| �Let my people go!� Pharaoh has heard this plea from Moses seven times before this Torah portion begins. Seven times, contradicting his courtiers, Pharaoh has answered �NO.� However, this was not truly Pharaoh�s answer. This was God�s answer, speaking through Pharaoh, to bring disastrous effects to Pharaoh, his family, and the whole nation of Egypt. Egypt has been afflicted with seven plagues ranging from the Nile turning red to insects swarming all over the country. But this is mere discomfort compared to the major horrors that occur in this week�s Torah portion. The later the plague happened, the more terror it unleashed. Locusts appeared as plague number eight. But God continued his incessant hardening of Pharaoh�s heart and Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. In the ninth plague, God caused to settle over Egypt a darkness so thick that each person remained where he had retired for the following three days. Still, God kept the Israelites captive by hardening Pharaoh�s heart once more. Most horrific of all was plague number ten: the killing of the first-born. The Israelites were passed over, but the first born of all of Egypt were killed, including Pharaoh�s first-born son, the first born of the cattle, and the first born of the Israelites� fellow slaves. I disapprove of God�s actions. The cows were innocent and ignorant of the politics of the day. The majority of the Egyptian slaves presumably hated the Egyptians, and freedom was their utmost desire as well. Pharaoh, under influence of God, caused his own son�s death. Had God not interfered, Pharaoh would probably not have allowed as many of the disastrous plagues to occur. After the horrible tenth plague, God restored to Pharaoh the freedom to make his own choice. And Pharaoh let the Israelites go. But the massacred first-born were not revived. Jewish tradition has recognized the sufferings endured by the Egyptians to ensure freedom for the Jews of the future. We remove ten drops of wine from our glasses at Passover. By not partaking in the drinking of those ten drops, we remove some of our joy and feel empathy towards the Egyptians. However, by feeling sorry for the Egyptians, we accomplish nothing concrete. As Rabbi Jack Reimer says in our Sharing Shabbat prayer book, prayer alone is not enough. It may make us feel better, but does not resuscitate the Egyptians or prevent further massive slaughters. As it also says in the Sharing Shabbat prayer book, there is holiness when we turn our prayers into action. I chose this Torah portion because of Plague number ten. I am a first-born. Both my parents are first born. Daniel Wiener is a first-born. Had we, by accident of birth, been residing as non-Jews in Egypt during this time period, we would have been killed. We would have been murdered by God. Think of the numerous other first-borns who might have been killed. Until the event of September 11, this was all fictional. Now a disaster similar to Plague number 10 has occurred our own backyard; innocent people were killed in the name of God. It is impossible for me to believe in a God who would advocate the killing of innocent people. Or in our case, do the killing Himself. I could not believe in the God of Al Quada or the Islamic Jihad. I have examined many analyses of this passage; they all seem to me to be rabbis attempting to explain why an evil action is good and godly. The only explanations that I have seen are, in my opinion, rationales telling us that bad is good. One explanation says that after one sin, Pharaoh sacrificed the right to free will with his first obdurate decision. I find many problems with this. If you have been taught something your entire life, when first confronted by a questioning of it, which side would you take? Is it wrong to adjust your opinions, change your mind? The only explanation that I have found reasonable is that hundreds of years after the events described in this portion transpired, the people who wrote the Torah knew that human nature does not respond to light and happy touches. At that time, many people worshipped tree gods and prayed to the wheat spirit to give them a good harvest. Judaism introduced the concept of one, all knowing, all-powerful God. The scholars who wrote the Torah knew that people would not be Jews if their God only performed enlightening, ameliorating deeds, but would only worship a God whom they feared. A God who threatened, Worship me or else! Still, I believe they should have portrayed God as willing to give the Egyptians a chance to express their true opinions on letting the Israelites go before resorting to the massacre of innocent people through the tenth plague. I feel that the scholars described God too harshly. When parents raise a child, they must decide on a set of rules and enforce them. Although they love their child, they must punish misbehavior. This teaches the child that what they did is wrong and not to do it again. People respond to harshness, but parents would never kill their children. In my view, since Vietnam, American defensive forces have weakened with the liberal movement to simply love each other. From time to time, the government has forgotten that a stick may be more effective than a carrot. We must keep in mind that there are bad people in the world, and that they must be treated harshly or they will take advantage of our kindness and turn it against us, as some Palestinians have done to the Israelis, and AL Quada has done to America. Through many presidential administrations, few and weak efforts were made to root out this evil. It took the tragedy of the World Trade Center to awaken America. The people who wrote the Torah seemed to understand human nature much better than many leaders of our country and Israel. In this interpretation of this portion, they seemed to agree with Conservative politics. Strictness and harshness are acceptable, and in fact effective and ethical, but can be taken only to a certain extent past which point it becomes immoral. The point God was trying to make by exploiting the first-born was a respectable one, but the course God took to make it was ruthless, malicious and overall, wrong. The aspect of Hebrew school that I have enjoyed most is the cases we tried in our court last year with Mrs. Bederman. I liked standing up for what I believed in and finding interesting arguments in support of my positions. Many times I was the sole opposition to the entire class, one conservative versus a class of liberals. It seems to me that one comes across support for conservative views throughout the Torah. As a Bar Mitzvah, I will support Israel on most issues and endeavor to keep and protect Israel as a state. That is why I chose to help Zahal Shalom as my mitzvah project. Zahal Shalom is an organization through which Jewish communities in the United States host disabled Israeli war veterans for two weeks. It is a very interesting and rewarding experience for both the host and the vet. I hope to visit Israel in the future and see the vet that my family hosted. I will continue to celebrate Shabat and other Jewish holidays with my family. I�d like to thank some of the teachers and clergy who helped me prepare for my Bar Mitzvah: Rabbi Cantor Angela Warnik Buchdahl, Sorel Loeb, Rabbi Ken Chasen, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, Cantor Steven Merckel, and all of my teachers throughout my time at Hebrew school. Also, a special thanks to my family and everyone who came here today. Congratulations to you, Dan. Aren�t you glad we are alive in America today as opposed to living under Ramses in Egypt! |
| D'var Torah / Bar Mitzvah Speech |
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| Edgemont is a small town in New York. There are two elementary schools in Edgemont: Greenville, and Seely Place. There is one high school called Edgemont. The Edgemont Panthers ( a high school football team) won the 1998, 1999, and 2000 state chapionship. Now they look as if if they are about to win the 2001 championship. Matt Bernstein was the Panthers' star player. He is like a truck. All the other teams can't even tackle him. The way they stop him is by him finally running out of bounds. He was on the Panthers' first team offense and first team defense. His dad is a dentist, who runs the marathon each year. Now Bernstein is only a scrub for Wisconsin as a freshman, but he will hopefully recieve more playing time next year. |
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