Commentaire sur L’Exode 5:16

ולבנים אמרים לנו AND BRICKS THEY — the taskmasters — SAY TO US עשו MAKE, just as the former number.

תבן אין נתם, again we encounter this construction with the vowel kametz, making the word a past participle of the passive, i.e. “available.” The same word in Kohelet 10,6 in the line נתן הסכל במרומים, spelled with the vowel patach under the letter ת, is in a passive mode of the verb נתן, meaning “folly has been placed on lofty heights.”

והנה עבדיך מוכים וחטאת עמך, we are the ones who are being beaten and the sinful people beating us are all we who are members of your people. It is up to you to take note of this and to intervene.

וחטאת עמך, “and it is considered a sin by your people!” The overseers instead of accusing Pharaoh outright, phrased it in a less offensive way, i.e. as if the Israelites were the guilty party.

Make bricks to equal the earlier amount. Otherwise, why did the officers complain about making bricks? They could just reduce the set number of bricks. Rather, their complaint was over being required to produce the same amount as before.

V. 16. עבר ,וחטאה Femininum dritte Person statt וחטאה, eigentlich: dein armes (Femininum) Volk, das uns in deinem Auftrag schlägt. versündigt sich an uns, allein es kann nichts dafür, du gebietest es ihm.

וְחָטָאת עַמֶּךָ BUT THE FAULT IS IN THINE OWN PEOPLE — If the word וחטאת had the vowel Patach under the ט I would say that it is a noun in the construct state, so that the meaning would be, “and this thing is the sin of thy people” But now, since the vowel is Kametz, it is a noun in the absolute case, and its meaning is as follows: “And this thing brings sin upon thy people”, as though it were written וחטאת לעמך. Sirnilarly we find ל omitted in, (Ruth 1:19) “When they were come בית לחם” which is the same as לבית לחם, to Bethlehem, and there are many similar examples.

וחטאת עמך, seeing that the word וחטאת is spelled with the vowel kametz under the letter ח and there is a dagesh in the letter מ of the word עמך, the meaning of the expression is “we are beaten and your people will be held accountable for a sin causing us to be beaten.” If the word חטאת had been spelled with the vowel patach under the letter ח, the meaning of the line would have been: “the sin is your people’s.” [according to Rashi as if the Torah had written חטאת לעמך. Ed.]

This thing is the sin of your people. In other words, [with a patach it would mean]: it is the sin of the Egyptians’.

And this thing brings sin to your people. In other words, “It brings sin to the B’nei Yisrael [when they fail to fulfill the command].”