Date: August 31st 2017

This Dvar was previously emailed on September 5th 2014. Due pressures of schedule, it wasn’t edited at all.

It was sponsored by Jonathan C. in honor of his brother's aufruf.


PARSHAT KI TEITZEI – GRATITUDE


Parshat Ki Teitzei contains the Torah’s prohibition on hating an Egyptian. The Torah writes, “Do Not Abhor An Egyptian, For You Were A Sojourner In His Land” (Parshat Ki Teitzei 23:8).

The Commentary of Rashi explains, “Do Not Abhor An Egyptian --One should not hate an Egyptian at all, even though they cast your males into the river (Shemot 1:22). What is the reason? It is because they were your host at a time of your pressing need.” Rashi is referring to events described in the Book of Bereishit.

The Egyptian Pharaoh had dreams that could not be interpreted. Yosef (Joseph) prophetically explained that the dreams foretold seven years of extreme abundance followed by seven years of severe famine. Yosef then further advised Pharaoh to begin preparing for the eventual famine. The advice was heeded, and during the years of plenty, Pharaoh’s agents gathered and stored the surplus. Once the famine began, the ensuing food shortages forced people to buy grain from the storehouses of the Egyptian Crown.

The famine also struck Israel where Yosef’s father Yaakov (Jacob) and his adult children then lived. Eventually, Yosef moved the entire family to Egypt so that their sustenance would be more assured. The group numbered 70 people. Upon their arrival, Yaakov and his family were welcomed by the Egyptians with honor and then cared for. Rashi in Parshat Ki Teitzei was alluding to this welcome when writing, “For they were your host at a time of your pressing need.” In recognition of that kindness, Jews, to this day, are bound by Torah law to avoid hating an Egyptian.

What subsequently ensued at that time makes this Mitzvah (commandment) hard to understand. The Egyptians later enslaved the Jews, and treated them with extreme cruelty and brutality. As Rashi in Ki Teitzei mentions, there was a time when all male Jewish babies were being drowned. To cite another example, the Midrash relates that there was a time when, to cure an illness, Pharaoh murdered Jewish children in order to bathe in their blood.

How would the grieving parents of one of those murdered children feel toward the Egyptians? Would it have been reasonable to expect them to remember and acknowledge a kindness received from the killer’s forefathers generations earlier when Yaakov arrived from Israel? Seemingly, the genocide and torture that was later perpetrated should have abrogated all ethical debts of gratitude.

The fact that these obligations remain teaches an important moral principle. Once a debt of gratitude to someone is incurred, it is not terminated by a grievance – even a highly justifiable one. Once the Egyptians graciously received Yaakov and his family as they did, a “forever after” obligation to repay that kindness was established.

Clearly, The Almighty severely punished the Egyptians for what transpired during the many years of slavery. He devastated the country and its people with the Ten Plagues, and He inundated them in the Red Sea. Nevertheless, the obligation upon Jews to express gratitude for the Egyptian kindness once extended to Jacob and his family endured.

Almost all ongoing relationships between people entail exchanges of kindness. Marriage partners typically help each other on a daily basis for decades on end. The life-sustaining kindness of parents toward their children goes on for years. Yet, there are times when even partners in an excellent marriage are angry at each other. Similarly, there are times when even otherwise savvy parents might infuriate their children. How people react during these “moments of rage” is critical.

At such times, one would be well advised to remember the Torah’s Mitzvah to never hate an Egyptian. Because of what happened 3,700 years ago, Jews are obligated, to this day, to act with gratitude toward the Egyptians – this despite the terrible things they later did to us.

Those who bring this same attitude to an everyday spat will respond entirely differently. They will feel duty-bound by the Torah to always bear in mind the innumerable acts of kindness received from the friend, the spouse, or the parent – and they will furthermore recall that the obligation to remember these good deeds is not negated by a quarrel or by what provoked it. Even if this cognition of gratitude does not completely dissipate the anger, at the very least, it will likely be less intense and of shorter duration, thereby causing far less harm.

As a practical matter, the Torah’s Mitzvah of remembering the Egyptian kindness to Yaakov – despite what they later did to us - is not currently practiced. That is because we cannot identify the biological descendants of the biblical Egyptians.

However, daily relationships with relatives, friends, and co-workers often provide an opportunity to abide by the concept put forth in this Dvar. The Torah calls upon people to always acknowledge the good received from other people, even when the providers of that good subsequently changed their attitude and became antagonistic and severely hurtful. This is a way of practicing the ethic that underlies this Mitzvah.







--
You are subscribed to Jewish Heritage Initiative using example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list or change your subscription
by visiting http://www.jhicambridge.com/mail/mail.cgi/list/parsha

For more information, visit http://www.jhicambridge.com or send mail to jhi@jhicambridge.com
__________________________________

Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail
http://www.jhicambridge.com/mail/mail.cgi/what_is_dada_mail/