Yaakov Hibbert Presents…Nation Building

Last week we went down to the building yard to pick up raw materials; the building blocks that make up the DNA of the Jewish people – the ‘four’fathers. This week let us delve a little into the choice of Egypt as the building site of our nation.

When Yaakov and his entire family descend into Egypt, Yaakov understood to some degree where things were heading. On the fateful trip down into Egypt, Yaakov goes through a somewhat nervous moment, vis-à-vis the future of his family in Egypt. Hashem comes to his side to reassure him, “Have no fear of descending to Egypt, for I shall establish you as a great nation there. I shall descend with you to Egypt, and I shall surely bring you up”.

It is only through going down to Egypt that we can evolve as a Nation. In the words of Rav Hirsch “In Canaan the family of Yaakov could hardly have developed into a nation. As they grew in numbers they would have been scattered amongst the inhabitants. To become a nation without intermingling, they had to come in the midst of a nation, who in principle as a nation were opposed to the whole nature of the Jews, and that was Egypt”.

In classic Rav Hirsch style he points out how we have seen this process to be only too true; “the fanatic bigotry which built the ghettos was the most active means in G-d’s Hands to keep us afar from the lack of culture of the Middle Ages, and in confined circles to nurse the sense of family life and family happiness and the sense of communal life in us”.

This week’s Parshah sees the beginning of this process. We evolve from seventy individuals into a nation. Rav Tzadok HaCohen [1823-1900] observed the very first time we were called “Am – a Nation” is in the verse, “Behold! The people (Am), the Children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we. Come; let us act wisely to it lest it become numerous…..”

What was the first stage of becoming a nation? Anti-Semitism for the first time against us as a nation. Our national formation from the word go is replete with hatred. As Rav Hirsch has set down, the very making of our nation is the hatred and disgust with which we were held in the eyes of the Egyptians.  Rav Hirsch’s ideas concur with what is written in the Kabbalistic work, the Zohar.

In the opening words of this week’s Parshah we read, “And these are the names of the Children of Israel  who were coming to Egypt”. There’s an obvious problem with the tense of this verse. It should read [and indeed many Chumashim mistranslate it this way!], “And these are the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt”.

The Chizkuni [13th Century] explains that the verse is describing the way the Egyptian’s made the Jews feel. The Egyptian would jibe, “go home, find your own homeland”. They made them feel like strangers who had just arrived. Years and years later the Jews still were forced to feel that they were still just immigrants arriving to the land of Egypt.

The Ba’al Haturim [1269-1340] points out that the end letters of this verse describing our constant arriving spells out “Milah”. Our ‘Bris Milah’ is the classic example of how we are different. The Egyptians (as well as many other Jew-hating nations) held the idea of ’Bris Milah’ in great contempt. It makes us different, and being different ensures we remain a nation.

When our forefather Avraham is promised that his offspring will become many and they will inherit the land, he asks, “How can I know?” The Maharal [1520-1609] explains that Abraham was asking, “How can I be assured that my descendants will not sink to a level were they no longer deserve the Land of Israel? Perhaps over the years they will intermingle into the other nations.” Hashem proceeds to tell him, “know surely – that there will be persecutions and slavery in Egypt [and other exiles]”. How does this answer placate Avraham’s worry?

With what we have said, this is the perfect reply – precisely because they are going to be slaves in the land of Egypt, by a nation that despises them – that will ensure the continuity of the Jews. Our Jewish identity is kept secure by the nations around us.

The Maharal brings a Medresh that expounds the double expression (“know know” – commonly translated as “know surely”) used by Hashem in assuring Avraham regarding the yet-to-come exiles. ‘Know’ that I will enslave them, ‘Know’ that I will redeem them. The two parts of the process complement each other, being in exile is the key to getting redeemed. Indeed the Maharal points out the word for exile “galus” shares the same two letter root “gimmel lamed” as “geuloh” redemption.

In conclusion let’s finish with the words that we say three times a day after davening in the prayer “Aleinu Le’shabay’ach” – “it is incumbent on us to give thanks”. Continues the prayer, “that He did not make us like the nations of the world”. Rav Hirsch comments, “It was in a very unusual manner that Hashem made us into a nation”. Other nations evolve by mere demographics and geographics. Enough of a population in the same area makes a nation. However we were cultivated into a nation without a land, we became a nation by being forced to have a national identity of ideals and morals – sharing a common place of living is not what makes us an ‘Am’ – a nation. We are built very differently, on a very different building site.

Good Shabbos, Yaakov