We have had a turbulent week in every way. To escape for a moment from the oppressive and stressful feeling of the previous week, I will begin with a sermon from David.
One of the important families in Jerusalem, the Holy City, had a cute little baby born after years of watching.
The parents, curious to know whether their son would be a Torah scholar or a businessman who would be respected by his people, gave him the "Moses Test." They opened a book of Torah and a checkbook in front of him and waited to see what he would choose.
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The baby, a kosher and pure Jew, took the Pentateuch, and for a moment the excited parents held their breath. This child will grow up to be a Ben Torah scholar, they mused among themselves.
While speaking, the baby also picked up the checkbook. The parents were momentarily confused, but they didn't let this anecdote bother them.
""He will be the head of the yeshiva," they decided.
AAnd more souls
Last Friday, I was interviewed on Judy Shalom-Nir-Mozes's program on Channel 2 about Haredi women and the election campaign. I tried to be clear, to the point, and pragmatic. But the interviewer insisted on excluding me and most Haredi women who think like me as primitive and dark.
My attempt to glorify women in general and Haredi women in particular, and to make it clear that the Knesset in its current state is not a place for women's blessed activities, while providing examples that Haredi women are not discriminated against, are not dark, and are not primitive, was met with a one-sided attack by the esteemed interviewer, to the point that a woman, Minister Silvan Shalom, sent her a message asking her to stop attacking me.
To her credit, she read the message and thus sealed the interview. Sylvain wrote to her to accept the fact that there are women who think differently from her and that this is their belief, thus stopping the continuation of the attack.
On Shabbat, as I studied the weekly Torah portion and repeated the story of the pure faith of the Hebrew midwives, I was reminded of this interview and the roles of a Jewish woman: to increase light and holiness in the world and to bring more and more Jewish souls into the world.
At the end of Shabbat, when I was exposed to the horror reports from Paris, I heard, among other things, the words of one of the Knesset members, and I was filled with a desire to act to prevent her from being elected again, not because she is a woman, but because she is a fifth column within the Jewish people.
Will the whole daughter be saved?
The Book of Exodus opens a new era in the history of the Jewish people. After we have finished the "Book of Exodus," the Book of Genesis; after we have learned the story of the fathers and mothers from whom the Jewish people were created, we begin the Book of Exodus with the story of the Hebrew midwives and the story of the righteous women of Israel who did not allow the slavery of Egypt to enslave their souls, and who labored hard to bring into the world another Jewish generation, in complete contradiction to the logical concept in the era of "every newborn son shall be cast into the river.".
As expressed in Miriam's words to her father Amram: "Pharaoh only decreed for the males, and you decreed for the males and the females.".
This perception, a clear and lucid Jewish feminine perception, which does not consider the limitations of the world and acts contrary to logic and in accordance with faith, is what has characterized the women of Israel throughout the generations. From the days of the mothers, who were all prophetesses, to the present day.
Pharaoh's decree, "Every daughter shall be put to death," was more severe than the decree, "You shall cast her out into the light." Because Pharaoh wanted the daughters of Israel to be educated in a pagan Egyptian education - "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" - and therefore he wanted to live them. He did not say not to cast them into the light, but commanded to live them, to give them the animals of Egypt, by virtue of impurity. To put them into the gates of impurity.
But we all know how it ended... Thanks to righteous women, our ancestors were redeemed from Egypt.
Argue, don't break up!
And another point to think about based on the last section: When Moses warns a Jew who is hitting his neighbor and calls him "wicked," he finds himself afraid and flees from Egypt.
Why? Because he asks himself how redemption is possible for a people who have people who slander and speak evil of others. "And Moses saw and said, 'Surely the thing is known.'" Indeed, it is known why the children of Israel are not worthy of redemption.
Moses is not concerned about the fact that the Israelites are one moment before entering the gate of the sanctuary, the gates of impurity. He is also not moved by the fact that they have not changed their name, language, or clothing. The fact that there are people among them who are slanderers, people who speak slander, is what bothers him.
why?
Because he understands that the lack of unity among the people of Israel is the most serious thing.
Idolatry cannot have the same effect as slander can. The Jew is holy in his own right, even if neither we nor you have fallen into the gates of impurity.
But when a Jew holds himself apart, separates himself from his fellow man, he declares that he does not belong to the general soul of the Knesset of Israel, whose strength lies in its unity, and this is what caused Moses our rabbi to say that "it was indeed destined," the reason for the exile became known.
The message from the words of Moses is clear, poignant, and sharp - there is nothing worse than division among the people of Israel. We must remember this especially in times of elections, and realize that we are all one people and our strength lies in our unity. We can argue. We can disagree with each other, but we must not separate from each other.
No ideology, let alone any theology, justifies a division in the people of Israel.
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe | The writer is the owner of "My Choice", an event host, lecturer, and radio broadcaster. | For comments: [email protected]
