1/ OK a few more #Exodus thoughts (because I'm going through a mountain of parsha stuff amidst all my other writing) connected to the #DvarTorah here about the nameless collective-compassionate action of the multitude being the engine of the salvation.

2/ It struck me to link to another conundrum (kinda like the large plague frog in the room): how Pharaoh has his free will removed

So, the nameless action could be a purposeful contrast to the singular powerful individual who normally is history's focus.
https://t.co/PYOeJ29P1A
3/ IMO God manipulates Pharaoh in order to prevent one person making too much of a difference!

This ties into another larger point I often make about the culpability of the Egyptians & how actually they, not Pharaoh, are the focus of the plagues.
4/ My point contrasts how the Egyptians - who were responsible for being enslavers, for dehumanizing & stealing the labor of Israelites up to the point of joining in the Pharaoh command of infanticide (see 2:22)
https://t.co/k2pvbSiVgu
5/ These individuals needed to make their choices without coercion from the autocrat, hence Pharaoh lost 'free will' in his capacity as someone who can move the engines of political power.

He lost free will in order to preserve the free will & action of his subjects
6/ The same subjects who enjoyed free/stolen labor. The same who joined in killing children b/c it served their xenophobic goals (see 1:10, the numerous Israelites will replace them?) These people needed to learn their own lesson or else face punishment
https://t.co/nZNogJc0RM
7/ This is the crucial point of Ex. 9:20-21:

Those among Pharaoh’s courtiers who feared the LORD’s word brought their slaves & livestock indoors to safety; but those who paid no regard to the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the open

https://t.co/DPT4OYUaJw
8/ This is also why I praise the Mixed Multitude, the Eruv Rav, b/c in my mind they were the point of the plagues. I see them as righteous gentiles who became Jews by Choice, and while good in itself, by contrast they damn those who refused God's warnings
https://t.co/jdAhRp9Jzd
9/ I've written elsewhere that the Righteous Gentiles of the Shoah are an overlooked part of the 'lessons' we're to learn: that it was possible to resist.

[Although, see this thread for a very sharp critique of the universalizing of the Shoah] https://t.co/B3d5Oe6z0h
10/ BTW, the Eruv-Rav needed to convert for technical reasons (it's how anyone could survive plague #10, also how some Israelites may not have survived, if they didn't bring a korban-Pesach, no distinguishing doorpost).

Otherwise, righteous gentiles are a world l'chatchila.
11/ My kids know how to press one of my shiny buttons, which are the bigoted divrei Torah about the Eruv-Rav being responsible for every sin in the desert.

I won't get into it now but that idea is so crazy wrong I can't stand it.
https://t.co/SkrUsJkPLL
12/ In sum: the free-will problem of Pharaoh is linked to the need for nameless, collective action of the nations: Israelites to keep faith in God's covenant with Avraham, which ipso facto means being compassionate, in contrast to the super-Sedom, Egypt https://t.co/Wa05zGYKZs
13/ Avraham's people needed to practice nameless compassion while the Egyptians - who acted as unhospitable, cruel, and greedy as Sedom - needed to either repent & follow God, or be punished with plagues

This required removing from history the single powerful man like Pharaoh
14/ This ties together the earlier dvar Torah (see 1st post) of nameless collective action with the question of Pharaoh's lost free will along with the moral question of how the plagues could've been an unjust collective punishment
https://t.co/mtT4VrDwci
15/ The plagues are justified when we see that Pharaoh's commands could have been resisted (like we see with Bat-Paro and Shifra & Puah, who I insist were Egyptian) and this highlights the culpability of the society that maintained slavery and murder.
16/ OK, maybe I can turn my attention to my other work now. Whew. #DvarTorah #Parsha #Vaera #Exodus

@threadreaderapp please unroll.

@threader_app please compile.

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My first observations in the main thread are here, but this offshoot is needed because there's been so many wise & witty things I've


2/ First, re: those who in their wayward moral obtuseness feel we "can't speak ill of the dead." I've said that this is what abuse enablers say, but I hear that some religious traditions preach this. Oy.
So there's this: https://t.co/7Ky4RA3nkZ &


3/ Drucker is another great wit, and this carries the proper mood


4/ There's definitely a Jewish Tradition angle for how to treat evil people who die: the only respect is to justice, right & wrong, and above all compassion's existence necessitates condemning cruelty


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So let's see a show of hands: how many of you even knew Huber was digging into the Clinton Foundation? While he was assisting Horowitz in his digging into the FISC/Steele Dossier/Fusion GPS/Perkins Coie/DNC/Hillary campaign stuff?


I'm sure Huber is coming to DC *only* to discuss Clinton Foundation things with Meadows and his committee.

He for certain, like, won't be huddling with Horowitz or that new guy, Whitaker while he's in town. That would NEVER HAPPEN. [wink wink wink!] 😉

I just spent a year and a half telling you they will SHOW YOU what they are REALLY DOING when they are READY.

Not before.

No matter how much whining is done about it.

I'm exhausted but it's worth it.

Now you know why they're f**king TERRIFIED of Whitaker, the closer tapped by Trump to come in late for the hysterical fireworks that will ensue soon.

Look who's suddenly fund raising for his legal defen- er, I mean, ha ha - his reelection campaign!

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