Topics
Fire & Blood, Snakes & Leprosy: the deeper meaning of the three 'signs';
God's revelation of a secret: the algorithm of Divinely-orchestrated karma = 'Mida kneged Midah', and how it sheds light on the events in our parsha, and the next few;
Moses' Humble Helix of Self-development;
Ancient Origin of the Blood Libel?
Note: We'll refer to Moses as 'Moshe Rabenu' (= Moshe our Teacher), here abbreviated as M"R.
We’ll be connecting parshas and people, in a chain from Avram to Yosef to Moshe Rabenu & the beginning of slavery, as told in parshat Shmot.
Topics:
Fate & Astrology are powerless against our free willed choice, and divine guidance
The exile in Egypt would not have happened if the brothers had not hated and been jealous of Yosef
The years of slavery could have been avoided: God’s message to Abraham about the 400 years could have resulted in a very tiny episode in Israel rather than a very extended suffering in Egypt
Abraham & Sarah took various brave selfless actions including undergoing exile and kidnapping/slavery in Egypt to prepare a safe way for their descendents there.
What Jewish History might have been like had the brothers helped Joseph make his dreams real, fulfill his potential and and achieve his destiny.
In this parsha we see the beginning of slavery, as prophesied in the ‘brit ben habtarim’ vision to Agraham (“400 years your descendants … in a strange land”).
Was the slavery in Egypt “Fated”? Could it have been prevented?
Tradition (Chazal) say that bad decrees can be overcome, especially via teshuva.
How does the Torah treat ‘Fate’? What about astrological predictions of Fated events?
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Fate & astrology: We know from Midrash that Pharaoh tried to use astrology to prevent the redemption of the Jews from his slavery, but in fact his actions taken as a result boomeranged against him - he ended up raising the redeemer whose existence he tried to prevent. (His astrologers told him about the eventual birth of someone who would redeem the Jews from slavery, so he decreed that all males born be thrown into the Nile, but his daughter ended up saving Moses from there).
So the astrologers were correct in some way, and despite the merits of Moses, as in the Megillat Esther the decree of the King could not be cancelled, but its resulting danger could be out-maneuvered.
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What we can learn about the power of our being in the divine image over astrology, from the creation account: In my opinion, God’s message to humanity in the creation account is crucial: that the sun, moon and stars are ’signs’, and are a clock for determining the holidays (‘mo’adim’).
Shabbat, tefillin(‘phylacteries’) and circumcision are called ‘signs’ ’otot’, and the time for them occurs after a specific amount of sun cycles(rising,setting) and/or moon appearances have passed, and shabbat is generally observed until the stars are visible. The holidays are referred to in the Torah as ‘mo’adim’.
Gen 1:14 And God said: 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for ‘otot’, and for ‘mo’adim’, and for days and years. 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so.
יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱ', יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה; וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים, וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים.טו וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהָאִיר עַל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיְהִי-כֵן
Humans vs ‘the stars’, and ‘Fate’: It is stressed in the creation account that God created the sun, moon and stars, and then after that humans are created in the divine image, ie the clear implication in my perspective is that they are beyond the influence of the non-divine, ie beyond any influence of sun, moon and stars.
Astrology vs Correlation to future events: It can be that there is a decree from God of various events to occur at a specific time, and the sun moon and stars are a clock which can point to when they will occur, but it is absolutely NOT the case that they have any influence whatsoever. Imagine a schedule on one’s smartphone, linked to one’s appointment and ‘to do list’, which rings at the relevant times, and is mistaken by someone who has never seen any technology as being the cause of the event.
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What we can learn about the power of divine inspiration and guidance to humans over the power of Fate and astrology from the story of Joseph: The sun moon and stars bow to Joseph in the dream from God, meaning that God is telling him that he will have divine inspiration which will enable him to overcome the effects of these ‘heavenly bodies’:
i. to out-maneuver that which is “written in the stars”, ie that which seems to be ‘Fated’ - the negative influence of Fated events can be mitigated by human action;
ii. to overcome the effect of the Seasons, climate, in particular of the sun which causes drought and the moon which governs the tides and so affects fertility of soil.
In other words the dream is teaching us that humans, who are ‘created in the divine image’, especially when acting at the level of their soul, ie with divine inspiration - as with Joseph who expressly said God would give the interpretation - are beyond the influences of the stars, sun and moon, and ‘Fate’, or at least can overcome via divine assistance the negative effects of tha twitch is “Fated” to occur.
Conclusion: May we be blessed to reject all the shackles of alleged supernatural power over us and all negative ‘Fated’ events, and instead act at the highest level of our potential, thereby to bring about the activation of the highest level of historical-path-unfolding.
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Ii. He says explicitly that they and he were present in the dream along with their wheat, and they did NOT bow to him in the dream, only the wheat bowed, and not to him but to his wheat.
Iii. And he absolutely did NOT say he would reign over them, this was their MISINTERPRETATION! And indeed we’ll see that later that he indeed attained kingship but he voluntarily gave it up, to them!
The brothers had the choice of how to react, and their hatred caused them to misinterpret the dream - it seems as if they had not even correctly HEARD what he actually said. And as taught by a talmudic and kabbalistic principle, misinterpreting a prophetic dream can cause the misinterpretation to become true, as indeed happened in this case!
The two dreams were actually quite correctly prophetic: nothing to do with them bowing to him:
1) First dream: hinted that all the wheat of the brothers would come from Joseph - as happened indeed;
2) Second: as I prefer to interpret it: hinted at Joseph's ability - with God's help - to overcome the powers of Fate (symbolized by the stars) which 'decreed' mass starvation due to a famine, and hinted at the power of the seasons, climate and tides etc (symbolized by the sun and moon).
However the brothers were jealous of him and hated him - even if perhaps unconsciously (see my interpretation about all this) - and this led to their misinterpretation. And therefore as a result they did indeed end up bowing to him, but in my interpretation this was NOT the 'intended' outcome, not the true meaning of the dream, but rather was the result of their unkind misinterpretation [The brothers end up bowing to Joseph as Viceroy of Egypt, but what reason would Joseph have to make this happen at that time if he himself of course knew that the bowing to him was a MISINTERPRETATION of his dreams!? I would say it was because he wanted to give them the opportunity to to teshuva, to act to try to rescue Benjamin from danger - as explained elsewhere - and so he had to maintain the pretence that he was not Joseph.].
The ensuing chain of events was catastrophically 'mida kneged mida' (divinely-arranged 'karma'):
the first of the brothers (Joseph) entered Egypt as a slave sold by his brothers,
and as mida kneged mida' eventually all of their descendants became slaves in Egypt.
The interpretation I offer of all this is that the entire Jewish history would have actualized on a different track had they interpreted the dreams correctly, in other words had they not been prejudiced (even if only subconsciously) due to their hatred & jealousy. I conjecture that had they helped Joseph realize his dreams, they would have been kings in Egypt along with Joseph, and returned to the land of Israel as those who had saved civilization from destruction and the messianic era would have arrived. (various details of this notion are more carefully worked out in the note at the end and in the longer presentation on my site: see also the video presentation of the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdx6gS1R3c
Note: Later the People of Israel carry Joseph’s bones out of Egypt with them for burial in Israel, to take him out of where he was sold to, back to his homeland, as he had commanded them, and according to Midrash it was only in merit of this tha the Sea opened for them, allowing passage away from the pursuing mighty Egyptian army.
May we be blessed to have the graciousness to help our brothers realize their dreams, and thus merit to benefit along with them!
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Caveat Emptor: What I offered above is largely my own interpretation, partly based on general approaches in Tradition (including Kabbalah).
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Connecting parshas and people:
A chain from Avram to Yosef to Moshe Rabenu & the beginning of slavery in parshas Shmos
In my interpretation, Avraham understood this central principle that everything depends on our moral choice, and that the promise God made to him of inheriting the land was CONDITIONAL on his living up to the maximum of his potential. That is, God PROMISES him that IF he acts as appropriate to God’s nation-founder, his children will inherit that Land, and so rather than expressing lack of faith in saying “bameh eda” “via what can I know”, Avram requests to be told what he could know that would make it possible for him to figure out what he should do in order to guarantee that outcome. So what God tells Avram [Gen 15:13]: “יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע” in the “brit ben hab’tarim” vision is in order that Avram could DO something about it. Indeed Avr(ah)am’s actions mitigated the slavery, reducing it from 400 years to 210.
Avram & Sarah do much as a result, including dedicating themselves to taking care of wandering travellers See my commentary, Part A of https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/biblethemes/lechlecha
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Topic: The years of slavery could have been avoided:
I believe that the Torah indicates in various ways (I’ll give examples) that history need not have unfolded as it did:
When Moshe Rabenu (Moses) struck the task-master, and was accused by his 'brothers'!, he had to flee, so probably if they hadn't acted so spitefully the redemption could have come then, 40 or even 60 years earlier!
Furthermore, in my view perhaps Moses was placed in Pharaoh’s house as a means of delivering the Jewish People from slavery by convincing Pharaoh to free them etc, or by his becoming the next Pharaoh. SO history’s unfolding depends on the ethics of our actions to our brothers!
The chumash shows us over and over that:
God is in charge of history,
we can make free willed decisions that affect events
some of our actions anger God and some please God
there are consequences
Even events which are "Fated" to happen, and which cause harm, death etc, can be overcome by our right decisions (or at least the bad effect of the event can be circumvented), with the assistance of God who caused those events to be Fated.
The reason given for the Egyptians to want to impose slavery is absurd, if the Jews want to leave why not let them, and if they cannot, it means they already are not free. Chazal try to give a different reading, that "lest they end up forcing US to leave Egypt as a result".
Either:
this is just like all other nations' reasons for hating the Jews - they are illogical; or:
the torah is indicating that history need not have unfolded this way, the jews need not have become slaves in egypt. And so:
Zohar(?) says was supposed to be a "mabul"”flood” but it didn’t have to be water/mayim or it was to be mayim but that could be Torah, and the choice was determined by their actions.
Some aspects are decreed, foretold, fated, but not the way that event will unfold:
In the megillat Esther the decree couldnt be abolished (made by the ‘king’ = God), but the Jews could be given the right to defend themselves.
Pharaoh’s dream: famine could not be overcome, but its negative effects could be, via divine guidance/hashgacha pratit, since Yosef openly attributed all to God.
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Shabbos 10:b
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%AA_%D7%99_%D7%91
TOSFOS ה"ג נתגלגל הדבר וירדו אבותינו למצרים. ואע"ג דבלאו הכי נגזר דכתיב (בראשית טו, יג) ועבדום וענו אותם שמא לא היה נגזר עליהם עינוי כ"כ אלא ע"י זה שהרי ארבע מאות שנה התחילו קודם שנולד יצחק ל' שנים:
TOSFOS
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וּמוֹשַׁב֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָשְׁב֖וּ בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וְאַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃
רש"י
"אשר ישבו במצרים" - אחר שאר הישיבות שישבו גרים בארץ לא להם
"שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה" - בין הכל משנולד יצחק עד עכשיו היו ארבע מאות שנה משהיה לו זרע לאברהם נתקיים כי גר יהיה זרעך ושלשים שנה היו משנגזרה גזירת בין הבתרים עד שנולד יצחק וא"א לומר בארץ מצרים לבדה
שהרי קהת מן הבאים עם יעקב הי' צא וחשוב כל שנותיו וכל שנות עמרם בנו ושמונים של משה לא תמצאם כל כך וע"כ הרבה שנים היו לקהת עד שלא ירד למצרים והרבה משנות עמרם נבלעים בשנות קהת והרבה משמונים של משה נבלעים בשנות עמרם
הרי שלא תמצא ד' מאות לביאת מצרים והוזקקת לומר על כרחך שאף שאר הישיבות נקראו גרות אפי' בחברון כענין שנאמר (בראשית לה) אשר גר שם אברהם ויצחק ואומר (שמות ו) את ארץ מגוריהם אשר גרו בה, לפיכך אתה צריך לומר כי גר יהיה זרעך משהי' לו זרע וכשתמנה ארבע מאות שנה משנולד יצחק תמצא מביאתן למצרים עד יציאתן ר"י שנה וזה אחד מן הדברים ששינו לתלמי המלך
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Topic: God’s message to Abraham about the 400 years could have resulted in a very tiny episode in Israel rather than a very extended suffering in Egypt.
Question: Didn't God tell Avraham that his descendants will be slaves in Egypt? So how can it be that history would have been different and slavery in Egypt avoided had the brothers been able to find a more charitable (and truer) interpretation of the dream?
The brit ben habtarim: the prophecy to Abraham: וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם, יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי-גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם, וַעֲבָדוּם, וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם--אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת, שָׁנָה
First of all, God did NOT tell Avraham his descendants will be slaves in Egypt, but rather that “they will be strangers in a land that is not theirs”. The prophecy does not mention where it will take place, so it could have been referring to some other situation, they did not have to remain in Egypt as slaves.
The key word is “avadoom” the root of which “avd” is for example used for the task of Adam/Eve in the Garden of Eden, “le’avdah uleshamrah” ”to work it and protect it”, certainly not meant as ‘slavery’. Jacob agrees to work for his father in law Lavan, using this word. And even when used in the sense closer to ‘slave’ it means ‘servant’ and for example ELiezer, who could certainly have escaped with great wealth when he was sent with a caravan to Harran, presents himself to Rivka’s family as “eved Avraham”, ‘servant’ of Abraham, and this is a position he fills with tremendous pride. So it is not at all equivalent to slave, and is not necessarily filled against one’s will. And God commands us to serve God with all our heart and spirit etc and this word is used. So God’s prophetic message to Avraham need not mean ‘slave’. Perhaps the actualization could have been changed to a different form of 'eved', just as Eliezer was proud to be ‘eved avraham’, and God lovingly gave Moses the lofty title 'eved hashem' ('servant of God').
3) Note that Yom Kippur involves 5 'inuyim', such as not wearing leather shoes, and so perhaps according to the ambiguous wording " וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם:" the Jewish People - had they been deserving - would have suffered for a day in some strange land when they had to forgo leather shoes, and it does not necessarily therefore predict hundreds of years of slavery....
4) God’s message to Avraham says it will be for 400 years וַעֲבָדוּם, וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם--אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת, שָׁנָה, however, we see from the exodus timing that the amount was 210 - this is very creative accounting! So in my interpretation I would say that just as God changed it from 400 to 210, God could have also arranged for it to have been changed to 1 year or one day, all depending on the behavior of the brothers and their descendants.
4) There is a principle of Jewish Metaphysics that prophecies for bad futures can be overturned, as for example happened with Ninveh, but prophecies for good futures will definitely occur. And so whatever was in the prophecy to Abraham, it was not ‘destined to occur’. In fact, I believe it was told to Abraham in order for him to know what he should work to prevent.
5) Zohar(?) says about the great Flood that there had been a divine decree long before it that at a certain point after creation there would be a "mabul"(flood), however it didn't have to be mayim(water), it could have been a Flood of good, or it was to be ’mayim’ but that could be Torah (which is compared to life-giving mayim [water]), and the choice of which it was to be, a flood of water or a flood of Torah-revelation was determined by the actions of the people of that time (ie they could have acted better and deserved a life-giving 'flood of revelation of Torah' rather than a destructive flood of water).
And so the prophecy to Abraham could have been actuated in a positive way as well And perhaps God revealed this prophecy to Abraham in order that he now what his task would be, and indeed that it was Abraham’s activities which brought about the reduction from 400 to 210.
And it is my thesis that had the brothers acted differently, the 400 years could have been brought to one day, or even turned around to be a positive occurrence.
Note: It may also be that God revealed to Abraham that his descendants would choose the wrong way and so would actuate the path of actual slavery, as we know from the future unfolding of events, and that it was because later on of their own free will the brothers would act as they did. So it was not predetermined that they would be in Egypt, it was simply known by God beforehand what they would freely-choose later (ie God is 'beyond time' but can act inside time: this is an old philosophical conundrum, with many many books written about it).
Other examples:
Yosef's institution of servitude, serfdom, in Egypt might have been an injustice or insensitivity which created somehow the desire of the Egyptians to enslave the Jews. Midrash tells us of God's caring about the drowning Egyptians in the sea during the Exodus, and so perhaps via mida kneged midah or other mechanism, causing all ordinary Egyptians to become "serfs to Pharaoh" during the famine somehow led to "slavery of the Jews to Pharaoh.
Conclusion:
Unfortunately:
1. the first of the Jewish People to come to Egypt in that period came as a slave sold by his own family, and so this created a slave-energy for the entire extended family when they came to Egypt later on;
2. Yosef was accused by his brothers of saying they would be his servants, and indeed later, before they knew who he was, they themselves offered to be his slaves to him! And then again after their father Yaakov died they made this offer, yet again misjudging his intentions.
The reason the Egyptians gave for enslaving the Jews was an absurdity (enslave people so that they won’t be able to leave in time of war - why did they want to leave?! And if they couldn’t leave other than via war, then are they not already unfree?) so perhaps it was this slave-energy which metaphysically brought about this sudden almost inexplicable change in Egyptian attitude.
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So it was the actions and decisions of the brothers, and maybe later of Yosef himself, which set the way that the future would unfold, in the next generation, when they all entered actual slavery - rather than history developing along the positive options mentioned above.
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Yosef was in Egyptian prison for years before Pharaoh's dreams, so given the time-line as it happened, if he was not sold but rather helped to achieve his destiny, there were years available to spread the word of the coming events.
And then when the first year of great plenty, they could have suggested to all to set aside food, and they would have built granaries, and perhaps bought lots of extra produce from others especially since wheat being so plentiful would be very cheap, and since they were a wealthy family they would amass a great deal. And then the 2nd year, etc. By the end of the 7 years of plenty, when the famine struck, Yakov/Yisrael's family would have had control of the wheat of the region. Just as Yosef later sold all the land to Pharaoh, in this alternate history all the land of cnaan would have belonged to Yisroel. And Yisroel would have been king, and the land would have been called Eretz Yisroel, and it would have been the source of food and general abundance for all of civilization.
Alternately: God could have given the dreams to Pharaoh as actually happened, and God would have arranged for Y to interpret them even if he had not been a slave in Egypt, even if indeed if he had not been in Egypt at all.
By God's including in the dictation to Moses the detail of "vayimtza'ehu ish to'eh basadeh", (a man directed him when he was lost) God is telling us that God arranged it all. And so we understand that the later events in Yosef's experience as a slave are divinely-orchestrated as well. Indeed God found a way to get Yosef positioned to be taken to Pharaoh to interpret his dream by:
having traders going to Egypt pass by at the right time to buy him as a slave
having Yosef be sold to the jail-minister and then be in the minister's own jail,
by arranging for the two ministers to end up in that jail and giving them prophetic dreams (this is not at all to be taken for granted, that they should have what God clearly is implying to be authentic prophetic dreams!)
giving Yosef the interpretation,
having one minister survive to tell P of this
not having Pharaoh be satisfied with all the other interpretations offered by his experts.
So it is clear that even if Yosef had not been sold as a slave to Egypt God could have equally-well have arranged for P'haraohs dreams to come to Yosef's attention and for him to be positioned to interpret them.
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One can create various scenarios of how this could unfold, starting from the premise that Yosef's brothers had accepted his dream as prophetic, and were dedicated to helping him realize his potential.
Maybe the dreams were given to Pharaoh and not Yakov because Yosef had been sold to Egpyt! Had he not been sold and had remained at home, the dreams could have goine to Yakov!
Just as God sent the ministers in jail dreams which Yosef correctly interpreted ie were shown to be prophetic and that he had access to the true meaning, God could certainly have done the same in Yakov's home, given prophetic dreams not to the ministers but rather to others in the region where Yakov lived, which Yosef would show were prophetic, thus establishing his reputation, or God could have given dreams to leaders in the region (instead of to the two Egyptian minor ministers) which Yosef would interpret etc and then he would be positioned to hear of and interpret the dream about the famine, whoever had trhat dream.
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What to learn from all this: The bottom line is that God shows us how history can change in different directions depending on our actions towards our brothers.
Imagine how different Jewish history would have been had the brothers applied 'dann le’kaf z’chut' (‘judge favorably’) in interpreting Joseph’s dream, understanding his motivations.
The Torah tells us this story in such detail in order to make a real impression on us.
Even in our own days, perhaps there are international events of significance and events that are Fated, but how they will unfold will depend on how we treat each other:it is up to us, whether we interpret our brothers' words favorably, and help them fulfil their dreams rather than trying to confound them ('nir'eh ma yihye im chalomotav').
This shabbat we are all thinking of our brothers and sisters held as slaves right near Egypt (by people who are actually probably originally all from Egypt), kidnapped from Israel as was Yosef. Redeeming them from bondage will come at a very steep price to Israel (and potentially God forbid to Jewish communities everywhere, by ‘imitators’) but may God bless us that the willingness to pay the price for this can be counted as merit to actually decrease any ‘fated’ negative effect.
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And may we be blessed to figure out the meanings of the strange events which seem to happen at random to us, identify the true underlying connections between them, and to have the moral strength to perfect our character and be like Joseph, and thereby achieve our destiny.
May we be inspired by the story of Yosef to judge favorably, and to generously help our brothers achieve their dreams - and so affect our future history, and instead of becoming slaves, we all become kings!
1. Snake, Leprosy & Blood:
The deep symbolism of the three signs (which God gave to Moses to be performed in front of the Elders).
We'll now see a secret encoded in a secret..("mystery..wrapped in an enigma").
A) The first 'secret' which God reveals is: an aspect of our relationship with God which the reader of the Torah encounters here in the Torah for the first time: God tells Moses (M"R) to tell Pharaoh; "My son the first-born (is) the People of Israel"! [Here God is relating to the world as being composed of nations, and this is God's relationship with the Jewish People as a whole, as a nation, as revealed to M"R to tell the head of the super-power nation of the time. There is much to say about this, but we'll skip that here.].
Presumably M"R revealed this intimate relationship to the elders, and the elders taught it to the people, so that they knew of it before the Torah was written and taught, and so a Traditionally-educated person today may learn of this as part of the Oral Tradition, and then see it also in the Written Torah. Alternately, we know that the elders carried a secret message passed on through the generations from Joseph, to use as a password key to identify and verify the authenticity of God's eventual messenger sent to take the Jews out of Egypt, and the knowledge of this special relationship could have been part of it (especially as it was Joseph who brought to a conclusion the essential element of fiirstborn-struggle), and only then was it revealed to all the Jewish People.
B) God tells M"R to give Pharaoh the following dire warning: "My son the first-born (is) the People of Israel, and I say to you 'send out my son so that he can worship me, and you refused to send him', so I will kill your first born son".
Based on the revelation of the first secret, we can see that God is revealing to M"R a second secret, that of the operation of "Midah kneged Midah" = divinely-indued karma", which we'll abbreviate here as "MkM".
It is only because God revealed secret A that M"R can understand secret B, ie why killing the firstborns of Egypt is MkM.
I will speculate that when M"R repeats all this to the elders, perhaps his knowledge of this secret is how they identify him as God's messenger.
Even more is wrapped in this, as we'll see below in interpreting the signs within this context.
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Application to our lives: After learning from God about MkM, now M"R can try to interpret further events within this paradigm. And perhaps we can all benefit from it - if sonething inscrutable happens to us, perhaps the way to interpret is to try to find what the event could have been an MkM 'divine-karma' reaction to; then to take heed, do the right action as a result.
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Snake, Leprosy & Blood: The three signs as MkM
We'll see how these three signs fulfilled at least two functions:
i: divinely-karmic consequences of past imperfection; and
ii: prophetic warning & augury regarding the future;
iii: I further speculate that perhaps it served also as an innner message to the Elders of the authenticity of M"R's status as the messenger sent by God to help redeem the Jewish People from Egypt.
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M"R at first thought that if God needed a human to act to being about the exodus, it would be someone with speical abilities, not him, an old stuttering person. But this was a mistake - God could of course bring it about without human assistance, and indeed what was needed was exactly what M"R did possess - true humility, and in this way M"R could serve as a true conduit of God's energy. And what he lacked was exactly what God did not need, special human abilities.
So when eventually God reveals to M"R that "The man Moses is the most humble person who ever lived", and when he was chosen as a result to be the perfect conduit for God's actual words to be written as the Torah, since there was nothing of himself to come between the words entering his mind and exiting via his writing them, he was finally able to understand why he had been chosen for the mission of speaking God's word to Pharaoh.
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How Moses was meant to understand the 'signs' as Warnings/Punishments/Portents
Although M"R was the most worthy of his generation, and the most humble in his and all subsequent generations, nevertheless as a human being he did of course have faults, and the Torah is God's means of teaching us .... as MR as our Teacher would surely have wanted
Not that this is meant as my criticism, but rather it is what we were meant to learn from this: Had MR immediately acquiesced in his mission and gone to confront Pharaoh, perhaps the entire mission would have gone successfully from the onset. The result of the hesitancy of his replies was a change in how events unfolded, as we'll see further below, including the very need for having the three signs, which were offered by God only after M"R's response; and these signs therefore served as warnings, and also as portents of future calamities which would befall him if he did not change.
Of course this would not have happened to me. Mostly because I would never have been a candidate to be chosen for this task, since I am less than one thousandth of M"R. And I would most likely have taken a selfie at the burning bush, posted it, and moved on, and so never have received the mission. So it is not that I think I would have done better, but rather that there is always a reason God included the detailed descriptions of events and internactions with prophets, so that we can learn from it how the universe works at the deepest levels, and especially how what happens can depend on our intentions, thoughts, words and actions.
Signs. symbolism and parallels: Using the key of MkM to see the signs as WARNINGS/PUNISHMENTS/PORTENTS: There are Traditional sources for some of this, see Appendix:
1) The first sign: MR's staff turning into a snake: A snake symbolizes the counsel of the Edenic snake gave to Eve to disregard God’s commandment.[Snake: Torah was not yet written, not obvious this story was known to all Adams descrndants, but I'll assume Moses knew this story and therefore it meant that to him.] So M"R's initial disinclination to perform God’s command to go to Pharaoh resulted in a warning which evoked this.
In my inteprretation, besides being a warning to him in this way, this first 'sign' also served also as an augury of the future, where his wife had to take action in the matter of his son’s brit (circumcision). According to Tradition [see Midrash] he disregarded the command to perform it because of health/danger issues, and as a result a snake swallowed his son upto that part of the body, both threateningly and also as a pointer to what needed to be done immmediately, which his wife Tzipporah does: read the strage enigmatic story in the Torah, and see more about this account in a different part of my commentary. So perhaps this sign of the snake was a warning to M"R not to ever delay fulfilling God's commandment, but the waring was not fully heeded - however it is included in the Torah to teach US.
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2) The 2nd sign: MR’s hand turning white like from 'tzora'at', a diseased condition (generally translated as 'leprosy' but it isn't exactly correct).
Why this sign?
Because M"R slandered the elders and the people saying ‘they won’t believe me’, and Tzara’at is Traditionally-known as punishment for slander.
In addition: This sign was also an augury of a future calamity which he might perhaps have acted to prevent: his actions led even his loving sister Miriam to seemingly slander him, and she was punished with this same disease, and he had to intervene.
3) The third sign: the Nile waters turning to blood.
M"R ended up bringing about the convincing of the Jewish People by a display of miracles rather than simply due to their faith, and by bringing this about via his initial expressions of disinclination to go to Pharaoh, MR caused a ‘chilul hashem’ - the opposite of sanctification of the name of God, for which the punishment is death - hence the first sign was the turning to blood of the waters. Note that since MR had been saved by the Nile, so for him the transformaiton of these life-giving waters to blood was especially significant.
Interestingly, since it was only later that this chillul hashem would come about, ie not at the time the signs were given to him, it was only then that he would deserved punishment, and so as opposed to the other two signs, this one was not to be performed at the time, only later, at the Nile, in front of the People, and only if they didn't believe him after doing the first two signs! And we are told later that the people believed him, perhaps after the first two signs, and there is no mention of him doing the signs near the Nile, and so perhaps this sign was not actually performed.
Note that a similar sign was however eventually done, but as the first plague!
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As augury of future: the Nile was the river which had saved him. The water turning to blood symbolized his eventual death due to the fiasco over the hitting of the rock episode in the desert to obtain drinking-water from the stone) ie stone to water leading to his death (blood), symbolized here by Nile water to blood, where both invovled exactly the same transgression, where God says he will die and not enter the Land "because you didnt sanctify my name"!
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We can see how the three 'signs' assigned to him were doubly meaningful: we should be blessed to be able to notice 'signs' in our own lives and correctly interpret them, and merit to correct ourself accordingly, to prevent future disaster.
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More explanation of the above:
4:21-26 Two mysterious accounts, both brief but packed with enigmatic symbolism.
God reveals: 1. details about the future dynamic with Pharaoh; 2. a fascinating aspect of our relationship; 3. the principle of Midah Kneged Midah (which we'll abbreviate as "MkM") = divinely-induced karma.
1. Revealing aspects of the future dynamic with Pharaoh: The first account: 4:21-23: God tells M"R that he will do various miracles in front of Pharaoh (presumably the bringing on of the plagues), but God will harden Pharaoh's heart and he won't free the Jewish People and that God will punish him. This, together with 3:18-22, is a synopsis of the future events, revealed to M"R at the very outset.
The seeming unfairness has given rise to many questions and answers, and my commentary deals with this issue during the portions ahead when it actually plays out, regarding Pharaoh's actions/words during the plagues - we'll see that all this is meant to teach us deep insights into the human-divine dynamic..
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2. Revealing a previously-unknown aspect of our relationship with God: God tells M"R to tell Pharaoh; "My son the first-born (is) the People of Israel"!
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3. Revealing the operation of divinely-indued karma "MkM": "My son the first-born (is) the People of Israel, and I say to you 'send out my son so that he can worship me, and you refused to send him', so I will kill your first born son". So this is key! It is a secret that God is revealing to us, so that we can try to interpret events, and can benefit from it - the way to interpret is to try to find what the event could have been a 'divine-karma' reaction to, and take heed, do the right action as a result.
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3:16-18: Note that God tells MR that he should show the signs and speak to the elders (ie not to the people), they will believe him and will accompany him (and Ahron) and all will speak to pharaoh! However the passage 5:1 does not seem to imply that the elders indeed came along with MR &Ahron to Pharaoh!
4:29-31: The people saw the signs, and believed, but the elders are not mentioned.
Not to be confused: the miracle performed in our portion in front of the elders/people - M"R's rod becomes a snake - is not the one performed later on in front of Pharaoh, where Ahron's rod becomes a reptile.r
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.Just as God's choice of blood, snake and leprosy as signs was not at all random tbut rather had direct significance in M"R own life, as 'punishment' and warning for the future , similarly each of the plagues was meant to remind the Egyptians and Pharaoh of something they did or caused to happen regarding the Jewish People, or about Joseph, or that God had warned them about - in order to give them the opportunity to repent and relent (see commentary on next week's portion). Of course they didn't, but the account of the plagues is included in such detail in the Torah perhaps so that we can learn from their mistake, learn how to interpret, and perhaps be motivated to make the required changes in or lives - as a nation or as individuals - or face disaster as did the Egyptian by not paying attention to the meaning of the plagues..
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How the reaction of a prophet to the direct word of God affects the future outcome
Moses approaches the fire that burns but does not consume, and is given three miraculous signs. We’ll see now more detail as to why his reaction led to the need for signs altogether.
Exodus chapter 3: God says to Moses that the time is come for the rescue from bondage in Egypt, that God will take them out of there and bring them to the promised land, and God asks Moses to go to Pharaoh and take the Jewish People out of Egypt. My interpretation is that this was an unexpected request, that Moses perform this action rather than God miraculously extracting the people directly, and this would naturally lead Moses to ask some questions (see the story). WHy would God need Moses, and why ask Pharaoh why not just extract the Jews!?
In the interpretation I‘ll offer here, due to M"R's very reasonable hesitations and quesitons,the future-scenario shifts: now instead of directly going to pharaoh to take out the People, God says Moses should first speak to the children of Israel, tell them “I am that I am” sent you (the secret formula/password known only to the elders), and they will believe him (Ex 3:16,18), and then God says he should gather the elders and tell them all this, and he and the elders will go to Pharaoh, but Pharoah will not let them go easily. ie Perhaps this additional set of complications resulted from the questioning, which shunted future-history onto a secondary track!(This is an interpretation, anyone can accept of reject it)
And then however Moses further responds (Ex 4.1) that they will NOT believe him! As a result, God gives him the three miraculous signs, and various Tradfitional sources point out that some of the signs were punishment for this (see some sources below).
Moses and Ahron (who is involved after Moses expressed lack of confidence in his ability to carry out the task God had assigned him) gather the elders and Ahron tells them everything that God had said, and then perform the miracles in sight of all the people, who believe them.
The miraculous signs are pretty scary, especially if one is not expecting what will happen. One affected Moses directly - his skin turned leprous! Another required him to grab a snake by the tail. A third turned the water of the Nile, the river which fed all of Egypt and which had saved his life, into blood!
As we’ll see, we can interpret these three signs as warnings to Moses, Punishments/Portents, and in addition perhaps as part of a secret message from God to the elders confirming that indeed Moses was sent to them by God, as part of the long-awaited redemption.
Moshe Rabenu(MR)’s first response to this command, “Who am I to do this?” could have derived from his humility, and God replies in kind , however as I pointed out above, analysis of the text (of God’s responses to MR) indicates that perhaps due to the remarks by MR in this cosmic dialogue, the fated negativity associated with the mission increases.
At this early stage of his career, he gave hesitant replies to God, expressing scepticism that the Jewish People would listen to him, or that he was not qualified to be the intermediary. Perhaps had MR immediately acquiesced in his mission and gone to confront Pharaoh, the entire mission would have gone successfully from the onset,
The result of his ‘incompletely-accepting’ replies was the three signs, which served as warnings, and also as portents of future calamities which would befall him if he did not change, and this can be a strong message to all of us of the power of immediate acceptance of God’s request.
Although M"R was the most worthy of his generation, and the greatest prophet of all subsequent generations, and the most humble person who ever lived, nevertheless as a human being he inevitably did have faults, and his life was one of growth towards greater levels - like everyone however great he had to learn the correct choices, as life progressed, and so as a ‘gift’ he was given these three signs which served as warnings about his present attitude, and also as portents of future calamities which would befall him if he did not change. And as a gift, since he wanted most of all to teach and protect the Jewish People even after his death, God included these details about M'R's own responses to that all could learn from our M"R our teacher in every generation.
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What the signs indicated to the Elders
When MR approached the elders, as an unknown figure who claimed that God had appeared to him with a message to them, he would certainly be asked many questions by them, what God told him, what he then said to God and what God replied etc. It helped a lot that Ahron who was known and loved and respected accompanied him and could vouch that God had tasked him with the mission of helping his brother, but this could only help in some degree.
My interpretation:
The elders had passed on in each generation a secret message regarding how God would take them out of bondage, out of Egypt, and this is referenced to some degree in the specific terms God tells M"R to use when addressing the elders (see those passages).
Moses was very forthcoming and humble and so he told the elders all that God had said, and what he himself had said to God, and God’s replies to Moses, so they knew that he had been hesitant and did not believe they would believe him! And they understood it all as part of a secret message which M"R hiself wa snot fully aware of, as I explain below:
ii. After telling all to the elders, he does the three signs. The people could not hear his discussion with the elders but the Torah tells us that they could see the signs, and were convinced by them.
iii. Whereas the people were convinced by the signs themselves, the elders - having heard the whole message from God including - in this interpretation - references to Moses hesitancy and distrust of their reaction, had the context for the signs, and this together with the resulting signs is an additional message to them: based on their deep understanding of the ways of God, and God's words re killing Egypts firstborns, they understood that the signs were meant as ‘mida kneged mida’ (divinely-orchestrated karma), and in my interpretation it was THIS which was perhaps the crucial additional part of the secret sign they had been waiting for.
Speculation: Perhpas this miraculous manifestation of mida kneged mida was an adjunct to the secret password “I will be as I will be” which Moses had conveyed, ie: these two have the same meter-structure: ekyeh asher ekyeh = mida kneged midah, and the latter is a form of interpretation of the meaning of the former!
In fact as we’ll see later, MkM suffuses the entire account of the exodus: we'll see that the sign to Pharaoh (rod turning to serpent) involved an element of something like mida kneged midah, and part of the message to the elders was that Pharaoh would not listen and God would send great signs (plagues), and as we will see, all of them also indicated the great principle of mida kneged mida.
So in some sense when the elders heard M"R's account of what he had said to God, and saw the signs demonstrated by M"R, they figured out the inner meaning of the signs as explained above, and so understood it all as mida kneged mida, and perhaps THAT itself for them was the real sign! God was giving them a secret message conveyed by M:R wihtout him even realizing that he was conveying a secret message!
May we be blessed to understand the deeper meanings of the strange events in our lives, and improve ourselves as a result, so that we can act even more appropriately in the face of challenges.
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Some sources
Talmud: Shabbat (shabbos) 97a
אָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ: הַחוֹשֵׁד בִּכְשֵׁרִים — לוֹקֶה בְּגוּפוֹ, דִּכְתִיב: ״וְהֵן לֹא יַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְגוֹ׳״, וְגַלְיָא קַמֵּי קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא דִּמְהֵימְנִי יִשְׂרָאֵל. אָמַר לוֹ: הֵן מַאֲמִינִים בְּנֵי מַאֲמִינִים, וְאַתָּה אֵין סוֹפְךָ לְהַאֲמִין.
On the topic of Miriam’s leprosy, the Gemara cites that which Reish Lakish said: One who suspects the innocent of indiscretion is afflicted in his body, as it is written: “And Moses answered and said: But they will not believe me and will not hearken to my voice, for they will say, God did not appear to you” (Exodus 4:1), and it is revealed before the Holy One, Blessed be He, that the Jewish people would believe. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: They are believers, the children of believers; and ultimately, you will not believe.
הֵן מַאֲמִינִים, דִּכְתִיב: ״וַיַּאֲמֵן הָעָם״. בָּנַי מַאֲמִינִים — ״וְהֶאֱמִין בַּייָ״. אַתָּה אֵין סוֹפְךָ לְהַאֲמִין, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״יַעַן לֹא הֶאֱמַנְתֶּם בִּי וְגוֹ׳״. מִמַּאי דִּלְקָה, דִּכְתִיב: ״וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ לוֹ עוֹד הָבֵא נָא יָדְךָ בְּחֵיקֶךָ וְגוֹ׳״.
They are believers, as it is written: “And the people believed once they heard that God had remembered the children of Israel, and that He saw their affliction, and they bowed and they prostrated” (Exodus 4:31). The children of believers, as it says with regard to Abraham our Patriarch: “And he believed in God, and He counted it for him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Ultimately, you will not believe, as it is stated: “And God said to Moses and to Aaron: Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel” (Numbers 20:12). From where do we know that Moses was afflicted in his body? As it is written: “And God said to him further: Bring your hand to your bosom, and he brought his hand to his bosom and he took it out and behold, his hand was leprous like snow” (Exodus 4:6).
אָמַר רָבָא, וְאִיתֵּימָא רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בְּרַבִּי חֲנִינָא: מִדָּה טוֹבָה מְמַהֶרֶת לָבֹא מִמִּדַּת פּוּרְעָנוּת. דְּאִילּוּ בְּמִדַּת פּוּרְעָנוּת כְּתִיב: ״וַיּוֹצִיאָהּ וְהִנֵּה יָדוֹ מְצֹרַעַת כַּשָּׁלֶג״, וְאִילּוּ בְּמִדָּה טוֹבָה כְּתִיב: ״וַיּוֹצִיאָהּ מֵחֵיקוֹ וְהִנֵּה שָׁבָה כִּבְשָׂרוֹ״ — מֵחֵיקוֹ הוּא דְּשָׁבָה כִּבְשָׂרוֹ.
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Exodus Rabba (Midrash):3:
שמות רבה ג׳
וַיַּעַן משֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר וְהֵן לֹא יַאֲמִינוּ לִי, אוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה דִּבֵּר משֶׁה שֶׁלֹא כַּהֹגֶן, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אָמַר לוֹ (שמות ג, יח): וְשָׁמְעוּ לְקוֹלֶךָ, וְהוּא אָמַר: וְהֵן לֹא יַאֲמִינוּ לִי. מִיָּד הֱשִׁיבוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּשִׁיטָתוֹ, נָתַן לוֹ אוֹתוֹת לְפִי דְּבָרָיו. רְאֵה מַה כְּתִיב אַחֲרָיו: וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֵלָיו מַזֶּה בְיָדֶךָ וַיֹּאמֶר מַטֶּה, כְּלוֹמַר מִזֶּה שֶׁבְּיָדֶךָ אַתָּה צָרִיךְ לִלְקוֹת, שֶׁאַתָּה מוֹצִיא שֵׁם רָע עַל בָּנַי, הֵם מַאֲמִינִים בְּנֵי מַאֲמִינִים, מַאֲמִינִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות ד, לא): וַיַּאֲמֵן הָעָם. בְּנֵי מַאֲמִינִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית טו, ו): וְהֶאֱמִן בַּה', תָּפַשׂ משֶׁה מַעֲשֵׂה הַנָּחָשׁ שֶׁהוֹצִיא לָשׁוֹן הָרָע עַל בּוֹרְאוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ג, ה): כִּי יֹדֵעַ אֱלֹהִים, כְּשֵׁם שֶׁלָּקָה הַנָּחָשׁ כָּךְ זֶה עָתִיד לִלְקוֹת, רְאֵה מַה כְּתִיב: וַיֹּאמֶר הַשְּׁלִיכֵהוּ אַרְצָה וַיַּשְׁלִיכֵהוּ אַרְצָה וַיְהִי לְנָחָשׁ, לְפִי שֶׁעָשָׂה מַעֲשֵׂה נָחָשׁ לְכָךְ הֶרְאָה לוֹ אֶת הַנָּחָשׁ, כְּלוֹמַר עָשִׂיתָ מַעֲשֶׂה שֶׁל זֶה......וַיֹּאמֶר ה' [לו עוד הבא] נָא יָדְךָ בְּחֵיקֶךָ, אָמַר לוֹ מַה הַנָּחָשׁ כְּשֶׁהִלְשִׁין הִכֵּיתִי אוֹתוֹ בְּצָרַעַת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ג, יד): אָרוּר אַתָּה מִכָּל הַבְּהֵמָה, כְּמָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (ויקרא יג, נא): צָרַעַת מַמְאֶרֶת. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר הָלֵין סִלְעִין דְּבֵיהּ, צָרָעִין אִינוּן, אַף אַתָּה רָאוּי לִלְקוֹת בְּצָרַעַת,
Below you can see the original article from which the above was taken:
Article published in "The Jewish Bible Quarterly"
To see the actual article: Hover over the upper right of the journal-cover photo, Click on the 'expand' icon, and scroll to p47-53 of the file.
(Note: it is on p115 in the journal itself.)
moses' three signs my article in dor ledor.pdfWhat Moses was meant to understand from the signs and their deep 'karmic' and prophetic symbolism - we'll see how they were both consequences of past imperfection and also warning & augury regarding the future;
Although M"R was the most worthy of his generation, and all subsequent generations, nevertheless as a human being he did have faults. Had MR immediately acquiesced in his mission and gone to confront Pharaoh, perhaps the entire mission would have gone successfully from the onset. The result of his replies was the three signs, which served as warnings, and also as portents of future calamities which would befall him if he did not change:
1) The first sign: MR's initial disinclination to perform God’s command to go to Pharaoh resulted in a warning in the form of his staff turning into a snake, which symbolizes the counsel of the Edenic snake (to Eve) to disregard God’s commandment.
Besides being a warning to him in this way, this first 'sign' also served also as an augury of the future, where his wife had to take action in the matter of his son’s brit (circumcision) since (according to tradition) he disregarded the command to perform it and a snake swallowed his son upto that part of the body (read the strage enigmatic story in the Torah, and see more about this below), .
2) The 2nd sign: MR’s hand turning white like a ‘metzora’ (generally translated as 'leprosy' but it isn't exactly correct): Why?
Because M"R slandered the elders and the people saying ‘they won’t believe me’, and Tzara’at was punishment for slander. This sign too was also an augury of a future calamity which he might perhaps have acted to prevent: his actions led to Miriam slandering him, and she was punished with this same disease.
3) The third sign: the Nile waters turning to blood.
M"R ended up convincing the Jewish People based on a display of miracles rather than due to their faith, and by bringing this about via his initial expressions of disinclination to go to Pharaoh, MR caused a ‘chilul hashem’, for which the punishment is death - hence the first sign was the turning to blood of the waters, since MR had been saved by the Nile, and so for him the transformaiton of these life-giving waters to blood was especially significant.
Interestingly, since it was only later that this chillul hashem would come about, ie not at the time the signs were given to him, it was only then that he deserved punishment, and so as opposed to the other two signs, this one was not performed until later, at the Nile, in front of the People.
As augury of future: the Nile was the river which had saved him. The water turning to blood symbolized his eventual death due to the fiasco over the drinking-water-from the stone in the desert.
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We can see how the three 'signs' assigned to him were doubly meaningful: we should be blessed to be able to notice 'signs' in our own lives and correctly interpret them, and merit to correct ourself accordingly, to prevent future disaster.
Four parts: a,b,c,d
וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ ה' אֵלָיו, בְּלַבַּת-אֵשׁ מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה The Hebrew word for fire is composed of two letters, the ones out of all the alephbet which perhaps most closely resemble flames:
Note: similarly the letters composing the word for tree:
can be said to be the letters most resembling a tree.
Also: Draw שםש with the two shins radiating from the mem to get a diagram of the sun.
For comparison of the shapes:
M"R saw the fire in the bush, not everyone else did (like the malach was not visible to Bil'am, only to his aton). It was a form of nevuah-test, to see whether he would indeed turn aside to examine it (and indeed "Vayar H' ki sar lir'ot'), and so M"R's reaction is nevuah-style:
אסורה-נא ואראה
את-המראה הגדול הזה
מדוע לא-יבער הסנה
"Asurah na ve'er'eh,
es hamar'eh hagadol hazeh,
madu’ah lo yiv'ar ha'sneh!"
Translation without the rhyme or meter: "Wow, let me detour to see
this amazing phenomenon/vision:
why doesn't the bush burn?!"
Perhaps one can offer a defense of M”R in choosing these words – he was echoing the style of God's statement
“Ehyeh asher ehyeh" ("I will be as I will be)
by answering with
“shlach na b’yad tishlach” ("send whomever you send")
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[Introductory level explanation:
God seems 'angered' by Moshe Rabbenu’s response, the rather enigmatic phrase “shlach na b’yad tishlach”, which can be interpreted as being disrespectful. (Of course God was NOT ‘angry’, but rather God was teaching M”R a lesson, that he was still too passive, not yet at the level Moshe Rabbenu was eventually to achieve.) I take this parallel form as an indication that M"R's phraseology was not an indication of disrespect but rather that his reply was a from of echo, an internalization of what God had said.]M"R made an inner journey from the time of the sneh to the end of his life: he starts off at the fire which does not consume, God's presence revealed, and hides his face, and develops to the point where the shining comes from HIM (koran or panav), from the face he hid, and from which others must now hide.
And note the similarity of sneh to masveh מסוה to סנה.
M"R comes full circle, but now at a higher inner level. A helix.
At the beginning, M"R said of himself to H': "lo ish dvarim anochi'. But it is certainly an interesting and intended irony that later on:
M”R ends up saying the "aseret hadvarim" (Note: He said it at the request of the Bney Yisrael instead of them hearing it directly from Gd, ie he was the messenger for that too, and at their request, not as he feared re sneh that they wouldn;t listen to him!).
M"R speaks over the whole sefer dvarim, which has its name from that (ie the whole sefer mishneh torah is named 'sefer dvarim' due to "eleh hadvarim asher dibber moshe").
The idea is that H' needed M"R to be an ish dvarim. and didn't anymore need his (extra)ordinary humility. M"R was needed as a leader who could cajole, chastise, remind, exhort, warn.... including right before his death, so that the Bney Yisrael not go astray after his death.
Initially M"R's humility was expressed in reticence to do H's bidding because he perceived it as negating his humility, but later M"R develops to thepoint where he is not concerned with his own wishes and preferences - for example to conform to his humility - but rather is ready to do whatever H needs from him, a true humility, expressed in accepting his lot of being a leader.
This is another helix where M"R comes around full circle (from dvarim to dvarim, from humility to humility), at a higher level.
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3. The Tziporah incident:
3a. For advanced readers: Tip of the Iceberg
There is a strong parallel to another very enigmatic, highly symbolic and cosmically significant event: the ‘wrestling’ of Yakov and the ‘man’ [32:25-33].
The similarity of the highly mysterious “Vataga LeRaglav [4:25] and “Vayiga beKaf Yerecho”[32:26]; Surgery/a bodily injury (and both in the region of the inner thigh).
The two earliest commandments (brit mila, and not to eat the ‘gid ha’nasheh’)
' Yisrael': (1. where the name is acquired by the individual, and 2, the use by God of this name to signify the nation and a special relationship to that nation)
A son being sent (The Jewish People to be sent out of Egypt/Yitschak sends out his son Yakov [after the blessing incident])
The issue of firstborns struggle against the other son (1. as individuals, 2. as nations); The intent to kill a firstborn/the one who usurped the prerogatives of the firstborn;
A divine encounter ‘on the way’, at night;
A struggle, but with a successful outcome (some danger to Moses or to his son, some danger to the the People of Israel who need to shelter in their homes; danger to Yaakov who becomes Israel)
and of expulsion of Jews
The account of the brit of M"R's son 4:24-26 is mysterious.
After investing him with his life’s mission, God tries to kill MR?!! [4:21-26]. This is one of the more enigmatic accounts in the Torah.
Furthermore, there is clearly a deliberate linking of the warning to Pharaoh as delivered by MR and the subsequent actions by God regarding MR himself. Questions: Who is being addressed in [4:23]: Pharaoh or Moses? Three “firstborn”s are mentioned – the People of Israel, Pharaoh’s son, and MR’s son. Was the intent to kill M"R or his son? Or Pharaoh?Or to kill his son?! (and which son? [4:25]
So the story of the brit is enigmatically tied tightly to the earlier account regarding killing Egypt's firstborns; this seems like MkM, God acting to M"R in response to M"R action/inaction, similar to the response to Pharaoh's actions/inaction!
We'll see whether we can relate this to another issue:
...........
At the beginning of the account of the Exodus the Torah tells of the origin of 'Passover'. Right before the Exodus, the Jews slaughter an animal that is somehow special to the Egyptians, they gather together into family-groups and smear the animal's blood on their doorposts, and then an agent of death goes around killing children - except where the blood-sign is visible, and that house is 'passed over' - and so in every Egyptian home a child dies, but not in any Jewish home. Hmmm.....
The locals then run about to the homes of the Jews and push them to leave the country - the Jews have to leave at moment's notice, without even time to prepare sufficient food for the journey.
....
A little context: The locals actually are in favor of the Jews, and feel their leader should have released the Jews a while back, and realize the death of their children came to them from God, as a punishment, and kinew tha tthe Jews themselves had nothing to do with it.....
More discussion:
Moshe Rabenu had refused God's request that he go to Pharaoh to get the firstborn (bchor) of God released, as God termed the Jewish People, so he was like Pharaoh in this respect. And so the firstborn 'sign'/plague was directed first on him, just like with the leprosy sign etc. Also, it was punishment for lashon hara against the Jewish People for saying they wouldn't listen - as reflected now in the added complication that God is now telling him about - that Pharaoh won't listen. (In contrast, as we see immediately afterwards, the elders DID believe him.)
The Jewish People were saved from the 'makat bechorot' via blood (spread on the doorpost as they were to leave Egypt), which was taken from a mitzvah (the korban pesach).
In other words Moshe Rabbenu & Tzipporah's fulfilling of the mitzvah of bris - and the blood it involved - created the appropriate channel to bring about the korban-pesach mitzva-blood path to saving the Jewish People.
Throwing the bloody olrloh is like smearing the korban pesach blood on the doorpost, and so "chatan damim lamulot" = "you are the person who has initiated the blood-path via brit (ie you have thereby made it possible)"
...
Connection between the two blood mitzvot - brit milah & korban pesach/doorpost: Rashi on "LeMishmeres": י״ב:ו׳
There are of course still various cryptic aspects which require explanation, eg Tzipporah's role: see below for an explanaiton re this act on her son being the ratification of their 'conversion to Judaism'.
"malon" and "mila" are similar, and 'unmaltem' = same letters (anagram for) "malon met" = hotel, dead
.....
By M"R accepting on himself (his family) of the situation, like accepting the leprosy, and holding the snake etc, it was on HIM, and by acccepting this he was able to bring it into being or using for the good of klal yisrael.
Doing the brit with a rock without any preparation, in a stopover on the way is dangrous, it was a statement of willingness ot put her son;s life in danger, ie accepting the consequences, so this was the way to earn the path of blood, (and this was the acceptance by M"R & tzirpoah).
[maybe this act is reminiscent of brit ben habtorim, weird and bloody, and it is where H says 'ger yihyeh zar'a'cha' which is right then, and ger, is key here and this is creating the energy to finally bring into action the promised deliverance , and that is aso a 'brit'.
vayiref mimenu ~ heref mimeni ve'ashmidem: God later wanted to destroy the BY, but MR saved them via self-sacrifice, and here too, same.
.....
Names of Moshe Rabenu's wife and bechor:
One can almost hear the pasuk saying "and moses wife took a rock (tzor) and did the brit, and therefore her name was called (from then) "tziporah".
The first son was Gershom" = ger hayiti (but clearly at least in remez it is also related to 'va'yegarashem').
וַיָּשָׁב מֹשֶׁה אֶל-ה' וַיֹּאמַר: אֲדֹ', לָמָה הֲרֵעֹתָה לָעָם הַזֶּה--לָמָּה זֶּה, שְׁלַחְתָּנִי.
כג וּמֵאָז בָּאתִי אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, לְדַבֵּר בִּשְׁמֶךָ, הֵרַע, לָעָם הַזֶּה; וְהַצֵּל לֹא-הִצַּלְתָּ, אֶת-עַמֶּךָ.
א וַיֹּאמֶר ה', אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, עַתָּה תִרְאֶה, אֲשֶׁר אֶעֱשֶׂה לְפַרְעֹה: כִּי בְיָד חֲזָקָה, יְשַׁלְּחֵם, וּבְיָד חֲזָקָה, יְגָרְשֵׁם מֵאַרְצוֹ. {ס}
..…………
I think I wrote that perhaps he actually meant these reasons for the name that I presented, but for PC reasons, not to offend the locals and others, didn’t tell people this meaning. Maybe it is even - but probably not - a subtle-oblique criticism like re 'ish mitzri'.
…
"ויקרא את שמו גרשֹׁם, כי אמר גר הייתי בארץ נכריה" (ב, כב Since the word 'grsh' appears twice in other stories/prophecies to M"R is this perhaps another example like giving the name b'er sheva, where the reader is being deliberately misled?.
Note: It's odd to name his son for something that he himself is experiencing. Or maybe not, God told Avraham to name Yitschak for an act of the parents. But of course that was an act directly linked to the child's (pre-)history.
Or maybe the choice of name is meant to remind his son, growing up in a foreign land, with zeide Yisro, that he is from another nation.
..........
According to chazal, Moshe Rabenu was penalized for not objecting to being called "an Egyptian" ("ish mitzri") by Yitro's daughters, or for not making it clear he was of Bney Ysirael and therefore being mistaken for being an Egyptian. Maybe Tziporah needed to make up for it by herself doing the brit for her son who seemingly was named after this event in a hidden way - ie Gershom coming from "vayegorashum".
Tziporah needed to do giyur, and so did her son! So by her doing the brit of gershom, ie accepting god's command that the jews should have this covenant, it is symbolic of her accepting giyur while performing it for her son: in other words part of theurgency of doing brit was not just not delaying the mitzva but delaying the giyur of Tzipporah and gershom! It was urgent that his bechor be a jew in order for him to be able to be the one who creates the pathway for the Jewish People, and so Tziporah herself needed to take this action!
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See all the passages quoted below and in the parallel column, which I believe are related to the underlying current of this mysterious story.
The word "HEREF"
Dvorim 9 יג וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֵלַי לֵאמֹר: רָאִיתִי אֶת-הָעָם הַזֶּה, וְהִנֵּה עַם-קְשֵׁה-עֹרֶף הוּא.
13 Furthermore the LORD spoke unto me, saying: 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people;
יד הֶרֶף מִמֶּנִּי, וְאַשְׁמִידֵם, וְאֶמְחֶה אֶת-שְׁמָם, מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם; וְאֶעֱשֶׂה, אוֹתְךָ, לְגוֹי-עָצוּם וָרָב, מִמֶּנּוּ.
........
"Erase me"
Moses says "Erase me", which is related to this earlier incident where God seemingly wants to kill him, but actually only in order to engender a way to save the Jewish People, as Moshe intended when later saying 'erase me'. Exodus 32: 31 & 32 לא וַיָּשָׁב מֹשֶׁה אֶל-יְהוָה, וַיֹּאמַר: אָנָּא, חָטָא הָעָם הַזֶּה חֲטָאָה גְדֹלָה, וַיַּעֲשׂוּ לָהֶם, אֱלֹהֵי זָהָב. 31
And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said: 'Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them a god of gold. לב וְעַתָּה, אִם-תִּשָּׂא חַטָּאתָם; וְאִם-אַיִן--מְחֵנִי נָא, מִסִּפְרְךָ אֲשֶׁר כָּתָבְתָּ.
See below for hebrew
The story in this week's parsha
21 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.
22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh: Thus saith the LORD: Israel is My son, My first-born.
23 And I have said unto thee: Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and thou hast refused to let him go. Behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born.'--
24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said: 'Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me.'
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כא וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, בְּלֶכְתְּךָ לָשׁוּב מִצְרַיְמָה רְאֵה כָּל-הַמֹּפְתִים אֲשֶׁר-שַׂמְתִּ
בְיָדֶךָ וַעֲשִׂיתָם לִפְנֵי פַרְעֹה; וַאֲנִי אֲחַזֵּק אֶת-לִבּוֹ, וְלֹא יְשַׁלַּח אֶת-הָעָם.
בכ וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל-פַּרְעֹה: כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה, בְּנִי בְכֹרִי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
כג וָאֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ, שַׁלַּח אֶת-בְּנִי וְיַעַבְדֵנִי, וַתְּמָאֵן לְשַׁלְּחוֹ--הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי הֹרֵגאֶת-בִּנְךָ בְּכֹרֶךָ.
כד וַיְהִי בַדֶּרֶךְ, בַּמָּלוֹן; וַיִּפְגְּשֵׁהוּ יְהוָה, וַיְבַקֵּשׁ הֲמִיתוֹ.
כה וַתִּקַּח צִפֹּרָה צֹר, וַתִּכְרֹת אֶת-עָרְלַת בְּנָהּ, וַתַּגַּע לְרַגְלָיו; וַתֹּאמֶר, כִּי חֲתַן-דָּמִים אַתָּה לִי.
כו וַיִּרֶף מִמֶּנּוּ; אָז אָמְרָה, חֲתַן דָּמִים לַמּוּלֹת
...
Shmos 12: "LeMishmeres"
ב הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים: רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם, לְחָדְשֵׁי הַשָּׁנָה.
2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
ג דַּבְּרוּ, אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר, בֶּעָשֹׂר, לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה: וְיִקְחוּ לָהֶם, אִישׁ שֶׂה לְבֵית-אָבֹת--שֶׂה לַבָּיִת.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying: In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household;
ד וְאִם-יִמְעַט הַבַּיִת, מִהְיוֹת מִשֶּׂה--וְלָקַח הוּא וּשְׁכֵנוֹ הַקָּרֹב אֶל-בֵּיתוֹ, בְּמִכְסַת נְפָשֹׁת: אִישׁ לְפִי אָכְלוֹ, תָּכֹסּוּ עַל-הַשֶּׂה.
4 and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbour next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.
ה שֶׂה תָמִים זָכָר בֶּן-שָׁנָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם; מִן-הַכְּבָשִׂים וּמִן-הָעִזִּים, תִּקָּחוּ.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats;
עַד אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה; וְשָׁחֲטוּ אֹתוֹ, כֹּל קְהַל עֲדַת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם.
6 and ye shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk.
ז וְלָקְחוּ, מִן-הַדָּם, וְנָתְנוּ עַל-שְׁתֵּי הַמְּזוּזֹת, וְעַל-הַמַּשְׁקוֹף--עַל, הַבָּתִּים, אֲשֶׁר-יֹאכְלוּ אֹתוֹ, בָּהֶם.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it.
ח וְאָכְלוּ אֶת-הַבָּשָׂר, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה: צְלִי-אֵשׁ וּמַצּוֹת, עַל-מְרֹרִים יֹאכְלֻהוּ.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
ט אַל-תֹּאכְלוּ מִמֶּנּוּ נָא, וּבָשֵׁל מְבֻשָּׁל בַּמָּיִם: כִּי אִם-צְלִי-אֵשׁ, רֹאשׁוֹ עַל-כְּרָעָיו וְעַל-קִרְבּוֹ.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with the inwards thereof.
י וְלֹא-תוֹתִירוּ מִמֶּנּוּ, עַד-בֹּקֶר; וְהַנֹּתָר מִמֶּנּוּ עַד-בֹּקֶר, בָּאֵשׁ תִּשְׂרֹפוּ.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
יא וְכָכָה, תֹּאכְלוּ אֹתוֹ--מָתְנֵיכֶם חֲגֻרִים, נַעֲלֵיכֶם בְּרַגְלֵיכֶם וּמַקֶּלְכֶם בְּיֶדְכֶם; וַאֲכַלְתֶּם אֹתוֹ בְּחִפָּזוֹן, פֶּסַח הוּא לַיהוָה.
11 And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste--it is the LORD'S passover.
יב וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ-מִצְרַיִם, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, וְהִכֵּיתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מֵאָדָם וְעַד-בְּהֵמָה; וּבְכָל-אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים, אֲנִי יְהוָה.
12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
יג וְהָיָה הַדָּם לָכֶם לְאֹת, עַל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם שָׁם, וְרָאִיתִי אֶת-הַדָּם, וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם; וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה בָכֶם נֶגֶף לְמַשְׁחִית, בְּהַכֹּתִי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
Shmos 12:12
יב וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ-מִצְרַיִם, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, וְהִכֵּיתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מֵאָדָם וְעַד-בְּהֵמָה; וּבְכָל-אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים, אֲנִי ה.
12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
יג וְהָיָה הַדָּם לָכֶם לְאֹת, עַל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם שָׁם, וְרָאִיתִי אֶת-הַדָּם, וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם; וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה בָכֶם נֶגֶף לְמַשְׁחִית, בְּהַכֹּתִי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
יד וְהָיָה הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה לָכֶם לְזִכָּרוֹן, וְחַגֹּתֶם אֹתוֹ חַג לַיהוָה: לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם, חֻקַּת עוֹלָם תְּחָגֻּהוּ.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Shmos 13:14:
יד וְהָיָה כִּי-יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ, מָחָר--לֵאמֹר מַה-זֹּאת: וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו--בְּחֹזֶק יָד הוֹצִיאָנוּ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם, מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים.
14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying: What is this? that thou shalt say unto him: By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage;
טו וַיְהִי, כִּי-הִקְשָׁה פַרְעֹה לְשַׁלְּחֵנוּ, וַיַּהֲרֹג יְהוָה כָּל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מִבְּכֹר אָדָם וְעַד-בְּכוֹר בְּהֵמָה; עַל-כֵּן אֲנִי זֹבֵחַ לַה, כָּל-פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם הַזְּכָרִים, וְכָל-בְּכוֹר בָּנַי, אֶפְדֶּה.
15 and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast; therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the womb, being males; but all the first-born of my sons I redeem.
Tzipporah & Gershom
יז וַיָּבֹאוּ הָרֹעִים, וַיְגָרְשׁוּם; וַיָּקָם מֹשֶׁה וַיּוֹשִׁעָן, וַיַּשְׁקְ אֶת-צֹאנָם.
17 And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
יח וַתָּבֹאנָה, אֶל-רְעוּאֵל אֲבִיהֶן; וַיֹּאמֶר, מַדּוּעַ מִהַרְתֶּן בֹּא הַיּוֹם.
18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said: 'How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?'
יט וַתֹּאמַרְןָ--אִישׁ מִצְרִי, הִצִּילָנוּ מִיַּד הָרֹעִים; וְגַם-דָּלֹה דָלָה לָנוּ, וַיַּשְׁקְ אֶת-הַצֹּאן.
19 And they said: 'An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.'
כ וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-בְּנֹתָיו, וְאַיּוֹ; לָמָּה זֶּה עֲזַבְתֶּן אֶת-הָאִישׁ, קִרְאֶן לוֹ וְיֹאכַל לָחֶם.
20 And he said unto his daughters: 'And where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.'
כא וַיּוֹאֶל מֹשֶׁה, לָשֶׁבֶת אֶת-הָאִישׁ; וַיִּתֵּן אֶת-צִפֹּרָה בִתּוֹ, לְמֹשֶׁה.
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
From file "Chumash ENglish materia from email nyu New
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vort-question re initial encounter between M"R and Pharaoh, not related in chumash
re M"R and Aharon going to Pharaoh. I long ago of course noticed the multiple repetition of the intro of the story "hu moshe ve'aharon..: etc.
But this shabbos for the first time I realized that there is no account in the chumash of what must have been an incredible event. M"R introducing himself to Pharaoh, perhaps the same one who raised him? or M"R's foster-brother? and where was his meeting with the bas paroh who adopted him (of course midrash tells us who she was).
We are told of Yaakov's conversaiton with the Pharaoh of his time, surely the initial encounter would have been incredibly fascinatting, revealing and significant?
Yisro's daughters presented M"R as ish mitzri, and MR says "elokei ha'ivrim" which can be interpreted as though it is not THEIR god (chas veshalom)... was M"R known to all those present as the man who had been a prince there? was he known as a Jew? Why does the chumash hide this encounter from us? Is the multiple repetition in some way meant as a smoke screen to distract us from the realization that this encounter's description is missing? If so, the chumash is going to great lengths to hide this; surely it would be worth to drop some f the repetition and include a few words about the encounter. In a way it is similar to the chumash hiding from us whether at the end ya'akov knew that the brothers had sold yosef (and f course Yitschok hid this knowledg from yaakove, as rivka hid from him the initial revelaiton about esav and yaakov)
…
Chumash vort:
god hardened p's heart:
1. How was this accomplished?
2. Was this not taking away bchirah chofshis?
3. what was gained via this hardening of p's heart and going through all the plagues?
Answer:
1.after each plague paraoh managed to get rid of it via beseeching god/m"r, and hardened his heart, fooled himself to believe he could twist god around his finger;
2. by giving in each time, god allowed p to fool himslef. So it wasn't 'hardened heart' in a way that removes b shifshis.
3.Why this was done? So that he would be led to his own destruciton, to go into sea as it split, confident he could manage god in that too.
spoke at machlis friday night, applied the above as a drosho:
started with anecdote: guy needed parking, prayer, then 'oh, i don't need it anymore';
application: we think we can get by despite the warning signs;
tie-in to parsha: after each plague paraoh managed to get rid of it via beseeching god/m"r, and hardened his heart, fooled himself to believe he could twist god around his finger; but he was thus was led to his own destruciton, to go into sea as it split, confident he could manage god in that too;
mussar message:, we shouldn;t make the same mistake, ignore signs, be pleased when we mad eit past something that wa smeant as a warning sign
( got a few compliments, not the major ones I sometimes get, but good).
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Theme: Divine-Human Interaction:
God testing to see human response to the divine communication:
See some of the material below re M”R & the Sneh
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Theme: Moshe Rabbenu at the Sneh: The sneh situation as a test, and M”R’s reactions as a catalyst for the path taken by the ensuing conversation
Moshe says: asura na ve’ereh..” he did not say this, he thought this. But Torah writes “said”. So ‘said’ is not meant literally, same obviously for when torah quotes god as “saying” something.
And did Moshe think these actual words? Why not think without words if this is possible?
“Asurah na ve'er'eh et hamareh hagadol hazeh”: to whom did Moshe Rabbenu (MR) say it and why? If to himself, why “na”? - so we will assume it is not to himself.
Maybe he was talking to God at the time, like case with Avraham?
Perhaps to the sheep! Medrash Rabbah Shmos "וּמֹשֶׁה, הָיָה רֹעֶה" Compares MR and Dovid HaMelech, the quintessential shepherds, caring for their sheep and therefore qualified to be a "ro'eh Yisrael". Midrash says the sneh conversation lasted three days. How could MR abandon the flock for three days? We know what happened in the very same place, Har Chorev, some years later right after matan Torah when he arrived a day later than bney Yisrael had expected after Matan Torah! Two times God spoke to MR with fire, both at Har Sinai, and both times his flock went unattended!
Perhaps he is 'asking permission' to turn aside. It is the opposite of what Avraham avinu did, Avraham turned from Hashem to help the strangers – and he didn’t ask permission, but Avraham was helping humans and here MR is dealing with sheep.
Usually I would tend to think that "Vayar Hashem ki sar lir'ot" means something complimentary to MR, that it was a test, and MR passed it and therefore Hashem spoke to him from the sneh. But perhaps since MR was being tested about being a shepherd this turning aside from the sheep was not the appropriate action? And indeed it led to disaster later on…
And if one interprets "asurah'' as MR asking permission from Hashem to turn aside – either to abandon the sheep, or because of "mah no'eh ilan zeh" - then it wouldn’t say 'vayar Hashem ki sar lir'ot'.
….…..
הצלת משה רבינו ע"י ציפורה
http://www.shoresh.org.il/hidush/hidush.asp?id=1713
maybe need to quote the words from the pasuk
ויהי בדרך במלון... ויבקש המיתו
"malon…hamito" to match 'unmaltem'. (and there's a yud heh vav left over in hamito = hashem)
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עשר המכות - מידה כנגד מידה
הבהמות מתו הדבר : דבר
חושך: המצרים עסקו בתועבות של משכב זכור ומשכב עם בהמה (ויקרא יח, ב), דברים הנעשים בחושך. לכן הם נענשו בחושך.
I wrote that the pasuk below is a hint to
משכב זכר
לֹא-רָאוּ אִישׁ אֶת-אָחִיו, וְלֹא-קָמוּ אִישׁ מִתַּחְתָּיו--שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים;
…
DEVELOP THIS: the process of exodus via MR was the same as the leaving for burial of Yakov by Yosef: asking permission of Paroh, gong via ever-hayarden; leaving behind the children and sheep ……
Carrying Yosef's bones out with MR, and Yosef carrying Yakov bones out (pakod yifkod).
…..……...
מדוע היה חשוב שבני ישראל ימצאו חן בעיני מצרים? אם המטרה היתה רק שישאילו להם כלים, כדי שיצאו ברכוש גדול, היו יכולים לשאול את הכלים גם בלי שימצאו חן בעיניהם!
They could have taken it during the plague of darkness, or Hashem could have made a miracle to make them give it, or made a plague that would have necessitated giving them things, but the point of the plagues was to change a mindset, create an awareness, and this was part of it.
…
…..CHUMASH…...
Typos:
http://www.shoresh.org.il/hidush/hidush.asp?id=1697
ידיעת ה' על רגשותיו של אהרן
"וראך ושמח בלבו" (ד, יד)
מדוע היה חשוב לה' לספר לה' על תחושתו הפנימית של אהרן
......………..
These two I had sent, but I just added a title, and put them into one category: A defense of Moses’s strange response: Considerations of Moshe Rabbenu at the sneh:
1) God self-introduces to Moshe Rabbenu as “Ehyeh” 2) Moshe Rabbenu (MR) had not read the chumash
Considerations of Moshe Rabbenu at the sneh: Moshe Rabbenu (MR) had not read the chumash before his encounter at the burning bush. He didn’t have the benefit of knowing what we know. As a very humble man he just thought of himself as a shepherd. He presumably had a tradition handed to him from his parents (his mother and sister raised him, surrepetitiously while he was growing up in Pharaoh’s palace) to the effect that God would eventually save the jewish people and lead them back to Israel. It may have been expected that this would be a great miraculous event.
Then he encounters God, and God tells him that the Jewsih people are qbout to be delivered.One can imagine what our astonishment would be if we were told that the plan was that we should simply go to Pharaoh and ask that he let the Jews go. It would be natural for a man who had Moshe’s history to think that if this were the case, he was being selected due to his ‘credentials’ as a deliverer and activist, acquired by having killed the Egyptian taskmaster, and due to his connections in the court after having grown up as pharaoh’s daughter’s adopted son. Also, perhaps due to the fact that the Jewish people knew that he had intervened to save a jew from being whipped or killed by the taskmaster, and so would be likely to believe him. Of course he would also see these as invalid considerations, since Moshe R had to flee the royal court, and was not trusted by the Jewish people as evidence by their reaction to his having killed the taskmaster. So it makes sense that he would be reluctant to go.
But God then stated that the considerations were otherwise, that God would be behind his words, and gave credentials via the name ‘ehyeh’, and also by stating that this was the God who had made mouths altogether, and stating (claiming) that even Ahron’s inner emotion was known to this God (‘ve’samach be’libo’).
“Ehyah”: God self-introduces to Moshe Rabbenu as “Ehyeh” etc, and so it is interesting to see how this word re-appears in the same account: “anochi ehyeh im picha” which can be read as “I, ‘ehyeh’, am with your mouth”.
A defense of Moses’s strangely-worded response: God seems angered by Moshe Rabbenu’s response, the rather enigmatic phrase “shlach na b’yad tishlach”, which can be interpreted as being disrespectful. But perhaps one can offer a defense of M”R in choosing these words – he was echoing the potetic-style of Gods “Ehyeh asher ehyeh’ by answering with “shlach na b’yad tishlach”, and so this was not meant as disrespect but rather as an echo, an internalization of what God had said.
So why was God angry? Of course God was NOT ‘angry’, but rather God was teaching M”R a lesson, that he was still too passive, not yet at the level Moshe Rabbenu was eventually to achieve.
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14: they will ask me “ma shmo” “zeh shmi” “… eh ye asher e”. Like Yakov and “man” “lamah zeh tish’al le’shmi”. Adam gave shemos to all animals.
…
hasneh = heh on both sides of sin nun = nes, heh is hashem.
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H’ (or malach) appeared as a flame in the bush: אֶהְיֶה רשֶׁאֲ אֶהְיֶה. Not onl is the word שֶׁאֲ in the phrase, but that word is the one which most looks like flames. [Good for a diagram, T-shirt!] [Also, in Vaeschanan: ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֵשׁ אֹכְלָה הוּא: אֵל, קַנָּא, but in the sneh, it says וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ יְה אֵלָיו, בְּלַבַּת-אֵשׁ--מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה; וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה הַסְּנֶה בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ, וְהַסְּנֶה, אֵינֶנּוּ אֻכָּל....
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Shmos 3: וַיֹּאמֶר, כִּי-אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ, וְזֶה-לְּךָ הָאוֹת, כִּי אָנֹכִי שְׁלַחְתִּיךָ: בְּהוֹצִיאֲךָ אֶת-הָעָם, מִמִּצְרַיִם, תַּעַבְדוּן אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים, עַל הָהָר הַזֶּה. יג וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי בָא אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתִּי לָהֶם, אֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם; וְאָמְרוּ-לִי מַה-שְּׁמוֹ, מָה אֹמַר אֲלֵהֶם. יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה; וַיֹּאמֶר, כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֶהְיֶה, שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם.
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Par-paro’us latorah: M”R was drawn from the water, he was “mashuach’, and he was H’s messenger, H told him to say “H’ shlochani elechem”, together moshuach + shaliach = ‘moshiach’.
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AR: quesiotn re ‘sneh’: where exactly was M”R when he saw the sneh: if it was on har Sinai, why was it already Holy ground? Only because the schinah was there? Not because of the future? Maybe the shchinah was only able to be there in that level because later it would be so strong?
How did he get up to the top of a mountain while tending sheep? Or did he see it from below? Or only on the mountain was there grass so they tended to climb up to graze?
…
Add to idea of how his fear at sneh transformed to the fear of others seeing him (koran or panav):
M"R made an inner journey from the time of the sneh to his end: the whole sefer mishneh torah is named after him, eleh hadvarim asher dibber moshe.... 'sefer dvarim'.... but he said of himself to H' "lo ish dvarim anochi'! Cettianly an interesting Irony: So the idea is that H' needed M"R to be an ish dvarim. didn;t anymore need his ordinary humility. M"R was needed a sa leader who could cajole, chastise, remind, exhort, warn.... right before his death, so that the B Yisrael not go astray after his death.
..…END of M”R & the Sneh…..
Shoftim:
Helices: coming back, at a higher level
Ya'akov grabbing heel then becomes Yisrael for same thing later
M"R sneh, then masveh
B"Y don't want to go into E"Y, bec of mraglimn; then due to anan for 40 years, closeness, don;t want to leave desert to go into E"Y (ie the same, but for higher reason)
M”R: ‘lo ish devarim anochi’, then speaks over the whole sefer dvarim, which has its name form that. (Also: M”R ends up saying the aseret hadvarim at the request of the B”Y instead of them hearing it directly from Gd.
Next Parsha: Slavery
Yosef instituted mass-slavery in Egypt (!) [the end of the previous parsha: (47:25)]: and his descendants become slaves there.
Joseph remained a slave, in prison, because the minister “didn’t remember Joseph and forgot him”; his descendants remained as slaves imprisoned in Egypt because [Exodus 1:8] “there arose a king who didn’t know Yosef”.
PARSHAT SHMOS Note: MR = Moshe Rabbenu
God tells MR [3:21] that the Jews would leave with the Egyptians regarding them favorably (‘chayn’). This was important because of the extraordinarily negative attitude of the Egyptians to the Jews (a somewhat familiar attitude even today?) - they were disgusted by the Jews [1:12], couldn’t eat bread with them [Gen 43:32], and despised them in their role as shepherds [Gen 46:34].
MR tries to separate two fighting Jews [2:14]: From the response of the violent man, we can see that he did not approve of MR’s killing of the Egyptian who had beaten the Jew the previous day.
We are told that before killing the Egyptian [2:12] “MR saw there was no-one around.” So who could have spread the rumor of the act if no-one was around during the slaying?
Obviously the Egyptian’s victim was there. So perhaps even the victim who was saved by MR may have presented MR’s actions in a negative light. Perhaps the one hitting the other Jew was the previous day’s victim!
This would certainly have disheartened MR and later on led him to believe that the people would not accept his leadership.
MR names his son “Gershom” [2:22]. Besides the reason given for the name (see below), there are two hints at other possible reasons for the choice.
MR met his wife and her sisters at the well: he saved them when the shepherds had chased them away; ‘and they chased’ = “vayigorshoom’ [2:17]. MR’s action certainly deserved to be commemorated, and it would not have been surprising if MR’s son was named for this act. However naming his son this way might have served as a constant reminder of the event and so could have antagonized the neighbors and even have been dangerous to his son in that area, and so it was not mentioned openly.
Also, the very last passage of this week’s portion again contains the very same word: [6:1] God tells MR that Pharaoh would be mightily struck and would as a result eventually “chase the Jews out” of Egypt [“Yigorshem”]. Again it may be that the name was not given this meaning openly since it was an act that would occur only in the future, and had a connotation which could also perhaps serve as a source of antagonism.
The meaning given for the name is that MR was “a stranger (“Ger”) in a strange land”. The other two sources seem much closer to the actual name: simply from the sound of the word, the source of “Gershom” seems more likely to be “vayigorshoom’ and/or “Yigorshem” than simply “Ger” . This lends support to the possibilities mentioned above.
Perhaps the reason MR and his son were too vulnerable to openly mention the two reasons above as the source of the name might have been the fact that MR was a stranger in that land: this then would be the double entendre of the name, and of the alleged reason for it (being a stranger, “Ger”). (This is similar to the double meanings hidden in the naming of Be’er Sheva/Shova.)
Yitro’s daughters tell him [2:19] “An Egyptian man saved us”. Although MR is criticized by the sages for allowing them to represent him this way, since he was a fugitive from the royal court it was probably wise not to immediately reveal his actual identity.
MR sees the burning bush, and says [3:3-4]: “Let me see this wondrous sight”.
The Torah then says “And God saw that he turned to see”.
The implications are:
It was not a foregone conclusion that he would turn to analyze it
The fact that he did turn was important to God;
Perhaps most people would not even notice the phenomenon, or not realize its wondrous aspect, or simply be ‘too busy’. God knew that MR was a very unique combination: on the one hand he was very humble, yet on the other hand he was an activist, willing to place his life on the line to save a fellow Jew, and was also willing to kill to save Jews. Now God wanted to test other aspects of his nature.
MR passed this initial test.
Moses says “Let me please turn aside and see this wondrous sight, why the bush doesn’t get consumed”. Who is he talking to? Why does he need ‘permission’?
Perhaps he was studying Torah, or equivalently, in communication with God.
Abraham left conversation with God to welcome guests: he knew that this is what constitutes the true welcoming of the spirit of God.
The Sages teach that one who is studying Torah may not interrupt to remark about a beautiful aspect of nature . The example given there is: a peson who interrupts his learning Torah to say “Oh, what a beautiful tree!” (‘ma na’eh ilan zeh’) . There are many commentaries on this: some say that what is forbidden is to consider this an ‘interruption” of Torah learning, since it implies that the Torah and the tree are not from the same ‘author’, God.
MR does the equivalent of what Abraham did: rather than interrupting a contact with God to look at the wondrous phenomenon, he perhaps suspects that God’s spirit was present in the bush, and so turned to it in the understanding that something which exemplified divine contact demanded his attention.
Hints:
“asurah’ = forbidden:
asurah na = “naeh asur”.
Moses’ Horns (Michaelangelo’s statue)
After looking at the burning bush, MR hid his face in fear of looking at God [3:6].
After his later encounters with God MR’s face shone and people hid their faces from fear.
In the context of the Torah’s accounts, a dream interpretation affects its realization; similarly the response to a divine mission affects its outcome.
The implication of God’s initial command to MR [3:8-10] is that Pharaoh will listen to his request to free the Jews.
It’s possible, however, that MR’s negative replies altered this intended future.
MR’s first response to this command, “Who am I to do this?” could have derived from his humility, and God replies in kind, however analysis of the text (of God’s responses to MR) indicates that with each successive remark by MR in this cosmic dialogue, the fated negativity associated with the mission increases.
God tells MR that Ahron will have joy in his heart when seeing Moshe [4:14], with the implication that he will not only accept MR’s being appointed despite his being the younger brother, but he will actually be happy about it.
MR is being given further indication of God’s power: the ability to know what’s in another’s inner heart.
Prediction of the future is an important power, however even though God tells MR that Pharaoh will refuse to let the Jews go, this is not such an impressive prediction! More significantly he is told that Pharaoh ‘will harden his heart’. Again, this implies that God knows how Pharaoh will react in his inner heart.
God tells MR that he, MR, will be to Ahron as a “God” [4:15], or at least as an ‘elohim’, a word used in the Torah for God , false Gods, and powerful leaders. Possibly this means that he need not fear that Ahron will disbelieve him about some aspect of his mission.
In their initial recorded encounter (at the burning bush) God tells MR [3:8] that the Jews will be brought from Egypt to Israel.
Immediately after repeating this [3:17], God tells MR [3:18] to relay this message to the elders and then go with them to Pharaoh and ask permission to go. However God does not tell MR to ask Pharaoh for permission to leave and go to Israel, but rather to ask only for a three-day hike to a spot in the desert where they can worship God!
Why would God ask only for such a minimal request? Why not ask for Pharaoh to free the people entirely?
Perhaps this was meant to set the bar so low that Pharaoh by all rights should not have refused. That he would not even allow the Jews to go temporarily indicated that he was entirely unjustified, and it was then morally justifiable to punish him severely.
Furthermore, in this way the refusal of Pharaoh was a challenge to God, and a religious affront rather than a political or national matter. Thus, rather than acting as proxy for the Jews and the suffering caused them by Pharaoh, God could ‘personally’ justify severe action against Pharaoh.
The retribution against Pharaoh and Egypt could be made independent of the level of the Jewish people: the plagues could be sent and the Jews delivered from Egypt as a punishment of Pharaoh and Egypt without scrutinizing whether the Jews were deserving of all this on their own merit.
The people believe Ahron and MR’s message of deliverance [4:30-31]: presumably they were notified that they would be going to the Land of Israel.
However it’s not clear from the passage whether MR told the people that he was going to ask Pharaoh only for a religious holiday break from slavery, and thus it’s not clear whether the people suspected that when Pharaoh discovered that they were not returning that he would chase after them.
When Pharaoh did eventually chase them they were indeed very fearful and wished that they hadn’t left Egypt at all – which would seem to indicate that they did not realize that the permission to leave had been only for a temporary break.
After the flight of the Jews from Egypt, when the reports indicated that the Jews did not seem to be planning to return, or that they were lost, the Egyptians chased after the Jews (and ended up drowning in the Re(e)d Sea). This indicates that they probably believed the Jews were intending to go away only for a few days and only belatedly realized that they were intending to escape.
On the one hand the fact that they were indeed able to catch up to the Jews probably indicates that their military might was such that they did not fear that the Jews could successfully escape. On the other hand however it would be somewhat naive to believe that the power which had arranged the great plagues would allow them to recapture the Jews.
MR makes a disingenuous request to Pharaoh to leave seemingly temporarily;
This is ironically mirrored when, on his way to delivering this very message:
MR makes a misleading request to his father in law Yitro [4:18] to leave seemingly temporarily.
God tells Ahron to go meet MR [4:27]. Though it seems mundane, there is great significance to this divine message:
The very fact of Ahron’s divine encounter will incline him to believe that MR had one as well;
The specific content of God’s message – even if it was only to go meet his brother - validates MR’s mission: Ahron could certainly not doubt its authenticity when MR would tell him of it.
MR’s motivation to fulfill his mission as commanded would be greatly strengthened when he would see that his older brother was indeed happy to have MR be the appointed Jewish leader.
MR’s belief in the authenticity of the source of the command would be increased if a supporting message was independently received by someone else, far away.
MR and Ahron tell Pharaoh that the God of Israel said “Let my People Go, and they will celebrate/worship in the desert” [5:1-3].
Strangely enough. even at the end of the story, MR never asks for the full freedom of the Jewish People, only for permission to go for a few days!
Why did God even bother to ask Pharaoh to release the Jews? Why not simply take them out of Egypt in a miraculous manner - as in any case occurred?
Like Arafat up until last Pesach (!), and Saddam Hussein now, for a long time Pharaoh saw that he was able to renege on all his deals with impunity; each time, MR and the alleged “God” were ‘fooled’ into canceling the latest plague. But all this was a set-up so that the plagues could accomplish what they needed to, in the way that the prevarications of Arafat and Saddam Hussein engineered great blows against their power, and will IYH lead to their eventual downfall.
God intended that Pharaoh believe that he could manipulate God, promise to let them leave, and then renege, over and over again.
To Pharaoh the fact that a God needs to ask him for permission to free his people to allow them to worship him implies that the God is recognizing that he is less powerful than Pharaoh!
The overwhelming ‘military’ superiority of God as demonstrated in the plagues is considered irrelevant since Pharaoh believes that through his wiles he can prevent it from being fully exercised against him.
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They Hate Us Because We’re Rich; (and Because We’re Poor)
One the one hand Joseph the Jew saved Egypt from famine, and helped it maintain its pre-eminent place in world politics. On the other hand the Egyptians were disgusted by the Jews [1:12], couldn’t eat bread with them, and despised them in their role as shepherds. (A somewhat familiar attitude even today?)
Before the Jews were actually enslaved, the Egyptians were afraid the Jews would leave. Why would the Egyptians not welcome the departure of a despised people? Probably because they realized the benefit accruing to Egypt of having these intelligent advisors of Josephs’s ilk. Just as was the case with various countries in recent times.
In order to prevent the Jews from leaving when the opportunity arose, for example during a war.
the Egyptians conspired to enslave them: yet if they were expecting the Jews to want to leave and to be unable to leave except when Egypt was at war, then clearly the Jews must have already been in some form of bondage. And if so, then there was good reason for the Jews to want to leave. Rather than improving the lot of the Jews, their solution was to increase the level of bondage to complete servitude.
As is the case with the Egyptians today, the ancient Egyptians probably believed many strange things about the Jews: as is the case today, it’s difficult to understand their motives in our terms. When they were wracked with terrible plagues and finally ‘consented’ to allow the Jews to leave, they actually seemed to imagine that the Jews would be returning to slavery!
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