Shemos - 7th Portion

Join me as we learn together for of Shabis Pares Shamois, the seventh Torah reading of Par Shamos. We are now at chapter 5 verse one. In yesterday's Torah reading, we learned about Moshe meeting Aaron and heading towards Egypt, telling the Jewish people about the message that God remembered them and the Jewish people believed what they were told. And now it is the job for Mosh Aaron to come to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Jewish people go. Chapter 5 verse one. Afterwards, Mosharon come. And they say to Pharaoh, Marashem, so said God, Israel, the God of the Israelites, send my nation, send forth my people, and let them celebrate a festival for me in the wilderness. Rashi verse one. What happened to the elders? Weren't they supposed to come with them? The elders slipped away one by one. from behind until they all disappeared by the time they came to the palace. They were afraid to go to Pharaoh. They may worry that maybe Pharaoh may punish them. However, that because of that by Mount Si there was payback to them. That's why Moshe himself approached God and they were not able to because they turned back and they did not approach Pharaoh. God put them back as well that they should not be able to approach on Mount Si. Verse two parro replies to Moshe and Aaron mem who is this God that I shall heed his voice to send forth the Israelites. I do not recognize God and I will not send the Israelites forth. Verse three when they said the god of the Hebrews appeared to us saying allow them to go make a journey of three days by burn the wilderness and we will s bring sacrifices to our god lest he strike us with a plague or a sword. What does this mean over here? Moshe was warning Pharaoh, but he was speaking respectfully, so to speak, to Pharaoh. Really, he was talking about maybe he might hit you, Pharaoh. But he was speaking respectfully to the king. The word means about killing. Verse four. The king of Egypt said to them, "Why you are you distracting the Jewish people from their action? Let them go back to work. Go back to the chores that they have. Why are you separating them and taking them away from the work that they're listening to you that they actually need a vacation as we find this the word the word to means to disturb taking them away. We find this in other places all these places means to disturb to take away go to your work you have to make in your home. You can go to your home and do your work. You have your chores to do. The actual slave labor that wasn't for them [snorts] because the tribe of Ley did not have to work. You have approve of this because [snorts] Mosh were able to walk around freely to do whatever they do because they were from the tribe of Ley and they didn't have to work. Reb explains something deeper here. what Mosh what Pharaoh was the evil of all times that Pharaoh understood very well what was going on here and he said you know what the tribe of Ley doesn't work and that's enough for us let everybody else be indulged in materialism why do you have to have everybody not working the tribe of Ley that will be representing the Jewish people and let everybody else do the work Mosha Aaron and what God was arguing no that's not the way it works every single person has to be involved in spirituality no matter what their business is tribe of Ley is not enough to represent And all people have to study Torah and should be involved in the study of Torah. Verse five and parro said the land the people of their land are now numerous. The people of the land are now numerous. You want to have them cause you want to have them seize from their work. You want them not to work. Rashi five the work that's given to them you're trying to take such a large amount of people and make them not work you're making me a great loss the task masters and the people and his policemen lay saying as follows six they were task masters of Egyptians the policemen were Jews. You have one taskmaster on charge of a bunch of policemen and then the policeman was in charge of the Jews to punish them if they don't do their work. It says as follows verse seven, you shall no longer provide the people with straw to the people for making the bricks like it was yesterday and the day before. They're going to have to go and collect their own straw. This was the straw. They would mix it together with the cement. And this is the way they would make bricks. They would make bricks from the cement would dry up in the sun. And sometimes you would put it in a kil and that's the way it would become bricks like you were doing until now. What's the word? They'll have to collect eight. However, you must impose upon them. That means the quota of bricks that they were doing yesterday and the day before you will impose on them as well. Do not do less than that because they're becoming lazy. That's why they're screaming saying, "Let us go serve God." They're lazy from working. Therefore, they're looking to for some vacation and the screaming. Let's go. Rashi then looks at the different words in the verse and says as follows which means the quot of bricks whatever is there. All of this means quot amount or totals near It's easy. It's let go of them and therefore they're trying to let go of it. Verse n make the work make the work more strenuous on them. They should do it. And let them not say word. They'll stop saying words in vain and they won't be saying words of nonsense saying let us go and bring sacrifices we have the similar that I will be in your I will continuously and I will I will talk about your Torah and the says that they will The word means to talk but you can say the word from the word puts salvation or God turned to explain they should not turn to said they will not turn to false words to the words of false words because this is what he's referring to all of didn't listen to the one the holy one amongst the Jewish people. He will not listen to their sacrifices. I have not found that we're the word to turn to with a base and the word afterwards will come to the word somebody who's busy talking using. So therefore in our case as well what is this referring to? The word isue refers to the word speaking. Let them not speak in false words. So Rashi is proving through this grammatical calculations where bring all the different nuances where the wordhu in this case means to speak. They should not speak words of nonsense that they think that they're going to get out of Egypt. Verse 11. I'm sorry. Verse 10. And the task masters and the policemen went out and they told the people saying Pharaoh said you're no longer receiving your straw. Verse 11 you go get for yourselves whatever you're going to find because nothing has been reduced from your daily workload. Rashi 11. You got to go quickly because whatever your quota was that you're going to have to make the bricks that you would have to do daily even when you got the straw ready made nothing's changing what the king has given you 12. The people spread out all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for their straw. Telling us to collect to get the stubble for their straw in their cement to collect something that spread out. You got to collect it. Therefore, it's called in other places. Verse 13. And the task masters pressured them saying you got to complete your work your daily quota just as if you had the straw. Rashi 13 they would press them the quote of amount of bricks that they had to make every single day like it did until now even when you had the straw already made given for you. Verse 14 and the foremen from the uh Israelites that police Jewish people that they placed upon them the tax task masters of Pharaoh are saying why did you not complete your brickmaking quota like yesterday to make the bricks like yesterday nor the day before or even the days before that and nor today what's going on over here that you're not completing your task. The foreman is were used or were Jews. However, they were they were uh careful or they cared about their friends from pushing them from not do from they would have to complete their work and they would have to show it at the end of the day to the task masters that were Jews were missing. alternates them. They would hit the Jews. That means when the Jewish people would not hit the Jews because sins, they cared about their own fellow Jews. But then when they would bring their code of bricks to the Egyptian task masters, Egyptian task masters would then hit the Jewish people for not hitting the Jews and making sure that they did the amount of bricks. Because of that, these people, those policemen later on merited that they were from the Sanhedrin and they eventually were the ones that got the divine presence from Moshe to them as it says gathered the 70 elders from those that you know that they did good. They were the ones that protected the Jewish people. They didn't hit the Jewish people and they themselves got hit because of it that the task masters of Pharaoh put them as policemen are saying why didn't you do your job they would say why didn't you finish your quota yesterday not today that was given for you to make bricks with like three days ago which is the day before The day day before that was when destroy you were still getting they were hit by others the task masters hit the Jewish people who are supposed to hit the Jews. Verse 15 and the foremen of the Jews came they cried aloh saying why are you doing this to your servants? Verse 16. You don't give a straw and you want us to and you tell us you want us to make bricks and because of that your servants are being fgged unjustly. We're being hit for no reason and the sin is therefore not ours but your peoples. Verse 16. the task masters are saying we have to do like the original I would say it goes together this is the sin of your nation but it's a so it's a noun and this is the explanation this is bringing bringing your people to sin and it brings other places in the Torah where this grammar is giving the same interpretation responds to the Jewish task masters and he says, "You guys are lazy." Therefore, you say, "Let us go serve God. You want to bring sacrifices to God." verse 18 go work the not getting any straw and you're going to have to give the same amount of delivered the same quot of bricks the quot of bricks like we see in other places the word means verse 19 and the Israelite foreman saw their fellow painful Israelites in the painful predicament that resulted from them that resulted from the order that they had relayed. What was that order? Do not reducing your daily quote of bricks every single day. they saw their own friends which is being suffering because of them saw their suffering. because of this terrible decree which said you cannot diminish in your workload. and they met standing before them when they were leaving. Who are the people that met them? These are the men anytime you find standing in front of them. Who is it? Their famous duo. This was it says by them the same terminology. And this was complaining to Moshe and 21. And they said to Mosha, "May God May God reveal himself to you. and judge you for you have made us loathome in the eyes of in the eyes of his servants. Allah says you gave them provided them with a sword to kill us by the very fact that they made these Egyptians by they made their quota even harder from now on. Just leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians. That was the argument that Dustin and Aram had to Moshe. And Moshe returned to God and he said, "God, why have you mistreated these people? Why have you sent me? Why did you mistreat these people? Why did you do it? What does it bother you? I am upset. I'm complaining about you're asking me why am I getting involved because I'm upset. What did you send me for? We find that this is never before have any of the forefathers spoken in such language. And this is because as we know that Moshe was different than the rest of the forefathers. We'll see in next week's reading. The forefathers connection with God was an emotional one. Moshe was an intellectual one. And therefore Moshe tries to understand where God is coming from and why this is happening. Verse 23. Ever since I came to speak in your name, things only got worse. You have not delivered salvation. You have not saved your people. Verse 22. Verse 23. Meaning what you've done has become it became worse. As the tarum says became disgusted. It became smelled. We have got a bad name. Chapter 6 verse one. God says to Moshe, "Now you're going to see what I'm going to do to Pharaoh because with my strong hand will send them forth and with my strong hand will forcibly drive them out from his land." Says, "You questioned, you asked, why do I do this? Not like You're not who didn't question when I told him that I is going to be his children and then I tell him to bring his child now you're going to see what what I'm going to do to Pharaoh you're going to see you're not going to see what's going to happen to the seven nations of the land because you question but you will see what happens to Pharaoh because of my forcable hand that I will make on him will forcibly send the Jewish people forcibly he will he will send the Jewish people from his landl say they they won't even have time to make food for themselves as it says later on in chapter 12 that the Jewish the Egyptians were forcibly getting the Jews out of the land of Egypt. This concludes the seventh reading of para shimos.