Parshat Shemot 1

We find in this week’s Torah reading that Pharaoh tries different methods of limiting the Jewish population explosion. First he gives the men so much work that they won’t have the time or energy to have children. When he sees that this is ineffective, he tells the Jewish midwives to kill all the Jewish boys that are born. Finally, in a last desperate attempt, he orders that all baby boys, including the Egyptian ones, should be thrown into the Nile.

Pharaoh had received information from his astrologers that the saviour of the Jews would die through water. Since he didn’t know whether this saviour would be Jewish or Egyptian, he simply had all baby boys thrown into the Nile in order to fulfil the decree of the astrologers. (What he didn’t realise of course, was that the prediction referred to Moshe striking the rock in the desert in order to provide water for the Jews, which was ultimately the reason that he was not permitted to enter the land of Israel, thus it was the cause of his death.)

Despite his fears of the Jews escaping, how could Pharaoh be so cruel as to have all the babies thrown into the river to drown? Surely there must have been some other way to prevent the Jews from leaving Egypt. Even if there was not, was it worth killing an entire generation?

Pharaoh, as the leader, represented the entire nation in his thoughts and actions. (We see this from the fact that all of Egypt was decimated as a punishment for enslaving the Jews. Had this only been Pharaoh’s private plan, the remainder of the nation would not have been destroyed.) His tyranny was motivated by the Egyptian “world view”. The Hebrew word for Egypt is “Mitzraim”, which is closely related to the word “Mitzarim” meaning “narrow boundaries” or “definitions”. The Egyptians were firm believers in empiricism. They were only interested in those things that they could observe, or test. Therefore, when Moshe tells Pharaoh that G-d demands that he let the Jews go, his response is “Who is this G-d that I should listen to Him”. Furthermore, Pharaoh refused to believe in G-d, or His powers, despite warnings from Moshe, because all of the plagues defied scientific explanation. Pharaoh was unable to accept anything beyond the realms of the “definable”.

Taking empiricism to its logical extreme, even a person is defined only by what he or she has accomplished. A person becomes no more than the sum total of their activities and achievements; future potential is irrelevant. If I can’t see the result now, it has no value. Therefore a baby, which is a bundle of potential but has not yet achieved anything, has no value. Pharaoh decreed that the babies should be thrown into the Nile to fend for themselves. If they are able to save themselves, then they may live; if not, by what rights do they deserve to live? They have not yet earned any rights.

This attitude is antithetical to Judaism. Every new-born baby is a bundle of potential. It must be cared for and looked after until it is in a position to realise that potential. We are forbidden to stand aside and let another person suffer merely because they are not able to look after themselves. We have a collective responsibility to each other, regardless of whether someone “deserves” our giving or not. It is not for us to judge other people, or how well they are fulfilling their potential.

When we cease looking at what we can give to others, instead being interested only in what we think they deserve, we end up with petty infighting and eventually hatred.
This is known as “Sinas Chinam”, hatred for no reason. Our “justification” and motivation for behaving in this way is “What has that person done for me?”, or “Why do they deserve to be treated better?”. Once we look at what rights another has, based on our own evaluation, we are faced with a breakdown of society. This baseless hatred is what led to the destruction of the Second Temple. It is interesting to note that the period between the fasts of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the lead up to, and destruction of the Temple is known as “Bein HaMitzarim”, “Between the Boundaries”.

Concern only with the physical and measurable leads to a denial of G-d, even in the face of undeniable evidence. Worse than that, it denies any higher meaning to human life. If people are merely the sum total of their achievements, and have to earn their right to life, then a nation can throw their children into the Nile with no pangs of conscience.

Shemot Summary

Pharaoh, fearing the population explosion of Jews in Egypt, enslaves them. When their birth rate continues to increase, he orders the Jewish midwives to kill all baby boys. A daughter of Levi (Yocheved) gives birth to a son and places him in a basket in the Nile in order to save him. Pharaoh's daughter finds and adopts the baby, even though she realises he is a Hebrew. She names him Moshe (Moses) meaning "drawn from the water". Miriam, Moshe's older sister, offers to find a nursemaid for the baby, and brings her mother to help raise him.

Years later, Moshe witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and in anger kills the Egyptian. Moshe realises his life is in danger and flees to Midian where he rescues Tzipporah, whose father Yisro approves their subsequent marriage.

On Chorev (Mt. Sinai), Moshe witnesses the "burning bush" where Hashem commands him to lead the Jewish People from Egypt to the Land of Israel, which Hashem promised to their ancestors. Moshe protests that the Jewish People in Egypt will doubt him being Hashem's agent, so Hashem helps Moshe perform three miraculous transformations to validate him in the eyes of the people: Changing his staff into a snake, his healthy hand into a leprous one, and water into blood. When Moshe declares that he is not a good public speaker, Hashem tells him that his brother Aaron will be his spokesman.
Aaron greets Moshe on his return to Egypt and they petition Pharaoh to release the Jews. Pharaoh responds with even harsher decrees, declaring that the Jews must produce the same quota of bricks as before, but without being given supplies. The people become dispirited, but Hashem assures Moshe that He will force Pharaoh to let the Hebrews leave.

Tosefet Bracha Shemot

Here is my attempt at translating a couple of pieces from the sefer Tosefet Bracha which is a five volume commentary on the Chumash by Rav Baruch HaLevy Epstein (author of the Torah Temima).
To see the original Hebrew edition click here

Parshat Shemot

“She saw him, that he was good” (2; 2)

In the Talmud (Megillah 14a) it states: When Moshe was born the whole house was filled with light. The basis for this drasha is the word ‘good’ which appears in Bereishit (1; 5) as a description of the creation of light. So ‘good’ is a synonym for ‘light’.

It also states in the Talmud there that before Moshe was born his sister Miriam prophesied that her mother was going to give birth to a son who would save Israel. When Moshe was born and the house was filled with light, her father stood up and kissed her on the head, and said, ‘My daughter, your prophecy has been fulfilled’. But after Moshe was abandoned by the Nile and they thought he was going to die, her mother slapped her on the face and said ‘My daughter, what has become of your prophecy!’ (according to the text of the Maharsha).

It is not clear why, when it seemed that her prophecy had come true, that it was her father who kissed her, and afterwards when it appeared that it would not be fulfilled it was her mother who slapped her. Why did her mother not also kiss her at the beginning, or her father slap her at the end?

Perhaps we can explain based on the verse in Mishlei (10; 1) “A wise son will make his father happy, but a foolish son brings depression to his mother”. Therefore, when they thought the prophecy had been fulfilled Miriam was in the category of ‘wise’, and this made his father happy. Therefore he expressed his joy by kissing his daughter. But afterwards when they thought that the prophecy was not to be, Miriam seemed like a fool which brought depression to her mother and this was expressed with the slap.

Let us try to understand the verse in Mishlei – why should there be a distinction between the father and the mother’s reactions to a wise or foolish son? Why do both parents not feel the same way?

It seems to me that we can explain it based on the Halachic concept that only the father is obligated in the Mitzvah of procreation and not the mother (Yevamot 65b). Therefore the father is required to fulfil his Mitzvah without any thought or consideration of what kind of child he will have. We find this with King Chizkiyahu who didn’t want to have children because he saw prophetically that his son would be wicked. The prophet Isaiah rebuked him for this, saying ‘Why are you involving yourself with the Divine plan? You must fulfil your Mitzvah and leave G-d to take care of His plans’ (Brachot 10a). We see from here that a father should not try to make calculations as to whether the child will be wise or foolish, but rather must do his Mitzvah without questioning.

Therefore, if the child is wise, for the father it is a great gift and unsought benefit. And if the child is foolish, the father can take comfort in knowing that he has fulfilled his Mitzvah.

However with the mother it is exactly the opposite. Since she is not obligated in this Mitzvah, if the child is wise she will consider it fair compensation for the pain and difficulties of pregnancy, childbirth and rearing. But if the child is foolish she will be upset at the effort expended for no purpose, since she is has not fulfilled a Mitzvah.

Using this idea I wanted to explain the Talmud (ibid.) which explains the verse in Isaiah (54; 1) “Sing, O barren, that you did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, that you did not travail with child”. The Talmud asks, ‘Should she sing and rejoice that she has no children? Rather the verse means that she should rejoice that she did not give birth to children who would go to Gehinom.

Why does the verse not include the father also? Surely he is happy that he will not produce wicked children? But in reality he cannot rejoice, for although he may have the merit of not having children in Gehinom, nevertheless he also has the sin of not fulfilling his Mitzvah of procreation. When someone is deprived of a Mitzvah they cannot rejoice. For example someone who is unable to obtain an etrog for Succot, even though he will not be punished for this since a person is exempt if it is impossible to fulfil a Mitzvah due to circumstances beyond their control. Nevertheless he will certainly not be happy that he is unable to do the Mitzvah. Only a woman can sing and rejoice since she has no Mitzvah to fulfil.

(there are another two paragraphs that I have not translated).

“Remove your shoes” (3; 5)

The Torah states here ‘your shoes’, meaning both shoes from both feet. However regarding Joshua (Joshua 5; 15) the angel only tells him to remove his ‘shoe’ in the singular, implying from only one foot.

Perhaps we can explain the difference in the language between these two cases. Moshe was destined to remove from himself any connection with the physical world. He remained on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights without eating or drinking (Devarim 9; 18) and separated from his wife (Talmud Shabbat 87a). He succeeded in removing from himself any traces of physicality to the extent that he is referred to as ‘the man of G-d’ (Devarim 33; 1), and is trusted completely by G-d (Bamidbar 12; 7) and spoke ‘face to face’ with G-d (Shemot 33; 11). We don’t find any of these things with Joshua. This is the meaning of the statement that Moshe’s face was like the sun and Joshua’s face was like the moon. It is known that the moon does not give off light of its own, but only that which it reflects from the sun. Similarly, whatever spiritual levels Joshua was able to reach were only because he had received them from Moshe, and they were only a reflection of Moshe’s level.

This is why Moshe removed both his shoes – removing all physicality from himself completely. Joshua, however, only reached the level of a ‘holy man’, but still retained some aspects of physicality. Therefore he was only instructed to remove one shoe, to hint at the fact that he kept one foot still in the realm of the physical. (like the phrase in Eruvin (58b) ‘with one foot still inside the boundary’)

Parsha - Shemot

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SUFFERING AND REWARD

Today we begin the book of Exodus, which describes the Israelites' passage from the bondage of Egypt to the religious freedom of the Sinai desert that enabled them to receive the Torah, and construct the tabernacle. Every year at Pesach we give thanks to G-d for bringing us out of slavery. Why should we give thanks to G-d for saving us when it was He who brought exile upon us in the first place?
The Egyptian exile is the answer to Avraham's question.
G-d said to Avraham, "I am G-d Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to inherit it." Avraham replied, "My L-rd, How shall I know that I am to inherit it?" And G-d said to Avraham, "Know with certainty that your offspring shall be aliens in a land not their own..." (Genesis 15; 7 - 14).
We see from here that the promise that the Jews would inherit the Land of Israel is dependent on their having been slaves in a foreign land first.
The harsh bondage was intended to kill off the Jews. The irony of the slavery was that it achieved the exact opposite of what Pharaoh planned, "But as much as they would afflict them, so they would increase and spread out" (Exodus 1; 11). The slavery made the Jews so populous, leading to the exponential growth of the nation from 70 souls to millions in only three generations. The only tribe to remain comparatively small in number was the tribe of Levi, who we know from tradition were the only tribe not subject to slavery.
In the same way that the Egyptian exile created the nation numerically, it also led to a national consciousness and identity. Only through slavery were the Israelites able to appreciate the freedom that the Torah offered them, only through having first been slaves to Pharaoh were they able to subsequently subjugate themselves to become servants of G-d.
It also created the nation spiritually. The Talmud tells is that there are three things which were only acquired through suffering, Torah, the Land of Israel and the World to Come (Berachot 5a). Elsewhere (ibid. 8a) the Talmud tells us that affliction cleans away sin. The simple explanation of this is that as long as a person is involved in seeking physical comforts it is very difficult for them to elevate themselves to a point where they can appreciate the spiritual dimensions of life. However, when the Jews were in slavery they had all material comforts removed from them, leading to their search for G-d. This is the meaning of the verses, "The Children of Israel groaned because of the work, and they cried out. Their outcry because of the work went up to G-d and G-d remembered His covenant with Avraham..." (ibid. 2; 23 - 4). Only through this were the Jews able to appreciate and recognise the ultimate redemption from Egypt, and the revelation of G-d's presence then, and at Mount Sinai. The suffering which breaks the body allows the soul to be set free, and search for G-d.
However, afflicting the body to allow the inner spark of spirituality to shine through only works when there is an inner spark of goodness bound and confined within that body. Avraham's total faith created an inner quest for spirituality amongst his descendants. Without that, suffering and exile would be meaningless. This was G-d's answer to "How will I know?" - the exile is proof of an inner spark of sanctity which will guarantee the inheritance of the Land of Israel.
We can contrast this with Esav and his descendants, who were never persecuted or exiled. Rashi (to ibid. 36; 7) explains that Esav left the Land of Israel in order to avoid the obligation of slavery in a foreign land. By renouncing his rights to Israel, he also avoided suffering for his children. Ya'akov understood that the promise of the Land of Israel, and the eternal closeness to G-d which that brings, outweighed the temporary suffering of the Egyptian slavery. Esav, who was concerned only with material possessions saw no point in immediate suffering for what could only be a long term gain.
Only through the crucible of Egypt could they emerge as a nation able to receive G-d's promised rewards.

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Shemot summary

Pharaoh, fearing the population explosion of Jews in Egypt, enslaves them. When their birth rate continues to increase, he orders the Jewish midwives to kill all baby boys. A daughter of Levi (Yocheved) gives birth to a son and places him in a basket in the Nile in order to save him. Pharaoh's daughter finds and adopts the baby, even though she realises he is a Hebrew. She names him Moshe (Moses) meaning "drawn from the water". Miriam, Moshe's older sister, offers to find a nursemaid for the baby, and brings her mother to help raise him.
Years later, Moshe witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and in anger kills the Egyptian. Moshe realises his life is in danger and flees to Midian where he rescues Tzipporah, whose father Yisro approves their subsequent marriage.
On Chorev (Mt. Sinai), Moshe witnesses the "burning bush" where Hashem commands him to lead the Jewish People from Egypt to the Land of Israel, which Hashem promised to their ancestors. Moshe protests that the Jewish People in Egypt will doubt him being Hashem's agent, so Hashem helps Moshe perform three miraculous transformations to validate him in the eyes of the people: Changing his staff into a snake, his healthy hand into a leprous one, and water into blood. When Moshe declares that he is not a good public speaker, Hashem tells him that his brother Aaron will be his spokesman.
Aaron greets Moshe on his return to Egypt and they petition Pharaoh to release the Jews. Pharaoh responds with even harsher decrees, declaring that the Jews must produce the same quota of bricks as before, but without being given supplies. The people become dispirited, but Hashem assures Moshe that He will force Pharaoh to let the Hebrews leave.

For a pdf version of this summary please click here