In Parashas Masei, as the Torah recounts Bnei Yisrael’s travels and enumerates the places in which they camped, the Torah does not deem it appropriate to mention any of the great miracles that transpired for their benefit. The Torah does, however, mention their encampment in Ailim, a place where they found such material benefits as twelve springs and seventy date palms. Ramban notes this, citing a Mechilta that states that these twelve springs were created specifically for the benefit of the twelve tribes. He goes on to assert that the seventy date palms were exclusively set aside in order that…
Rashi explains that Moshe was obligated to force Bnei Yisrael to journey away from the Red Sea. One would imagine that once they had triumphed over the Egyptian enemy, Bnei Yisrael would anxiously proceed with all available speed to reach their desired destination. This was not the case, however. They stopped to collect the booty left over by their enemy. As Chazal state, the gold, silver, and precious stones which had adorned the Egyptian horses and chariots were now available to the victors. Bnei Yisrael became preoccupied with the collections of these material goods. Unfortunately. throughout Jewish history, Jews…
Rashi cites the Midrash that states that the animals which were hitched to these chariots belonged to those select Egyptians who feared the word of Hashem. They had removed their animals from the fields during the hailstorm, which was the sixth plague. The cattle of these G-d fearing individuals were endangering Jewish lives. This Midrash clearly satirizes the G-d-fearing Egyptians. They feared Hashem only when the lives of their cattle were at stake, but overtly defied Him when the issue was Jewish survival. Our people have confronted this type of blatant hypocrisy throughout history. The very same people who professed…
At first glance, the pasuk seems to downplay the performance of this mitzvah, by implying that the incentive was purely a result of a previous promise made to Yosef. The Talmud (Sota 9b) states, however, that because of Moshe’s preoccupation with this mitzvah he merited that Hashem Himself would engage in his burial. Therefore, we must deduce that the Torah is , in fact, teaching us the reason that Moshe merited Hashem’s personal engagement in this endeavor. Obviously, it wasn’t necessary for Yosef to exact a promise from Bnei Yisrael to take his bones out of Egypt. There were many…