Ishmael, Moses, and the Case for Free Will

Nov. 22 2024

Near the end of this week’s Torah reading of Hayyei Sarah, Ishmael reappears—after being sent away in Genesis 21—to join his half-brother Isaac in burying their father Abraham. In a careful analysis, David Curwin shows a series of textual parallels between the story of Ishmael’s near-death and miraculous rescue and the rescue of the infant Moses in Exodus 2. He finds in the similarities and differences a lesson about free will:

In recent years, there has been much discussion about the lack of human free will. For example, Robert Sapolsky, in his recent book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, argues that we are entirely a product of our biology and environment, leaving no room for free will. . . .

Following this approach, one might assume that an Egyptian, especially the daughter of the cruel Pharaoh, would be “destined” to share her father’s disdain for the helpless and certainly would not show compassion for a Hebrew enemy. At a minimum, she would remain passive and accept this as the way of the world. Yet, the parallels between Miriam and Pharaoh’s daughter and the rescuers of Ishmael demonstrate that we are not merely advanced animals with additional intelligence; we possess an element of the divine.

Particularly surprising were the choices of Pharaoh’s daughter. Her actions set into motion the process that ultimately led to the liberation of the Hebrews. This was possible because she had the courage to see the baby, [Moses], for what he was at that moment—deserving of compassion—not merely as the condemned child of a slave. That choice changed everything.

Read more at Lehrhaus

More about: Hebrew Bible, Ishmael, Moses

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023