Community Magazine January 2009

16 Community magazine A mong the most strictly observed “holidays” in our community is the annual pilgrimage more common- ly referred to as Winter Vacation. Of course, there is nothing wrong with getting away for a refreshing change of scenery and break from the daily grind of normal routine. But in truth, the potential of this “time honored tradition” extends much further than that. Vacation and travel present the observant Jew with enormous opportunities – including the opportunity to achieve our ultimate objective as a nation! DID THE EGYPTIANS LOVE BENEH YISRAEL? To understand how such a monumen- tal opportunity is possible, consider the events surrounding our first national redemption, the Exodus from Egypt. The Torah tells in Parashat Bo (Shemot 12:35-36) that before Beneh Yisrael left Egypt, they knocked on their Egyptian neighbors’ doors and asked to borrow their belongings. “We’re going on a trip,” they said. “We need clothing and utensils.” The Egyptians, who enslaved, tor- mented and humiliated the Hebrews for over two centuries, opened their closets, drawers and cupboards and gave the people everything they asked for – and more. The Torah writes, “ Va’yenaselu et Misrayim ” – Beneh Yisrael “emptied” Egypt of its belongings. Not by force, but to the contrary, through the goodwill and amity that the Egyptians suddenly extended toward them. How did this happen? What brought about this drastic change of heart? After two hundred and ten years of cruel oppression and degradation, why did the Egyptians suddenly love their former slaves and shower them with gifts? Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Germany, 1808-1888) explained that we may attribute this shift in attitude to the events that occurred a week or so ear- lier, during the plague of darkness. The Torah describes the black gloom that enveloped Egypt as a tangible substance (“ ve’yamesh hoshech ” – Shemot 10:21). The Egyptians were unable not only to see, but also, for the first three days of the plague, to move (10:23). It was through a miracle that they managed to survive without eating, drinking or performing their bodily functions for three days. The Sages teach that during this period, while the Egyptians sat in place unable to budge, they heard people walking into their homes and opening every drawer, closet and jewelry box. Beneh Yisrael , who were unaffected by the plague, took inventory of the Egyptians’ homes, compiling lists of the possessions they found so that when they would approach the Egyptians to ask for their belongings before their departure, the Egyptians could not say, “I don’t have anything.” Dedicated in memory of Mr. Irving Semah v"g vsrp iejm W int V acation- RABBI ELI MANSOUR The Ultimate Opportunity