So Why Egypt?

Ahh...it's that time of year again...The smell of Matzah and Horseradish is in the air! Passover (besides for the cleaning and avoidance of leavened edibles), is always fun, a great time to spend with family & friends. We've become quite accustomed to celebrating this age old holiday every year, but have we ever stopped and asked the most glaring of questions? That being: Why did the Jewish nation have to go down to Egypt and be enslaved in the 1st place!? Couldn't G-d have kept us in the holy land, safe and sound, and given us the Torah there?

I heard a very interesting answer to this question this past week. To preface: What has practically every nation who has ever abused the Jewish people have in common with one another? From Egypt to Rome, Babylonia to Greece, Spain in the late 15th century and Germany in the mid 20th, all of these nations were powerful. But more than that, each of these nations excelled, perhaps led the world, in modernity and cultural advancement. The democracy & philosophy of Greece & Rome, the golden age of Spain, the love of art and music in Germany, each of these nations were at the forefront of their times in their appreciation of an enlightened culture in their time. But did that equate to a moral country? It seems quite the contrary! The more culturally advanced the nation was, the more cruel and disgusting their actions!

Let's look at this on an individual level. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was brilliant. By 6 years old, when most kids his age were learning to read, Mozart had composed an entire symphony, to be performed by a full philharmonic orchestra! Ludwig van Beethoven, after becoming completely deaf, composed some of his most famous symphonies - unable to hear even one note of his composition! Niccolo Paganini composed such a complex violin concerto, that for 150 years no one was able to play it - except for Paganini himself. These brilliant souls obviously were blessed with amazing skills. But what type of people were they? From what we know, they had terrible character traits! Each one more unpleasant than the next. But how could that be!? Like the nations mentioned above, the reason why these amazing innovators weren't kind and gentle, was very simply because culture isn't Torah. Skills, knowledge, culture don't translate into goodness. Why? Because it doesn't penetrate one's core - who I really am. Torah was given to the world to change one's inner self, to penetrate one's being in a way that refines the animal within. In simple yiddish: To make you into a mentsch.

And THAT'S why we had to go down to Egypt, as a precursor to accepting the Torah. If we never had, perhaps there would be wonder and curiosity as to whether we were missing out on the amazingly advanced culture of the super power Egypt! Pyramids, math, heiroglyphics! G-d said: "OK, go and see if this advanced culture translates into a good society, the best way of living life." Like the Nazis who lived culturally aware lives to the highest of degrees, we Jews have experienced every leading nation and their cultures, but none have offered as kind and just an outlook as what the Torah has given us. When we left Egypt, we could now truly appreciate Mt. Sinai.

May we remember today in our lives, that as great as the advanced nations we live in today are (with much of the goodness heavily influenced by the Torah), we must always turn to Torah and its guiding principles as our inspiration and guide to living a good life.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel