How Many Jews Left Egypt--The Disturbing Insight Into MaShiach (9 Minutes)

0:13How many people made it from Mount Sinai? Some say 20% of Am Yisrael, some say 1% or less. As far as numbers, the best-case scenario is 3 million; the worst-case scenario is 3 million survived, which means 12 million did not—12 million were killed. Best-case scenario: I'm saying the best-case scenario is... 3 million survived, 12 million were killed, that's 80%. On the other hand, the Me'am Loez Midrash says it's not that, it's actually 3 million survived, and 300 million died. 99% died. 99% died. So either way, we see... 300 million. We went over this, but we have it in Parashat Beshalach. Parashat Beshalach says the following:

1:33And he sent his sheep to the people, and God did not save them through the land of the Philistines, for it was near, for God said, "Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see war and they will return to Egypt." So God turned the people towards the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds, and the children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt. It says "Vayihi" (it happened), which means it happened when Pharaoh sent out the people. God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines because it was near, for God said, "Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see war and they will return to Egypt." So God turned the people towards the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds, and the children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt. So the Sfat HaKodesh has certain secrets within it. First and foremost, the Chachamim say that any time the parasha starts with the word Vayehi, which means it happened, there's also another word that it could start with. But if it starts with the word Vayehi, it's symbolic of negative news, of sadness. As if you're saying Vay Vay. Vay Vay means like oy vey.

2:52So it says what happened when Am Yisrael, when Paro sent out the people of Israel. So why is Am Yisrael sad if Paro sent them out? It says because most of them died. Most of them died. How much is most of them? So how do we know this now when it says the Chamushim? It says, "and the children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt." The word "Hamushim" is translated in two ways. One translation means "armed," meaning they had weapons. But the other translation that's more common, the translation that's accepted by the Chachamim, by Rashi, by Ramban, by Seforno, by the Gemara and everywhere else, is that it doesn't mean chamushim, it doesn't mean that they were armed, it means a certain number. A certain number. Now, Rashi says it means chamushim meaning one out of five. One out of five, meaning one fifth, twenty percent. Twenty percent. Now, there are Chachamim that say no,

4:06It's not 20%. It's less. It's much less. And I'll show it to you in a second. I have it here, written somewhere, as a note. Rabbi Nehorai, Midrash Tanchuma, says the following. He says, "halvai," "halvai" meaning "I wish," that one out of 500, that the chamushim means one out of 500. Actually left Egypt, but we all know that not even one out of five thousand left. These were the best of them of the generation, a generation that was all "arum," meaning they were naked. What do you mean naked? Naked of mitzvot. He says, I wish it was one out of five hundred thousand, but it wasn't even one out of five thousand. It wasn't even one out of five thousand, meaning two people out of every ten thousand people. Better said, 20 people out of every 100,000, 200 people out of every million. Now, the Midrash says that Alvair was one out of five hundred thousand. It wasn't even one out of five hundred thousand, not one out of five thousand, but one out of five hundred thousand. It wasn't. The Midrash says, look at Parashat Beshalach and you will see it.

5:30Why all of the translation of the one word "chamushim"? Chamushim, some say it's one out of five. That's the nicest estimate. But the most harsh and most difficult is one out of five hundred thousand. I say the following: It doesn't matter whether Hashem killed 80% or 99.9% of Bnei Yisrael. Irrelevant, either way, we realize it's a horrible number. Either way, we realize that Hashem, during the Mabul, showed that He does not need us. Hashem sat down as the Mabul was happening. Hashem sat down as Ami said they did not want to do teshuvah in Egypt, and He destroyed them. Why? Because He doesn't need us, and... Same thing if the Mashiach comes for all those who stay away. You're telling me that only the religious people are gonna be saved when Mashiach comes? Yes, and even that's a safek. Why? Because some people look religious, but they're not really religious.