This week’s Torah portion of parashat Shemot ("Names") begins the Book of Exodus. In a flash, the generation of Joseph and his brothers have passed, and a new king arises in the land of Egypt "who did not know Joseph."
The children of Israel "were fruitful, teemed, increased….and the land became filled with them," much to the chagrin of Pharaoh, who began to devise a solution to his Jewish problem – and thus began the servitude of Israel in Egypt.
This week’s Jerusalem Lights podcast examines the Egyptian exile, and Jim Long and Rabbi Chaim Richman fast forward to today, and draw uncanny parallels between the deep, dark exile of ancient Egypt, and today’s lethal new normal of cancel culture.