Dear Friend,

This week we begin reading the Torah’s description of the subjugation and suffering of the Israelites in Egypt. Since it rarely rained in Egypt, the Egyptians worshiped the Nile River, which was their primary source of water. In an attempt to quash any chance of freedom for the nascent nation of Israel, the evil Pharaoh decreed that all the newborn male children be drowned in the rushing waters of the Nile.

Pharaoh is now dead. But, perhaps without realizing it, we may be drowning our own children in a Nile of our own creation, by throwing them into the fast-paced rat race to prosperity, where the deity of Money is worshiped above all else, and the mores of instant gratification are a close second.

If this is indeed the case, instead of drowning them in the waters of the Nile, let us better immerse our children—and ourselves—in the lifegiving waters of Torah, whose “ways are pleasant and whose tributaries are peace.”

Baruch S. Davidson,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team