Rabbi Michael Beals compared President Joe Biden to Moses in a pre-inaugural blessing just before he left Delaware for the nation’s capital.
Beals delivered short remarks during Biden’s farewell ceremony in New Castle, Delaware, comparing outgoing President Donald Trump to the “autocratic cruel Pharaoh” who refused to allow the Israelites to leave his oppressive regime. (RELATED: Here’s The Moment President Biden Took The Oath Of Office)
WATCH (16:24 mark):
Beals began by introducing the Yiddish word “bashert,” explaining that it meant “destiny” or “meant to be,” especially in terms of marriage. He introduced his own wife as his “bashert,” saying that in Biden’s case, Dr. Jill Biden, was his “bashert.”
“It is indeed bashert that you, our dear president-elect, are being inaugurated on the very week when Jews all around the world are reading from the book of Exodus about Moses freeing us from 400 years of backbreaking, Egyptian slavery at the hands of an autocratic, cruel Pharaoh,” Beals said.
“In many ways, dear Joe, you are our Moses and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is our Aaron,” Beals continued, referring to Biden as a “mensch,” or a man of integrity who always sought to do what was right.
The weekly Torah reading, Beals noted, included the story of Egypt’s Pharaoh ordering the Israelites to leave after the tenth plague killed his firstborn.