* It’s really important to God to make a mockery of Egypt. Sounds racist. Moshe says to Pharoah, “Until when will you refuse to humble yourself before God?” Hardcore humiliation in response to the hardcore humiliation and genocide that Pharoah has mounted against the Jews.
* Dennis Prager says that the lesson of slavery is not that Egyptians or whites are bad, that’s a racist lesson. The lesson is that anyone who thinks in terms of race is repeating the errors of the past. Racism can afflict anybody who thinks in terms of race.
* The plagues demonstrate God’s supremacy over nature, and that God is intimately involved in the lives of men.
* Not all Egyptians hated Jews yet all Egyptians suffered terribly from God’s plagues. We tend to suffer and benefit collectively. I suspect that the Egyptians had the same range of attitudes towards Jews as Germans did in WWII.
* The main characters in Exodus seem like they are in the grip of forces greater than themselves. There doesn’t seem to be much free willing operating. If we were honest, I think we would admit that in much of our life, forces greater than ourselves are operating and our freedom is constrained to how we react.
* If Egypt had had a stricter immigration policy, it might not have had these problems with the Hebrews.
* Moses asks Pharoah to provide cows, lambs and goats (gods of Egypt) to sacrifice to the Jews’ God. Later, the Jews sacrifice lambs and post the blood on the lintel.
* Ex. 11:2. The Jews ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver. Just reparations for slavery? Artscroll commentary on Ex. 11:2-3: “One would have expected the Egyptians to hate the Jews, blaming them for the suffering of the plagues, but the Torah tells us that this was not the case. The population bore no grudge; they said that the Jews had been righteous while they, the Egyptians, were the wicked ones.” I doubt it.
* Ex. 12:43: God says, “No apostate or stranger can eat the pesach offering. Only circumsized slaves can eat.” Torah is far more about boundaries protecting the gene pool than it is about inclusion and love. If you don’t eat and drink with non-Jews, you are less likely to have sex with them.
* When I was a goy reading Exodus, I concentrated on the stories. As a convert to Orthodox Judaism, I concentrate on the laws. As a goy, this story seemed primitive and tribal. As a Jew, this story tells me how the world works.
* Judaism is obsessed with history, with the Jewish heritage. Jews believe this world matters, that history matters, and that the human story should progress in a linear way. Judaism is the most this-world focused religion.
* Does study of history make people better? I don’t think so. The only thing that makes people better is increasing the quality of their bonds with others.
* Have Christians changed from the group that committed the Holocaust? Are American Christians better than European Christians because they have persecuted Jews less? Or are American Christians weaker in their Christianity? I see significant Protestant vs Catholic differences. Protestants believe in individual salvation and tend to see people as individuals. Catholics prefer corporate worldviews and create corporate states, which are less friendly to Jews.
* Haaretz: Adding Insult to Injury, Trump Flirts With Classic Holocaust Denial
* What is Holocaust denial?
* Hannah Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism. It seems like the Pharoah was far from totalitarian. The midwives felt free to disobey his orders and his advisors felt free to give him bad news and Moshe felt free to talk back to him.
* What White Supremacists Taught A Torah Scholar About Identity
* You would expect a faithful wife to open her doors to her husband and to slam them to everyone else. Similarly, I would expect a smart country to open its doors to those who will benefit it and to slam them to everyone else.
