The final chapter has yet to be written on the Arab Spring. Events unfolding in Egypt indicate that the situation is still quite volatile.
But the first Egyptian Spring occurred over 3000 years ago, when a people – three million strong – simply walked out of a dictator’s grasp. Ten plagues and a sea split in two probably was better cover than a NATO no-fly zone.
Unlike masses in Syria and Libya, the Jews did not wage war against the ruling class. In contrast to the despots chased from their own countries, they did not attempt to overthrow Pharaoh and his regime. They simply left. A major difference between the original Exodus from Egypt in (the spring of 2448 in the Jewish calendar) and the modern-day Arab Spring, it can be said, lies in who departs from whom.
The narrative of the Jewish people in slavery and freedom appears remarkably unique. What caused them to decide to go versus fight?
You may argue that it was simply the word of G-d. That is true. But I suggest that it was also something the Jews naturally believed in.
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So much focus is given to how the Jews escaped from Egypt. But what of their arrival in Egypt? If they were so desperate to leave, it must mean life in Egypt was rotten. How did it become so repressive?
In this week’s Parsha of Vayigash we read about the arrival of the Jewish people in Egypt. They came because their brother was viceroy of the land. But instead of settling in the ‘Washington’ or ‘New York City’ of Egypt, they chose the quiet land of Goshen. If they had access to power, why shun the spotlight?
The initial Jews that came to Egypt knew very well that Egypt is not home. We are visitors. If we dare get too comfortable with Egyptian aristocracy, we will lose our own identity. And if we lose our identity, we stand no chance of survival.
[In fact, enslavement of the Jewish people only began after the generation of Jews who had come to Egypt as adults – and remembered life in the Old Country (Israel) – had passed away.]
It was the reawakening of their initial discomfort in Egypt – its moral and values – that led the Jewish people back to their land.
Yes, it is possible to revolt against Egypt and succeed. But for a Jew, we’d rather go to our own home than take over someone else’s home.