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ויצא אל אחיו וירא בסבלתם

And (he) went out to his brethren. And (he) saw their burdens. (2:11)

Rashi defines vayar b’sivlosam, “And he saw their burdens: Nasan einav v’libo liheyos metzar aleihem, ‘He focused his eyes and heart to be distressed over them.’” Literally, the phrase means that Moshe Rabbeinu “saw into their burdens.” He delved into their adversity. Apparently, the word va’yar, or its root raoh, to see, means much more than superficial perception. It demands cognitive application in conjunction with the perception. To see, and not to see beneath the surface, is not reiyah, seeing. I think that we have just uncovered a deep insight into the concept of “seeing” as evinced by the word…

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ויגדל הילד ותבאהו לבת פרעה ויהי לה לבן ותקרא שמו משה ותאמר כי מן המים משיתהו

The boy grew up and she brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh and he was a son to her. She called his name Moshe, as she said, “For I drew him from the water.” (2:10)

The well-known Midrash at the beginning of Sefer Shemos states: “By your life! (Hashem is speaking to Moshe). From amongst all of the names that were called (given) to you, I will only refer to you by the name given to you by Bisyah bas Pharaoh. Thus, it is written, Vatikra shemo Moshe; ‘And she (Bisyah) called him Moshe;’ Vayikra el Moshe, ‘And He (Hashem) called to Moshe.” This is a wonderful commentary on the character and moral demeanor of Bisyah, Pharaoh’s daughter. Nonetheless, Horav Chaim Shmuelevitz, zl, wonders why Hashem accepted a name which was given to Moshe as…

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ותראהו את הילד והנה נער בוכה... ותאמר מילדי העברים זה

She saw him, the boy, and behold! A youth was crying… and (she) said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.” (2:6)

Pharaoh’s daughter looked at the infant in the basket and noticed something unusual about the manner in which the infant wept. This made her assume that it was a Jewish infant. What about the infant’s weeping spurred her to think that it was Jewish? The Slonimer Rebbe, zl, explains that, indeed, a marked difference exits between the cry of a Jew and the cry of one who is not. Rather than go right to the distinction, I would like to approach it from the vantage point of Tishah B’Av, our national day of mourning. Every Festival has its cheftzah d’mitzvah,…

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וימת יוסף וכל אחיו וכל הדור ההוא

Yosef died, and all his brothers and that entire generation. (1:6)

Sforno comments that, as long as any member of the original generation that had descended with Yaakov Avinu to Egypt was still alive, the present generation was able to maintain the proper spiritual level. Once they were gone, however, the spiritual decline which led to slavery and persecution accelerated. In his commentary to Shemos 6:16, Rashi teaches that, as long as a member of the original group of immigrants was alive, the Jews enjoyed freedom. The slavery commenced with the demise of the last one. This seems inconsistent with Rashi’s commentary to the beginning of Parashas Vayechi (Bereishis 47:28), where…

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