Listen here and here.
According to Wikipedia: “In this parashah, Pharaoh changes his mind and sends his army after the Jewish people, trapping them at the Sea of Reeds. God commands Moses to split the sea, allowing them to pass, then closes the sea back upon the Egyptian army. It also contains the miracles of manna and clean water.”
Exodus 13: 17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
War is rarely the Jews first choice.
13:18: “The Children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt…”
So they weren’t pacifists. They didn’t just rely on God to take care of them.
* Ex. 14:5: “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!””
This reminds me of when you have a girl you’re sick of but you don’t want another guy to have her.
Keeping people around as slaves does not serve you because the slaves hate you and will want revenge. Instead, you want to take the approach of Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street:
Donnie Azoff: “Well, basically, you know, if the kid was retarded I would… I would, you know, drive it up to the country and just like, you know, open the door and let it… say “You’re free now!” You know? Like, “Run free!” You know?”
* Ex. 14:17: “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.””
Some people complain when God lets the wicked prosper. Other people complain when God punishes the wicked. Which do you want? A politically correct Torah would say that God, instead of punishing Pharoah, took him to therapy. (Dennis Prager)
The God of the Jews is the God that the Egyptians worship today (whether they are Christian or Muslim). Nobody today worships the gods of the Pharoahs.
The Torah proclaims that the world is run by a moral order coming from God that ultimately triumphs over evil.
Ex. 14:23: “The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving.”
Sounds like what happens whenever you invade a country you have no business being in, like the US invading Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2003.
* I’m watching this National Geographic documentary series Chain of Command and it is so gay. The whole premise is that it is tracking America’s war against “violent extremism.” Was the Bombing of Dresden violent extremism? How about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? “Violent extremism” has no objective meaning. If you said, “War against Islam”, then the phrase would have meaning. If you said, “War against our enemies”, that would have meaning. Instead, the series feels like you are watching America drag its slimy tranny dick over the face of the world.
Women keep showing up in the program to remind you that they have no place in the armed forces except as secretaries and nurses. Instead, this series shows them carrying guns and carrying out drone strikes and lecturing military officers of human rights.
ISIS has done some bad things, but at least they’ve never allowed feminism, never allowed women to vote, and never allowed women to lecture their fighters on human rights.
On the other hand, I can view this series as showing America fighting bad guys to enhance freedom and prosperity around the world and as men and women have different gifts, enlisting women in this struggle allows them to make their unique contributions. For example, women often make better journalists and therapists because they’re better listeners and can often make more empathic connections with people.
* Bret Stephens in NYT: “A Modest Immigration Proposal: Ban Jews”
* Aziz Ansari story and the “Cat Person” New Yorker story.
Dennis Dale: “The public humiliation of Aziz Ansari marks the “me too” sexual inquisition’s escalation into prosecuting romantic and sexual disappointment.”
* A Jewish Prayer For The Confederacy. It was composed by Rabbi Max Michelbacher of Virginia. Ten thousand Jews served in the confederate armed forces while 8400 served in the Union.
