Israel’s Journey from Freedom to Independence | Rabbi Neil Winkler

we had gone through of course a lot of the story of uh Moshe and the mil and um I'm sure you saw the movie about The Exodus I don't have to talk to you about it and besides with the ha coming up and PES you're gonna well I I'm taking another point I want to take again a rather well-known story which when we go into the text we say oh yeah I and never never saw it that way that's what we like to do what I like to do to show you what the text is saying perhaps why kazal gave it a little tweak here and there and that is as I said Israel's Journey from freedom to Independence obviously the freedom from Egypt but Independence only on when once they get into their own land so the beginning of that we find inah nation has been freed the Egyptians are no longer treading water in the dread the dead in the Red Sea not the Dead Sea but anyway um Israel has been freed from that it's has come true B Isel have marched triumphantly but into the unknown actually that's what the para shal is about how it starts but before all of the events of what takes place the Torah gives us a sort of say introduction I suppose um before we here of the uh um the events I'm actually jumping ahead of myself so I apologize or I told you that already the Egyptians are drowning in the sea they aren't yet in other words out of Egypt not even yet at the at the Red Sea or the Sea of reeds yam suf they haven't got there that that's more P precise as what I'm talking about at this point so there they are um and the introduction that we told in the beginning of the it's the First Source that you have uh where it says when parro sent away right when parau sent away the people Hashem did not lead them by way of the AR the land of the Philistines even though it was the SHO because it what because it was the shortest route there are different before I sure what that means but because because that land of the Philistine was a shorter Ruth because he said that people might CH change their minds and when they encounter War they would return to Egypt and so Hashem LED them round about by way of the Reed sea desert okay yam yam that is how it begins by the way they got out of Egypt they're now going to ER Israel to the then known as the land of Canaan Canan to do so as you can see in the map well there's no map but anyway the way to go from Egypt to Israel even today this shortest way if you're going to be walking or if you have your your friendly donkey or camel is to go right up the uh the shore the sea you go right up along Mediterranean Sea that's that's D ER the Philistines uh they actually um lived there they inhabited that area that we not what call Gaza because the city of a was an Egypt was a Philistine City and they actually settled there not to go into details but they actually had come from sa they had come from uh the island off [Music] of and they came and they conquered the people there and they came from outside and they then settle the area uh along the shore along the Sea Coast and that was their that was called land um it's it is I um I think it was Cyprus yeah Cyprus yeah um Kor was called Kor in Hebrew was called Kor um and you find that actually in Amos that God took the they took theim from Kor and had them settle in um er and Merit can at anyway that's the easiest way to go if you go on a go straighten it's not a big deal it's a couple of days journey okay you have two three million people it'll take a little longer um but that's the shortest way so what are we told here and um was that God said it's not a good idea to take the short way why because he knows the Jews and the if they see a war if they see any problems they're probably going to demonstrate and block the traffic and they're not going to be allowed they were gonna have they said we don't want to go and see a war these are slaves so a week ago there were slaves and now going to fight a war so uh when when you know eventually when the Egyptians come of course God says I'll I'll fight for you because they're not capable of it so if they go that way he feels that they would be frightened and they're going to say let's forget about it and go back to Egypt not wanting the Israelites his Nation to just give up when they see War when they when they're confronted with a uh an army that would stop them from going into the land they might go back so God says not a good place so therefore he took what basically is a roundabout way instead of going straight up the um Sea Coast which would be obviously North probably just almost directly north uh he they turn he turns Eastward uh and goes and and therefore that's what it says uh that's what they did they they um he turned them around from going to North which was a logical thing to go to the east least Southeast almost to to get to avoid that um route to ER Israel that's the simple simple simple uh explanation of the Torah as to why they didn't go straight into AEL but they had to go around a little bit and as simple as that is it makes absolutely no sense and let me explain to you why it makes no sense um just consider first of all um the reason why God said I'm going to take them on a roundabout a circuitous route is in order to avoid um the um any any War and what to therefore return to Egypt okay this fear of really means to regret they regret to change their mind um they would regret having left Egypt that's the whole reason maybe they would regret that they had left Egypt when I see a war and therefore um they would uh turn around okay and that's how most of theim most of the commentators explain that that's this is what the Torah is saying Rashi even his grandson who is primarily the always say the one who often disagrees with Rashi but this time he agrees with his uh Z and um even the rambam the great of the H oh sees this what the problem is um and by Cho choosing the cirous route going around by so and not a direct route to the promised land um there would admittedly they would delay their arrival into the land and there' be a better possibility that the the people would would not feel as strong uh a uh a connection to to the to Egypt and there they would adapt a little bit to the to the desert and see themselves doing things by themselves they weren't being told by slave masters what to do and they'll be a little more independent and they won't be looking to run back to Egypt good and also perhaps they would also um feel a little more capable of fighting and facing a military confrontation so that's good that was a logic of according to what these say these commentary God's Logic as to why he did not take the direct root but rather went round about but when we take even the simplest analysis uh the logic just falls apart it again put it into a test a test of logic does this make sense let's see God takes the whole nation roundabout route towards the Red Sea okay to avoid war and uh they would then you know The Reluctant uh The Reluctant temptation to go back to to Egypt and not to go out okay so tell me how well did that did that work that work good God right that they didn't want it out now because it went round about he didn't have any problems let's look at the uh I think it's yeah the third uh is it the third yeah yeah the third Source um I'll start with one verse beforehand uh where it says that the Egyptians began to pursue the fleeing slave of the Israelites and they caught up to them as they were right on the shores of the Red Sea and and they came not simply by themselves that came all of the all of the um horses and chariots Please be aware in the ancient world you know was before the Cowboys the uh horses were not this type of thing they they used camels and they used the um of course the beasts of Burden that is the donkeys horses were used by this time they frally got them they originally they weren't used their Wild Horses they began to try train them for war horses were primarily a war their tanks of that time were were were the horses and chariots s who right so at anyway they're all chasing into to the uh um chasing the Israelites and listen to what it says now we I'm getting to the source okay where it says in the English Okay farro Drew near and B Isel looked up and beheld the Egyptians coming after them well they were very frightened and they cried out to Hashem what did they say they said to Moshe were there not enough graves in Egypt that you took us out of into the desert to to die and beat that what have you done bringing us out of Egypt that's the exact thing we told you Us in Egypt when we told you leave us alone let us serve the Egyptians because it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the desert what do they want to do when they see the Egyptians fighting them what did they want to do help me out here what did they say what we want what do we want to do they want to go back to Egypt they want to go back to Egypt why' you take us out of Egypt it's better to stay there than so God took them around and secure this root because if God permid you might have a war you're going to want to go back to Egypt so I'll send you by Red Sea where what happened the Egyptians attack chase them ready to attack them and have a war with them and they said we want to go back to and they said we should go back to Egypt so this this wonderful expression oh rabbis what have you successed to do with your plan here God what did you accept according to what AR say the whole reason to take them in around about root is so that they won't have to deal with a confront with a military power and then want to go back to Egypt and what happens they were confronted with the military power and they had wanted to go back to Egypt exactly what supposedly God was trying to avoid so logically to say that was the reason that God wanted really does not uh fly in the face of logic it just is simply um so that's the first thing they get through the problem of the Red Sea the Sea of re as it should be spoken to soup is the re when when Moshe is found on the sides of the river uh when he's in his little basket on the floating on the river it says that part on the reads of the river so it means a read yam anyway um they get through that and what happens ah ne they complaining they haven't got water they haven't got food they haven't got water and what happens they're attacked by Amal what the amalekites attack them but God missed his ways it wasn't working you're trying to avoid war you take them on a route to avoid the war and you get to the amales theim and they are attacked and they have a war and again I as because why makes no sense that God would really want to avoid the any War which would make them want to go back to Egypt but he ended up having one attack almost attack of the Egyptians and they started the chir they wanted to go back to Egypt and then to avoid a war well they had a war anyway just a few weeks later with amalik so why' you take him that way you hear why I'm telling you what we thought as oh we know the story is very nice it really isn't very clear there's a very strong argument made by really the P one of the Pioneers in understanding the Tex of Torah that we are blessed to have now and he challenges us with that um so we have to understand what was really happening here if God really wanted this why doesn't God take them out of Harm's Way I mean he knows pretty much everything so why not take them around where they're where they would not be attacked if that after all was God's fear um know that they the the war they would have against the Egyptians are understandable they would be afraid of them the Egyptians was a huge after all Empire they a tremendous military the Philistines were far less of a of of a threat I would imagine and yet that he's trying to avoid the the Philistines uh it's just very difficult it should have been easier for God to say you know what I at the Philistines later on but let's get them into their own country where they can be settled down and have their own Army and they'll be able be great so that's the first real problem the second problem is not logic but it's contradictory I don't know if you all remember um the events that occur at har Elohim right the Mountain of God which as we all know was Hari but it was called the Mountain of God yet because it would seem in the ancient world it was considered a holy mountain for whatever reason that's where God Appears to Moshe in the burning bush that's what is um what does he do there he has an argument with Moshe and one of the arguments he says to Moshe to prove to him that everything will be fine and he'll be able to take the Israelites out of Egypt and he'll be fine is he tells um Moshe in our fourth Source the source is a source of course number four that's the fourth one number four he says to Moshe trying to convince him and to prove to him that he would be successful in taking the Jews Israelites out of Egypt he says when you take them out you'll see this is the sign that you'll be successful and here it comes um uh this is sign that I will be with you this is the proof that I have S you when you bring the people out of Egypt you will serve Elohim you'll serve God on this very Mount so he's telling them when you leave Egypt where are you going to go to where worship after all what did the argument did Moshe give to parro and he told the people also we want to leave Egypt in order to worship God he said that he said Let My People Go I mean before the spiritual but um so that we can worship God and God had told the very thing you will worship me where High Elohim meaning when you come out of Egypt you will worship me at [Music] Hari Hari wasn't why der ER ped him from the very beginning Moshe was told by God and God knew very well that he was going to take them towards Mount Si Mount Si was not north of where you know from Egypt and where they were leaving now s was indeed very much uh um East a little bit South and it comes up towards Saudi Arabia more so what are you talking me about oh god really wanted to take them down no he didn't he didn't want to take them that way he told them he would be taking them that way this whole story here is very difficult to understand the whole reasoning is very difficult to understand it's it's not logical because as I pointed out to you um B Israel um anyway wanted to go back to Egypt um when the Egyptians attack were attacking them and they didn't avoid any War because they eventually had the war against Amal so God did not solve the problem that supposedly he was supposed to be solving this is what we really have a problem um and that's why it's important to go and see this um so let's understand while this is going on while the Israelites are suffering in Egypt uh in servitude everyone of them uh where was Moshe in Midian correct he was in Midian and because of that he knew the desert fairly well I mean he did manage to cross the desert from Egypt into Midian again it's that uh invisible map that I have you that from they go from uh west to east from Egypt across Eastward across the desert and that's where and the north Northeast and that's where million is uh nowadays it's Jordan Saudi Arabia and Jordan there um that's where he went in fact now there's even a controversy where harina really is but anyway uh nobody knows for sure you get different books some fascinating books some written by archaeologists some by um uh Christian um biblical people who uh claim and I read this book very interesting uh that they found a mountain in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabians not would not allow them at a time about 30 years ago to get near him it was all um fenced off but they f for outside supposedly proof of where it says that Israel had built 12 Mb altars outside SII and that they put away their jewelry and stuff and God said get rid of them at the sin of the C they climed they saw it and they found much of it there and they claimed that it was in Saudi Arabia actually and when they said physically that's where two believe people could stand around it there was enough room there problem was timing wise where there was enough time now I'm not going to go into that but there is a controversy exactly where har is remember the uh Christians also had it uh I think they had a not an under the the monks were up in the mountain in the desert in sin desert and said this was high whatever um the mosha again so he knew the the way in the desert okay and Moshe had been told remember when he was talking to a burning bush that he would be bringing Ben Israel to Haren and he knew what har was because he was standing there that he knew was uh not north towards ertin he also knew that they would be going that way okay um he wasn't really going the coast of the Mediterranean which is where the artim uh V it's called the vamar which is the root the sea root okay um so he knew that very well so what ises it mean when God changed this route well if we clearly said he he didn't change anything he had plan to do it this way in the first place uh it was always his plan and to understand this well takes us somebody like of Y who was also much of a it's not archaeologist he's a very expert in ancient near East ancient Middle East and uh he explained something of his studies okay first we have to start with what was God's real um Target what did he want did he want them to be able to avoid war or did he want the people to be truly free he want them to have freedom so ra suggested that um if you have an opportunity to check out an article in the 1920 Journal of Egyptian archaeology you probably have it in your bookcase someplace uh just a 100 years ago anyway um this is was a book written by the way by British fellow by the name of of James Wilson do you ever hear about the Wilson Arch right outside of the old city you should know go there and they have a tour you say oh this is Wilson's Arch over here it's where they moved went into the city because they had to go on top anyway any rate um still there huh W is Archer yeah yeah see it yeah yeah Wilson isn't still there but the Archer is I I'll have to get a tour guide I'll tell you which ones are The Archers of the Wes AR right right by the wall of the of the um of the of the Wilson I don't know exactly which one I don't know exactly which one but as I said any good uh tour's guide if my cousin were here he would give us wonderful I have a cousin who is a outstanding tour guide specifically of and he has a encyclopedic memory of what of Y itself and uh he would be able to tell you if he's standing here right now um but he's not he's in the he's back worrying about his sons in the Army but anyway um he wrote ancient texts and um and uh he wrote the in the ancient texts I should say and uh subsequent archaeological discoveries that were done in the what we call the coastal root Coastal root was what known in the Torah as D the root of the land of the Philistines what we're talking about and they have the archaeologists have looked into this yet over a hundred years ago and they found out from different archaeological readings that it basically although the Philistines lived there it was under the control of guess who Egypt Egypt was a huge Empire Egyptian had uh had subdivided people who were living elsewhere probably in Canan and Canaan also but they were under the control of Egypt though they may not be enslaved by them probably had to pay taxes but they they were the ones who controlled it more than that more than that um we know from um the diggings in um in can which is near you know the archaeologists there uncovered a series of military Egyptian military bases now these bases that were given that were under the control of the Pharaohs um and they were Underground I this is a very scary thing given today's truth that it was under the ground in Gaza they had underground 40 to 50 feet underground desert fortification and there they found sweet flowing water I me I I don't have to remind you uh do you know our wonderful cousins in Gaza today and where they were underground in tunnels 40 50 feet down or not more so modern biblical commentaries not one of our a for they said that such a route would actually plunge the Israelites into a military trap they're not going up to D because it was under Egyptian Military control if it's under Egyptian Military control what did they do they would be running away from Egypt to be caught in Egypt by Egypt and therefore that's why God went to the southern route the southern this Southeastern route to avoid them getting through the military uh bases of the Egyptian armies over on the coast of Road Coastal Road was the easiest way to go but it was controlled by Egypt and that's why God says no we have to not go that way problem is that's not what the Torah says the Torah says was afraid that the people would get frightened and panic when they're confronted with war right and they want to go back to EGP eypt they had to therefore avoid war according to what the Torah is telling us not for fear they're going to be defeated but rather for the fear of being ambushed and trapped not I should say not even that but rather because because they're GNA want to go back to Egypt would seem that would return to Egypt it was controll by egpt Egypt would capture and take them back exactly so that's what I'm saying we are believing we understanding that oh they're complaining they're going to want to go back to Egypt but perhaps as Robert B Newan says that's not what it means that um when it says sh not that they re would return to the land of Egypt but rather having been gone into the Egyptians and in the military thing they would look to Egypt for Aid and for help in other words it's true in the ancient world that Egypt had many nations or cities really cities states that were under their control they all allowed them to continue but they paid them taxes and they controlled them and the fear was according to that Israel would de returned to return not to Egypt itself but to mitan to Egypt as a power that they would now become dependent upon the powerful Egyptian Empire what does God want to do more than anything else freedom to get out to remove the old that the the Yoke of Egyptian servitude even if they won't be slaves per se they would end up being serving Egypt for whatever person whether it's taxes or anything and when they have a problem and they're gonna have somebody maybe attack them and they're going to have real sorus what are they going to do are they gonna go go to the sh and say to him or are they going to go to the the Pharaohs and say help us that's what God wanted to avoid Freedom would mean in Independence for them and that would mean you cannot rely on Egypt and it's the most obvious and the most clearly logical thing that a a people that were enslaved by them and were used to hundreds of years of being told what to do and what not to do but even if they go away and they're not going to slep them back all the way back to Egypt they would say fine you can stay there and we'll tell you what to do and they would say thanks a lot the fear that that the state of Israel has had forever even to this day they always wanted to be independent and even with the wonderful uh um friends that we have now there's still a fear that is that going to mean that once they we're going to rely on them they can then tell us what they should do and should not do ah I didn't say it you did but that's exactly a fear so that's happening yet doesn't seem but maybe a little it is and is that good or bad for the Jews so that's the whole point he says it wasn't that that he's afraid that uh oh oh we let's run back to the Egyptians in a certain degree it is they he's afraid that they would even if they got away from the specific slavery of Egypt they would still be under the servitude of the Egyptians and the Egyptian Empire who would then then and that's not really free certainly not independent and that's what God was trying to avoid and that is why it says yam that's why it says that he to he now has them going toward yam wasn't that he changed his mind of going that way he knew exactly what is gonna happen God doesn't have to change his mind he always pled to go to heart and so on and so forth but the whole reason why he didn't want to go the direct rout is because he did he changed that route on purpose to go to and so on and so forth to avoid any Egyptian um Power or control of the area um so why would he go to yamu and obviously the Egyptians were ready to uh run after them and they figured they could attack them H they well they were able to take a whole Army in there they probably had control there so why does he do it what happens to yamu exact no splitting you see it's fun makes a great movie but what happened at theam after it split he drowned all the Army he had to have Israel see that the great Egyptian Army and the great power and the military so on and so forth then no longer there you think you're going to rely upon Egypt then nobody like this God says I can get rid of them and they had to see that if you recall what we say every morning when we say the there's one little verse which didn't seem so important it said and Israel saw the MIT Egypt dying dead at at the sea why is that so important because that did that it wasn't even doesn't say he saw the Egyptians were dead he said Egypt was dead there the fear they had of Egypt and the fear of the great power of Egypt that's what died at yam and that's why God wanted them by it doesn't say Noam because he's got to put himam so that the Egyptian would be following them and they would be drowned at yamu that was the plan that's what God did by that he turned them around to go to yam so that even though Egypt still had some control there they would all die there you all see them there that would put an end to it or so God believe should happen and it should have happened and we'll see it didn't but at least the fear of the fear of bet was was was really really uh destroy the confrontation of Egypt and the Egypt Army at um yam the horse and the Chariots the tanks were thrown into the sea that's that was so it wasn't just they were dead their their their I'm sorry their power their military power which was best seen by uh chariots I gotta tell you I can't go through tanak all the way not with you now but I can't show you what that the tank force how important that was in the ancient world Israel didn't have a tank force that's why the Canaanites attacked them and and their tanks meaning their horses and chariots were drowned in um in the river in the north uh I'm not g go through that's where it is uh so but Israel didn't have that I can go through with P Philistines and stuff like that and that that they Isel didn't have that that type of military for quite a while after that so the destruction of su as we told of the Chariots and the horses was more than symbolic of this the complete destruction of the power of Egypt which is what God wanted so that the they would now rely not upon Egypt and one is the last words that said after it says I saw Egypt dead and Egypt gone now they really believe believed in God they knew they had it's it's not even believed in they now they now had faith in they now had faith in God they now would rely on God not on don't worry the Egyptians will come and they'll help us out That's essential and essential for a Israelite Nation to become its own Nation that's what they saw and um just as a show you precisely the the mindset of the Israelites at this time okay [Music] um and the source number five in Source number five we find that um the is Israelites that God uh gives the plan to to Moshe what he wants it says is he tells Moshe you know what's gonna happen was going to say about about the Israelites ah they don't know where they're going man their ways is broken they they they're stuck in front of the the the Sea of re the Red Sea the they're lost they don't know what do they know about going into a desert no one's going to lead them what do they know so we they're going to see that you're stuck in front of yamu he said uh that they're confused in the land the desert has trapped them when that happens God tells Moshe I will harden the heart of parro and he will pursue them that's what I wanted to do and I will be glorified through Faro and his entire Army great play on words me heavy I will I will deal heavily but that's not what it means if from the word cavod I will be glorified with my rough um the way I treatment rough treatment of the Egyptians there and they will know that I am Hashem there it is is that's exactly what he wants if I defeat the Egyptians and the Israelites see them being defeated drowning on the on the dead on the Red Sea on the yamu then they will now see Egypt is dead as it were they will know that I am I am the power I'm the one they G going to tell them for I'm the one who can help them that's what had to be you know you what should I say it's an old cigarette commercial which you're not allowed to have anymore we used to always say it but we say it differently you can take Israel out of Egypt but they had to take Egypt out of Israel they had to keep remve from Israel their their idolizing a terrible word to use of Egypt but they're so strong but they're so per we can't fight them that type of thing God had to re destroy that how does he do it lets them see that all of the Egyptians and the Army is H is destroyed at yamu and that's why again I go back to the wording where it says Israel sees Egypt is dead not the Egyptians EGP egpt is the concept of Egypt the power of Egypt so as I was saying that is a crucial thing it's shows that God was not fearful of necessarily them going back to Egypt um but rather seeing Egypt as their um saviors and that when things went rough they would go to them now I'm going to show you what this is a real real problem right I show you that what and why they need they needed um God needed a final confrontation against Egypt for the is isites to understand that you know that is um that they are gone and that's why still in the fifth source that second part of it that Moshe tells that to the People by m Moshe said to the people don't be afraid stand firm you'll see the Deliverance of God that God will perform for you today for the Egyptians that you have seen today you will never see again forever that's what he's telling them they're gone their power will be gone that what he had to tell the people that's what they had to be completely um convinced of that they need not have them and they will need not go back to Egypt or at least rely on them for any Aid and for any help and any protection there's only one and that's God who will be their aid and their protection that is extremely extremely important um and that is exactly why um this whole thing of going around and not going straight that's why it was done it was done not for fear of them going back to the land of Egypt but going back to Egypt the Empire as their support and their strength R um and we're going to go on yet to show you how it was a very real thought for Israel especially those opening years when they're in the Egypt uh when they're in the desert of wanting to go to Egypt for what they wanted for to going back to Egypt going back to Egypt it's still ringing in their ears about Egypt Egypt and when we eventually get the story of um the um spies and the story of the punishment right of e of Israel having to um die in the desert when you understand God's um concern that they're going to they see Egypt as their help and that was he they it's a realization that a nation that has been enslaved for so long uh in Egypt is a nation that could not build another independent uh country State that's why a new a new non-slave um generation would have to come and take over but I'm not for getting here now okay so mem next week and we'll have to um tell the people that if you didn't see take this they can find it on the um over here on on the site