Shemot  - Good Morning, Evil One

I doubt there's hardly a person who has ever said that to himself. But there is no doubt that there are evil ones in the world. Only they don't know that they are evil! And the same goes for Pharaoh.

On the surface, the story of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt is a typical oppression story. But it was a very strange oppression indeed. For example, we find that Moses and Aaron are able to freely come and go from meetings with the king! Even more unexpected, tradition teaches that the entire tribe of Levi was exempt from the servitude. Lest one think that this is simply because the Egyptians, in their polytheistic ways, always respected a priestly class, Nahmanidies (medieval commentator) comes with a surprising claim. He claims that the Egyptians wanted the Levites to be able to teach the believes and effects to the rest of the people.

In other words, Pharaoh wanted there to be rabbis teaching the Israelites about Judaism. What kind of slavery is that?

And Moses is a strange negotiator! When he comes to Pharaoh, he asks for three days for the people to worship God. If they don't go, God may "strike us with a plague or with the sword!" Is that supposed to get Pharaoh's sympathy? If Pharaoh was an evil anti-Semite, wouldn't Moses expect him to say "Good!"?

One last question. There is a biblical commandment to "not despise the Egyptian, for you were a guest in his land." Talk about hospitality! They threw our firstborn sons into the river, and beat us with the lash endlessly. For this we are to be grateful? One could say that it is referring to the years before the servitude. But even so! It just seems strange.

And the answer is... you've got to know your market. You've got to understand who you are dealing with. Believe it or not, Pharaoh was an idealist. He went completely with his own program, and felt he was doing the only right thing. I don't believe he hated the Israelites at all. I believe that his theology forced them to enslave them, in order to demonstrate the power of the Egyptian gods.

That is why Moses could reasonably expect sympathy from Pharaoh if the Israelites lives were in danger. That's why the Israelites themselves could feel safe in complaining that the work conditions were just too hard.

That is why Pharaoh never did what the Nazis did, and never sought to annihilate the Jewish people.

He even wanted them to study their heritage. As long as they remain slaves, he was doing the bidding of his gods and demonstrating their superiority. It was his core belief, and he was convinced he was doing the right thing.

Pharaoh's error was being a slave to a corrupt theology and set of values, and that is why he was an evil man. But God knows His market, and saw that Egyptian theology and philosophy could somehow be corrected to accept Israel and even accept Israel's God. Indeed, a prior Pharaoh had espoused monotheism for a while. Therefore, we are commanded to not despise the Egyptian, as we were a guest in his land. That may even be referring to the time of Joseph, when the Pharaoh was a relatively decent human being. (I believe that it may be that monotheistic Pharaoh we mentioned).

Unlike the Amalekites, whom we are bidden to eradicate. They think they are righteous as well. German perpetrators in World War II thought they were doing what duty called for. But you have to know your market. Since their core belief was that Israel must not exist, there is no reconciliation to that.

The world is full of nuance. It's easy to love the good guys and the bad guys into neat baskets. But we need to understand, first of all, that everybody thinks they are righteous in their own eyes. When we begin to understand why, we will know when the time is for war or for peace, for stretching out a hand in friendship or in self-defense.

It's not easy, but perfecting the world never is!