Imagine the shock our ancestors felt when “a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Yosef.” (Shemos 1:8) Bnai Yisroel had been protected in Mitzraim ever since Yosef ha Tzaddik had saved the country from starvation and disaster. Now, suddenly, their protector and patron had become their enemy!
My friends, we don’t have to imagine, because we have just witnessed the same phenomenon in Washington, DC. The man who was our patron, friend and strong protector overnight seems to have become the friend of our enemies!
Granted, the meforshim debate whether it was a new Paro or whether the old Paro had suddenly “forgotten” us, but in the end the result is the same: the entire world suddenly turned upside down. An environment in which Bnai Yisroel had felt safe suddenly became a dark swamp where their very lives were in constant danger.
And so for us.
Here is our avoda: we have to remember that, in Mitzraim, the dark saga of Paro’s attempt to destroy us became the vehicle for earth-shaking miracles: the Ten Makkos, the “impossible” escape from slavery and the physical/spiritual journey to Har Sinai, where the King of the Universe bestowed His eternal Torah upon His Chosen Nation. We must understand that the same process is unfolding here! If we could but see this, then apparent darkness will turn to light and hope!
In this week’s Parsha, Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon ha Kohain suddenly turns an apparently hopeless situation into a yeshua! “Yeshuas Hashem k’heref ayin … Hashem’s salvation comes in the blink of an eye!”
The Chofetz Chaim wrote that Yetzias Mitzraim is the prototype for the Geulah Shele-mah. We can understand current events from what happened in Mitzraim. As we say in the Kedusha of Shabbos Mussaf, “He will let us hear, in His compassion, for a second time in the presence of all the living … ‘I am Hashem, your G-d.’”
There was a reason a “melech Chadash” had to arise in Mitzraim. We had to be weaned from the belief that our existence depended on his benevolence. Other nations may depend on their king or president or prime minister, but the entire existence of Am Yisroel, lehavdil, is based on our complete reliance on the King of the Universe. Our direct relationship with Hashem could never have occurred if we had believed Paro had power over us. Our spiritual and physical subservience to Paro had to be destroyed.
As benevolent as the United States has been to us, it was an error to view the President as essential to our existence. His new attitude demonstrates many things we have to understand. Granted that the President also may be using a subterfuge here; his true attitude may not be apparent from his actions. Regardless, we have to know the following:
1) We have to know that it is America’s honor and bracha to help Am Yisroel. Every friend to Am Yisroel is blessed by Hashem. Those who saw the United States as our “savior” need to be weaned from this incorrect point of view.
2) We have to know that the entire world is against us. “Esav sone es Yaakov… it is halacha that Esav hates Yaakov.” (Rashi on Beraishis 33:4) As the entire world surrounds us with hostility and our “great friend” seems to have become our enemy, it is clear that there is nowhere else to turn but to Avinu Malkainu, our Father and King. Removing from us the “stick” that propped us up forces us to rely on our True and Only Source of Strength.
3) We have to remember that the United States, however friendly it has been, is still the main inheritor of the culture of Edom, our primordial enemy whose entire lifework has been to try to exterminate us, G-d forbid. We are now in the culminating phase of this ancient clash, upon which rests the fate of the entire universe. We now have the opportunity to bring the long-awaited Geulah Shelemah into reality.
What are we waiting for? The message is written across the skies!
“If only My People would heed Me, if Israel would walk in My ways, I would subdue their foes in an instant and turn My Hand against their tormentors.” (Tehillim 81)
How appropriate this message is as we enter the Three Weeks and we see with total clarity that there is only one place to look for salvation. It is time to turn our gaze to the Great House in which the Shechina will reside in Yerushalayim Ir ha Kodesh.
The Torah calls the Bais Hamikdosh “Lebanon,” which means “white,” the Place where our sins are whitened and our souls cleansed. “Our Sages … interpret that the whiteness of snow, to which the name ‘Lebanon’ alludes, symbolizes the moral meaning of white as the color of purity and refinement. They say … ‘Lebanon is the Bais Hamikdosh….’ (Sifre). In this conception, the entire Lebanon range is named after the ‘place of purification’ (the Bais Hamikdosh) that was founded on its southern extension.” (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Dvarim 3:25)
The Temple Mount is at the southern end of the mountain range which is called “Lebanon.” The House that will be built there is the real and eternal White House, may we see it soon in our days!
GLOSSARY
Bais Hamikdosh: the Holy Temple
Bnai Yisroel: the Children of Israel
Edom: descendants of Esau, our primordial enemy
Geulah Shelemah: the Final Redemption
Har Sinai: Mount Sinai
Makkos: the (Ten) Plagues
Meforshim: classic Torah commentators
Melech Chadash: a new king
Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt
Paro: Pharaoh
Yetzias Mitzraim: the Exodus from Egypt
Yosef ha Tzaddik: Joseph, the righteous son of Jacob
