Now that Pesach is behind us and the holiday frenzy has died down, it’s time to be honest and say out loud what everyone’s afraid to admit: the Exodus from Egypt was no “Total Victory”. Looking at it objectively and soberly, it was a resounding strategic failure wrapped in brilliant PR
Yes, we landed some painful blows on the Egyptians. There were those who wailed that “Egypt is lost”, and the targeted assassination of the firstborn was surgical and impressive. But ultimately, the Egyptian leadership held on to power, remained stable, and only grew stronger in the aftermath
Let’s be blunt: the “Exit Deal” that let the Israelites leave wasn’t an unconditional Egyptian surrender. It was a flimsy, temporary arrangement for a mere three days. The Israelites didn’t even hear about it from their own leadership - it came via Pharaoh’s decrees
הכי מעניין
The facts speak for themselves, and they’re not flattering. All the talk of leaving “with a mighty hand” turned out to be a disorganized trek: a confused nation wandering the desert without any strategic compass.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian military showed impressive resilience. Despite the plagues, Pharaoh rebuilt his forces at record speed and gave chase with every chariot in Egypt. With all due respect to the splitting of the Red Sea - an impressive bit of tactical pyrotechnics - it’s worth remembering who ended up stuck in the middle of a wasteland with no food or water
Don’t let the miracles blind you. The Red Sea crossing made for a great “victory shot” on the wilderness generation’s Instagram, but it did nothing to change the geopolitical reality. Not to mention the horrific defeat at the hands of Amalek that followed almost immediately. The Amalekite attack exposed just how hasty, pretentious, and unplanned the whole Exodus was executed without any professional team thinking about “the day after.” Instead of security, we got a security zone of sand and thirst
This is where we must give credit to the brave voices who argued all along that it was better to stay in Egypt. These visionaries refused to fall for the simplistic tribalism of “Whoever is for the Lord, come with me” or “Dayenu”. They had the courage to criticize the messianic leadership and its centralized power structures, bravely calling out the nepotism and corruption of handing all the key jobs to one tribe
עוד כתבות בנושא
These so-called “complainers” were the only ones willing to point out the stable status quo we enjoyed back in Egypt: the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. They understood that freedom without food security or a diplomatic horizon is collective suicide. It was only thanks to their pressure, their complaints, and their protests at the tent entrances that the leadership was forced to deliver the goods - like water from the rock. Without them, we, our children, and our children’s children would have died of thirst in the desert. You could even say they were the true prophets of their generation
And let’s not forget: this whole affair dragged on forever. Not a day or two, not a month or two, not even a year or tw - forty years of trudging through sand, “managing the conflict” with snakes and scorpions instead of achieving a decisive outcome. Even after it ended, entering the Land of Israel brought no grand celebration of peace and tranquility. We got a Sisyphean occupation, endless wars, stinging defeats at Ai, internal tribal feuds, and chronic instability. And of course, in every generation they rise up to destroy us. So where exactly is the total victory
There is no avoiding a sober look at reality: the Exodus from Egypt was a complex, controversial event riddled with failures. There is nothing here worth celebrating with pomp and circumstance. Anyone looking for total victory had better look elsewhere - perhaps by the fleshpots of Egypt. At least there, we knew what we were getting for dinner