Chasidut zu Schemot 13:1
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
Dann redete der Herr zu Mose also:
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 13,1. “Hashem said to Moses, saying; sanctify for me every firstborn, etc.”
In order to better understand the subject introduced here by the Torah it is well to go back to Exodus 4,22 where G’d for the first time refers to the Jewish people as: בני בכורי ישראל, “My firstborn son, Israel.” [G’d had referred to the Jewish people as “My people,” already in Exodus 3,7, but He had not referred to this people being G’d’s “firstborn.” Ed.]
The following parable may help us understand the difference between the two descriptions of the Jewish people. There are people who devote time to the study of Torah and after a certain number of hours of daily study they turn their attention to business in order to earn a living to support their families. This group of people may be divided into 2 separate categories. A member of category one, due to lack of understanding, considers his preoccupation with trade and commerce his principal occupation and purpose, whereas a member of the second category is well aware that preoccupation with the study of Torah, performing its commandments, and performing deeds of loving kindness for his peers, is his principal duty in life, but seeing that he does not want to depend on miracles for supporting his family, he sets aside time to secure his livelihood with G’d’s support, of course, during the time required for this.
The relationship between the gentile nations and the Jewish nation is parallel to the above, in that the gentiles by and large also devote some of their time to duties prescribed by their respective religions. However, except for a minute fraction, who devote their lives to their deities as priests of some type, they consider the demands made upon them by “life” on earth as paramount. Seeing that the entire universe including the gentiles were created in order to somehow serve as an appendix to the Jewish people, this people must not copy the gentiles by seeing in the mundane tasks to be performed daily the essence of their existence. Israel’s destiny is to serve as a holy nation, and anyone wishing to sanctify itself with a mirror like replica of G’d’s holiness, will in the process draw down from the celestial domain not only G’d’s attribute of Mercy, but also His largesse in helping to make the mundane tasks such people have to perform becoming crowned with success. By being accorded the title: בני בכורי, “My firstborn son,” G’d brings home to us that we are the principal reason that G’d undertook the creation of the universe. The author suggests that the meaning of the word רחם in פטר כל רחם, usually translated as “each first opening of the womb,” should be understood as a reference to the task of the Jewish people to ensure that the source of Mercy, רחמים, be opened through the Jewish people’s prayers so that all of mankind will be provided with its needs, be it directly or indirectly through G’d’s largesse. He quotes Proverbs 17,14 פוטר מים ראשית, as an allusion to this idea by Solomon. [possibly linked to Reshit Chochmah, Teshuvah 7,14. Ed.]
In order to better understand the subject introduced here by the Torah it is well to go back to Exodus 4,22 where G’d for the first time refers to the Jewish people as: בני בכורי ישראל, “My firstborn son, Israel.” [G’d had referred to the Jewish people as “My people,” already in Exodus 3,7, but He had not referred to this people being G’d’s “firstborn.” Ed.]
The following parable may help us understand the difference between the two descriptions of the Jewish people. There are people who devote time to the study of Torah and after a certain number of hours of daily study they turn their attention to business in order to earn a living to support their families. This group of people may be divided into 2 separate categories. A member of category one, due to lack of understanding, considers his preoccupation with trade and commerce his principal occupation and purpose, whereas a member of the second category is well aware that preoccupation with the study of Torah, performing its commandments, and performing deeds of loving kindness for his peers, is his principal duty in life, but seeing that he does not want to depend on miracles for supporting his family, he sets aside time to secure his livelihood with G’d’s support, of course, during the time required for this.
The relationship between the gentile nations and the Jewish nation is parallel to the above, in that the gentiles by and large also devote some of their time to duties prescribed by their respective religions. However, except for a minute fraction, who devote their lives to their deities as priests of some type, they consider the demands made upon them by “life” on earth as paramount. Seeing that the entire universe including the gentiles were created in order to somehow serve as an appendix to the Jewish people, this people must not copy the gentiles by seeing in the mundane tasks to be performed daily the essence of their existence. Israel’s destiny is to serve as a holy nation, and anyone wishing to sanctify itself with a mirror like replica of G’d’s holiness, will in the process draw down from the celestial domain not only G’d’s attribute of Mercy, but also His largesse in helping to make the mundane tasks such people have to perform becoming crowned with success. By being accorded the title: בני בכורי, “My firstborn son,” G’d brings home to us that we are the principal reason that G’d undertook the creation of the universe. The author suggests that the meaning of the word רחם in פטר כל רחם, usually translated as “each first opening of the womb,” should be understood as a reference to the task of the Jewish people to ensure that the source of Mercy, רחמים, be opened through the Jewish people’s prayers so that all of mankind will be provided with its needs, be it directly or indirectly through G’d’s largesse. He quotes Proverbs 17,14 פוטר מים ראשית, as an allusion to this idea by Solomon. [possibly linked to Reshit Chochmah, Teshuvah 7,14. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
An additional meaning based on the verse quoted above, linked to Moses telling the people (verse 3) as an introduction to this legislation זכור את היום הזה וגו', “Keep on remembering this day, etc.;”.
The Ari’zal writes that the reason why Moses introduced relaying the legislation about the sanctity of the firstborn with the words: זכור את היום הזה, followed by the line: והעברת כל פטר רחם, “you are to set apart for the Lord every first issue from the womb, etc,” only 9 verses later, is that when G’d told him about this legislation He appeared to include only the natural born Israelites in the sanctity of the firstborn, בבני ישראל, in verse 2, not the mixed multitude of new converts that Moses had accepted. The mixed multitude had not yet attained a level of spirituality that would allow their firstborn to be included in the additional degree of sanctity accorded to them when compared to the ordinary Israelite who was not a firstborn. Moses was afraid that the existing situation would result in jealousy of the mixed multitude as they would feel as second class Jews. In order to bridge this gap, Moses instructed the Israelites with an additional commandment to be observed when they would enter the Holy Land, a commandment that would apply to every Jew crossing the Jordan whether a natural born Jew or a convert This additional commandment concerned the observance of the Exodus for seven days on the anniversary of the dates on which it took place, and the eating of matzot and the offering of the Passover lamb on the eve of the first day Matzot would be eaten for seven days; this commandment was to apply to all Jews be they be natural born Jews or converts. It was a compliment to the mixed multitude as this group of people had not been “redeemed” from Egypt since they had not been slaves there, having placed themselves voluntarily under the protective “umbrella” of the Jewish G’d, the Creator of the universe. As a result of their embracing these commandments, the mixed multitude would cross the threshold of being ushered into the Jewish people as full partners as soon as they would cross into the Holy Land. (verse 11)
The author adds, that he feels that the reason that Moses did not immediately convey the commandment of the sanctification of the firstborn and first inserted the commandment of the Passover lamb and the eating of matzot on the anniversaries as something that would continue for all future generations, was that the period of the Exodus, the 10 plagues, the removal of one nation from amidst another nation with whom the first nation had felt inextricably interwoven, had all been part of what our sages describe as ‘re-enactment” of the 6 days of the creation of the universe, a חדוש העולם, creation of a new world. It resembled the creation of the יש מאין, the tangible emerging from the totally intangible. We acknowledge this concept of G’d renewing the universe constantly in our daily prayers before the recital of the קריאת שמע, when we say המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית, that “the Creator renews the whole universe on a daily basis, constantly, innumerable times.” When Job asks rhetorically in Job 28,12 והחכמה מאין תמצא, “from where did wisdom originate?,” he clearly cannot mean that the word אין means the same as the Greek: “nihil,” i.e. “nothing,” but refers to domains beyond those accessible to creatures rooted in the יש, the domain of the tangible, physical world. Our author explained already on the first two pages of Genesis that unless man first negates his ego completely, he does not have access to the source of wisdom in the domain called אין, or “eyn,” “negation,” for want of a better word. Although G’d, as pointed out in our daily prayers, renews the creation every single day, on the occasion of the first of Nissan, He does so especially for the Jewish people, and at the same time even the “year” for the count of the number of years that a Jewish king rules, is considered as renewing its cycle on that day. We know this from the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah, 1,1 Although the names of the months in the Jewish calendar are generally understood to reflect the names in the Persian calendar, our author sees in the word ניסן, the month in which the Exodus occurred, an allusion to the נסים, earth shaking miracles that occurred in that month at that time. The reason why the Seder evening must conclude with the eating or the Passover lamb, or its substitute the “afikoman,” is so that the taste lingers in our mouth, and we can draw inspiration from it during the many months to come. [The reader is referred to pages 1-4 where the author explained the allegorical meaning in the letters of such words as אין, מצוה וגו'. Based on this he feels that the linkage of months and years in our verse, i.e. לחדשי השנה is entirely justified. Ed.]
The Ari’zal writes that the reason why Moses introduced relaying the legislation about the sanctity of the firstborn with the words: זכור את היום הזה, followed by the line: והעברת כל פטר רחם, “you are to set apart for the Lord every first issue from the womb, etc,” only 9 verses later, is that when G’d told him about this legislation He appeared to include only the natural born Israelites in the sanctity of the firstborn, בבני ישראל, in verse 2, not the mixed multitude of new converts that Moses had accepted. The mixed multitude had not yet attained a level of spirituality that would allow their firstborn to be included in the additional degree of sanctity accorded to them when compared to the ordinary Israelite who was not a firstborn. Moses was afraid that the existing situation would result in jealousy of the mixed multitude as they would feel as second class Jews. In order to bridge this gap, Moses instructed the Israelites with an additional commandment to be observed when they would enter the Holy Land, a commandment that would apply to every Jew crossing the Jordan whether a natural born Jew or a convert This additional commandment concerned the observance of the Exodus for seven days on the anniversary of the dates on which it took place, and the eating of matzot and the offering of the Passover lamb on the eve of the first day Matzot would be eaten for seven days; this commandment was to apply to all Jews be they be natural born Jews or converts. It was a compliment to the mixed multitude as this group of people had not been “redeemed” from Egypt since they had not been slaves there, having placed themselves voluntarily under the protective “umbrella” of the Jewish G’d, the Creator of the universe. As a result of their embracing these commandments, the mixed multitude would cross the threshold of being ushered into the Jewish people as full partners as soon as they would cross into the Holy Land. (verse 11)
The author adds, that he feels that the reason that Moses did not immediately convey the commandment of the sanctification of the firstborn and first inserted the commandment of the Passover lamb and the eating of matzot on the anniversaries as something that would continue for all future generations, was that the period of the Exodus, the 10 plagues, the removal of one nation from amidst another nation with whom the first nation had felt inextricably interwoven, had all been part of what our sages describe as ‘re-enactment” of the 6 days of the creation of the universe, a חדוש העולם, creation of a new world. It resembled the creation of the יש מאין, the tangible emerging from the totally intangible. We acknowledge this concept of G’d renewing the universe constantly in our daily prayers before the recital of the קריאת שמע, when we say המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית, that “the Creator renews the whole universe on a daily basis, constantly, innumerable times.” When Job asks rhetorically in Job 28,12 והחכמה מאין תמצא, “from where did wisdom originate?,” he clearly cannot mean that the word אין means the same as the Greek: “nihil,” i.e. “nothing,” but refers to domains beyond those accessible to creatures rooted in the יש, the domain of the tangible, physical world. Our author explained already on the first two pages of Genesis that unless man first negates his ego completely, he does not have access to the source of wisdom in the domain called אין, or “eyn,” “negation,” for want of a better word. Although G’d, as pointed out in our daily prayers, renews the creation every single day, on the occasion of the first of Nissan, He does so especially for the Jewish people, and at the same time even the “year” for the count of the number of years that a Jewish king rules, is considered as renewing its cycle on that day. We know this from the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah, 1,1 Although the names of the months in the Jewish calendar are generally understood to reflect the names in the Persian calendar, our author sees in the word ניסן, the month in which the Exodus occurred, an allusion to the נסים, earth shaking miracles that occurred in that month at that time. The reason why the Seder evening must conclude with the eating or the Passover lamb, or its substitute the “afikoman,” is so that the taste lingers in our mouth, and we can draw inspiration from it during the many months to come. [The reader is referred to pages 1-4 where the author explained the allegorical meaning in the letters of such words as אין, מצוה וגו'. Based on this he feels that the linkage of months and years in our verse, i.e. לחדשי השנה is entirely justified. Ed.]
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