This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe The Three-Day-Exodus: How a Productive Long Weekend Leads to a Lifetime of Freedom
The Exodus was for keeps. Although Pharaoh regretted his decision to allow the Israelites to leave and chased them down, setting up a stand-off at the Sea of Reeds, once the sea split for the Israelites and crashed down upon the Egyptians, the Israelites were forever freed from the clutches of Egyptian bondage. Following that day, the Israelites will never see the Egyptians again. Our people are thrice warned to never return back to Egypt. There’s nothing left for us there. The split was permanent. We’re gone forever.
But this wasn’t always the plan. When Moshe initially pitched Pharaoh to release the Israelites, he sought a temporary reprieve. “Let us travel three days into the wilderness and have a festival of sacrifices for God. Moshe implied that the nation would return following the festival. This is repeated multiple times in the narrative, as the Plague escalated and Pharaoh was pliable to negotiate: First, he offered to host the festival in Egypt. That was untenable because the Israelites intended to sacrifice sheep, the deities of Egypt. Then, Pharaoh agreed to allow the adults to go, provided that the children of the animals stay behind as collateral. Finally, Pharaoh relented to allow the adults and the children to participate in this festival, if the nation agreed to leave the animals behind.
When the nation left and three days elapsed and the nation failed to signal a return back to Egypt, Pharaoh pursued them. What is the nature of this counterfactual three-day festival? Was it a legitimate proposal or a deceptive ruse? In this very fascinating podcast, we share three different approaches. What you will learn can provide a very useful tactic in your path of ascent.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:
TORCH
PO BOX 310246
HOUSTON, TX 77231-0246
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts