Taking the Slavery out of the Jews

By Moshe Feiglin

"We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for free" (From this week's Torah portion, B'ha'alotcha, Numbers 11:5)

To say that we got fish for free in Egypt is like fondly reminiscing about the free bowl of "soup" that we got in Auschwitz. Not that the Israelites were hungry in the desert. They had the honey flavored manna to eat. So why the glowing memories of Egyptian fish?

That is simply the nature of a slave. In his book Night Flight, Antoine de Saint-Exup?ry describes the lifestyle of Arab tribes in the Sahara desert. When a slave would become old, he would be freed. But the slave would beg to continue to serve his master. When his supplications would be refused, he would not seek out a new life as a free man. He would simply lie on the sand in the desert and dehydrate for a few days until death would release him from bondage.

Through the spectrum of their slave mentality, the fish that the Israelites received from the Egyptians was a gift. The horrific price that they paid as slaves was not part of the equation. It was just the way the world turned. It was only natural that the Israelites were tortured and murdered; it was only natural that their baby sons were thrown into the Nile. After all, they were not actually human beings. All that they remembered was the un-natural: the fact that their masters were 'kind' enough to give them a piece of fish.

When Obama makes dealing with the Iranian threat contingent on the destruction of Jewish settlements, what he is actually saying is that we do not have the right to live. But if we would like to continue to breathe this world's air nevertheless, we have to pay. For Jews, life is not a right - it is a gift.

When Netanyahu explains in the Likud Knesset meeting that "We may have to take down illegal outposts as the US demands in order to focus attention on the Iranian threat," he accepts Obama's warped logic.

It makes no difference that objectively, our economic and security situation is excellent. Israel's economy is much stronger than America's. The shekel is stronger than the dollar. We have a modern and well-equipped army. We have "manna" that is delicious beyond belief. But he who is enslaved to the American master, sees none of the above. He thinks that he cannot get by without "American aid" - the modern day version of "free" Egyptian fish.

Nothing will happen if Netanyahu simply tells Obama no. All that he has to do is to step out of his slave mentality. In the meantime, though, the opposite is taking place. Netanyahu thinks that if he destroys the outposts, he will buy approval to act on other fronts. He doesn't understand that he who surrenders his right to free settlement also surrenders his right to defend himself. He who destroys Mitzpeh Yitzhar can no longer attack in Bushehr.