Commento su Esodo 12:21

משכו DRAW OUT — He who has sheep let him draw one out from his own,

THEN MOSES CALLED FOR ALL THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL, AND SAID UNTO THEM: DRAW OUT, AND TAKE YOU LAMBS ACCORDING TO YOUR FAMILIES AND SLAUGHTER THE PASSOVER. This chapter shortens the account of how the laws which G-d had commanded Moses, as stated in the section above, [were communicated by him to Israel], as it is self-understood that Moses related all the laws to Israel in detail and taught them the matter involved, it being included in the verse, As the Eternal hath commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.²²⁶Verse 28. Instead, Scripture mentioned this section in a general way, saying that Moses called for all the elders of Israel and they gathered together to him all the people. Then they [the elders]²²⁷So explained later on in the text, and so clearly rendered in the Tur: “Moses called for all the elders of Israel and they gathered together to him all the people, and then they themselves said to the whole congregation of Israel, Draw out, and take you lambs, etc.” said to the whole congregation of Israel, “Draw out the sheep from the flock to your homes, and keep it there from the tenth day of the month [till the fourteenth, when it is to be slaughtered as the Passover-offering].”
It is possible that Scripture used the word, mishchu (draw out), because their sheep were very far from them in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.²²⁸Genesis 46:34. It said, and take you, meaning “take the lambs according to your families,” every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses,²²⁹Above, Verse 3. and slaughter the Passover lamb²³⁰Verse 21 before us. at eventide,²³¹Above, Verse 6. all in accordance with what has been explained above concerning this commandment.
Now we read in the Mechilta:²³²Mechilta on the verse before us. See above, Note 205. “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel. This teaches us that he constituted them a court.²³³The teaching is derived from the word z’keinim (the elders), “and zakein denotes only one who has acquired wisdom” (Kiddushin 32 b). See Ramban above, Verse 2, that “elders” are needed for the Sanctification of the New Moon, as mentioned in the section above, and hence Moses constituted them a court. And he said unto them. The word came from the mouth of Moses, saying it to all Israel.²³⁴According to this opinion of Rabbi Yashiya, the court of the elders was constituted only for the Sanctification of the New Moon, and then after the elders gathered the people by command of Moses, he himself said to the people, Draw out, etc. These are the words of Rabbi Yashiya. Rabbi Yonathan says that the word came out from the mouth of Moses saying it to the elders, and the elders saying it to all Israel.” Thus according to Rabbi Yashiya, the expression, Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, means that he told them to gather together to him all the people, [and he himself told the people all the laws of the Passover mentioned above], as I have explained. But according to the opinion of Rabbi Yonathan, the elders related it to the assembly. Accordingly, the verse stating, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,²³⁵Above, Verse 3. refers [not to Moses and Aaron mentioned in the two verses there above, but] to the elders that were assembled before [Moses and Aaron, and they — the elders — spoke to the congregation], as is also the purport of the verse, Then it shall be, if it be done in error by ‘the eyes of the congregation,’²³⁶Numbers 15:24. [which is a reference to the elders of the congregation, members of the Court].

ויקרא משה לכל זקני ישראל, Moses called all the elders of Israel, etc. Although G'd had told Moses to speak to the whole community of Israel we must interpret this commandment as similar to Leviticus 4,13 where the Torah speaks of: "if the whole community of Isael committed an unintentional sin, etc." In that instance the Torah also refers to the elders, as Torat Kohanim explains on that verse. The words following, i.e. ויאמר אליהם, may mean that Moses addressed the rest of the people just as became customary with informing the people of any of the other commandments of the Torah.

למשפחותיכם, a variation of verse 3 where the wording had been לבית אבות.

ויקרא משה לכל זקני ישראל, “Moses called to all the elders of Israel.” This paragraph is a summary, similar to when G’d commanded Moses earlier, saying only כאשר צוה ה' את משה כן עשו, ”the Israelites did in conformity with all that G’d commanded to Moses.” The method that Moses followed in relaying these commands to the people was by telling them details of the legislation before summing it up in general terms. The Torah, reverting to the general terms, כלל, describes Moses calling together the elders who in turn assembled the people at large, telling them משכו וקחו לכם צאן , “draw forth or buy for yourselves a sheep, etc.” It is quite possible that the formulation used was due to the fact that the livestock of the Israelites was quite a distance away from them in the province of Goshen. They were forced to leave their livestock there as sheep, being something repulsive, abominable to the Egyptians, they would not want to antagonize the Egyptians by having their sheep where the Egyptians would see them. The whole paragraph was read to the people, and additional details about what to do with these animals’ blood were added, including the brush to use with which to smear the blood on the doorposts and lintels of their dwellings. They were also warned not to leave their houses during the time that this killing of the firstborn would take place, so as to avoid becoming victims themselves.

Whoever owns lambs shall draw one of his own. Why does Rashi not explain this as he did above (v. 6), “Withdraw your hands from idol worship”? The answer is: Above, Rashi was not explaining the meaning of the verse, but the reason for the mitzvah. For that, a midrashic explanation is sufficient. But here Rashi is explaining the meaning of the verse; thus he offers its simple meaning (Re”m)

V. 21. משכו וקחו וגו׳. "Ziehet aus allen seinen bisherigen und künftig möglichen Bestimmungen und gebet ihm die Bestimmung, Opferausdruck für eure Familien zu werden." Durch משכו und קחו sind die beiden Momente bezeichnet, die den Begriff der Heiligung und Weihe ausmachen. הפסה setzt voraus, dass dem Volke bereits dieser Begriff bekannt, ihm somit bereits das ganze Peßach und Mazzagesetz, wie es vorgehend steht, kund gegeben war. Möglich und wahrscheinlich wurden diese Worte am 10. Nissan, an dem Tage gesprochen, an welchem nun die bereits am ersten erteilte Aufgabe: ויקחו להם וגו׳ in Erfüllung zu bringen war.

ויקרא משה לכל זקני ישראל, Moses called upon all the elders of Israel;” previously the Torah had phrased this as: דברו אל כל עדת ישראל, “speak to the whole congregation of Israel” (verse 3) Why the difference? The commandment to own or partly own the lamb destined to become the Passover offering applied equally to every Israelite. The commandment to slaughter this animal applied only to the elders. Ordinary people, i.e. laymen, were not to perform the act of slaughtering for fear that they might disqualify the animal through an error on their part.!

וקחו OR TAKE, and he who has no sheep let him purchase one in the market (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:21:2).

Alternatively, Moses only told the elders and they in turn told the people. In that event this commandment would be different from all the other commandments in the Torah. The reason that the Israelites were not addressed by Moses directly could be that they had not yet entered the holy covenant, had not yet been circumcised. As a result they needed an additional intermediary. The elders had their own method of prevailing on the people to accept this legislation.

This section adds an explanation to the putting of the blood [of the Passover-offering, mentioned above in Verse 7], i.e., that it be done with a bunch of hyssop and that it be dipped in the blood that is in the basin,²³⁷Verse 22. which was not explicitly mentioned above but in a general way, And they shall take of the blood, etc.²³⁸Above, Verse 7. It teaches us that every undefined “taking” prescribed in the Torah must be with “a bunch,”²³⁹Thus, in the case of the Red Heifer where the verse says, And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet (Numbers 19:6) it means a bunch of cedar-wood and hyssop tied with scarlet (Parah 3:10). and that all “taking” of the blood [prescribed in the Torah] must be in a vessel,²⁴⁰Thus, when Scripture says, And the priest that is anointed shall take of the blood (Leviticus 4:5), it means of the blood that is in the vessel. as our Rabbis have explained.²⁴¹Mechilta here on the matter of “the bunch”. Concerning the principle of taking the blood in a vessel, I have not found a source deriving it from the verse before us. In Zebachim 97 b, it is derived from the verse, And he [Moses] put it in basins (further, 24:6).
And He further explained to them in this section, and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning,²³⁷Verse 22. for on account of it they were commanded to put the blood [of the Passover-offering] upon the lintel so that they would be protected there, just as He said, and there shall be no plague upon you to destroy you.²⁴²Above, Verse 13.
Now Rashi commented: “And none of you shall go out. This teaches us that once permission is given to the destroying angel, he does not discriminate between righteous and wicked, and night-time is the domain of the destroying messengers, as it is said, Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.”²⁴³Psalms 104:20.
I did not understand that which Rashi said, “and night-time is the domain of the destroying messengers, as it is said, … wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.”²⁴³Psalms 104:20. Is a person forbidden on any night to go out of the door of his house until the morning, on the authority of this verse? Rather, Rashi should have said, “for on that night permission to destroy was given the angel of destruction, and therefore He warned them against it.” But the Rabbi [Rashi] did not find it correct to say so since the Holy One, blessed be He, in His Presence and in His glory, was the One who smote [the first-born].²⁴⁴Hence there was nothing unique about this night as far as the destroying angel was concerned since he had no special function that night, and yet the Israelites were warned against going out of the door of their homes until the morning! It must necessarily be that night-time is the domain of the destroying messengers. Now on every other night, if a person goes out and he is harmed by them, the profaning of G-d’s Name is not entailed. But on the night of Passover, if an Israelite were to be harmed, the Egyptians would say that Moses was not a true prophet, and G-d’s Name would be profaned. Hence they were forbidden to go out from their homes.
This subject is taught in the Mechilta in another version:²⁴⁵Mechilta on the verse before us (Lauterbach’s edition, pp. 85-6). “And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. This teaches us that once permission is given to the destroying angel,²⁴⁶“The destroying angel.” In the Mechilta: “the angel.” he does not discriminate between righteous and wicked, as it is said, Come My people, enter into thy chambers … until the indignation be overpast.²⁴⁷Isaiah 26:20. And it also says, Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.²⁴⁸Ezekiel 21:8. And it further says, And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock.²⁴⁹Further, 33:22. This is to teach you²⁵⁰In the Mechilta: “Until the morning. This is to teach you….” that you are to come into a place only in the daytime²⁵¹Literally: “when it is good,” a reference to the verse, And G-d saw the light, that it was good (Genesis 1:4). and leave it only in the daytime.²⁵¹Literally: “when it is good,” a reference to the verse, And G-d saw the light, that it was good (Genesis 1:4). And thus you find that the patriarchs and the prophets observed this as a custom, as it is said: And Abraham rose early in the morning;²⁵²Ibid., 22:3. And Jacob rose up early in the morning;²⁵³Ibid., 28:18. And Moses rose up early in the morning;²⁵⁴Further, 34:4. And Joshua rose up in the morning;²⁵⁵Joshua 3:1. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning.²⁵⁶I Samuel 15:12. Now is it not a kal vachomer:²⁵⁷See above, Note 208. If the patriarchs and the prophets, who went to carry out the will of Him by Whose word the world came into being, observed this as a custom, how much more should all other people observe it! And thus it says, Thou makest darkness, and it is night;²⁴³Psalms 104:20. The young lions roar after their prey;²⁵⁸Psalms 104:21. Thou givest it unto them, they gather it;²⁵⁹Ibid., Verse 28. The sun ariseth, they slink away.²⁶⁰Ibid., Verse 22. From then on, Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labor until the evening.”²⁶¹Ibid., Verse 23. Thus far extends [the quotation from] the Beraitha.²⁶²See above, Note 208.
The purport thereof is to state that Scripture warned the Israelites in Egypt not to go out of the door of their homes on that night because the Holy One, blessed be He, was passing through Egypt like a king who passes from one place to another and whose guardsmen go before him so that people should neither meet him nor see him. This is similar to that which is said, And the Eternal my G-d shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee;²⁶³Zechariah 14:5. and also, And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock,²⁴⁹Further, 33:22. i.e., to protect him [Moses] from the seraphim and the heavenly agencies. And since we find that once permission is given to the destroying angel he does not discriminate between righteous and wicked, therefore a person has no right²⁶⁴Thus there appears a distinction between Rashi’s explanation and that of Ramban. The conclusion drawn from Rashi’s explanation would be that “it is forbidden” to go out on any other night, as Ramban argued. According to Ramban, one has “no right” to do it, since in going against the established order of nature, he may endanger his life, and this he has no right to do. to change from the customary way of the world and leave at night-time, since it is the time of the wild beasts when they go out for prey, and there is no way [for them] to distinguish between righteous and wicked.

משכו, “draw out!” The meaning is to include as many members of the family into participating in the eating of one lamb so that there would be no leftovers. We find the root משך used in this context in Judges 4,7, where Devorah tells Barak that she will arrange that as many warriors as possible will be pulled together to the river Kishon, so as to present a good target for his attack. [Barak was to swoop down from Mount Tabor. Siserah’s chariots would be useless in the river. Ed.] The Torah repeats the instruction to slaughter the lamb, because it had to tell us about the bunch of hyssop that was to be dipped in the blood and smeared on the doorposts of the houses and the lintels. Also it had to tell us because of the end of the verse where the people inside the houses are warned not even to step outside until morning.

למשפחתיכם [A LAMB] ACCORDING TO YOUR FAMILIES — this corresponds to שה לבית אבות a lamb for the house of their fathers in verse 3.