Thursday, January 09, 2014

A thought on Parshas Beshalach

"...v'chamushim alu..." "...and they ascended in fifths..." (13:18) "...'v'shalishim al kulo..." "...and thirds for all of them..." (14:7) The Torah describes the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. We went out "chamushim" which can mean "armed" but technically stems from the word "chamesh". Chamesh is the number five, so chamushim would mean some derivative or exponent of five. Later, the Torah describes how the Egyptians pursued us. They went after us "shalishim" which can mean "infantry." Shalosh is the number three, so shalishim would be a derivative or exponent of three. What does this add up to? The Panae'ach Raza cites a trio of opinions in the midrash about chamushim. One opinion (cited by Rashi) is that only one out of five Jews actually left Egypt. This means that the 600,000 men were only a fifth of the Jewish male population who had lived in Egypt at that time. The other four-fifths died during the plague of darkness. The second opinion in the midrash is that chamushim means one fiftieth of the Jews went out. The third view is that one five-hundredth went out. So, according to the first opinion, there had been 3 million Jews in Egypt. The second opinion holds that there had been 30 million. The third view is that there had been 300 million Jews. Now the Panae'ach Raza notes that the midrash also brings three opinions on the word shalishim. One opinion is that the Egyptians sent 3 soldiers after each Jew. The second opinion is that there were 30 Egyptians pursuing each Jew. The third view is that there were 300 Egyptians per fleeing Jew. Rather than leaving these numbers alone, the Panae'ach Raza makes sense of them. Our tradition is that many Jews - those who had lost their ties to our people and our faith - did not merit the miraculous departure from Egypt. They died quietly during the plague of darkness, and were buried by their brethren. Now, in keeping with this midrashic tradition, the Panae'ach Raza suggests that Pharaoh knew nothing about those deaths. Hence, he and his army assumed that the fleeing nation remained intact. He then calculates that the opinion that holds that there had been 3 million Jews in Egypt holds that 300 soldiers pursued each one of the 600,000 Jewish men, in that Pharaoh assumed that there were still 3 million enemies. In other words, the Egyptian army consisted of 90 million soldiers, with a 300:1 ratio. The opinion that holds that we had ranked 30 million in Egypt computes that the Egyptian soldier to Jew ratio was 30 to 1. This also equals an Egyptian army of 90 million soldiers. The view that we had been 300 million in Egypt holds that this ratio was 3 to 1. That also computes as an Egyptian army of 90 million. How does the Panae'ach Raza know that all three opinions agree that the Egyptian soldiers numbered 90 million? He notes that the midrash says that when HaShem willed the demise of those soldiers at the Yam Suf, "He sent down 90 million malacahei chavala - destroying angels." This would line up as one malach per Mitzri. If so, the three opinions about "chamushim" line up with the three opinions about "shalishim." There are no random numbers here! The Panae'ach Raza sees the Higher math. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Bo

"...ad masai yi'yeh zeh lanu l'mokesh..." "...how long will this be a menace to us?..." (10:7) "...gam ha'ish Moshe gadol me'od..." "...Moshe the man was also great..." (11:3) "...va'yerdu kol avad'echa eleh elai..." "...and all of your servants will come down to me..." (11:8) The exchanges between Moshe Rabbeinu, Pharaoh, and the Egyptian people are numerous and enlightening. As time went by, with each encounter between Moshe and Pharaoh, the dialectic grows more extreme, between Moshe's forewarnings, Pharaoh's recalcitrance, and the Egyptians diminishing allegiance to the stance of their ruler. The Panae'ach Raza develops these points, drawing on alternative midrashic views not cited by many of the other Rishonim. He begins with our first verse above. When the people of Egypt complain by asking Pharaoh how long "this menace" will persist, it is not clear what or which harassment they are referring to. The ambiguous word is "zeh", which in plain Hebrew means "this." Generally, throughout the Torah, our sages understand the term "zeh" as a direct and present object, something one can point to, rather than the word referring to a concept or an abstract notion. "Zeh" denotes some thing, rather than something. The Panae'ach Raza suggests that the "this" which the Egyptians refer to is none other than Moshe himself. He notes that we find a verse (32:1) which states "ki zeh Moshe ha'ish" which is a clear linkage between that word and Moshe. Hence, our verse means "how long is this man Moshe going to menace us?" Our next verse asserts that Moshe was great and esteemed in the eyes of the Egyptian people. This seems to contrast with our earlier verse, where they regard Moshe with derision. The Panae'ach Raza suggests that the key word here is "gam", which means "also". That seemingly superfluous word connotes that the Egyptians viewed Moshe as great "even though" they had thoughts to the contrary. What were those contrary issues? The Panae'ach Raza opines that despite the fact that Moshe had been threatening them constantly with plagues and punishments, nothing had ever happened to Moshe. No one had lifted a finger against him. This is perplexing, for throughout history, those prophets and leaders who say ominous words against a government are typically imprisoned, assassinated or banished. Nothing was done to stop Moshe. This was a sign that although the Egyptians had grounds to hate him, "even Moshe had developed the respect of that beleaguered nation." The third verse has Moshe addressing Pharaoh and referring to the Egyptians as Pharaoh's servants. Rashi notes, from the Talmud, that with those words, Moshe was displaying respect to King Pharaoh, in that the reality was that it was Pharaoh himself who was going to come down to beg Moshe to leave (12:30-31). The Panae'ach Raza puzzles over this, in that this same verse closes with Moshe storming out of Pharaoh's palace with anger, hardly a display of respect. In fact, the same passage in the Talmud, interpreting those words, states that Moshe actually slapped Pharaoh at this point! Where is the respect there? After offering interpretations from his father Rabbeinu Yehuda HaChasid, and from Rabbeinu Yitzchak of Russia (or Roissy, which is in France), the Panae'ach Raza resolves that the Talmud means that from the wording of the verse, we learn that one must have respect for the government, and this is a binding rule for us. At the same time as deriving this rule, however, the Talmud illustrates from the close of the verse that Moshe, by this time, had succeeded in earning the esteem of the Egyptians to the degree that he could deal with Pharaoh in this confrontational way, as a spokesman for HaShem who was avenging the cause of His nation. This illustrates how he had "also" become great in the eyes of Egypt. Another tour de force from Rabbeinu Yitzchak ben HaChasid Yehuda HaLevi, the Panae'ach Raza. Good Shabbos. D Fox