Midrasch zu Schemot 12:22

1) (Vayikra 23:40) ("And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a tree that is hadar, branches of date-palms, and a branch of a plaited tree, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the L–rd your G d seven days.") "And you shall take for yourselves": R. Yehudah says: "taking" is written here and elsewhere (Shemoth 12:22 "And take a bunch of hyssop") Just as there, a bunch, here, too, bunched together. And the sages say even without bunching it is kasher.

Rabbi Aḥa ben Rabbi Ze’eira said another: Just as this apple tree produces its blossom before its leaves, so too, Israel put performance before hearing, as it is stated: “We will perform and we will heed [nishma]” (Exodus 24:7).³⁵Although translated here as “heed,” the term nishma can be translated “hear.” The point here is that Israel committed to following God’s commands even before hearing what they were.
Rabbi Azarya said two [statements]: Just as the apple tree produces is ripened fruit only in Sivan, so too, Israel emitted a good fragrance only in Sivan.³⁶Sivan is the month in which Israel received the Torah. Rabbi Azarya said another: Just as this apple tree, from the time it produces its blossom until it produces ripened fruit is fifty days, so too, from the time that Israel departed from Egypt until they received the Torah it was fifty days. When did they receive it? It was “in the third month from the departure of the children of Israel” (Exodus 19:1).
Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said two [statements]: Just as this apple, you give an isar for it³⁷An isar is a coin of relatively little value. and you can smell its fragrances numerous times, so too, Moses said to Israel: ‘If you wish to be redeemed, you can be redeemed with a simple matter.’ [This is analogous] to one who was injured in his legs and he circulated among all the doctors to be cured, but he was not cured. One came and said to him: ‘If you seek to be cured, you can be cured with a simple matter, attach animal dung to it.’ So too, Moses said to Israel: ‘If you wish to be redeemed, you can be redeemed with a simple matter: “You shall take a bundle of hyssop and dip”’ (Exodus 12:22). They said to him: ‘Moses our master, this bundle of hyssop, how much it its value, four ma’a or five ma’a?’³⁸It is of little monetary value. He said to them: ‘Even if it is one [ma’a], and it will cause you to acquire the plunder of Egypt, the plunder at the sea, the plunder of Siḥon and Og, and the plunder of the thirty-one kings. Regarding a palm branch,³⁹The reference is to the four species taken on Sukkot. on which a person is required to expend much money and it is associated with many mitzvot, all the more so.’ Therefore, Moses cautions Israel: “You shall take for you on the first day” (Leviticus 23:40).

(Fol 60) R. Samuel b. Nachmeni said in the name of R. Jonathan: "No chastisement comes upon the world unless there are wicked ones in existence, yet its first victims are the righteous, as it is said (Ib., ib) If a fire breaks out and meet with thorns. When does a fire break out? When there are thorns prepared for it. Its first victims, however, are the upright, as it is said (Ib, ib.) So that stocks of corn had been consumed. It does not say, it shall consume, but, had been consumed, to signify that the stack of corn (the upright) were consumed first." R. Joseph taught: "What is the meaning of the passage, (Ex. 12, 22) And none of you shall go out from the door of his house until the morning? As soon as permission is given to the executioner he makes no distinction between righteous and wicked; and furthermore, he picks out his first victims from among the righteous, as it is said (Ezek. 21, 8) And I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked." R. Joseph cried, remarking: "To that extent are they not considered?" Said Abaye: "It is to their advantage, as it is written (Isa. 57, 1) That the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." (That he shall not see the evil which will come in the future). Our Rabbis were taught: When pestilence is raging in town, stay indoors, as it is said (Ex. 12, 22) And none of you shall go out from the door of his house until the morning, and it is also said (Isa. 26, 20) Go, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy door behind thee; and again it is said (Deut. 32, 25) Without shall the sword destroy, and terror within the chambers. Why the citation of the two additional passages? Lest one say that the first one refers only to nighttime but not to day time, hence, Go my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy door behind thee. And lest one will say that this refers only where there is no terror within the house, but when there is terror within the house, one might think that it is advisable to go out and associate with others, hence the last quoted verse, Without shall the sword destroy and terror within the chamber, i.e., although within the house terror reigns, yet without it is still worse, for Without the sword shall destroy. Raba in times of fury used to keep the windows shut, for it is written (Jer. 9, 20) For death is come up through our windows. Our Rabbis were taught: If there is a famine in town, do not spare your feet and leave town, as it is said (Gen. 12, 19) And there arose a famine in the land: and Abraham went down into Egypt to sojourn there. And it is also said (II Kings, 7, 4) If we say, we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city; and we shall die there. For what purpose is the quotation of the additional passage necessary? Lest one say that this refers only where there is no risk of life, but where there is risk of life, it is not so, hence the quotation, which is followed by (Ib., ib.) Now therefore come, and let us fall into the host of the Arameans; if they let us live, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. Our Rabbis were taught: When there is a pestilence in town, a person shall not walk in the middle of the road; for so long as the Angel of Death has received his permission to rage, he does so high-handed. When there is peace in town, one must not walk on the sideways; for so long as the Angel has not the permission, he hides himself away.

(Exod. 12:31:) AND HE CALLED MOSES AND AARON <IN THE NIGHT>. He (Pharaoh) went <about> calling them during the night in every single street and was saying: Where is Moses, and where does he live?⁷⁷Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Pisha 13. But the children of Israel were mocking him and saying to him: Where are you going, Pharaoh? When he said to them: I am looking for Moses, they said to him: Here is where he lives. So they mocked him until he stood before him (i.e., Moses). [Pharaoh said to him] (ibid., cont.): ARISE AND GO AWAY FROM AMONG MY PEOPLE. Moses said to him: Are we thieves? The Holy One has said (in Exod. 12:22): NONE OF YOU SHALL GO OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF HIS HOUSE UNTIL MORNING. Pharaoh said to him: Will you please arise <and> leave! Moses said to him: Why are you going to so much trouble? He said to him: Because I am a first-born, and I am afraid I may die. Moses said to him: Do not be afraid of <this> thing. You are destined for something greater than this. Now you are not to say that Pharaoh alone was urging < Israel to leave >; rather all the Egyptians were urging <them to leave>. It is so stated (in Exod. 12:33): AND THE EGYPTIANS PRESSED <THE PEOPLE ON, TO SEND THEM OUT OF THE LAND IN HASTE>…. The Holy One said to them: By your life, none of you shall die here but in the sea. Why did all of them not die from the plague of the first-born, but in the sea? R. Samuel bar Nahman said: <It> was through guile <that> the Egyptians came upon Israel. They said: If we enslave them by fire, their God will be able to bring fire upon us from above just as he brought it upon the Sodomites. He has, however, sworn never again to bring a flood into the world. {By your life,} come and let us enslave them through water. The Holy One said: I have sworn never again to bring a flood into the world. By your life, those people have gone into the flood. It is so stated (in Ps. 63:11 [10]): THEY SHALL BE DRAGGED⁷⁸Interpreting yaggiruhu as coming from the root GRR instead of from NGR. TO THE POWER OF THE DRYNESS⁷⁹Interpreting HRB as horev instead of herev. A more usual translation would read: THEY SHALL BE DELIVERED TO THE POWER OF THE SWORD. For interpretation of the verse given here, see Exod. R. 22:1; Cant. R. 2:15:1. (of the sea bed). These people (i.e. these Egyptians) were dragged and went into the sea on their own. (Ibid., cont.:) THEY SHALL BE A PORTION FOR THE FOXES. Solomon said (Cant. 2:15): TAKE US <TO> THE FOXES (ShW'LYM)…. R. Samuel has said: {They saw THE DEPTH OF THE SEA (Sh'L HYM).} [DEPTH OF SEA (Sh'L YM) is written <here>.]

"And you shall take (acquire) for yourselves on the first day" (Leviticus 23:40). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana opened [his discourse]: "'Accept my discipline rather than silver' - accept the discipline of Torah rather than silver. 'Why do you weigh money for what is not bread' (Isaiah 55:2) - why are you weighing money for the Children of Esav for what is not bread? Since you did not sate yourselves with the bread of Torah. 'Your toil is for what does not satisfy' (Isaiah 55:2) - why are you toiling, and the nations of the world satiated without satiation? Since you did not satiate yourselves from the wine of Torah, as it is written (Proverbs 9:5), 'and drink the wine that I have mixed.'" Rabbi Berakhiah and Rabbi Chiya his father said in the name of Rabbi Yose ben Nehoria, "It is written (Jeremiah 30:20), 'And I will remember all who press him' - even charity collectors - except for the wage of scribes and teachers of Mishnah who only take the wage of their idleness alone. But there is no creature that can give the wage of one thing of the Torah [commensurate to] its reward." It was taught, "The sustenance of a man is fixed from Rosh Hashanah, except for what he expends [for] Shabbat, holidays, Rosh Chodesh and what the infants take to the house of their teacher - if he adds [to this], it is added to him; if he lessens, it is lessened from him." Rabbi Yochanan was travelling, he left from Tiveria [to go] to Tsipporin, and Rabbi Chiya bar Abba was helping him. They reached a plot of farmland. [Rabbi Yochanan] said, "This farmland was mine, but I sold it in order to acquire Torah." They reached one that was a vineyard. He said, "This vineyard was mine, but I sold it in order to acquire Torah." They reached one that was an olive grove. He said, "This olive grove was mine, but I sold it in order to acquire Torah." Rabbi Chiya started to cry. Rabbi Yochanan said, "Why are you crying?" He said to him, "Since you did not leave anything for your old age." He said to him, "Is what I did light in your eyes, that I sold something created in six days and purchased something that was given over forty days, as it is stated (Exodus 34:28), 'And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights'; and it is written (Deuteronomy 9:9), 'and I dwelt on the mountain forty days and forty nights.'" When Rabbi Yochanan [died], his generation read about him (Song of Songs 8:7), "if a man offered all the wealth of his home for love" - as Rabbi Yochanan loved the Torah - "he would surely be scorned." When Rabbi Hoshaya, the man of Tirya [died], they saw his bier flying in the air; and his generation read about him (Song of Songs 8:7), "if a man offered all the wealth of his home for love" - as the Holy One, blessed be He, loved Abba Hoshaya, the man of Tirya - "he would surely be scorned." When Rabbi Elazar beRabbi Shimon [died], his generation read about him (Song of Songs 3:6), "Who is she that comes up from the desert like columns of smoke, in clouds of myrrh and frankincense, from all the powders of the merchant?" What is [the understanding of] "from all the powders of the merchant?" Rather [it is] since he read and studied, was a lyricist and an orator. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said "You learn the reward of purchasing from the reward of purchasing: About Egypt, it is written (Exodus 12:22), 'And acquire a bunch of hyssop.' What is its price? Four small coins. But it caused Israel to possess the spoils of the [Reed Sea], the spoils of Sichon and Og and the spoils of [the] thirty-one kings [of Canaan]. All the more so [is this true] of a lulav, which can become a man's for a little money and has several commandments with it. Hence Moshe warns Israel and says to them (Leviticus 23:40), 'And you shall take (acquire) for yourselves on the first day.'"

(Bamidbar 19:18) "And a clean man shall take": "Taking" is written here, and elsewhere (Ibid. 5) "Just as taking there involves three (objects), so, "taking" here. "hyssop": and not Greek hyssop, and not Kochalith hyssop, and not Roman hyssop, and not desert hyssop — and not any hyssop designated by an epithet.