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Torah Portion -
shemos
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Written by Rafi Jager
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I would like to start this weeks Dvar Torah, by taking a glimps into an event of last weeks - one word in particular!
When Yaakov calls his children to give them his final brocho, we know that Hashem prevented him to reveal the future. However Nesivos Shalom said that the word "He'asfu" was the hidden secret, remedy and cause for Geula!. We have to be united, like they were told back then by Yaakov's bed!
Now to this weeks Parsha - and the link!
You might think that Pharoh's decision to enslave the Jews was financially-motivated; that he saw the bnei Yisrael as a cheap source of labor to build grand edifices for his pleasure, from Pitom to the Pyramids.
But the truth is that Pharoh was less concerned with building up Egypt's cities than he was with breaking down our spirit. And so chazal tell us he had the "Hebrew slaves" construct "Arey Miskanot," literally, "pitiful cities." They were constructed in such a fashion that they would crumble to the ground soon after they were built, thus demoralizing the workers, who now could take no pride in their work, and had to start over again on what was clearly just "busy work."
Furthermore, after Moshe and Aron demand freedom for the Jews, Pharoh "counter-attacks" by ordering the slaves to not only meet their usual daily quota, but to collect their own straw, as well. He sets up a system of taskmasters and Jewish foremen, who will enforce the new law.
Clearly, this new system will almost surely result in less bricks being fashioned, and less productivity. But that does not really concern Pharoh; he has a whole different agenda. Pharoh understands that by creating two "classes" of Jews -- slaves and overseers, labor and management -- he will be able to foment strife and disunity among the Jewish people. The slave will resent another Jew telling him what to do; the overseer will look down on the common slave as "beneath" him in status. It is the classic ploy of "divide and conquer."
But Pharoh's plan is foiled. The overseers, though tortured, refuse to break ranks and turn on their fellow Jews. They will later become the nation's leaders, for they recognize this eternal truth: United, we Jews can never be vanquished.
So e did indeed take to heart what our forefather b lessed us with back then. Our elders then practiced it...now its up to us in this generation to uphold that fact, and gather together as ONE!
Good Shabbos!
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