Thursday, August 23, 2012

Taking the Egyptians out of Egypt

In several places the Torah warns us against returning to Egypt:"He will not return the people to Egypt...for Hashem said to you,"You shall no longer return on this road again."(Deut.17:16), "For as you have seen Egypt today, you shall not see them ever again"(Exod. 14:13), as well as Deut. 28:68.

In the same vein, ancient Egypt was such a cesspool of immorality and outright wickedness that the Torah testifies about Egyptians that only after a conversion and three generations of waiting are they really ready to become completely Jewish (Deut. 23:8-9). Nevertheless, we have a tradition that the people inhabiting the land of Egypt today are only made up of a small minority of the original Egyptian nation. However, since the rest of the populace does nothing to subdue or combat their negative influence, their negativity still impacts all of Egypt in a way that makes it forbidden to dwell there even today.

But when an Egyptian today chooses to leave behind their Egyptian identity and join the Jewish people, they have completely removed themselves from the influence of this pernicious minority, and statistically it is extremely unlikely that this Egyptian convert has actual blood ties to the ancient Egyptians. Therefore, they are not bound by the Torah's limitation regarding Egyptian converts of old.

Today more than ever we see the end nearing for this small minority of people stubbornly clinging to its wicked and destructive lifestyle. The self-serving, morally corrupt ways of the Egyptians of old are reflected in the traditional authoritarian government systems in the Middle East. However, as dawn of the age of Redemption is breaking forth, more and more of the citizens of these countries are accessing their power and privilege to free themselves of their evil and narrow-minded rulers.

We must take these events of dramatic change to heart and allow them to inspire us to become more free of the old self-serving model, and prepare to enter an age of inspiration, harmony, and rapid spiritual development.

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