Chasidut su Esodo 11:18
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 11,1. Hashem spoke to Moses and Aaron to say to them: speak to the Children of Israel; saying: “this is the category of living creature that you are allowed to eat, etc.;” we must first concentrate on the meaning of the words לאמר אלהם, a combination not found elsewhere in the Torah.
In order to get a better understanding of the legislation that follows it is worthwhile to look at Rashi on Exodus 2,27 where Moses’ sister Miriam asks the daughter of Pharaoh if she should call for her a Hebrew wet nurse to suckle the infant Moses. Rashi explains that Moses had refused to be nursed by any of the Egyptian wet nurses, the reason being that in light of his destiny of communicating closely with G’d in the future, it was not appropriate that his body should have absorbed life-sustaining milk from a ritually impure wet nurse.
Nachmanides adds that what the Torah forbade the Jewish people to eat are those creatures that are cruel and insensitive by nature, and if we were to absorb their meat some of it would leave such tendencies behind in our bodies. The Jewish people being a holy nation must preserve this status and display love and compassion rather than cruelty or insensitivity to the needs of other creatures. We have it on the authority of the prophet Joel (Joel 3,1) that there will come a time when all members of the Jewish people will become endowed with prophetic powers and in order for G’d to communicate with them directly their bodies must retain the capacity to at all times respond lovingly to the needs of others. It would be most inappropriate for the mouth that has been fed ritually unclean and therefore abhorrent creatures, to be addressed by the Divine Presence. An allusion to this future state of affairs is contained in the words לאמר אלהם, “to speak to them,” at this point before the Torah lists the living creatures that are repeatedly referred to as abhorrent, and therefore not fit as food for the Jewish nation, [although, after the deluge all of them had become permitted for the descendants of Noach. Ed.]
In order to get a better understanding of the legislation that follows it is worthwhile to look at Rashi on Exodus 2,27 where Moses’ sister Miriam asks the daughter of Pharaoh if she should call for her a Hebrew wet nurse to suckle the infant Moses. Rashi explains that Moses had refused to be nursed by any of the Egyptian wet nurses, the reason being that in light of his destiny of communicating closely with G’d in the future, it was not appropriate that his body should have absorbed life-sustaining milk from a ritually impure wet nurse.
Nachmanides adds that what the Torah forbade the Jewish people to eat are those creatures that are cruel and insensitive by nature, and if we were to absorb their meat some of it would leave such tendencies behind in our bodies. The Jewish people being a holy nation must preserve this status and display love and compassion rather than cruelty or insensitivity to the needs of other creatures. We have it on the authority of the prophet Joel (Joel 3,1) that there will come a time when all members of the Jewish people will become endowed with prophetic powers and in order for G’d to communicate with them directly their bodies must retain the capacity to at all times respond lovingly to the needs of others. It would be most inappropriate for the mouth that has been fed ritually unclean and therefore abhorrent creatures, to be addressed by the Divine Presence. An allusion to this future state of affairs is contained in the words לאמר אלהם, “to speak to them,” at this point before the Torah lists the living creatures that are repeatedly referred to as abhorrent, and therefore not fit as food for the Jewish nation, [although, after the deluge all of them had become permitted for the descendants of Noach. Ed.]
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Likutei Halakhot
Therefore, the first redemption, which is the Exodus from Egypt, which includes all of the redemptions - because all of the redeemed are referred to by the name 'Egypt' as Rabbeinu z"l wrote in another place in Likutei Moharan 4. Therefore, the beginning of the redemption was in the middle of the night as it is written (Exodus 11:4) "Around midnight I will go out into Egypt". Because the essence of all the redemptions, especially the redemption from Egypt, came about through the aspect as seen above which was written in the lesson above. This was accomplished by means of divine providence which G-d drew down from the end of the earth, from the future world. At the time of the Exodus from Egypt, there was an upheaval in the constellations and then an overturning of nature, for G-d then revealed His divine providence through His awesome miracles and His overturning nature. All of this took place through the world of the future, for it came through the Yovel (Zohar I 21b, II 41b, 46b) which corresponds to the 50 gates of Binah, which corresponds to the world of the future. (Tikunei Zohar 79b). And therefore the redemption was specifically at midnight; in other words it broke the night and the darkness which are the aspect of the wisdom of nature, and it revealed divine providence in the world. Through this was the main essence of the revelation, as explained above. And this is the aspect of (Id.) “Every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, and G-d will pass over… And save the Israelites' first born”. Because the first born is first, the aspect of knowledge, the aspect of (Proverbs 1:7) “First thing, knowledge”. In other words, the knowledge of the Other Side, which is the aspect of natural sciences, was subdued, and the knowledge of holiness, the knowledge of divine providence, the aspect of "my firstborn, Israel" (Exodus 4:22) - which is the knowledge of faith in divine providence, from which the holy offspring of the Jewish people are drawn-was increased. The Jewish people are above nature, for they are rooted in "Look to the heavens and count the stars". G-d told him this will be your offspring (Genesis 15:5), upon which our sages comment G-d lifted Abraham above the heavens (Genesis Rabbah, there). Therefore, the Jewish people are above nature, for according to nature, according to the arrangement of the constellations, Abraham should not have been able to have any children. It was only because G-d said to him "let go of your astrology", and raised him above the heavens, that he was able to have a child, as in 'that will be your offspring'. Therefore Jewish offspring are drawn from its root from beyond nature, which is represented by 'My firstborn, Israel'. Because G-d struck the Egyptian first born at midnight to subdue and break the knowledge of natural sciences, and to intensify the knowledge of divine providence, the aspect of the firstborn of Israel, as explained above.
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 11,4. “Moses said: ‘thus has the Lord said, etc.;’” we have to understand why the expression כה was used here to introduce Moses’ prophecy when we had learned that whereas all the other prophets introduced their prophecies with this word, Moses prophesied by using the vision he referred to as זה, “this,” i.e. as a clear vision.
We gain the impression from this preamble to the prophecy of the plague of the death of the firstborn that Moses had not been granted to see this vision as clearly as he had seen other visions, and that he had attained the level of seeing visions described as זה, only at the revelation at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19,1 we read ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני, “on this day (first of Sivan) they arrived in the desert of Sinai.”
The words of that verse help us understand the formulation of the question in Deuteronomy 6,20, attributed in the Haggadah shel Pessach to the “smart” son, מה העדות והחוקים והמשפטים, “what are the testimonies, the statutes and the social laws, etc.?” The Torah there should have written: על מה, i.e.” why were these laws given,” not “what are these laws”, seeing that the questioner had demonstrated that he was familiar with these laws already!
Looking at this verse purely from the p’shat,, the “smart” son appears to enquire for the reasons underlying these various types of commandments in the Torah. He does not address the commandments themselves. Seeing that this is so, he should have asked: על מה, “why or what for”, did G’d command these different observances? Not only do we find the formulation of the questions difficult to understand, but, at least in the Haggadah shel Pessach, [as opposed to the answer given in the written Torah, Ed.] how does the answer of אין מפטירין אחר הפסח אפיקומן, “one must not eat a dessert after having consumed the meat of the Passover offering,” answer the question?
The proper answer to the smart son’s question is that G’d took us out of Egypt using all kinds of supernatural miracles in doing so, and that this redemption was not a temporary redemption subject to being reversed, but that it made of the Jewish people a free people, a people never again to become enslaved collectively. Not only did the Egyptians “let us go,” but they tried to “expel” us out of fear that more of their number would die if we stayed on their soil a minute longer. The answer that the author of the Haggadah shel Pessach suggests that the father give to this “smart” son seems to leave out the principal reasons for the legislation by concentrating on something of secondary or even still lesser significance.
We gain the impression from this preamble to the prophecy of the plague of the death of the firstborn that Moses had not been granted to see this vision as clearly as he had seen other visions, and that he had attained the level of seeing visions described as זה, only at the revelation at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19,1 we read ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני, “on this day (first of Sivan) they arrived in the desert of Sinai.”
The words of that verse help us understand the formulation of the question in Deuteronomy 6,20, attributed in the Haggadah shel Pessach to the “smart” son, מה העדות והחוקים והמשפטים, “what are the testimonies, the statutes and the social laws, etc.?” The Torah there should have written: על מה, i.e.” why were these laws given,” not “what are these laws”, seeing that the questioner had demonstrated that he was familiar with these laws already!
Looking at this verse purely from the p’shat,, the “smart” son appears to enquire for the reasons underlying these various types of commandments in the Torah. He does not address the commandments themselves. Seeing that this is so, he should have asked: על מה, “why or what for”, did G’d command these different observances? Not only do we find the formulation of the questions difficult to understand, but, at least in the Haggadah shel Pessach, [as opposed to the answer given in the written Torah, Ed.] how does the answer of אין מפטירין אחר הפסח אפיקומן, “one must not eat a dessert after having consumed the meat of the Passover offering,” answer the question?
The proper answer to the smart son’s question is that G’d took us out of Egypt using all kinds of supernatural miracles in doing so, and that this redemption was not a temporary redemption subject to being reversed, but that it made of the Jewish people a free people, a people never again to become enslaved collectively. Not only did the Egyptians “let us go,” but they tried to “expel” us out of fear that more of their number would die if we stayed on their soil a minute longer. The answer that the author of the Haggadah shel Pessach suggests that the father give to this “smart” son seems to leave out the principal reasons for the legislation by concentrating on something of secondary or even still lesser significance.
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Kedushat Levi
The aforementioned considerations also solve the problem raised in Brachot 9 where the Talmud questions why G’d used the formulation of: דבר נא באזני העם, “please speak in the hearing of the people, etc.” (Exodus 11,2) In that verse G’d appeals to Moses to have the people “borrow” valuables from their Egyptian neighbours, ostensibly to help them worship their G’d in the desert in a festive manner. The Talmud understands the word נא there as a plea, G’d explaining to Moses that it was important that the Israelites leave their land of slavery with riches, as He had promised this to Avraham 430 years earlier, since He did not want Avraham to say to Him that He only fulfilled part of His promise to him. We must ask, that surely G’d is expected to keep all His promises regardless of whether Avraham would complain or not!
Before answering this question we need to preface the answer by referring to the halachah that מעשה נסים אסורים בהנאה, that the direct proceeds of miracles must not be used for mundane personal comfort or profit.” (Taanit 24). [If I understand Rashi there correctly, this is not a direct prohibition, but a call to us to refrain as much as possible to take advantage of proceeds from miracles for mundane purposes. Ed.]
Let us first examine why it was essential for the Israelites to leave Egypt with “loot,” and again after the Egyptians drowned in the sea, to strip them of their belongings? Are not the proceeds of miracles forbidden for mundane use?
The fact is that the prohibition to make mundane use of the proceeds of miracles applies only to people who do not recognize the Creator as G’d unless He identified Himself to them through performing miracles. Seeing that such people put G’d to the trouble to perform these miracles, they are not entitled to use the proceeds for their own comfort or welfare. Sadly, the spiritual immaturity of the Israelites at the time of the ten plagues, or a week later when they were despairing on account of the Egyptian army pursuing them, was such that they did not take the Creator’s status for granted without being constantly reminded of it by His miracles performed on their behalf. It was therefore forbidden for them to make mundane use of the proceeds of these miracles.
We can now understand why G’d had to plead with Moses to ask the people for the “loan” of their precious garments and silver and golden trinkets, as he could not understand why they had to burden themselves with such loot that they could not make use of. G’d therefore had to explain to Moses that in order to fulfill His promise to Avraham, He had to give these instructions, regardless of whether these riches were useful to the recipients. Avraham’s relationship to G’d was most certainly not built on his expecting miracles to convince him that G’d was still looking after him; therefore there was no reason why he should not take advantage of material blessings that had come his way through G’d’s intervention in the laws of nature. If, therefore, the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt largely because of a promise made by G’d to Avraham, everything connected with the Exodus was result of Avraham’s close relationship with G’d, and his descendants were entitled to make mundane use of the loot they took out of Egypt with them. The miracles G’d performed in Egypt, although performed for the Israelites, were orchestrated by G’d only because the people of Israel were direct descendants of the three patriarchs. This also answers the question of the “smart” son מה העדות, “what are the “Testimonies,” the miracles by means of which G’d “legitimizes” Himself. This is how Maimonides defines the word עדות, as “miracles,” as they testify to the presence and power of the invisible G’d [I have not been able to find this in Maimonides, but the Seforno on Deut. 6,20, mentions this aspect of the word. Ed.]
Before answering this question we need to preface the answer by referring to the halachah that מעשה נסים אסורים בהנאה, that the direct proceeds of miracles must not be used for mundane personal comfort or profit.” (Taanit 24). [If I understand Rashi there correctly, this is not a direct prohibition, but a call to us to refrain as much as possible to take advantage of proceeds from miracles for mundane purposes. Ed.]
Let us first examine why it was essential for the Israelites to leave Egypt with “loot,” and again after the Egyptians drowned in the sea, to strip them of their belongings? Are not the proceeds of miracles forbidden for mundane use?
The fact is that the prohibition to make mundane use of the proceeds of miracles applies only to people who do not recognize the Creator as G’d unless He identified Himself to them through performing miracles. Seeing that such people put G’d to the trouble to perform these miracles, they are not entitled to use the proceeds for their own comfort or welfare. Sadly, the spiritual immaturity of the Israelites at the time of the ten plagues, or a week later when they were despairing on account of the Egyptian army pursuing them, was such that they did not take the Creator’s status for granted without being constantly reminded of it by His miracles performed on their behalf. It was therefore forbidden for them to make mundane use of the proceeds of these miracles.
We can now understand why G’d had to plead with Moses to ask the people for the “loan” of their precious garments and silver and golden trinkets, as he could not understand why they had to burden themselves with such loot that they could not make use of. G’d therefore had to explain to Moses that in order to fulfill His promise to Avraham, He had to give these instructions, regardless of whether these riches were useful to the recipients. Avraham’s relationship to G’d was most certainly not built on his expecting miracles to convince him that G’d was still looking after him; therefore there was no reason why he should not take advantage of material blessings that had come his way through G’d’s intervention in the laws of nature. If, therefore, the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt largely because of a promise made by G’d to Avraham, everything connected with the Exodus was result of Avraham’s close relationship with G’d, and his descendants were entitled to make mundane use of the loot they took out of Egypt with them. The miracles G’d performed in Egypt, although performed for the Israelites, were orchestrated by G’d only because the people of Israel were direct descendants of the three patriarchs. This also answers the question of the “smart” son מה העדות, “what are the “Testimonies,” the miracles by means of which G’d “legitimizes” Himself. This is how Maimonides defines the word עדות, as “miracles,” as they testify to the presence and power of the invisible G’d [I have not been able to find this in Maimonides, but the Seforno on Deut. 6,20, mentions this aspect of the word. Ed.]
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Likutei Halakhot
This corresponds to the 4 cups of wine at the Passover Seder. Wine has two parts, as our Rabbis Z"L said, "if a person is worthy it makes him a head and if he is not worthy it makes him a poor person". Yoma 76b. This means that a person's knowledge is elevated by the wine, and being that the essence of knowledge is the revelation of providence, knowledge of providence is enhanced by drinking wine and one becomes a 'head'. But when a person is not worthy, the opposite happens and one becomes poor, for the true pauper is he who lacks knowledge, which is the main cause of material poverty. When a person lacks knowledge of providence, which is the essence of knowledge, this causes poverty, as in, "you shall eat it with despair" (Genesis 3:17), representing oppression and poverty that come on account of the blemish of eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which corresponds to natural sciences. Furthermore, nature corresponds to darkness and night, corresponding to the blemish of the moon, which is the root source of poverty, as is known. Wine is therefore comprised of both elements: it brings on sleep, which corresponds to nature, which corresponds to night and sleep, and when one is worthy, it arouses from sleep, as in, "your pallet is like good wine which makes the lips of the sleeping speak". Song of songs 7:10. Good wine, which comes from the realm of holiness, arouses a person from sleep, represented by speech. During sleep, speech disappears, while good wine arouses from sleep and evokes speech, which comes from knowledge, as in 'makes the lips of the sleeping speak', which corresponds to providence, corresponding to the arousal from sleep. And since wine is comprised of both elements, when a person is worthy it represents knowledge, Providence, as in, "wine that makes glad", corresponding to the world of the future, as in "wine makes glad" (Psalms 104:15). And when one is not worthy it is an intoxicating wine, which confuses knowledge and errs with natural sciences, which corresponds to sleep. Therefore wine must be carefully guarded from the touch of a non-Jew, more than anything else. Nothing else in the world besides wine becomes forbidden by the touch of a non-Jew. As soon as a non-Jew touches wine, and touch is with the hands, the wine is drawn into the realm of nature, which corresponds to the non-Jew, since the wine itself is comprised of both aspects. Therefore a non-Jew, who corresponds to nature, makes the wine impure with the touch of his hand, for the wine is immediately drawn into the realm of nature, and is therefore unsuitable for a Jew, who is above nature, and whose food and drink should be holy, since the knowledge of providence is drawn through food and drink. Therefore, the blemish of the wine is specifically by their touch with the hands, for the blemish of the knowledge of providence is mainly through a blemish of the hands, of the 28 phalanges of the hands, which correspond to the 28 letters of creation. The hands of the non-Jews though, are the opposite of this, and are in the category of "the hands are the hands of Esau" (Genesis 27:22), corresponding to the mistaken belief in nature, corresponding to "my power and the might of my hand", and therefore wine is blemished by the hand of a non-Jew. This forbidden wine is then in the category of the mistaken belief in natural sciences, which corresponds to sleep. This is alluded to in the word Nesekh, נֶסֶךְ, the term for forbidden wine, as in, "For G-d Nasakh נָסַךְ (poured) a spirit of slumber" (Isaiah 29:10), which refers to stargazers who have a mistaken belief in the constellations. Therefore at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when Providence was revealed, it is a commandment to drink 4 cups of wine, for wine is then in the category of 'if one is worthy the one becomes a head', for now at the Passover Seder, knowledge is elevated and providence is greatly revealed through the wine, for G-d drew Providence and broke the night, the sleep, as in "around midnight I will go out within Egypt". Wine is then in the category of 'wine makes glad' and a person is able to speak and tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt on this night, by means of the wine as in 'wine makes the lips of the sleeping speak'. This corresponds to "song is only recited on wine". Berachot 35b. For all songs are drawn from the world of the future, when song will be aroused in the world, as stated in the holy Zohar III 286b, as in, "Then Moses will sing". Exodus 15:1. It does not say 'sang', in the past tense, but 'will sing' in the future, teaching us that he will sing in the world of the future. Sanhedrin 91b. This is because the essence of song comes from the world of the future, when Moses will sing, for song will then be aroused in the world. This is the source of all songs - song in this world over miracles, for all miracles come about by G-d drawing providence from the end of the world, from the world of the future, into this world. And when a miracle takes place, we draw song from the world of the future into this world, which is all the songs for the miracles that we sing. Therefore, song is only recited over wine, for wine will then be absorbed into holiness, corresponding to knowledge of providence, for the essence of song is drawing providence, which is the song for the miracle, into this world, which is why song should be over wine. This is represented by the 4 cups of wine at the Passover Seder, corresponding to the Four Kingdoms. When wine is absorbed into holiness, corresponding to Providence, all exiles of the Four Kingdoms are subdued, for their main power is through nature, and by means of the Providence that is revealed by the knowledge that is drawn by the 4 cups of wine, they are all eliminated.
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