Kommentar zu Schemot 13:15

ויהי כי בקשה פרעה, seeing that Pharaoh had put so many obstacles in the path of our eventual liberation he is himself compared to a donkey as we know from Ezekiel 23,20, the prophet describing the flesh of the Egyptians as similar to donkeys. Pharaoh could have easily redeemed himself by releasing the Israelites, i.e. the Israelites are compared to the שה, the lamb. As a result of failing to do so, G’d chose to kill the firstborn instead.

ויהי כי הקשה, all of this you are to tell your son. This is also clear from verse 16 where it is stated that this whole paragraph was said by G’d to Moses. The Israelite is to say to his son: “G’d has taken us out of Egypt.” Moses did not say this verse to the people on his own account, [he could not refer to himself as having been redeemed seeing he had not been enslaved. Moses’ sons had not been enslaved either. Ed.]

ולטוטפות בין עיניך, “and as an ornament between your eyes.” The word טוטפות describes the part of the head on which the phylacteries are worn. The expression appears in tractate Shabbat, 57B as the area where the straps of the phylacteries surround the forehead. Alternately, it describes the part of the head which faces the ground, as per the proverb in Megillah 14 that ducks have a tendency to appear to look at the ground while at the same time seeing far into the distance with their eyes. The word used to describe this kind of vision is מטיפין. The reason the Torah uses the word לטוטפות in the plural mode is because, according to an ancient tradition, the phylacteries of the head are divided into 4 separate compartments, each containing one of the relevant four paragraphs of the Torah referring to the subject. Nachmanides writes that the origin of the custom to wear the phylacteries of the hand on the upper left arm, and the phylacteries of the head on one’s forehead, is that Judaism if taken seriously, requires input by both the heart and the brain, the upper left arm being close to man’s heart, whereas the forehead is immediately outside the seat of the brain. This is the reason why the Torah says that the Exodus and all that it implies should be symbolized “between your eyes,” i.e. the phylacteries with the relevant paragraphs from the Torah should be positioned on the part of body closest to the seat of our memory banks. Brain functions properly only because man has a faculty that enables him to store sensations called memory. The knot with which the straps of the phylacteries of the head is tied, is placed at the rear end of the head, the area near which our memory banks are located in the brain. References to the phylacteries appear in the paragraph dealing with sanctification of the firstborn, as well as in the paragraph detailing observance of that commandment once the Israelites would take possession of the Holy Land, seeing this particular commandment is tied directly to the Exodus from Egypt, as something which must remain as a kind of visual image. The other commandment, also contained in one of these paragraphs, commits to our memory the fact that our G’d is unique and has demonstrated unique powers. The obligation to perform the commandments of the Torah is anchored in these two fundamental considerations. [Moses sums this up in Deut. 4,35 אתה הראת לדעת: “you (the Jewish people as the only one) have been granted visual evidence of the existence and manifestation of power of the Lord your G’d.” Ed.] I will now proceed to explain some general rules applicable to many of the commandments of the Torah. [this is still Nachmanides. Ed.] Ever since idolatry exists in our world, starting with the generation of Enosh, [a grandson of Adam! Ed.] mankind’s knowledge about G’d the Creator has become confused. Some people claimed that the universe preceded ”G’d,” whereas others deny only that G’d the Creator has any knowledge of any specific individual; still others do believe that G’d has such knowledge but they dispute that G’d supervises and directly or indirectly intervenes in the fate of individual people. By doing this, they reduce mankind to the level of the fish in the ocean over whom G’d does indeed not exercise individual supervision. As a result of this lack of G’d’s supervision of man’s individual fate, the concept of reward and punishment does not apply to man either. Once G’d intervenes in the world by performing acts involving the community or an individual, this discredits all those who deny that the Creator still has an interest in the well being or otherwise of His subjects on earth. If such intervention by G’d in people’s lives, or the performance of super-natural miracles have been announced in advance and with specific dates and places, this still better authenticates our belief that the Creator does indeed continue to take a supervisory interest in His creatures. It demonstrates that G’d communicates with chosen individuals and reveals His secrets to them. By doing such things on occasion, the truth of the Torah is perpetuated, and this is why the Torah wrote in connection with such advertised miracles:למען תדע כי אני ה' בקרב הארץ “in order that you will realize that I the Lord am active on earth.” (Exodus 8,18) This disabuses people who believe that historical and other events on earth are the result of pure chance. In Exodus 9,29 למען תדע כי לה' הארץ, the Torah tells us that the miracles that are about to occur will demonstrate ownership of the earth by G’d, rebutting those who claim that the universe preceded the existence of G’d. G’d created the universe out of “nothing,” i.e. He provided matter, without which there could not be a material universe. Finally, the Torah quotes G’d saying: למען תדע כי אין כמוני, “in order that you should know that there is No One like I.” (Exodus 9,14) These were the three theological principles which Pharaoh had denied, and it took all the plagues to convince him that not only had he been wrong, but that he had been a terrible sinner. Having established that even such a pagan as Pharaoh had finally become convinced of the error of his ways, surely, no one in his right mind expects a private revelation by G’d of His powers every time he entertains some doubt about something! In view of the unreasonable nature of such a request, G’d provided us with some commandments, the performance of which is designed to keep alive within us the memory of the lessons learned not only by Pharaoh but also by the Jewish people at the time. Affixing the relevant passages of the Torah to the doorposts of our homes and gates, placing the phylacteries containing these passages on our heads and arms daily, are all part of this training in remembering that what our forefathers transmitted to us as experiences they lived through had indeed occurred, and we have reason to be eternally grateful for G’d’s intervention in the lives of our forefathers at that time. The story of the Exodus and what preceded it is not only a lesson in the kindness G’d extended to a people who had become assimilated and was outwardly, and mostly inwardly, indistinguishable from its host nation, but is a basic lesson in what constitutes our perception of what we are about, and what ultimately, the universe is about, i.e. the greatness of the Creator. Our sages taught us to relate to so-called מצוות קלות, commandments which because they appear easy to fulfill are not presumed to confer much reward for those observing them, as if they were of the same weightiness as מצוות חמורות, commandments which either are difficult to fulfill, or which carry death penalties as an indication that G’d appears to be more concerned about them than about the other kind. It is not up to us to evaluate the relative merit of G’d’s commandments. What is important for us to remember is that just because G’d does watch over what we are doing, none of us can afford not to be engaged in some manner of service of the Lord, even if such service is indirect, such as earning a living in order to honour the Sabbath by eating better quality food, and wearing better quality clothes. etc. We must at all times retain the awareness that we are G’d’s creatures, and as such we must be guided in our behaviour by the desire to please our Creator. We cannot lay claim to even part of the rewards of observing the Torah until we have embraced it by believing fully what our sages have taught us. We must be convinced that unless we, the Jewish people, collectively will observe the Torah, we cannot for long survive successfully. Our continued existence is bound up with remaining loyal to the covenant G’d made with Avraham, our first patriarch. Our mode of conduct must be living testimony to the ongoing existence and benevolent interest of G’d in His people and mankind at large.

V. 15. הקשה, Pharao verweigerte Gott, was Gott von ihm forderte, nannte sein, was doch durch und durch Gottes ist. Gott züchtigte den die Gotteshörigkeit verkennenden Trotz der Ägypter durch Tötung ihrer Erstgebornen. Ich weihe alle meine Erstgebornen Gott, um unser aller und alles Unsrigen Hörigkeit an Gott nicht zu vergessen.

כל בכור בארץ מצרים, the fact that the Torah does not speak about “every Egyptian firstborn,” but about “every firstborn in Egypt,” shows that basically, the Israelites, i.e. their firstborn were also guilty of death at the hands of G’d. He saved them by sanctifying them as His personal property.

על כן אני זובח, this act of grace by G’d at the time is the reason that I annually express my gratitude by slaughtering the firstborn male of any pure animal. [after giving it to the priest. Ed.] Seeing that the firstborn donkeys or any other impure animal are unfit as offerings on the altar, I redeem them in order to be able to make secular use of these animals as beasts of burden, etc. As far as the firstborn of my own sons are concerned, seeing that they were sanctified from birth, I redeem them in order that they can lead regular lives, as the priesthood is no longer an option for such firstborn ever since the sin of the golden calf.