How Jews Confront Deception (Va'era)

you have crazy protesters who have no idea what they're protesting they're living a life of deception because it's cool cuz it's popular why can't they be a leader why can't they learn and understand open their mind leave and Escape Egypt after years of harsh slavery abuse and captivity it's finally time to free the Jewish people Moses is instructed by God to confront pharaoh and he's going to ask for a sign to know that you're legit take Aon step throw it on the floor it's going to turn into a snake you know what Pharaoh responds to that he one UPS him or tries to he says my magicians can replicate that and he tries replicating that what was the purpose in this sign pyro didn't buy into it anyways he didn't believe it so why are we going into this dialogue why are we getting into this debate why are we trying to impress our abusers confront our abusers yeah that's a good thing impress our abusers look what I I can do I can turn a staff into a snake so what is the point Moses wasn't trying to one up Pharaoh he wasn't trying to impress his abuser he was communicating a very important message about what leadership is what leadership should be what Pharaoh should be what Pharaoh could be compared to what Pharaoh is what leadership should be guiding people toward where they need to be not pushing them or abusing them into where you want them to be staff represents leadership in fact the Hebrew word for staff M comes from the word to to sway to guide to push people or pull people into the direction that they need to be the staff was that tool another Hebrew word chevet chevet also connotes the idea of channeling it's a it's it's a tool with which Moses channeled something bigger than himself channeled something Divine because that's what leadership is leadership is about integrity leadership is about what you are needed for not just what needs that you create in fact Jewish King which is the epitome of leadership has an obligation to carry with him a Torah scroll he has to write his own Torah scroll and carry that with him because his Integrity needs to be in check wherever he goes he has to have that objective moral compass he needs that and Moses says to Pharaoh what you should be is a staff what you have become is a snake a snake represents deception the snake is the one who deceived Eve kava in the Garden of Eden guarded from the Tree of knowledge convincing her that what is really bad for her what is really bad for the world is inner best interests the snake represented the epitome of manipulation what started off as leadership a staff evolved into manipulation and how did that happen arrogance ego Pharaoh was the epitome of ego God tells Moses to confront pharaoh to introduce the plagues to him the first plague meet him but when he's in the Nile River early in the morning why specifically at that spot so the mid says that Pharaoh made a DE of himself he made a god of himself and convinced his entire population that he doesn't have human needs because he's beyond that so he had to take care of his human needs early in the morning and God tells Moshe walking on him Crush that ego man because he abused it he abused his ability to be a leader and he turned into a deceiver into an abuser and the moment that he abuses that power we got to crush him we got to break him and that's what all the plagues were about the plagues were about revealing what Egypt really was let's take the first plague for example a Nile River turning it into blood it wasn't just a punishment or a retaliation we cut off your water supply but it was a revelation of what Egypt really was the Nile River really was a bloodbath didn't look like it not everybody knew it let's reveal the truth because it's about revealing what this really is compared to what you could have been several decades ago there was a man who was an Evangelical Christian Missionary quite successful unfortunately and had succeeded at the time in converting many Jewish people he was charismatic he was passionate he was knowledgeable and he was good with people they stationed him in Israel at the Western while he lived in Israel for 10 years and even learned Hebrew and he would pray on vulnerable Jewish people people were looking for meaning were looking for purpose and he'd pray on them and abduct them in the 70s Jews for Judaism were holding a symposium an educational day for anti-missionary work to train Jews to empower Jews this was being held in Los Angeles at the Coliseum the Evangelical Church had this missionary fly out to be part of the event just to scout out what's going on with the Jewish Community because this was going to be a big deal he shows up he's listening and as he's listening to them talk he describes how he feels his whole world crashing in on him and he says I'm living a life of deception what am I doing with myself he started studying and learning more and he eventually converted to Judaism had become a rabbi and now works for yadim a counter missionary organization he started living a life of the deception and as soon as he called it out he started living a life of leadership he made that decision I'm not going to be living a life of deception I'm going to be living a life of leadership and you know how we got there how we made that transformation how he made that shift awareness humility he could have been arrogant he could have said sorry this is the more fun convenient path this is what I know but he wanted the truth he humbly wanted the truth and he pursued it unlike pharaoh who couldn't let go of his arrogance who couldn't let go and recognize where he really comes from who he really should have been the leader he should have really been we short sell ourselves and we just do what we know we do what's convenient and sometimes it's harmful it's harmful to ourselves it's harmful to others and we're deceiving ourselves we're being dishonest we're being like a snake when we should be a leader we should be leading our life we should be living our life intentionally we should be like that staff how could we become leaders in our own lives rather than just deceivers because deceivers manipulators are looking to take are looking to gain leaders are looking to give and bring value bring meaning bring purpose but it takes a shift from being arrogant like pharaoh to being humble like Moses to being like a deceitful snake to being a leading staff I think about many of these crazy Palestinian protesters excuse me for getting political here but I don't think this is no longer politics I think at this point this is life and death you have crazy protesters who have no idea what they're protesting they're living a life of deception they're living like that snake because it's cool because it's popular because it's comfortable why can't they be a staff why can't they be a leader why can't they learn and understand and open their mind leave and Escape Egypt God willing we should all Escape Egypt we should all be free we should hear only good news okay that's my story and I'm sticking to it