Ve-Eleh Shemot 5762, Exodus 1:1-6:1
Shabbat Shalom-
I remember from sixth grade we had to draft outlines in class for every paper we wrote. The teacher said the first line of the paragraph had to be the thesis while the last should be the clincher, 'to get people interested'. Today, most of the advertising is in the first sentence, the title, or even the layout of the dust jacket. The first book of the Torah did this pretty well "When God began to create the Heavens and the Earth.. it was evening then it was morning, one day." (Gen 1:1-5) It just makes you want to read on. People quote it all the time.
Now, our book Exodus here begins, "And these are the names of the sons of Israel coming to Egypt with Jacob-- himself and his household they came.... and they became very mighty and filled the land." (1:7) What the heck is going on! Where's the topic sentence and the clincher? Where's the eye-catching, ear-grabbing, nose-pulling scandal? Moreover, they've already been there for some eighty years multiplying like rabbits in the pasturelands! What do we need a review for? The answer is two-fold and integral to Jewish thought. The first is that we must remember that we came from humble origins, from a small, downtrodden people. The second answer is that the first paragraph is the setting for the story. The Israelites were successful in Egypt and were unjustly oppressed. Since injustice ultimately means a denial of God in the Israelite thought, the Egyptians were made to see God's might that they might fear him and do justice (cf. 3:20,4:2, &c). The Israelites were not allowed to populate the promised land until they had received God's purifying ethical law (BR 44:1) and the current residents had rejected it (Gen 15:16).*[see note]
That is the lesson of the opening of the book of Exodus-- that we must seek justice among our fellow human beings (Ex. 22:20, Deut.16:20).
But the story does not open with justice. The story opens as life does-- with difficulty. "All beginning are hard" say the sages (Mechilta Jethro, Exodus 19:5, 2nd century rabbinic exegesis). So, what do we do?
The story of the Israelites in Egypt is the story of a proactive response to difficulty. The Israelites were in a strange and foreign land and they became great and esteemed in the eyes of the locals (1:8), so they were made to build military supply cities, including Pithom and Raameses (1:11). They again multiplied and frustrated the Egyptian insult (1:12), so they were enslaved harshly (1:13). Their lives were embittered with the labor (1:14), but the king pharaoh was not satisfied. He sought to have all male children at birth (1:16), but the (probably Semitic) midwives refused the request, since it was against the ethical law of the Mighty One (1:17). The people continued to increase (1:20) until king pharaoh decreed all male children to be killed of exposure in the Nile (1:22). And thusly the story of the Israelite nation begins in strife.
The Bible has remained on bookshelves for so many years not because it a flashy book with special effects and stunning plot twists (though they do exist), but because it is a book that is constantly rewarding. The Bible is a book of lessons, reviving the spirit (Ps. 19:8) if only one looks hard enough. "For it is a goodly possession I have given you. My teaching, do not abandon it." (Prov. 4:2) We are forbidden not only from forgetting our humble roots as human beings (M Avot 3:1) and abusing others, but from the abandonment of action. We may not even stand by idly as another is abused (BT San. 73a)**. Jewish tradition requires action. Thirty-two hundred years ago a man named Moses wouldn't accept abuse, and he changed the course of history. It only takes a single step.
Have a caring week!
Benjamin Fleischer
* [Note: what was an ethical improvement then, may not seem so ethical now, but I am convinced that the motivation for every law in the Torah was for a positive, ethical purpose].
**Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 73a (my quick translation of a 6th century text from Aramaic and Hebrew)
Our rabbis taught: From where [in scripture do we know]
that for one chasing after another to kill him that it is permitted to save him
at the [expense of the] life [of the chaser]? The Torah says "Do not stand [idly] by the
blood of your fellow" (Lev. 19:16). Did it [the verse] come to teach that?
But we need of it [elsewhere] as they teach: From where that he who sees another
drowning in the river, or a beast dragging him, or bandits coming upon him that he
is obligated to save him? The Torah says "Do not stand [idly] by the blood
of your fellow" (Lev. 19:16). But how we know we may save him [the chased]
with the life [of the chaser]? From an argument from lesser to minor in the case
of the engaged girl [who is being raped]. Just as the engaged girl that he [the
rapist] only came to ‘damage’ her, the Torah said it is permitted to save
her with his life. The one chasing another to kill him [may be killed] all the
more so....
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