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