Overton Window And The Slavery In Egypt
Note: The following is a translation of a dvar Torah I wrote earlier for my yeshiva's weekly newsletter.
In our upcoming parsha, Shemot, we start reading about the harsh slavery of Bnei Yisrael in Egypt. These events are quite puzzling, considering the verse in the beginning of the parsha: "But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them."
This puzzlement grows even more when we discover what it meant, exactly, that Bnei Yisrael were "prolific" and "increased very greatly", as described in Seder Hadorot:
"And the sons of Esav prepared to do battle with the sons of Yaakov...and of the sons of Esav 80 men were killed and of the sons of Yaakov not one...and Yosef and his brothers the heroes of Egypt set out to confront them..and they killed from them about 600 men all of the heroes of Se'ir the Khorite...and Yosef fought with all of the neighboring enemies and he caused them to surrender and also all of the land and the Plishtim until the border of Canaan Yosef made them surrender too...and Yosef ruled over all of that land...and Yosef and his brethren and Egypt chased after them...and they slew of them about 300 men and from Yosef and his brethren not one fell...and Bnei Yisrael slew from the men of the kings about 4000 men...and they slew from them another 2000 or so..."
It seems that Bnei Yisrael during all of their stay in Egypt were powerful warriors - and yet, the Egyptian managed to cause them to surrender and turn them into a slave nation! How did this happen?
The Or Hachaim on Shemot 1:11 explains that it happened via a gradual process:
"They set taskmasters over them, etc. Where was the superior intelligence in applying brute force to the Jewish people? This was not an act of wisdom! Besides, why did the Jews appear to have accepted this procedure without protest? Why did the people who were famed for employing their brains suddenly become bricklayers? The sages in Sotah 11 describe the enslavement of the Jewish population as having occurred progressively; they were sweet-talked into volunteering their services for patritotic reasons until they suddenly found their labour not only as being taken for granted but they could not withdraw it from their superiors. This whole process must have started somewhow. We must assume therefore that before appointing taskmasters, the Egyptians appealed to the Israelites to demonstrate patriotism in return for all the good the Egyptians had done for them during the previous century. Perhaps the shrewdness of the Egyptians can be understood thus: Pharaoh no doubt had a team of engineers and builders who were civil servants employed in the construction of towns, etc...Pharaoh appointed such people to guide the inexperienced Israelites in their labours. The Israelites were not able to object to this as the fact that they were being bossed by qualified engineers was not demeaning seeing they themselves were novices in that field. The Torah adds that the intention of the Egyptians in appointing these engineers as taskmasters was not because of their superior skills as the Israelites assumed, but to assert progressively harsher pressures and discipline on the Israelite labourers. The Egyptians withheld vital data from the Israelites without which the tasks allotted to the Israelite labourers could not be successfully completed. The Israelites therefore depended on the help of these engineers which gradually turned from help to oppression. This is what our sages had in mind when they spoke about the Egyptians sweet-talking the Israelites into forced labour, i.e. פה דך turned in to פרך."
A bit long in the English translation, but every word is pure gold. We see from here that Pharaoh completely tricked Bnei Yisrael: He appealed to the sense of patriotism they already had (see their willingness to fight off the enemies of Egypt in Seder Hadorot (described far more in length than the little bit I brought here)), then either (depending on how one understands the Hebrew of the Or Hachaim): a. Withheld crucial information on building techniques that made them dependent on the Egyptian taskmasters or b. Set the work quota to such a level that even the Yisraelite surveyors, architects, work bosses, etc had to join in with the work, thus demeaning Bnei Yisrael. Over time this demeaning mentality and dependency on the Egyptians took root and thus the minds of Bnei Yisrael were also enslaved.
Okay, but does a gradual process, as the Or Hachaim put it, actually work in reality? Would that really have been enough to enslave Bnei Yisrael both physically and mentally? It seems so. In social sciences there's a term called "Overton Window". The Window describes the process in which a taboo idea slowly becomes a socially acceptable idea to even a norm. How does the process work? It starts by taking a taboo idea, one not accepted by the majority of society, and writing some papers on the subject. All in hypothetical, scientific terms, of course, to give the papers some authority. Then some lectures or even a whole convention on the subject will be set up - but still in the range of hypothetical research. Then the news will discuss the convention, and from there people will start talking about the idea. The next thing you know, someone wakes up one day and says: "Hey, this thing may not be such a bad idea after all." From there, people start actually doing the thing, and eventually, as more discussions happen, they won't be embarrassed and won't hide it anymore. And suddenly, doing this thing is a-okay. The Window is happening these days in Germany, as people are starting to look more favorably at pedophilia. It's happening in Israel as people are starting to look more favorably at polyamorous relationships. It's happening all over the world, really, but in the West more than anywhere else.
The same thing appears to have happened in Egypt: A gradual process to convince Bnei Yisrael that they should be and are slaves to Egypt. Indeed, we see how hard it was for them to shrug off this mentality while wandering through the wilderness.
Some food for thought: While the slavery was a gradual process, the moment of Exodus was just that: a moment: "for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly". The opposite of a gradual process; one moment they were slaves, the next - they were running out of Egypt.
Gut Shabbos.
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