake news” or lies, the leader has failed as a leader, and has failed those he rules.

Second, a leader’s advisors and aides are obligated to speak truth to power, even when that power emerges from a Pharaonic “god/king” who appears to have the power of life or death over the obsequious advisors.

Third, we must always keep in mind that a leader is a human being with the faults inherent in being human, lest we fall into a cultish trap which causes us to support a leader whose policies are, in actuality, adverse to our own personal interest, let alone those of our country.

Tolerance

 Vaera

Ex. 6:2 - 9:35

 

Précis: God reiterates His intention to free the Israelites from bondage and to create a covenant with them. Moses goes back to Pharaoh to seek release of the Israelites. Pharaoh refuses and we see the first of the fabled plagues: blood, frogs, fleas, beetles, cattle disease, boils, and hail. Pharaoh relents after each plague begins, deciding to let the people go, but then God “hardens Pharaoh’s heart” and he refuses to allow them to leave.

 

Ex. 6:6 “I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from their burdens; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements.”

            God promises to relieve the Jewish People from their “burdens.” As noted in Etz Hayim, the Hebrew word for “burdens” (“sivlot”) can also be translated as “tolerance,” so that the verse might be read, “I will deliver you from being tolerant of the Egyptians.”

            There is no doubt in the text that the Israelites were “tolerant” of bondage. After all, they ask Moses several times to return to Egypt after the Exodus, when faced with perils. This suggests to me that we need to be free of the slavery of technology and social media. We cannot be tolerant of those facets of life which we should abhor, which interfere with the practice of our faith, which threaten the welfare of others, or which deny the humanity of all people. We must never tolerate hate.