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Torah Portion -
shemos
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Written by d fine
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My son…the shepherd
It seems rather interesting that so many prophets (and leaders) of the Jewish People were shepherds. See, we weren’t always doctors and lawyers. Avraham seemed to dabble in shepherding, Yitzchak was a shepherd, and Yaakov chose this line of work too. Moreover, later on in history, David HaMelech was a shepherd also, amongst others. The reason that this is relevant to our sedra is that immediately before Moshe receives the burning bush prophecy, the pasuk (3:1) reports that ‘Moshe was shepherding,’ almost as if to say that his occupation as a shepherd was conducive to, or in some way caused, his prophecy. Howzat? The Kli Yakar (3:1) poses this very question; is it just a coincidence that many prophets were shepherds? As with most (if not all) things in Torah, the answer is no - it’s no coincidence. As the Kli Yakar says, a shepherd simply has more time in the great outdoors to contemplate the wonders of HaShem’s creation. Moreover, a shepherd has time alone to think things over and reach a certain level of spiritual purity. This is in stark contrast to the fact that Pharaoh tried to busy the Jews as much as possible with slavery so that they would not have time to think about life - as the Mesillas Yesharim points out.
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Torah Portion -
shemos
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Written by d fine
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I see a(nother) head!
The Midrash Rabbah (1:8) says that in Egypt the Bnei Yisrael gave birth to six babies at once (don’t worry - angels came and looked after the kids throughout their youth until their teenage years - so it was not a constant nappy-changing affair). Now where is this hinted at in the Torah? The Midrash (and Ba’al HaTurim) point out that the six phrases in 1:7 ‘and Bnei Yisrael multiplied, swarmed, increased, strengthened, very much’ hint at these sextuplet births. However, as the Mizrachi points out, it seems that Rashi did not learn like this. For Rashi (1:7) points out that the women of Bnei Yisrael had six babies in one go from the third phrase of the pasuk (vayishretzu). If Rashi held like the Ba’al HaTurim then he should have put this observation on all the phrases of the pasuk - or at least on the last word. As the Sifsei Chachamim say, it seems that Rashi is explaining the pasuk according to one opinion brought in the Yalkut; that the hint to these sextuplet births is from the interesting word vayishretzu alone. How? For vayishretzu comes from the word sheretz (an insect/creature), and apparently there are some sheratzim that give birth to six children at once.
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Torah Portion -
shemos
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Written by d fine
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In our sedra (2:14), Rashi brings an important Midrash which we must get to the bottom of. A young Moshe goes out of Pharaoh's palace and sees two Jews fighting. After trying to break in up, one of these Jews turns round to Moshe and says 'are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian!?' and Moshe responds (perhaps silently) 'aha, the matter is known.' What was known? Rashi (in his 2nd pshat) brings our Midrash, which reveals that because of this Jew's response to Moshe, Moshe gained an understanding of the slavery the Jewish People were in. How so? For Moshe was bothered by why the Jews should be in such harsh slavery - what sins had they done more than any other nation? And once he heard the Lashon Hara emerge from the mouth of this Jew, Moshe had the answer to his niggling question.
But we need to understand this; why was Lashon Hara the
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Torah Portion -
shemos
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Written by Rafi Jager
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A basic study of Jewish history could lead to the conclusion that the Jews being called the "chosen people" means chosen to suffer. The Jewish nation has been persecuted and humiliated far more than any other people. The trend begins in his week's Torah portion of Shmot when the Jewish people are enslaved by the Egyptians and forced into backbreaking labor. What was the cause for this auspicious b eginning, and why has so much misery followed for the
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Torah Portion -
shemos
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Written by Rafi Jager
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Picture the scenario: Moshe has been in exile for many years for having killed the wicked Egyptian taskmaster and now he receives a Divine message that it is safe for him to return. "All the men that were seeking your life are dead" (Exodus 4:19). Moshe is certainly excited to be able to return to his brethren. He makes the return trip, and on the first day back he runs into the two individuals who squealed on him to Pharaoh and were seeking his downfall in the first place Datan and Aviram. "I thought you gentlemen passed away," Moshe thinks to himself. Then he takes a second look, sees their tattered clothes, and then thinks, "That’s it, they’re so poor, they are like dead and therefore won’t have any influence with Pharaoh to cause me
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