Reply To: Cannibalism

“Going back to Mitzrayim and ending up selling yourself on a flooded slave market (which, in the tochacha is the ultimate punishment/consequence) sounds far better to me.”

Obviously this is not Rashi’s pshat, but I always understood this on a more psychological level. The Jews began their collective destiny as slaves, the ultimate punishment is not only going back to where you started, not only the knowledge that you accomplished nothing in life, but they won’t even want you as slaves. Your life went completely backwards. You end off even more degraded and worthless than you started. In some ways, thats the ultimate punishment.