Resistance

0:01 This time I'd like to invite Rabbi Sean to the stage to come and deliver the message. Adonai, we just thank you for your goodness. Father, we know that you have been working in Sean's life, preparing him through prayer, through study, through counsel. And Father, we ask that as this word goes forth, that we would be attentive and ready to receive what comes from the text. Father, we ask that you would give him clarity of thought, and let us all be good communicators, him as a

0:48 speaker, and us as listeners. In the mighty name of Yeshua, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Marcus. I remember Robert fondly. I was thinking about him this week, actually, while reading some literature, and we used to talk about literature, among other things. And I believe we talked about a writer named Chaim Potok. If anyone knows Chaim Potok, raise your hand if you know Chaim Potok. Okay. So, he was actually a friend of my family, amazingly, in Brooklyn,

1:34 I think in the Philly area. And my mom told me he even would drive them to school when she was a little girl. My grandmother told me she has one of his paintings, but he's a fabulous Jewish novelist. And one of the things that I love about his books, any of them, is he gets right into the conflict right away. If you want to be a writer, you've got to put your main character up a tree, as high as possible, as soon as possible. So Chaim Potok knows how to do that, and I have a similar approach to the message today. I went back a bit in the story to Exodus chapter 5, which is not part of this week's

2:22 Torah portion, but it is where the conflict happens. The gears are grinding here between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh. So it is here. Although it's not in the portion, it's appropriate to Pesach and this struggle between Pharaoh and the people of God. So as you are getting ready to turn in your Bibles to Exodus 5, I'd like to share a story. My father worked the same job from the age of 18 through the time

3:10 he retired, not too long ago. He drove a truck and delivered newspapers and magazines in New York. And when I was 10 years old, my father had already been working with his company for 10 years. He had built relationships within the company, he had accumulated seniority, and he was building his pension. However, in the mid-1990s, the company made a decision based upon cutting costs that would cause our family to suffer and would cause other workers their lives. Although profits were high for the company,

3:58 they said that they were going under and that another company was going to take over. So the workers had to choose whether to stay with the prior company or to join the new one, though, in reality, it would not be possible to stay with the old company for long. My father was reluctant to join the new company, as it would mean losing his seniority, as well as a pay cut and loss of protection from the union. Eventually, he was forced to move into the new company and to start again as a new employee, doing the same job he had been doing for two decades.

4:46 Although my father was among the highest-ranked employees with the old company, now the choice routes were selected randomly and given to new drivers. To make matters worse, the company also changed location. Not too far, but a new location. They found a cheap property, but there was a catch that the workers were not aware of. The property that the company obtained was a radioactive waste dump. The owners were aware of this, but the employees were not. Those who worked in the warehouse would frequently develop serious

5:33 diseases, such as rare cancers or leukemia. Workers in their 30s and 40s were suddenly getting sick and dying. The property would also flood, and the drivers were expected to wade through the water to access their trucks. My father could see that the water was filled with all kinds of oils on the surfaceAnd he refused to wade through it to get to his truck, and he notified his supervisor. And as a result of his resistance, he would not have to wade through the toxic water.

6:19 But other workers would do it without questioning. When one of the warehouse workers became terminally ill in his 40s, he sued the company, and my father testified on his behalf. The corruption came to the surface in court, and the company was exposed for hiding the dangers of buying a property that was filled with toxic waste. They were forced to make payments to those who had adverse health effects, but the damage had already been done. Some had lost their lives at an early age. Others were impacted, but their sickness would emerge

7:07 in the coming years. They wouldn't even be recognized in the lawsuit. Lives were cut short, and children were raised without fathers due to corporate greed and the desire to maximize profits. Although they would be forced to pay out millions of dollars to suffering families, money could not fix the devastating problems they created, that would have ramifications for years to come. In the end, the corporate greed would affect all parties and lead to inexhaustible suffering. If you wish to know more about this, you can look up the land in Hicksville, New York, that Verizon sold to Magazine

7:55 Distributors Incorporated with full knowledge of the radioactive waste on site. The title of my message is Resistance, and we will be considering Exodus 5:1-14. I will derive three points from this passage. First, freedom comes through resistance. Second, resistance will not be tolerated. And third, things might get worse before they get better. My main point is that although pushing back against oppressive power

8:40 structures brings punishment and suffering, it is worth it. My outline can be found on the YouVersion app, and there is a handout in English and Spanish available to those in the sanctuary if you raise your hand. I see many of you already have. I will be reading from the Tree of Life version of the Bible. Exodus 5:1-5 read as follows. "Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, 'This is what Adonai, God of Israel says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a feast for me in the

9:26 wilderness.' But Pharaoh said, 'Who is Adonai, that I should listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know Adonai, and besides, I will not let Israel go.' They answered, 'The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we may sacrifice to Adonai, our God, or else he may strike us with pestilence or with the sword.' But the king of Egypt said to them, 'Why do you, Moses and Aaron, make the people break loose from their work? Go to your labors.' Then Pharaoh said, 'Look, the people of the land are now so

10:11 numerous, yet you would have them rest from their labors?'" Freedom comes through resistance. What gave Moses and Aaron the audacity to challenge Pharaoh? We see that in chapter 3 of Exodus, Moses has an encounter with the Lord. There, he is instructed to approach Pharaoh in order to deliver the children of Israel from slavery. Although God gives Moses instruction, Moses is terrified, and for good reason. He objects to God in chapter 4 that the people will not

10:59 believe his message. So God responds by giving Moses two miraculous signs that he could perform to challenge those who would not take his message seriously. When Moses brought up his reluctance to be a public figure, God ensured Moses that he would give him the words to speak at the proper time. When Moses suggested sending someone else instead, God got upset with Moses. However, Moses was able to negotiate a good deal with the Lord, and his big brother, Aaron, a gifted speaker, was allowed to accompany Moses on this terrifying mission.

11:50 There is an interesting dynamic at play here. Although Moses was a Hebrew, he was raised in Pharaoh's household. Aaron, however, his brother, was a slave, though it seems he is high-ranking and highly reputable.This could have been due to his status as a Levite, his moral character, his relationship to Moses and the household of Pharaoh, or a combination thereof. There is something that we can learn from Moses and Aaron in this situation. Neither of them were power hungry. In fact, they both appear humble. Moses even said he was the humblest man ever.

12:41 So rather than using their authority to dominate others, they wielded their authority for good, even putting themselves at risk for the benefit of others. Although Moses had heard from the Lord, confronting Pharaoh in this way must have been terrifying. Obviously, Pharaoh is not a big, fuzzy teddy bear. He is the most powerful man in the world. He demands obedience and loyalty. He is comfortable holding an entire nation as slaves. The only thing that seems to make Pharaoh uncomfortable is decreased productivity.

13:30 Notice also that Moses is not instructed by the Lord to demand total freedom for the children of Israel. Rather, he is told to ask for a break for three days in order to serve the Lord. Pharaoh was not even willing to grant the Israelites one day of rest, let alone three. They would not be able to observe Shabbat until they were free. So this request of Pharaoh is a test of Pharaoh's heart, and although Moses has favor with Pharaoh, three days' labor was of great value to Pharaoh,

14:17 and greater in value than any desire to accommodate Moses and the people of Israel. Pharaoh responds that he did not know Adonai and that he had no reason to listen to his voice. Although this is an honest statement from Pharaoh, he would come to find out the identity of the Lord in the coming chapters, as you know. Yet, here he had an opportunity to reason with Moses, Aaron, and the Lord, but he failed to take advantage of it. Perhaps Pharaoh knew that his slaves would never return if he let them go, even for three days. Maybe Pharaoh just didn't have access to modern analytics,

15:06 so he didn't know that he could actually get more productivity out of his workers if he gave them a day off. While Moses and Aaron surely faced the weightiness of Pharaoh's authority, ultimately, their fear of the Lord was greater than their fear of Pharaoh. They would rather face Pharaoh's wrath than the wrath of the Lord. With this bold statement, Moses and Aaron let it be known that they would obey the Lord's instruction, even if it meant opposing Pharaoh, and Pharaoh is incapable of understanding their commitment. Rather, he would only consider the great profit that

15:54 would come through the labor of a nation of slaves. Human desire is a natural thing. We all have it. We have needs, and we must find a way to meet them. We have desires that may be untamed. These desires, if left unchecked, can destroy our lives and the lives of others. This greed that we see here in the passage also destroys our relationship to the Lord and others. It destroys our conscience, and we should not be surprised to see leaders in the world who are never

16:41 satisfied. Sadly, we should not be surprised to see corporate greed destroying people's lives even today. When the goal is to acquire as much wealth, power, and authority as possible, ethics and compassion are tossed by the wayside. Pharaoh was the most powerful man in the world, yet he bought into a system of thought that became his own downfall. Rome was also the most powerful nation during the time of Yeshua's ministry. They failed to see how their destructive mindset would lead

17:26 to the fall of Rome. As the proverb says, pride comes before? Fall. Yes, or destruction, the fall. Good. Yet, still, we fail to learn from history. The rulers of the people demand incessant productivity. Profit margins are more important than people in our society. How many qualified people do you know that cannot even find work today because no one wants to pay them? How many do you know that work continually and cannot afford the necessities of life? How many do you know who cannot afford groceries or

18:14 fuel?The ancient story remains relevant today. So how do we escape this destructive cycle? We learn from the Torah, and this passage in particular, that freedom comes through resistance. The gates to Auschwitz said, "Work will set you free." However, freedom only came through resistance, and millions perished first. What does resistance mean in the modern world? It means that we should not blindly follow corrupt leaders who only seek to exploit us for gain.

19:02 It means that God calls us to fight for a better world, not only for ourselves, but for those around us. It means that we should not sit idly by while others are exploited. Pharaoh was oblivious to such concerns. To what level have we also become oblivious to the reality of human suffering and oppression? Like Egypt and Rome, we find ourselves in the most powerful nation on Earth, and we all enjoy the benefits of such power. The risk is that we lose our humanity

19:48 in the pursuit of riches, power, and authority. The late great B.B. King sang, "It's a mean old world." And as a father of children, I confess that it can be scary to send them out into the world. In the face of such corruption and injustice, we can feel powerless to bring about any change. However, we can learn from Moses that one person can make a difference. We can also learn that we will not get too far without the help of others. Moses recognized his own weakness, and he saw the need for collaboration.

20:35 He took others along with him. At times, he tried to persuade people and failed, but he didn't give up. Moses had access to Pharaoh. He simply made a request, as terrifying as that must have been. He put in for three days leave. This small act of resistance would bring about a chain of events that would eventually lead to the liberation of a people. It would eventually become the story that inspired slaves and those oppressed for thousands of years to come. Yet for Moses, it started with this one small yet bold step.

21:24 My father was not a prince in Egypt. He was a truck driver in New York. He refused to walk through a flood of toxic waste. It was a small act of disobedience. He went to court to testify on behalf of his friend, a man who bore the sickness on behalf of the corporate leaders' greed. Sometimes we have moments of realization. I remember when I was in Los Angeles, and I realized that the college that I worked for was unethical, completely unethical. It took me about six months working there to realize. So I left,

22:10 even though it led to an even more uncertain future. What has the Lord shown you? What suffering do you see, and what are you willing to do about it? You may feel powerless to address the enormity of such forces, but is there a small thing that the Lord is calling you to do? Freedom comes through resistance. Exodus 5:6-9 read as follows, "Then on the same day, Pharaoh commanded the slave masters of the people and their

22:57 foremen saying, 'You are not to give the people any more straw to make bricks as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But impose on them the quota of bricks that they made previously. Don't reduce it, for they are lazy. That's why they cry out, saying, "Let us go and sacrifice to our God." Let even heavier work be laid upon the men so that they must labor, paying no attention to deceptive words.'" Resistance will not be tolerated. The good news is that we, like Moses and Yeshua, can be agents of liberation.

23:44 The bad news, like we see in the story of Moses and Yeshua, is that things tend to get worse before they get better. People do not like being told no. Powerful people in particular do not take kindly to resistance. A corrupt system cannot be overthrown without a fight. This is the cost of following the Lord. God sometimes calls us to make unpopular decisionsHe calls us to resist oppressive power structures. That's crazy work, as my son says.

24:31 Opposing such forces can lead to great suffering or even the loss of life. However, consider the alternative. What if Moses and Aaron decided to never approach Pharaoh? What if they simply allowed the injustice to continue? What if the young man with rare cancers never found the courage to sue his company? Though he had to suffer and die an early death, leaving his children fatherless and his wife a widow, his act of resistance put an end to the oppressive evil that was destroying the lives of others.

25:19 As if this evil is not dark enough, we see a phenomenon in Egypt that also took place in the Holocaust. The leaders among the slaves were forced to oppress their own people. This blurs the lines of good and evil while allowing the oppressors to act as if they did nothing wrong. The slaves were being conditioned to direct their anger at the foremen rather than the ones who were making the decisions. Pharaoh was offended that the people would make such a request. Rather than showing compassion, he decided to retaliate.

26:10 Rather than overlooking their request or simply saying no, he decided to take out his anger on the slaves. What's interesting about this decision is that it actually caused the Israelites to be far less productive, but Pharaoh had lost his objectivity in his anger and wrath. We can learn from this that we should not try to make important decisions when we're angry or hungry. Decisions made in anger can end up hurting us more than the people that we're trying to hurt. Pharaoh's retaliation would cause the children of

26:58 Israel to become more bitter and less productive. We observe that Pharaoh cared about profitability. However, his ego was even greater than his desire for profit. He needed to be recognized as the most powerful, and any act of disloyalty would be severely punished. His goal was that they would suffer to the extent that they would never question Pharaoh again or ask him for concessions. This also meant that the slave masters and the foremen would need to stop gathering straw for the Israelites to make bricks.

27:44 This would cause the Hebrew slaves to resent their oversight, as the foremen's work had become less, while now the people had to do more work than ever. What is also sad is that you might imagine how the Hebrew slaves felt about Moses at this point in the narrative. Although Moses was trying to advocate on behalf of his people, at this point, he only succeeded in making their lives worse. He was their union representative. We each face a decision of who we will serve. People line up to tell us how to think about each and

28:31 every issue. Some might be trying to help us think critically. Others might be trying to get us to ignore those questions bugging our conscience and encourage us to simply get in line. Sadly, our thinking is often dictated by social media platforms, which feed us according to algorithms that have more to do with profitability than free thinking. So what are your sources of truth? Perhaps you're thinking the B-I-B-L-E, it is God's word for me, and that's fine.

29:17 The problem becomes that people on both sides of every issue use the Bible to justify their opinion. The Bible doesn't say one thing, it says lots of things, and it must be interpreted and applied in a given context. As we can see in Acts chapter 15, where we spent a lot of time last year, it can be difficult to interpret scripture in a given situation. Sometimes we find ourselves on different sides of an issue, even within the body of Yeshua. The theologian John Wesley advocated for studying in

30:04 community with people who disagree with us. A test for each of us is whether we are willing to hear the unfiltered voice from the other side. This is also what it means to be a Hebrew, to hear the voice from the other side.Our society has the tendency to feed us caricatures of other perspectives. So if we're a free-thinking people, we should be willing to hear from the best sources on a given issue, rather than someone else's interpretation of their opponent. It is difficult to listen to voices that we disagree with,

30:50 but it can cause us to grow in humility and wisdom. It might even cause you to make an impact upon someone who disagrees with you. Like the slave masters and foremen, we all have spheres of delegated authority. We are given the responsibility of our bodies and choices. We are given the responsibility of how we treat others. We have roles in society. We decide how we approach our work, how we approach our coworkers, how we approach our bosses, or those who look to us for leadership.

31:37 We get to decide how we treat our spouse if we're married, and our children, if we have them. We choose how we treat our parents and siblings. We choose how we treat strangers, and even how we treat those who disagree with us. Each one of us is given a great deal of authority. We can find out how much we love the Lord through observing the way that we treat others. I think that if we are following the guidance of the Spirit of God, the Ruach HaKodesh, that we should sometimes be displeased with the way that we respond to a given situation.

32:23 If we never experience this kind of conviction, I think we should question whether the Spirit of God is active in our lives. The Spirit often leads us to repentance. Pharaoh was not sensitive to the Spirit of God. Even when he had to suffer, he would not repent of evildoing. Even when it seemed like for a moment he had seen the light, he quickly reverted to his old patterns. Through continual choices, he had established his character. That's why we see the shift between Pharaoh hardening his heart and the Lord hardening Pharaoh's heart.

33:12 What about you? What about your character? Here's a quick personal checkup. Are you able to tell yourself the strength of your character? What is something noble that you do consistently each and every time? Can you name it to yourself? What is something good that you believe in deep down? What is the principle that you are willing to stand for in strength and in weakness, on good days and on bad days? Does something come to mind for you? I suspect that we should each have some core character

33:58 trait that comes to mind, and this will probably propel our life and service to the Lord in some way, or it should. Yet here's the hard part. We all like to associate ourselves with Moses, seeking to liberate ourselves and others, but I suspect, if we're truly honest, each of us has an element of Pharaoh within. We each possess some area of weakness where we continue to dig in with stubbornness of heart. Maybe we tell ourselves that we were born this way. We can't help it.

34:45 We learned it from our parents or some other influence in our life. Does anything come to mind in this category for you? If it does, you're not alone, and it's probably good that you're aware of it. The failure of Pharaoh is not only his ego, it is his unwillingness to recognize his own fault. If we never recognize our sin, we never repent, and we're never healed. The Jewish philosopher, Leonard Cohen, said it this way, "Ring the bells that still can ring.

35:32 Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Pharaoh was not willing to recognize his own faults. His pride prevented him from ever receiving the Lord. Do you have the self-awareness to realize where you have missed the mark? If so, there is hope of forgiveness and growth. Exodus 5:10-14 read as follows, "Then the slave masters of the people went out along with their officers, and they spoke to the

36:18 people saying, 'This is what Pharaoh says, I will not give you straw. Go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, for there will be no reduction of your work.'So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. But the slave masters pressured, saying, "Fulfill your work, your daily amount, just as when there was straw." Moreover, the foremen of Bnei Yisrael, whom Pharaoh's slave masters had set over them, were beaten and asked, "Why haven't you met your quota of bricks both yesterday and today like before?"

37:04 Things may get worse before they get better. We see that it is not only the common slaves in Israel who suffer, it is also the foremen who are beaten by the slave masters because their people have failed to make the necessary quota of bricks. Imagine this level of psychological torture. You have performed so well as a slave that you have been promoted to a foreman, a leader among the slaves. You would gather materials for your people to make bricks. Next, you are told to stop gathering

37:52 straw for your people. Now, you must feel the ire of your brothers and sisters as they now do your job and their job. And now the slave masters above you would come to you inquiring why your crew had not met its numbers for the day, and you would be beaten on their behalf. Sounds like a great life, huh? And while we will not be going forward into the following verses today, you know the story. You know what happens. This suffering propels the foremen to approach

38:38 Moses. Moses approaches the Lord on behalf of his people. The temperature continues to rise until things come to a boil. Does this remind you of any situation in your own life? We have the ten plagues, and eventually, the liberation of the children of Israel from Egypt and from bondage. This is the miracle of our deliverance that we celebrate at this season. Yet it continues to be the most important feast on the calendar and becomes the beginning of the year in Exodus 12, as was read, a new beginning for the people.

39:25 And while we do not grow to enjoy suffering, we can realize the way that it propels us forward. If Pharaoh had merely said no to Moses' request, the people would have continued with the status quo, making their daily quota of bricks. Yet Moses' petition caused Pharaoh to get angry and change the rules. The slaves had to do more with less. The burden was increased to a rate which they could not attain even if they tried their hardest, and I believe they did. The foremen were beaten and cried out to Moses,

40:13 their union representative, but Moses didn't have the answers. He sought the Lord on behalf of his people. As difficult as this story is, and as often as it is repeated in the Haggadah, things often need to get worse before they get better. We need to hit our breaking point before we make a change. I think of people within our Kehillah who, after many years, are seeking to reinvent themselves. What they used to do no longer works, and they have to find a new way.

40:59 What do we do after the loss of a job? What do we do when an employer forces us to violate our conscience? What do we do when we can no longer afford to take care of our family? What do we do after the death of a spouse? What do we do when there seems to be no way forward? What do we do when the things that used to be enough, dayenu, are no longer sufficient? There's also a level of gaslighting in this passage. Pharaoh, in a fit of rage, increases the work for the slaves so that it is no longer attainable,

41:46 no matter how hard they try. Then they are asked why they are no longer meeting their quota. This is how I felt at my sales job in California. No matter how hard I try, I was a poor salesman. Perhaps if you have spent enough time in the workforce, you have come across similar situations yourself. You're given ridiculous or even unethical tasks and then are accused of being lazy for not completing them, and we wonder why people go mad in our society. Over the past decade, gas prices have doubled, so have housing prices. Mortgage rates and grocery prices have gone up

42:33 considerably.I wish I could share better news. But if we expect things to get better soon, we may be sorely mistaken. So what can we do? We can collaborate. In this passage, in spite of their challenges and the oppression they face, the children of Israel come together. Aaron supports Moses. Though the people complain, their complaint is accurate, and it causes those who are in power to respond. The foremen bring their complaint to Moses, who seeks the Lord, who annihilates Pharaoh. It reminds me of the story of the little goat

43:19 that gets eaten by a cat, that gets bitten by a dog, that gets beaten by a stick, that gets burned by fire, that gets put out by water, that quenches the thirst of the ox, that gets killed by the slaughterer, that is slain by the angel of death, who is struck by the Holy One. In our short lives, we can be forces for good and make alliances that make a difference. We can advocate for those in need. Moses advocated for his people, even though he himself would not enter the promised land. It was enough to fight for good. One benefit that we have in modern society is access to all kinds of information and education.

44:04 The problem with the internet, of course, is that it can be difficult to discern facts from fiction. Our lives can take drastically different courses depending upon who we listen to. We must learn to discern credible voices from nonsense. AI technology is becoming so refined that even the young people are becoming less able to detect when it is being used. The elderly are being harassed by scammers seeking to use their information for profit. The Lord has made each of us in such a way that particular things in society bother us. This is not just to make us crabby and salty.

44:51 How do we respond to that inner voice that tells us a situation is not right? In Moses' better moments, he was able to respond strategically rather than lashing out in anger. We can take strategic action for good. When we step out sacrificially on behalf of others, we can feel good about ourselves, even when things go poorly as a result. We may be the ones who fight, or we may be the ones who enjoy the benefit of those who have fought for us. Wherever we find ourselves, we should think critically about what we stand for and why, so that we can answer our opponents and stand in good

45:39 conscience before the Lord. In conclusion, as we continue to observe Pesach, the season of our deliverance, I remind you that through pushing back against oppressive power structures, you will face punishment and suffering, but it is worth it. We see in Exodus 5:1-14 that freedom comes through resistance, that resistance will not be tolerated, and that things may get worse before they get better. We need courage to stand for the Lord. As at the end of the Seder,

46:25 when you partake of the bread of suffering, the afikoman, you obtain the reward of salvation. Chag sameach and Shabbat shalom. Yevarechecha Adonai ve'yishmerecha. Ya'er Adonai panav elecha veichuneka. Yisa Adonai panav elecha veyasem lecha shalom.

47:10 Yisa Adonai panav elecha veyasem lecha shalom. Beshem Yeshua, meshiheinu. In the name of our Messiah, Yeshua. Shabbat shalom and chag sameach.