Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: It’s Passover, and we celebrate our deliverance from Egyptian slavery, yet this is a slavery that was foretold by Hashem, and as you could say, like with many bad things that happen in this world (e.g. Coronavirus), we knew it was coming!

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THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
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It’s Passover, and we celebrate our deliverance from Egyptian slavery, yet this is a slavery that was foretold by Hashem, and as
you could say, like with many bad things that happen in this world (e.g. Coronavirus), we knew it was coming!
Egyptian Slavery
In Genesis 15:13, Hashem said to Abram: “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and
they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them for 400 years.” Nevertheless, in Genesis 46:6, Jacob and his children go down
from Canaan into the land of Egypt, and the Israelites as we learn were very comfortable initially in Egypt to the point where
they only had three distinguishing things: their Hebrew names, clothes, and language. So, despite knowing the prophecy of
bitter enslavement (albeit with Hashem’s assurances that He would bring us out and make us a great nation), they acted as
though they just didn’t “see it coming?”
Coronavirus Pandemic
Ignorance Isn’t Bliss

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Similarly, with Coronavirus and so many other dangers that lurk for us and our world, we know most “assuredly” that they are
coming, but somehow, we prefer not to know and to act as if nothing bad is going to happen. In fact, just in the last couple of
decades, we had SARS, MERS, Bird Flu (H5N1), Swine Flu (H1N1), and even a number of deadly outbreaks of Ebola, yet as is
almost cliché now to say, “no one would’ve imagined anything like COVID-19!” But why? Just a hundred years ago, in 1918, we
had the Spanish Flu pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people globally. Moreover, aside from natural occurring
diseases and their mutations that can become even more virulent, we now have to deal with at least 17 countries in the world
that have intently dangerous bioweapons programs. Did we really think that we’d never have another major pandemic or was
it just convenient to ignore this scary likelihood? The Surgeon General summed up our blatant disregard when he said, this
now “is going to be our Pearl Harbor.”
9/11 Terrorism
Similarly, with the tragic events of 9/11, we couldn’t believe that anything like this could happen to the U.S. and to the World
Trade Centers, yet the terrorists previously had attempted to blow them up already in February 1993 (killing six and wounding
1,000), and our intelligence community knew about Bin Laden and the terror threats (i.e. promises) of a major attack on U.S.
soil throughout the 1990s. But as they say in the 9/11 Commission Report, we failed to “connect the dots.” This despite also
the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 that killed more than 200 people, and the bombing of the
USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors and wounded 39 others, and the plots to destroy several New York City
landmarks. Again, perhaps we just didn’t want to believe the terrorists actually wanted to commit terror and could cross the
ocean to do it (again)!
Yom Kippur War
Moreover, this childhood pretense that everything is simply going to be okay goes on not just here in the U.S., but also in
Israel. For example, prior to the “surprise attack” of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, there had been a menacing buildup of
Egyptian and Syrian forces on the Israeli borders, a closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and their freedom of
navigation, incessant threats by Nasser to destroy Israel, and reams of Israeli intelligence that a war was imminent. Yet, it
wasn’t until the morning of Yom Kippur itself that the reserves were significantly called up and preparations for imminent
battle begun. Was it overconfidence from the 1967 War, a lack of imagination, or complacency that nothing bad would actually
happen?
The Holocaust
Similarly, with the unbelievable tragedy of the Holocaust, how many believed or even paid attention to Adolf Hitler’s (may his
name be forever cursed) 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf that described his strong anti-Semitic feelings and foretold of his
genocidal plans for Jews? Even with the ensuing anti-Semitic Nuremberg laws of 1935 and Kristallnacht in 1938, and with the
vise closing ever tighter and tighter around the necks of the Jews as they were railroaded to the death camps, the world did not
pay attention or want to believe. Perhaps, most egregious was the behavior of the Allies who refused to bomb the train tracks
to Auschwitz where the gas chambers and crematoria awaited our dear mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children and
grandchildren.
The Future
Unfortunately, we don’t seem to learn: “Ignorance is (our) bliss.” As far as the future is concerned, there are flashing warning
signs that we need to pay attention to for such major calamities as:
Mega-earthquake that Seismologists say is overdue for the Pacific Northwest
Devastating cyberattacks that security experts have been warning for years is going to happen

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a business and technology leader who writes frequently about Jewish life, culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
Even a Deadly exchange of nuclear weapons despite repeated arms control deals and pledges of non-proliferation
We know, but somehow, we don’t want to know. It’s too frightening, too disruptive to our daily lives, too inconvenient and
costly to deal with, and maybe it is just easier to dismiss the people who are warning us and call them out as catastrophizing
and “fear mongers.”
To me it’s not about being afraid, but rather it’s about being prepared. It’s great to be an optimist, but it’s important to be
practical, especially when it comes to saving lives. Yes, we need to have faith in G-d and believe that ultimately everything is
according to His word and plan for the world, but at the same time, we need to be responsible and do our part to protect
ourselves and the future from terrible things that we have a relatively high-level of confidence will happen. There is no
mitzvah to wait and be caught off guard, rather there is a commandment to save life (“Pikuach Nefesh”), and for this we need
to “face up to facts” (including our known vulnerabilities, threats, and our capabilities to address them) and actually be very
well prepared.