A thought on Parshas Shmos

"...ba'perech..."


"...hard labor..." (1:13)

Our slavery in Egypt was oppressive. The bondage involved many forms of
hard work and labor. We make mention of this each year in the Pesach
seder and haggada. We Jews still remember, in our collective tradition,
the slave labor of our ancestors in Egypt. How else do we remember it?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel offers a series of elucidations on our parsha.
He begins with the midrash about how Moshe Rabbeinu advised Pharaoh in
Egypt to allow the slaves a day of rest each week. He had this coincide
with our holy Shabbos, so that we were able to have respite from
oppression while also secretly observing the Shabbos. He then adds that
this is why we proclaim in our morning prayers every Shabbos "yismach
Moshe b'matnas chelko" - "Moshe delights in his gifted portion."
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel suggests that this is a reference to that
midrash. The fact that Moshe orchestrated the observance of Shabbos in
Egypt made Shabbos his gift to the people. That is why Moshe rejoices
when we still observe the Shabbos centuries later. It is his gift and
legacy, matnas chelko. Even before the Torah gave us Shabbos, Moshe
gave us "Shabbos."

He then observes that further on (Devarim 5:15), the Torah links the
commandment to remember the departure from Egypt with a reference to
HaShem commanding us to keep the Shabbos. The connection or link
between the two topics is now clear to us. By observing Shabbos, which
was introduced to us in Egypt, we are commemorating the concept of
being able to rest from our weekday work and labor. So many of us feel
enslaved by our responsibilities, and these can ease up as we keep
Shabbos each week.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel then points out that our verse's word "perech"
(hard labor) alludes to Shabbos also. In the kabbalistic encrypting
known as Aht Baash (where the first letter of the aleph-bais is
substituted with the last - tof replaces alef, shin replaces beis and
so on), "perech" becomes "39 forms of labor", which constitute the
number of forms of work which qualify as forbidden labor on the
Shabbos. "Work" in halachic terms incorporates those 39 forms of labor,
and the work we were forced to do in Egypt we were allowed to stop
doing on Shabbos. Each time we observe Shabbos, and when we mention
that Shabbos is a mode of remembering the departure from Egypt, we
allude to that parallel.

Lastly, Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel heads to the close of the parsha (5:9)
when Pharaoh demands "v'al yishu b'divrei sheker" - don't fool around
with your nonsense and get back to work. He writes that Amram father of
Moshe, the leader of the Jews in Egypt, would hold public drashos
during our days of rest in Egypt. He would speak words of comfort to
the slaves, encouraging them to anticipate the redemption. The "fooling
around" or having fun which angered Pharaoh were those encouraging
drashos. He notes that in Tehillim (94:19) Dovid HaMelech says
"tanchumecha yishashu nafshi" - your comforting words make me happy.
The word in the Psalm is the same as the word used by Pharaoh. Dovid
HaMelech was alluding to those drashos of Amram, which are the Shabbos
comforts of then and now. This is why, writes Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel,
people should be darshan, people should learn about Shabbos, on Shabbos.

There is a full moon tonight in old Jerusalem. The sky is clear, the
city is beautiful, the Jewish people are magnificent, and we can all
enjoy Shabbos. Good Shabbos. D Fox