In reading about Pharaoh’s genocidal plan to solve his Jewish problem, we see that there were two stages. One relied on the midwives killing the male children, while the other was an instruction to all the people to throw Jewish baby boys into the Nile. A superficial reading may indicate that these two plans were really two sides on the same coin. When the professionals failed, Pharaoh decided to include everyone, increasing the chances of success. A closer examination of the text, however, reveals a subtler plot. The midwives excuse for failure was that the Jewish women animalistically gave birth without their aid, thus frustrating their murderous plan. Yet if the plan was to kill the babies after birth, even if they arrived after the event, the child could still have been killed. There is no suggestion that their mother’s hid them. That came later. The conclusion seems to be that the midwives were to kill the babies as part of the birth process, making it seem like an unfortunate mishap. Women or babies dying in childbirth was, after all, quite a common occurrence. The genocide was to be secret and look like an natural phenomenon. The pre-emptive birth of the Jewish women, however, prevented this hidden agenda from being realised. Pharaoh was thus forced to openly declare his intentions, something that seems to have been quite unpopular even in his own household. There is no evidence that many Egyptians actually complied with his decree, indeed it appears that the Jewish population was not particularly adversely affected. Thus Pharaoh’s evil design was thwarted. This story holds an important lesson for us today. Modern Jew hatred is often hidden. It masquerades as anti-Zionism or subtler forms of prejudice. Thus who wish to do us harm or even harbour genocidal designs, are able to disguise their intentions by political or social rhetoric. They know that an open exposure of their true intentions would lead to disrepute and even sanction. A large part of our fight against modern anti-Semitism, therefore, must be to reveal this hidden agenda. Like the righteous midwives of Egypt, we must frustrate genocidal plans against us by forcing them into the open. While we are often disturbed by the visual manifestations of Jew hatred in the anti-Israel movement, it is in fact paradoxically a good thing. It exposes these people for whom they really are, and thus, as in the case of Pharaoh, helps ultimately frustrate their evil designs.

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

 Sidra Statistics

Parshat Shemot

·         has 124 verses ;

·         is the 1st in Exodus, 13th in the Torah

·         2nd longest in Exodus, 14th longest in the Torah

·         has no mitzvot.

PAST PARSHAH PUZZLE

 

Divided brothers.

 

Shimon and Levi, scattered in Israel.

 

PARSHAH PUZZLE

 

Interment doesn’t work.

WEEKLY HALAKHA

 

One must disobey the government, if they order you to commit clearly immoral acts, such as genocide.