We just bought a computer for our children. Now they won’t have to use the one that my wife works on. All their music, all their pictures, all their school work will be their computer. This computer combined with the fact that they each have their own iPod, their own email, and means that my 11, 9 and 7 year old are becoming more and more connected to the world. They email their sister at college, they Skype with their cousins and grandparents. Now with the cloud technology they will be able to instantly take music and pictures and put it into their computer or iPods. This hyper connectivity is an awesome responsibility and can be quite unnerving. While all my children embrace it my wife and I become wary of it. Our children want cell phones like their college age sister. My wife and I have made it clear that there will be no phone for a while. We both know that with a cell phone means that our children will always be connected. They will always be on line. If they wind up having a smart enough cell phone then they will have email, phone, texting, Skype, Facebook, instant messaging, instant everything with them all the time. I am concerned that my children, like all of us, will be plugged in anywhere and everywhere. Of course the disadvantage is that my children, like the rest of us could even become enslaved to this device. We might even belief that we might not be able to live with out it. If this doesn’t sound at all plausible or possible; just look around. We are already enslaved by technology, and many of us are already enslaved by popular culture. It is a subtle form of slavery. It happens gradually. No one argues that technology has positive qualities. As a result, we incorporate technology into our lives. We gradually feel as though we cannot live without this technology. Then we suddenly realize that our lives have been invaded, and to a degree, this life is not our own. Enslavement is a slow gradual process. Then you wake up one morning and you feel trapped in life, you feel stuck, and you become spiritually empty.
This week, we begin the Book of Shmot, the Book of Exodus. The first few verses essentially recount the ending of the Book of Genesis. Shmot re-iterates the fact that Yaakov and his sons came to Egypt, Yaakov dies, and the next generation, Yaakov’s sons (including Yosef) pass away. A new king assumes the mantle of power and does not know of Yosef’s great deeds. Instead, the new Pharaoh believed that this foreign population was tantamount to a fifth column. Therefore this tribe must be enslaved in order to prevent their uniting with Egypt’s external enemies. Vayavidu Mitzrayim et B’nai Yisroel B’Farech – The Egyptians enslaved B’nai Yisroel with crushing harshness. Vai’Mareru et Chayeihem Ba’Avodah Kasha B'Chomer Uvilveinim Uvechol Avodah Ba’Sadeh Eit Kol Avodatam Asher Avdu Bahem B’Farech – They embittered their lives with hard work, with mortar and with bricks, and with every labor of the field, all their labors that they performed with them were with crushing harshness (Ex. 1:13-14). These two verses strike me as problematic. Why does the first verse tell us that enslavement was with “crushing harshness”, when the second verse goes into great detail as to what constitutes crushing hardness and then concludes with “the labor that they performed with them with crushing harshness. Either the verse seems redundant, or superfluous. Perhaps the best solution would be to eliminate the word b’farech in the first verse and keep it in the second verse. So it would read: the Egyptians enslaved B’nai Yisroel. They embittered their lives…. How do we understand the use of the extra B’Farech?
The second use of B’Farech is defined for us by the verse. Hard work, embittering lives, every labor of the field constitutes crushing harshness. The issue is the use of B’Farech in the previous verse. Perhaps the crushing harshness is not to be taken literally. In Hebrew Bfarech means “in a crushing manner” the slavery ground them into the ground. Farech can be divided into two words Peh and Rech. Peh means mouth and Rech means soft. Figuratively “soft speech” means persuasively or persuading via the “soft sell” as opposed to threats. With this in mind we can understand that there were to steps to slavery. First convince B’nai Yisroel that they were part of Egypt. Explain to B’nai Yisroel how much they are needed by Egypt. Incorporate them into the Egyptian work force. Make it easy to be Egyptian. Encourage assimilation. Once B’nai Yisroel willingly gave up their “separateness”, once they gave up their identity, one piece at a time, they relinquished their freedom one piece at a time. The first verse could therefore be understood as Egyptians crushing slavery as the dominant culture and society overwhelming or crushing the minority culture. Once assimilation occurred, once B’nai Yisroel had assumed the bondage of the popular culture; putting them into chains and crushing them with backbreaking work became inevitable.
Technology, to a certain degree, has enslaved us. Because we are now so accessible to everyone, we begin to feel answerable to everyone. Ironic isn’t it? The one being to which we are answerable, God, is the least technologically oriented relationship. Without cell phones, wireless communication etc.; we always know where God is and God knows where we are. Perhaps that is why Shabbat is the one day of the week that we are most free. We are not answerable to the phone. We are not dependent upon technology. We are separate ourselves from the popular culture by being in Shul and praying. We separate ourselves from the popular culture by studying Torah. We separate ourselves from the popular culture by participating in Shabbat meals and spending time with our families. On Shabbat and in observing Mitzvot we prevent our own spiritual enslavement.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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