1. Exo. 19:1 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt — on that very day — they came to the Desert of Sinai.
• Initially, wasn’t it only supposed to take the Israelites
• just 2-3 weeks to arrive in Canaan (Promised Land),
• but due to their sins it took them 40 years?
2. Gen. 41:51-52 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”
• Looking at this statement from a midrash point-of-view
• … all that Joseph experienced .. had to cause emotional & psychological trauma
• … Just as it would to … Absalom’s sister, Tamar
• … Even Isaac, when Abraham raised up that knife
• … Not to forget, Jephthah’s daughter who was sacrificed to a life of (a nun, so-to-speak)
• … Dinah … especially since her father didn’t stand up to Shechum’s father and tell him that his son could NOT marry her (although he raped her)
• … David’s wife … Michal .. and what must have seem like (hell) that she went through
…. all of these individuals were “victims.”
• What remedy would heal them from re-occuring nightmares,
• … the re-living of those incidents
• … Post-traumatic stress
• … initiated by the … perpetrator / offenders
• … and … the unwise?
3. Do any of the Branches of Judaism:
• … believe there will be an end-time apocalypse, eschatology;
• … the Millenium, a new heaven & earth,
• … the end-of-the-world and last judgment?
Shalom!
Answer:
1. The time period between the redemption from Egypt and the giving of the of the Torah at Sinai was 50 days, giving the people time to grow out of the slave-mentality of Egyptian bondage to the human greatness required for receiving the Torah. After this, they were scheduled to enter the Land of Israel directly, but alas, on account of sin they were delayed for 40 years.
The verse mentioning the “third month” refers to the third Jewish month: The redemption took place at the middle of Nissan (the first month), and they came to Sinai at the beginning of Sivan (the third month).
2. When dealing with such great and larger-than-life characters as Abraham and Isaac, it is misleading to apply the type of human reaction that we expect from people in our generation. Either way, I certainly cannot say how they overcame their traumatic experiences.
3. Certainly, a central part of Judaism is eschatology — belief in the ultimate coming of the Messiah, which is in some way bound up with the great war of God and Magog. As for a “new heaven and earth,” such a prophecy exists, and it is often interpreted as a later stage of the End-time, in connection with the belief in the resurrection of the dead.
