Chasidut על שמות 3:7
Kedushat Levi
This is also how we must understand Exodus 3,7 where G’d tells Moses: “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters, yes, I am mindful of their sufferings.”
At first glance this verse is difficult to comprehend, why did G’d insert the line about “I have heard their complaints about their taskmasters;” this line appears to add little to the Israelites’ basic problem. G’d’s Mercy was activated on account of the basic plight of His people in Egypt, not because of their taskmasters. Moreover, the word ידעתי, “I am aware (now)” is a word that is usually used when something that had up until then been concealed, hidden, had suddenly become revealed, known. When something had been known to all but had been ignored, the word ראיה “seeing,” is the appropriate way of introduce a new attitude to conditions which had been ignored for so long.
Nonetheless, according to what we have said, the fact that G’d “listened” to the outcry of the Israelites is hard to understand seeing that their condition corresponded to something that G’d had already decreed in Genesis 15 when He told Avraham about his future. In order to answer this question, G’d added the words: מפני נוגשיו, “on account of its taskmasters.” Slavery for the Israelites had indeed been decreed, but the inhuman treatment that they experienced at the hands of their taskmasters had not been part of that decree; this enabled G’d to intervene in the Israelites’ fate at that time without going back on His decree. The excesses committed by the Egyptians were not part of their fulfilling a decree that G’d had formulated hundreds of years earlier. G’d was now able to bring upon the Egyptians the ten plagues and to thereby demonstrate to the whole civilised world of that time His power, as attested to by Rahav to the spies sent out 40 years later by Joshua (Joshua 2,9-11) The Egyptians’ behaviour had provided G’d with an opportunity to display His miracles. He could now take pleasure in redeeming His people from slavery to freedom.
At first glance this verse is difficult to comprehend, why did G’d insert the line about “I have heard their complaints about their taskmasters;” this line appears to add little to the Israelites’ basic problem. G’d’s Mercy was activated on account of the basic plight of His people in Egypt, not because of their taskmasters. Moreover, the word ידעתי, “I am aware (now)” is a word that is usually used when something that had up until then been concealed, hidden, had suddenly become revealed, known. When something had been known to all but had been ignored, the word ראיה “seeing,” is the appropriate way of introduce a new attitude to conditions which had been ignored for so long.
Nonetheless, according to what we have said, the fact that G’d “listened” to the outcry of the Israelites is hard to understand seeing that their condition corresponded to something that G’d had already decreed in Genesis 15 when He told Avraham about his future. In order to answer this question, G’d added the words: מפני נוגשיו, “on account of its taskmasters.” Slavery for the Israelites had indeed been decreed, but the inhuman treatment that they experienced at the hands of their taskmasters had not been part of that decree; this enabled G’d to intervene in the Israelites’ fate at that time without going back on His decree. The excesses committed by the Egyptians were not part of their fulfilling a decree that G’d had formulated hundreds of years earlier. G’d was now able to bring upon the Egyptians the ten plagues and to thereby demonstrate to the whole civilised world of that time His power, as attested to by Rahav to the spies sent out 40 years later by Joshua (Joshua 2,9-11) The Egyptians’ behaviour had provided G’d with an opportunity to display His miracles. He could now take pleasure in redeeming His people from slavery to freedom.
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 3,7. Hashem said: “I have surely seen the sorry state of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their outcry on account of their oppressors.”
Exodus 3,9.“and now, here the outcry of the Children of Israel has come to Me;”
It is important for anyone petitioning G’d for help to realize that he must not do so from predominantly egotistical motives, but he must make up his own mind and then convey this to G’d, that the principal reason he is asking for G’d’s help is so that he can become a better servant of the Lord. When he does so, He will be far more likely to find G’d responsive to his needs, or what he thinks are his needs.
G’d therefore had to perform 2 separate acts of loving kindness for His people. First of all, He had to improve their lot drastically on a mundane level, by redeeming them physically. Secondly, he had to treat them as if their appeal to Him had been based on their desire to serve Him better. This is hinted at when in verse 7 G’d is reported as saying: ראה ראיתי את עני עמי, i.e. “I have taken note of the fact that My people wish to be truly My people, something that will entitle them to be called ‘My people’.” Secondly (verse 9), הנה צעקת בני ישראל באה אלי, “the outcry of the Children of Israel has come to me, (arrived at My throne), I am aware that it is their desire to be My people by their wishing to serve Me better.” The verse ends by making the physical suffering endured by the people now appear as a secondary consideration in G’d’s response to them. G’d, so to speak, makes excuses for the people’s low spiritual level as being due to the constant physical pressures they are exposed to in their status as slaves of the lowest human level.
Exodus 3,9.“and now, here the outcry of the Children of Israel has come to Me;”
It is important for anyone petitioning G’d for help to realize that he must not do so from predominantly egotistical motives, but he must make up his own mind and then convey this to G’d, that the principal reason he is asking for G’d’s help is so that he can become a better servant of the Lord. When he does so, He will be far more likely to find G’d responsive to his needs, or what he thinks are his needs.
G’d therefore had to perform 2 separate acts of loving kindness for His people. First of all, He had to improve their lot drastically on a mundane level, by redeeming them physically. Secondly, he had to treat them as if their appeal to Him had been based on their desire to serve Him better. This is hinted at when in verse 7 G’d is reported as saying: ראה ראיתי את עני עמי, i.e. “I have taken note of the fact that My people wish to be truly My people, something that will entitle them to be called ‘My people’.” Secondly (verse 9), הנה צעקת בני ישראל באה אלי, “the outcry of the Children of Israel has come to me, (arrived at My throne), I am aware that it is their desire to be My people by their wishing to serve Me better.” The verse ends by making the physical suffering endured by the people now appear as a secondary consideration in G’d’s response to them. G’d, so to speak, makes excuses for the people’s low spiritual level as being due to the constant physical pressures they are exposed to in their status as slaves of the lowest human level.
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Kedushat Levi
The truth that service of the Lord by the Jewish people commenced on the lowest of levels is clearly stated in the Torah in Exodus 3,7 when G’d told Moses that He had heard the outcry of the Israelites to Him, and that He kept in mind that it was induced by their terrible state of suppression. The author of the haggadah shel Pessach reflects the same sentiment when he writes מתחלה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו במצרים, “at the beginning our forefathers were idol worshippers in Egypt, etc.” The author did not mean to say that the Israelites had become indistinguishable from idolaters who believed in the power of the man made deities to whom they offered food, etc; he meant that service of the Lord by the Jewish people did not begin with lofty spiritual ideals, such as a recognition of the all embracing power of G’d and His love for His creatures, but that they were motivated by dreams of relieving their plight, i.e. their worship was interwoven with self-serving interests. By the time the redemption took place, they had already progressed somewhat to the stage of what we called מוחין בקטנות, whereas in the interval between then and the revelation at Mount Sinai they could be described as מוחין בגדלות. When they proclaimed acceptance of the Torah with the words: נעשה ונשמע, “we will do, so let us hear the details,” this proclamation came from the throats of people who served the Lord without concern for personal advantage to be gained through this.
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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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