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- People like purposeless bugs – teemed. Joseph had set up a society without ownership, the producers were the Jews. The Egyptians were neither good (creative) nor holy (connected to the timelessness of divinity although their mummies show they were very concerned about being physically timeless) and so they were very fearful of the Jews leaving. So they kept them, their only producers, as slaves. Note that the new king arises. He doesn’t know Joseph. This doesn’t mean he isn’t grateful – it means he doesn’t realize his great power comes from a man and not his own divine destiny. By forgetting Joseph he becomes unmoored.
- She saw he was a ‘goodly’ child and then decided to save him. The phrase Ki Tov without Eneiyim (in his or her eyes) is very rare – it is an objective measure. It harkens back to Hashem’s creation of the world. Moshe had a fundamentally positive creative energy, even as a child. The midrash says that Miriam had to encourage her parents to be together again, because of the slavery. Perhaps this extra creative goodness is captured in his soul?
- The crying of Jewish people unlocks salvation. Why? Slaves stop having children. They don’t reproduce. There are two exceptions – Jews in Egypt and Blacks in some southern states. When the slavery gets too oppressive, the children stop. The Torah makes clear his parents’s generation was near giving up on having children. In order for G-d to fulfill his promises, he had to intervene (early) when the Jewish people cried because there would not have been another generation to save.
- The burning bush is the Menorah. Burning but not consumed. Timeless and holy. That is also Hashem’s name as it is given. It will be as it will be. It is a name of Kedusha – spiritual energy, timeless by its nature.
- But in a diminished way, both the bush and Menorah are symbols of the Jewish people. We are always burning, but never consumed. May we burn with connection to Kedusha rather than burn literally.
- Moshe resists and pushes back. He lacks confidence. And yet he is the greatest of our leaders. Why? Look at leaders in times of trouble, Lincoln, Churchill, David etc…. they all lack confidence. They are not stable, strong, men. They are depressive, although they draw strength from G-d and the strength of their convictions. But they are the people who can lead in times of trouble. Don’t write off the poorly adjusted – we all have our time.
- Aaron just goes when asked, no argument. But he is not the leader.
- We see the leaders of the people acting like the Federations in World War II. Instead of being loud and obnoxious Jews, they want desperately to get along. They try to silence those who have loud marches against the Holocaust. They don’t want to upset those who oppress them, even when it is the right thing to do. Even when Hashem stands behind it. It is not a new phenomenon.