In the simplistic rendition, narrative of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Jewish "slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt" managed to flee with the help of Gd, multiple miracles, one gets the impression that all the Jews left together. But a more exact reading of the Bible and Hagaddah and commentaries tells a different story. Only one fifth 1/5 20% of the Jewish slaves to Pharaoh followed Moses and Aaron out of Egypt and through the for forty years of wandering and transformation into the Jewish People who entered the Holy Promised Land with Joshua.
That's a better percentage than Gd got a few hundred years before when He sent out the לך לך Lech lecha, "Go, yes, you" message, and only Abram and Sarai, later renamed Abraham and Sarah responded by voting with their feet.
I'm pretty sure that my husband and I, plus many of our friends would have been among those to have followed Moses and Joshua throughout all the challenges they had faced. Not only are we here now in the Holy Promised Land, but we've been here ever since we were old enough to make our own life decisions, marry and have children. Our children and grandchildren, bli eyin haraa, not to tempt the Evil Eye, are here, too.
What happened to the 4/5 four fifths 80% of the Jewish slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt? They're gone, wiped out. There's no trace of them anymore, unlike the descendants of the Hidden Jews of the Spanish Inquisition, who even after over five hundred years have been returning to Judaism.
Yesterday we returned to our first home in Israel, Maon Betar, in what is now called the Jewish Quarter of the Old Walled City of Jerusalem. Maon Betar has long closed down, but the building is in use. The section where we had lived is now a dormitory for the Netiv Aryeh yeshiva, and downstairs is the Plugat Hakotel Museum.
In my life experience and decisions, I see the beginnings of Zionism to build vibrant Jewish Life in the Land of Israel as the call from Gd, echoing לך לך Lech lecha, "Go, yes, you." Then it got louder in 1948 with Israel's Declaration of Independence and even louder in 1967 when the State of Israel so miraculously defeated the Arab armies who aimed to totally destroy the State of Israel. Three years later we docked in Haifa Port and began our new lives as a married couple here in the Holy Land.
Contrary to the many negative predictions and warnings we received as we packed up our few possessions before boarding the Greek Lines Queen Anna Maria, our move to Israel in 1970 proved a wise move. The State of Israel has miraculously developed into one of the most advanced modern countries in the world. I can say the same for our 1981 decision to move to Shiloh, which then was a small isolated community, dependent on an unreliable generator for electricity and trucks bearing water. Today Shiloh is the main community in a large vibrant bloc of Jewish towns, home to a couple of thousand families. Nearby Eli is even larger than Shiloh. The Gush Shiloh Bloc extends from west of Highway 60 to the Alon Road way to the east. Just a ten minute drive north west of Shiloh is the City of Ariel, which not only has government offices and lots of stores but also the Ariel University. Today it's hard to imagine, but the Shiloh we first visited in early 1981 had barely thirty families.
As crazy as it had seemed to our family and some of our friends when we made aliyah as a young married couple in 1970, it was the right move. If you're still stuck in the Diaspora, join us. Don't risk disappearing like 4/5 80% of the Jews who had been slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.
11 comments:
Maybe I am wrong about this, but I suspect
that those Jews who continue to vote for
anti-Jewish parties [like the British Labor Party
and the American Democratic Party] will not
be redeemed when the messiah comes; they will
die because of their overwhelming unworthiness.
Maybe I am wrong about this, but I suspect
that those Jews who continue to purchase
anti-Jewish newspapers [like the British
"Guardian" newspaper, or the New York Times,
or Time Magazine] will not be redeemed when
the messiah comes; they will die because
of their overwhelming unworthiness.
===================================
Emanuel Miller (a writer for www dot
HonestReporting dot com) said:
“Repeatedly, New York Times writers side with
those who seek to spread the poison of anti-Israel rhetoric.”
SOURCE: Buying the BDS Lies — Hook,
Line, and Sinker by Emanuel Miller, 2019 April 22
www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/22/buying-the-bds-lies-hook-line-and-sinker/
===================================
Why does The New York Times
continue to deny historical truth?
www.jns.org/opinion/who-denied-the-palestinians-an-independent-state-not-israel/
===================================
New York Times hates Zionism and Israel:
www.algemeiner.com/2019/03/13/journalisms-longest-war-the-new-york-times-versus-zionism-and-israel/
They're voting with their feet. I really wonder if Gd will bring them here for "Geula."
From what I understand and have learned is that at this, the ultimate Geulah, every real Jewish neshama will be redeemed, inasmuch as every Jew will do teshuvah even if at the last moment, such as saying, I see the truth now and know that I have been wrong and that there is only H'. Our Sages tell us that every Jew (meaning Jewish 'neshama') has a portion (chelek) in Olam HaBah. Many who we take for granted as Jews by their names and even within the religious Jew community, there are those that are the reincarnations and/or descendants of the Erev Rav and they are the real haters of G-D, Jews, Torah and have no connection to the Land of Israel. Moshiach will determine who is the real Jew.
Today may be more like the the return of Ezra and Nechemia when there was a redefinition of "Who's a Jew." Those who stay in galut may be writing themselves out.
Dear Bayta,
There was no redefinition of "Who is a Jew"
in the time of Ezra and Nechemiah.
When Ezra defined Jewishness by matrilineal descent,
Ezra chapter 10 verse 3 ends with the words:
ספר עזרא פרק י
בְּמִצְוַת אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְכַתּוֹרָה יֵעָשֶׂה
The words BeMitzvat Elokainu mean that
Jewishness by matrilineal descent is the
commandment of our G_d.
The words VeCaTorah Yaaseh mean that
Jewishness by matrilineal descent is the
according to the Torah of our G_d.
Sincerely,
Mr. Cohen
It was the time of Ezra Nehemiah when there was great controversy regarding who are the real Jews.
Of course, Mr. Cohen is right! Proof of how the Jew is determined by the mother starts with our Mother Sarah. It was because of her and all the Jewish mothers that followed which determined and determines 'who is a Jew'. Sages teach us that the child is most influenced by the mother up until a certain age (like ten or so) and he/she feels the connection from the mother. We can see that when Avraham Avinu took Hagar as his concubine, the child took most everything (in characteristics) from his mother.
No, in those early times, the bride moved in with the husband's family and children took on that religion.
Batya said:
"It was the time of Ezra & Nehemiah when there was
great controversy regarding who are the real Jews."
my response:
What evidence do you have that there was
"great controversy regarding who are the real Jews"
in the time of Ezra & Nehemiah?
I spent two years studying the question of
Jewishness by matrilineal descent,
and I do not remember any reference to any
controversy regarding Jewishness
in the time of Ezra & Nehemiah.
Ezra was a very great Torah scholar,
as is clearly stated in the book of Ezra.
When Ezra defined Jewishness by matrilineal descent,
his decision was never criticized by any prophet,
even though prophets were still active in his time.
When Ezra defined Jewishness by matrilineal descent,
his decision was never criticized by any Rabbi of:
the Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash or Kabbalah.
When Ezra saw that many of those who came back from Bavel had non-Jewish wives, Chazal tell us that he literally broke down and cried and ordered these men to divorce (leave their wives) and remarry to Jewish women, which they obeyed and did as he requested of them. H' gives us laws that we can understand and live by and which makes much common sense to us and one of these basic laws from Torah is that 'who' is a Jew is determined by the mother!
(BTW, as we know there are also 'statutes' (chukim) in the Torah which we cannot understand, but those are special and for the time of the Beit Hamikdash, like the red heifer.)
Mr. Cohen, I'm surprised you're not familiar with this. Codification of Judaism took hundreds of years. The Talmud, Mishneh etc didn't exist in the time of Abraham and Moshe.
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