SHEMOT: Antisemitism Began In Egypt

וַיָּ֥קׇם מֶֽלֶךְ־חָדָ֖שׁ עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע אֶת־יוֹסֵֽף

ויאמר אל עמו הנה עם בני ישראל רב ועצום ממנוהבה נתחכמה לו פן ירבה והיה כי תקראנה מלחמה ונוסף גם הוא על שנאינו ונלחם בנו ועלה מן הארץ

In a few extremely condensed passages, the Tora describes Pharaoh’s idea of the final solution: to exterminate the Jews. Pharaoh had in mind a four-steps plan: (וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו)

1. Demonization and defamation of the Jews.

2. Debilitating the Jews. Taken their assets. Imposing on them taxes as foreigners.

3. Enslavement of the Jews.

4. Extermination of the Jews

We will refer now to the first part of Pharaoh’s plan: anti-Semitic defamation.

Some time after Yosef’s death, there was a change of government in Egypt, a coup d’état, o a new dynasty of Pharaohs, who took over the previous government by force. As it commonly happens in politics, the new Pharaoh was antagonistic to the  previous Pharaoh, and he became the enemy of his friends.  That included the people of Israel, who were the closest allies to the former Pharaoh and gained a lot from that friendship: peace and prposeprity that developed into an unprecedent birth rate and growth.    To justify his animosity toward the Jews and enlist the people against the Jews, Pharaoh rewrote Egyptian history and presented Yosef as a tyrant, that enslaved the people and benefitted his own family, giving them the best lands of Egypt. The attitude of this new Pharaoh, blaming the past administration for the present crisis, or creating imaginary enemy as a political distraction, is not the exception but the most common law of the land in politics, ancient and modern. Pharaoh must have to have invested a lot of resources in his revisionist endeavor, because Yosef, the most prominent member of the Jewish people in Egypt, was a national hero who saved Egypt from a tremendous famine.

In the end Pharaoh succeeded in his campaign of hatred and in characterizing Jews as abusers, xenophobes and traitors.

Very briefly, but with chilling precision, the Tora records Pharaoh’s speech. What is terrifying about this speech is that, in some incredible way, its arguments are still the usual repertoire of modern anti-Semites

Let’s see:

ויאמר אל עמו הנה עם בני ישראל רב ועצום ממנו

Exodus 1: (9) “and [Pharaoh] said to his people: “There is  a people [among us], the children of Israel, who are more numerous and stronger than us”.

And [Pharaoh] said to his people. Note that Pharaoh does NOT address his advisers  or his cabinet, as a normal King usually does, or as he himself did on other occasions, for example, during the plagues. In this speech Pharaoh speaks directly to the people, something really uncommon. Why did he do that? Because he needed all possible leverage to change the Egyptians’ opinion of the Jews. The effect of this direct speech seemed to have been highly beneficial for his propaganda.

“And [Pharaoh] said to his people: There is  a people [among us]: the children of Israel”. Although Jews lived in Goshen and followed their own traditions, they were not disloyal to Egypt. Pharaoh cynically mentions the isolation of the Jews (probably hinting to endogamy) to claim that Jews did NOT consider themselves part of the Egyptian society. These are the first seed he plants in people’s mind about Jews being xenophobic and elitist.

Then Pharaoh says that the Jews were too many. “They are more than us”. Pharaoh lies here, in the same way that modern anti-Semites systematically exaggerate the number of Jews in positions of power, political or finical, to show the world that Jews are a threat. Ironically, the only time the number of Jews is minimized by anti-Semites is when Jews are the victims. “In the Shoah only 1 million Jews died, the other 5 million is Jewish propaganda,” a modern anti-Semite would contend.

Pharaoh characterizes Jews as powerful and rich. And he repeats the anti-Semitic mantra: Jews are way richer than we are. In addition, if we see this Hebrew word more deeply but without twisting Hebrew semantics,  Pharaoh is not only saying that Jews are richer than us , but is also hinting “the Jews got rich from us” (ממנו), that is to say: Jews became rich because they took our money! .

Let’s see now the next verse

Pharaoh continues his hate speech:

Let us be more clever than them: Pharaoh indirectly suggest that the Jews are evilly intelligent, “cunning”. Insinuating that thru their shrewdness they exploited the Egyptians and took their money. The only way to deal with Jews is to be more cunning than them. Then he explains that now is payback time A time to recover form the Jews what is legitimately ours.

They will join our enemies. And then comes Pharaohs punch line. The best known anti-Semitic accusation. “In the event of a war, Jews will betray us. They will join our enemies and fight against us”.

This horrific demonization campaign, which the Tora exquisitely summarizes in only two verses, reached its goal.

Two verses later, Exodus 1:12 we see the results. vayaqutsu “… the Egyptians felt contempt / hatred for the children of Israel.”  Once the mind’s soil is sown with anti-Semitic propaganda the Egyptians are ready to accept the final solution.

A few verses later Pharaoh discloses his endgame and orders a genocide.

Exodus 1:16: “Kill the newborn males…but leave the female”.  Eliminate the Jews, and at the same time, take their women.

The hatred and defamation that we suffered (and continue to suffer) at the hands of Antisemites began in Egypt.

Pharaoh’s speech and these false accusations, directly or indirectly, inspired the “The protocols of the sages of Zion” and all the anti-Jewish conspiracy theories until our own days .

HaShem helped us and He rescued us from the hands of Pharaoh and his diabolical propaganda.