One of my early Hebrew courses started with a saying, "ain chadash tachat hashemesh," "nothing's new under the sun." At the time I knew little of King Solomon and had never heard of Kohelet, Ecclesiastes. I had no idea where the phrase was from , just thought of it as "folk wisdom."
Today, with friends, learning Parshat Shavua, the Torah Portion of the week, we spoke of how Bnai Yisrael, the children of Israel, passively, uncomplainingly, followed orders that enslaved them, made their lives more and more difficult. they were afraid to complain, afraid that their protests would only make things worse. It was so much like thek German Jews during the early, middle, late and all Nazi years. The same fear.
Also similar to how the "zionists" were hounded by their fellow Jews throughout Europe, when they dared to say that it would be better to leave and start new lives in the Holy Land.
"ain chadash tachat hashemesh," "nothing's new under the sun"
Shavua Tov
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