5:1). It is my humble opinion that Pharaoh was so stubborn that if he was
told at the start that the Children of Israel should be released so that they
can go to the land of Canaan, he would never let them ago or even
negotiate their departure. Moses strategy worked. By requesting Pharaoh
to let them go celebrate with God in the wilderness, Moses and Aaron
were able to have a dialogue with him and in this in turn led to the
Exodus from Egypt.
The parsha of the week influences and controls weekly events. This week we
witnessed the power of God’s tools including the wind, rain and fog.
We witnessed the separation of the Children of Israel and the Gentile world,
especially Goshen from the rest of Mitzrayim. We witnessed darkness all over
Mitzrayim except in Goshen. The darkness was so thick you could feel it. Likewise,
in the USA and Canada, the fog was so thick it was described as soupy.
There were numerous collisions as a result of the fog. In the block of our shul, known
as the Markham Street, the Rushesha Shul, Shaarei Tzedek and the Jeff Phillips Shul,
due to hurricane force winds, a tree fell down and destroyed a car. It also took down
the electric power of the block, except for the shul and a few houses next to it. This
story made headline photos in the Toronto Star and National Post. We also saw the
power of the wind when it knocked down an Air Canada plane over the rockies. All
of these events attest to the strong hand of God in our daily lives. In this Parsha, we
saw how Pharoah hardened his heart in not allowing the Children of Israel to depart
from Egypt. Likewise, top yahoo news story read, “President Bush hardens his tone”.
The news said that Bush demanded that Israel remove all settlements from the West
Bank. Just like Pharoah was defeated, President Bush’s efforts were defeated as noted
in the top news of today, 1/11/08, where it said on Reuters news wire, “
peace mission without breakthrough
destruction. Although America gives Israel much aid, it is mainly looking out for it’s
own interest. Just look at the American Jonathan Pollard, he is still languishing in jail
although he spied for Israel. However, just like the God of Israel protected us in
Mitzrayim a mere 3000 years ago, the God of Israel protects us amongst the wolves of
today. We must always give thanks to God, our only true friend.
A refuah shlaima to my father Yaakov Zev Ben Malka Blima.