Musar su Esodo 11:26

He also diminishes his stature as a human being thereby [(by speaking lashon hara)] until he emerges "worse than a dog," as Chazal have said (Pesachim 118a): "One who speaks lashon hara … deserves to be thrown to the dogs, it being written (Shemoth 23:1): 'You shall not receive a false report,' which is read as you shall not spread, which is preceded by (Ibid. 22:30): '…to the dog shall you throw it.'" The rationale is obvious, as written by the Maharal of Prague: "For the dogs guarded themselves when necessary, from 'sharpening their tongues,' as it is written (Ibid. 11;7): 'And against all the children of Israel, a dog shall not sharpen its tongue' — and he [(a human being)], whom the L-rd accorded understanding and knowledge could not restrain his yetzer from this [(lashon hara)] — wherefore he is 'worse' than a dog."

He also brings himself to eminence in this world, as it is written in Mechilta, Parshath Mishpatim on Shemoth 32:30: "And flesh torn in the field you shall not eat. To the dog shall you throw it" — to teach us that the Holy One Blessed be He does not withhold reward from any creature, as it is written (Shemoth 11:17): "And to all the children of Israel a dog will not sharpen its tongue." Now is this not a kal vachomer [i.e., Does it not follow a fortiori]: If it is so [i.e., that He does not withhold reward] from an animal, how much more so from a human being!

The Maharal of Prague gives another reason. The dogs guarded themselves when necessary [at the exodus] from barking, as it is written (Ibid. 11;7): "And against all the children of Israel a dog will not sharpen its tongue." Yet he [man] whom the L-rd has accorded understanding and knowledge cannot keep his yetzer from doing so — wherefore he is worse than they!

The use here of (the word) "eyes" shows that the quality of pride is to be attributed to the sense of sight. Of meekness it is said (Hab. i. 13), "Thou art of humbler eyes than to behold evil," and so forth. With regard to the impudent, thou observest in most cases that his eyes stare and he is indifferent to shame; thus it is said of them (Isa. iii. 9), "The shew of their countenance doth witness against them." Thus thou wilt notice that the eyes of the unrighteous, the impudent, are troubled and restless, like those of whom it is said (Job xi. 20), "The eyes of the wicked shall fail." Again it is said of the impudent (Jer. v. 3), "They have made their faces harder than a rock." On the other hand, thou wilt find that the prudent man lowers his eyes so that he may merit, by reason of this, the abundant favor of God and men, as it is said (Prov. iii. 34), "He giveth grace unto the lowly"; and as we, with the help of God, exalted be He, will explain very clearly in the successive chapters. This favor can be acquired only by means of (the faculty of) sight, having regard to him that sees and that which is seen. Thus it was said of Moses our Master, peace be unto him (Num. xii. 3), "The man Moses was very meek." Previously it was said, corresponding to this (Ex. xi. 3), "The man Moses was very great."

The words: ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם in 3,26 also contain a mystical dimension. This also touches upon the subject of the great gift of Torah G–d has bestowed on the Jewish people. I have found the following comment among the writings of a great Kabbalistic scholar Rabbi Chayim, the leading disciple of the Arizal. [I will paraphrase his comments Ed.] "As a consequence of Moses' accepting the mixed multitude as converts, he became involved in the סוד העיבור, the calculations pertaining to leap months, leap years, etc., as well as their halachic implications of the time conceptions can take place. One of these calculations involves determining when a Jubilee year occurs (the fiftieth year after the conclusion of seven periods of seven years). G–d had not wanted to accept this mixed multitude as converts. Had they not been accepted, Israel would neither have experienced death nor exile, since the acceptance of the Tablets would have signified everlasting life, as our sages (Eruvin 54 on Exodus 32,16) have taught us when they said: אל תקרא חרות אלא חירות, "do not read 'engraved' i.e. Charut but 'Free' (from death) i.e. Cheyrut." Moses had not consulted G–d before accepting this mixed multitude, thinking that he was performing a good deed by bringing them closer to G–d (which had been Abraham's lifework). In addition he had developed a personal interest in the conduct of these people as he had hinted when he referred to them (Numbers 11,21) as העם אשר אנכי בקרבו, "the people amongst whom I find myself." He had also foretold that these people would convert when he told Pharaoh in Exodus 11,8 that כל העם אשר ברגליך ישתחוו לי, "all these people who now sit at your feet will bow down to me." This meant that Moses was anxious to convert these people. Alas, not only did Moses fail to truly convert them, but they also infected the Israelites proper with their lack of faith during the episode of the golden calf, so that G–d told Moses: לך רד כי שחת עמך, "Go and descend, for your people have become corrupt" (Exodus 32,7). These people and their offspring by now made up the majority of the Jews in the desert. This is why Moses was forced to insert an extra year after every 49 years. This extra year serves as a warning that Israel must not again err by accepting converts wholesale and be misled by them. [I suspect that the association between "freedom" which is emphasized in the יובל- year legislation of the Torah -although the Torah calls it דרור- (Leviticus 25,10), forms the background to the סוד העיבור which Rabbi Chayim calls "this involvement of Moses in each generation in the determination of the Jubilee year." He must mean that the need to proclaim freedom would not have arisen but for Moses' accepting the mixed multitude when he did Ed.]

The Midrash tells us that the number of Israelites would never be fewer than 600,000. Dogs is a hyperbole for קליפה. Our sages in Baba Kama 60 say that it is the dogs that call out: "the angel of death is coming!" When the firstborn of Egypt were slain and the Jews were about to leave Egypt, the Torah described the dogs as having remained silent towards the Israelites (Exodus 11,7). The hyperbole used in the Midrash saw Jacob as appointing the dogs as guards over the sheep i.e. Jewish people in exile, so that they would not become further infested with the pollutants of the original serpent. The opinion cited that he used 1,200,000 dogs is in accordance with the view expressed in Shabbat 88 that when Israel committed the sin of the golden calf, 1,200,000 destructive angels descended in order to remove each man's jewelry from him. This had been bestowed on them at the time Israel volunteered to accept the Torah. Jacob wanted to make these dogs subservient to the flocks, i.e. the Jewish people, in order to fulfil what is written in the verse in Proverbs 16,7: "When a man's ways please G–d, He makes even his enemies be at peace with him." We have stated that צאן is an allusion to the people of Israel. An interesting mnemonic note may be the halachic term צאן ברזל, which is used for inalienable property of the wife which returns to her family regardless of any rights of the husband. The four wives of Jacob produced the twelve tribes. Their names were: בלהה, רחל, זלפה, לאה. The first letters of their respective names spell ברזל, something that will endure under all circumstances.