Shemos – Page 12 – Peninim on the Torah

Let us deal wisely with them. (1:10)

The mentality required to enslave an entire nation of people constitutes a unique form of “wisdom.” As descendants of the original tribes who came to Egypt, Bnei Yisrael enjoyed respect, admiration, and prominence. Their ancestor, Yosef, was Pharaoh’s viceroy. How did their stature suddenly plummet to such a low degree that they were conscripted as menial slaves, performing harsh labor for the Egyptians? Are we to believe that Pharaoh’s “wisdom” was responsible for this feat? The Sforno presents a new perspective in understanding the meaning of the term, “dealing wisely” with the Jews. He claims that the Egyptians did…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Shemos

And I have heard its outcry because of its taskmasters. (3:7)

The Zohar Hakadosh points out that among the various expressions used to describe an impassioned plea to Hashem, the most intense and most meaningful is “tzaakah”. This form of crying out is a supplication which emanates from the innermost recesses of one’s heart. It is the essence of truth and reaches up to the source of truth–Hashem. The Ozrover Rebbe, zl, makes an analogy to lend deeper meaning to this idea. In the Mishnah, Meseches Keilim 17:13, Chazal assert that if one makes skins from the hides of creatures that live in the sea, they are tahor, ritually clean, and…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Shemos

And it was in those days, when Moshe grew up and went out amongst his brethren and saw their burdensome labor. (2:11)

Empathizing with another person’s plight is clearly a laudable trait. It shows sensitivity for others. What really constitutes empathy? Does empathy mean visiting someone in the hospital and feeling bad for them–then going home and forgetting about their anguish? Is empathy showing concern for someone who is starving while we eat our own meal? Feeling for the downtrodden, even helping them–while life goes on as usual–is that empathy? Most people would consider the aforementioned to be genuine manifestations of empathy. Horav Yerucham Levovitz, zl, asserts that the Torah does not accept the current standard of care and empathy. He…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Shemos

Take this staff in your hand, that you may perform the miraculous signs with it. (4:17)

Moshe carried the mateh Elokim, staff of Hashem. It was the instrument that initiated the various plagues which assailed Egypt. One might think that this staff was “dedicated” to effecting punishment and exacting retribution. We see in the Torah that when the Jews arrived in Marah and were confronted with the challenge of having nothing to drink, this staff served a different function. The Torah tells us in Shemos 17:5, “And your staff, with which you struck the river, take in your hand.” Rashi cites the Mechilta which takes note of the Torah’s emphasis on the staff “with which you…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Shemos

And Hashem said to Moshe,…’Go, return to Egypt, for all the people who seek your life have died’.(4:19)

Rashi explains that Moshe’s enemies were not really dead; they had been reduced to poverty and had no power whatsoever; it was as if they were dead. Dasan and Aviram, Moshe’s nemeses, had lost their possessions and, consequently, their positions of power. Moshe could now return to Egypt with nothing to fear. It is interesting how what one thinks is a terrible curse could in truth be a wonderful blessing in disguise. They tell a story about a certain chasid whose whole fortune overturned, and he went bankrupt. Penniless, he traveled to his Rebbe, the Chidushei Ha’rim, zl. He asked…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5757, Shemos

Come let us outsmart it lest it become numerous….and it too, may join our enemies. (1:10)

Chazal tell us that Pharaoh had a council composed of three advisors, Bilaam, Iyov, and Yisro. Bilaam was the one who suggested the diabolical scheme to enslave the Jews. Iyov remained silent; he was later punished for his silence with ordeals of terrible pain and anguish. Yisro fled Egypt, rather than acquiesce to the evil advice. He was rewarded with the promise that his descendants would one day sit in the Sanhedrin. This well-known Midrash assumes a new meaning when one considers the nature of each of the three advisors and the inconsistency of their advice with his own personal…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5757, Shemos

And they appointed taskmasters over it in order to afflict it with their burdens. (1:11)

By inflicting hard labor upon the Jews, the Egyptians’ goal was simply to destroy their dignity, to hurt them emotionally as well as physically. Horav Shimon Schwab, z”l, comments that the purpose of placing taskmasters over the Jews was to degrade and humiliate them, to convey to them that they could not be trusted to perform their job adequately without supervision. They were telling the Jews that they were crude and undignified; their integrity was lacking and their work ethic unsuitable. Is there anything worse than such a loathsome form of emotional abuse? Indeed, the intention of the Egyptians was…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5757, Shemos

They embittered their lives with hard work…All their labors that they performed with them were with crushing harshness. (1:14)

We memorialize the bitterness of Egypt, the harsh labor and persecution, with the marror, bitter herbs, which we eat on Pesach night. Chazal teach us that while there are a number of vegetables that are suitable for the mitzvah of marror, leaf lettuce is preferred. Among the vegetables, leaf lettuce provides the most apt comparison with the type of labor to which the Egyptians subjected the Jewish people. At first, the Egyptians convinced the Jews to work with them. Later on, they embittered their lives with harsh labor. At first, the lettuce seems almost sweet to the palate, but subsequently,…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5757, Shemos

And Pharaoh commanded his entire people saying, “Every son that will be born–into the River shall you throw him.” (1:22)

Pharaoh thought that the way to prevent the emergence of a Jewish leader was to drown all baby boys. Indeed, his astrologers had told him that the downfall of the Jewish savior would be effected through water. As a result of this decree, Amram, who was the gadol ha’dor, the spiritual leader of that generation, separated from his wife, Yocheved. Ostensibly, all Jewish men followed suit. Rather than bring boys into the world to be drowned by Pharaoh, they left their wives. Miriam, however, yet a young child, challenged her father Amram’s decree. She claimed that his decree to separate…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5757, Shemos

Every son that will be born, into the River shall you throw him. (1:24)

Chazal tell us that Pharaoh’s astrologers foresaw that the Jewish savior’s downfall would occur as a result of water. They were even able to pinpoint the exact day on which Moshe would be born. Pharaoh’s own daughter, who found Moshe, took him home and raised him in the royal palace. Following the advice of his astrologers, on the day that Moshe was born, Pharaoh issued an edict to drown all male infants upon birth. The astrologers claimed that the threat of a Jewish savior had been averted. They were, of course, wrong, since Moshe’s death was not caused by drowning,…

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Let us deal wisely with them. (1:10)

And I have heard its outcry because of its taskmasters. (3:7)

And it was in those days, when Moshe grew up and went out amongst his brethren and saw their burdensome labor. (2:11)

Take this staff in your hand, that you may perform the miraculous signs with it. (4:17)

And Hashem said to Moshe,…’Go, return to Egypt, for all the people who seek your life have died’.(4:19)

Come let us outsmart it lest it become numerous….and it too, may join our enemies. (1:10)

And they appointed taskmasters over it in order to afflict it with their burdens. (1:11)

They embittered their lives with hard work…All their labors that they performed with them were with crushing harshness. (1:14)

And Pharaoh commanded his entire people saying, “Every son that will be born–into the River shall you throw him.” (1:22)

Every son that will be born, into the River shall you throw him. (1:24)

YEARS

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