The civilizational basis of formal education:
Upon further reflection we see that Ralbag cannot possibly mean that we should read the Geulas Mitzraim story first. The story of Creation is obviously the
first story in the book and must, therefore, be read first. What Ralbag means is that there is an experience of Geulas Mitzraim other than reading that must occur prior to reading the Torah at all.
The Yotzei Mitzraim did not experience the momentous events of Geula through reading a text - they lived through the events and had them explained by Moshe Rabbenu and the Elders. The intent was for Jewish civilization to be built on this story, to be relived, generation after generation through a tradition of storytelling father to son. “Zechor es hayom hazeh. Limaan tizkor es yom tzescha mieretz mitzraim kol yimei chayyecha. Vihigadita libincha bayom hahu laymor.” The whole concept of a reading and formal education began at Sinai and the written Torah, which were actually relatively late events in Jewish development.
No child begins his intellectual development from reading, per se. Reading and formal education always presuppose a prior vision of the world and man's mission in it that is established in earliest youth through informal education – through modeling and sharing the civilization's stories with one's parents. The child who enters school is already deeply imbued with his civilization's vision of the world that the educator must contend with and build upon in the readings of school. So too in Jewish education - the reading of Torah presupposes the view of the world and human mission that arise from “vihigadita livincha.”
How does this experiencing of Geula, which Ralbag points out as the gateway to begin one's reading of the Torah, help us overcome the difficulty of the two contradictory themes of B'reishis? How does being a member of the Geulei Mitzrayim civilization enable us to understand how to use these stories as the introduction to the Torah?
The revolutionary civilization based on Malchus Shamayim:
The objective of the yetzias mitzraim was establishing a civilization based upon the foundational premise of Malchus Shamayim. Malchus Shamayim is the foundational premise that there is a source of universal order that is seen throughout Creation, including Earth and humanity itself. The most revolutionary implication of this concept is with regard to the mission of civilization. The only possible mission in a Malchus Shamayim world is Torah lishma - realizing the natural curiosity of all citizens to know and act in accordance with Malchus Shamayim. The qualification for a leader of such a civilization would also be a revolutionary departure from Egypt - Moshe Rabbenu, a chief educational officer, one able to guide all citizens on an educational path toward Malchus Shamayim. Though this premise is repeated over and over again in the Torah, it is perhaps most clear in the first dibrah, “Anochi hashem elokecha asher hotzesi eschem mieretz mitzraim mibeyt avadim.”
Amazingly, this notion of an all encompassing universal order with its accompanying Malchus Shamayim civilization emerged in the midst of an Egyptian Civilization led by an evil Pharoah who was committed to an opposing foundational premise, leading to a very different mission for man.
Egyptian society does not recognize Malchus Shamayim and its mission of developing man's natural curiosity about real things, but rather seeks to project a comfortable illusion of human divinity based upon the greatness of its design imposed upon aretz. To attain this illusion it is necessary to harness the populace to the production of the dominion through their efforts as a skilled work force. The leader's role is to provide the vision of divine greatness which motivates the populace to the hard work needed to attainment the human dominion. While this vision of dominion can vary greatly in its degree of evil, from the third Reich and communist state of Hitler and Stalin, to the great frontier of Roosevelt, or great society of Johnson, it always shares one thing in common - the vision of an independent human design, imposed by humanity's craft upon the resources of Earth. The leader's job is to rhetorically inflame people's imaginations about his vision, not convince them of its natural place in Malchus Shamayim reality. In true snake like fashion the leader spins the line that his vision is for the glory of all citizens, all the while enslaving them to his own benefit. It is interesting that Kings are always fabulously wealthy, while the citizens do the hard work.
Why Pharoah would want to deny the notion of Malchus Shamayim is obvious. What happens to the notion of visionary leadership, the very lifeblood of Egyptian society, if Malchus Shamayim is true? Malchus Shamayim leaves no room for visionary leaders like Pharoah and his snake like plan. The only basis for leadership becomes knowledge, what Moshe Rabbenu had to offer, not vision production - the only commodity of Pharoah. To know Malchus Shamayim is necessarily to realize the uselessness of Pharoah, and hence the very basis of his absolute rule is undermined and must end. Yet it seems that this lesson was hard to learn, it took shiabude mitzraim to learn it. It is our very inability to reflect upon our social vision that enslaves us, a fact bemoaned by great thinkers, perhaps best by Einstein. To paraphrase Einstein: man's focus is always on the means to his chosen goal, never on exploring the value of the goal itself. Even after a long period of seeing Pharoah bested by maka after maka the lesson was not learned. Indeed it was not until Yam Suf, when the vision of Pharoah led to the complete obliteration of the Egyptian empire, that the Jews “believed in Hashem and His servant Moses.” Why did it take so long?
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