A Modern Day Pharaoh?: God vs. Gov. Cuomo: An Exodus Redux

the lord said to moses, “come to pharaoh and speak to him, ‘so said the lord, god of the hebrews, “send out my people so that they may serve me. exodus 8:1

right now, god is smiling. why?

the governor of new york, governor cuomo has declared war against the jewish community of new york. under the veil of coronavirus prevention, he has been accused of “making negative, false, and discriminatory statements about the jewish orthodox community.”

it is clear that he has singled out the jewish community. arguable, he is preventing them from practicing their religion and serving their god, the creator and master of the universe.

god is smiling.

if governor cuomo understood jewish law, he would understand that health takes precedence over ritual this concept is called “pikuach nefesh.” it is based upon the torah, leviticus 1:5 and the babylonian talmud, yoma 85b. therefore, there is no need to impose any rules on the jewish community. the proper approach would have been to provide the communities all the up to date information and medical opinion and ask the community itself, in guidance with their own mandate to take health as a precedent to institute proper measures. the community would have easily addressed social distancing, mask wearing, temperature taking, hand washing, limiting multiple contact of objects, and adding special protections for individuals with co-morbidities. rather than trust the jewish community to be true to their religion, he attacked them. he attacked them when there has already been a blind eye towards other groups on the issue.

god is smiling.

why?

the orthodox community is fighting for their right to practice their religion and serve their lord, the creator and master of the universe. this is not just moses. this is the community fighting to serve their god.

god is smiling.

this time, however, the orthodox jewish community is saying to the pharoah, “let us go so that we may serve our lord.”

while this may be an uncomfortable time of conflict, the message is important. god, the torah, and the jewish people aren’t going to go away. the covenant made at mt. sinai with the jewish people remains strong.

message to god. it appears that the people whom you called stiffnecked are stiffnecked about you!

be well!