The quote from the Torah/bible refers to the illustration appearing on Israelseen courtesy of international artist Phillip Ratner ratnermuseum.com
Commentary
“The locust swarm is one of the worst scourges. An area of one square kilometer can contain 50 million such insects; in a single night they can destroy 100,000 tons of vegetation. Unusually humid weather conditions continue to their proliferation. A long section containing some new features introduces the plague. The courtiers boldly challenge Pharaoh, who makes concessions in advance of the actual plague. The plague serves not only to coerce the Egyptians but also to educate the Israelites.”
(Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary,Page 351 Jewish Publication Society)
Destroy Chametz, Gain Freedom
“There are two aspects to attaining true freedom. First one needs to be physically independent of all foreign subjugation. But complete freedom also requires freedom of the spirit. The soul is not free if it is subjected to external demands that prevent it from following the path of its inner truth.
The difference between a slave and a free person is not just a matter of social standing. One may find an educated slave whose spirit is free, and a free person with the mindset of a slave. what makes us truly free?
When we are able to to be faithful to our inner self, to the truth of our divine image (tzelem Elokim) – then we can live a fulfilled life, a life focused on our soul’s inner goals. One whose spirit is servile, on the other hand, will never experience this sense of true self-fulfillment. His happiness will always depend upon the approval of others who dominate him, whether this control is de jure or de facto.”
(Gold: From the Land of Israel, A new light on the weekly Torah portion from the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook by Rabbi Chanan Morrison, Urim Publications
” Yes, the memory of a struggle for freedom makes freedom more real. Indeed it is the Jewish experience that such memory can live and inspire for a very long time. But here the struggle is also one for words and language, as though the people all shared in the experience of their stammering prophet who struggled for words. This memory, too, we are told, can last forever and make the words of Torah ever precious and new. God indeed gave Torah to Israel. But it could only be received in those verbal vessels that they had formed by redeeming language itself from its own Egyptian bondage.” ( Rabbi Arthur Green Commentary)
” Israel are witnesses to the Creator, as Scripture says: “You are Mt witness, says the Lord” (Is. 43:12). Just as we have to testify and make it clear that God created the world, so do we have to bear witness that all choice, all human actions and undertakings, come about in accord with God’s will. Thus we can counter the “fool’s wrath” that says: ” I did it by the power of my own hand.”
Rabbi Green now continues, ” Truth is already implanted within us, in our deepest selves and within the earth. It is this truth from below, the one that has to “spring up from the ground,” that is the object of our real religious work. Even Pharaoh testified to God’s truth, but he did do unwillingly; he stands as a memorial to the fact that no person can long defy the will of God. Our job is to attest to this truth willingly and in joy. Our discovery of the divine point within is also an acceptance of our own limitations. All our dreams will fade; that which is eternal in us is our witness to Eternity.”
Rabbi Green continues: ” Our hope is to enter the chamber, to live Torah, and not just to stand “before the Law.” But we also hope never to forget the anticipation and the promise of that first moment, the time when we just began to open the door. The Rabbis insist that the Exodus itself was a time of revelation, an encounter at which Israel “saw” God. But this was just a first opening of the door, the beginning of a relationship that bore with it the promise of much more love and intimacy to come.”
( The Language of TRUTH: The Torah Commentary of the Sefat Emet, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger. Translated and Interpreted by Rabbi Arthur Green, publisher “Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.) All commentary in Italics is by Rabbi Arthur Green
Torah Exodus: BO
Mosh and Aharon came to Pharaoh, they said to him:
Thus say YHWH, the God of the Hebrews:
How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
But if you refuse to send my people free,
here, on the morrow I will bring the locust-horde into your
territory!
They will cover the aspect of the ground, so that one will not be
able to see the ground (10:3-5)
YHWH said to Moshe:
I will cause one more blow
to come upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt;
afterward he will send you free from here.
When he sends you free, it is finished-he will drive, yes, drive
you out from here.
Moshe said:
Thus says YHWH:
In the middle of the night
I will go forth throughout the midst of Egypt,
and every firstborn shall die throughout the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne
to the firstborn of the maid who is behind the handmill,
and every firstborn of beast.
Then shall there be a cry throughout all of the land of Egypt,
the like of which has never been, the like of which will never be again.
(11:4-6)
And it was
When Pharaoh hardened (his heart) against sending us free,
that YHWH killed every firstborn throughout the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beast.
Therefore I myself slaughter-offer to you YHWH every breacher of a
womb, the males,
and every firstborn among my sons I redeem.
It shall be fr a sign on your hand and for headbands between
your eyes,
for by the strength of hand YHWH brought us out of Egypt.
(13:15-16)
(The Five Books of Moses. The Schocken Bible:Volume I, commentary and notes by Everett Fox.)
