Musar su Esodo 8:19

I have heard some interesting comments by people who specialise in the exegesis of רשומות, "records." The Torah states in Exodus 8,19: ושמתי פדת בין עמי ובין עמך, למחר יהיה האות הזה. Moses tells Pharaoh in advance of the arrival of the plague of the wild beasts: "And I will make a distinction between My people and between your people; tomorrow this sign will come to pass." The commentators point out that the word פדות which is normally spelled with the letter ו, is here spelled defectively. Rashi points out in his commentary on Lamentations 1,6: וילכו בלא כח לפני רודף, "They could only walk feebly before the pursuer," that the word רודף is always spelled without the letter ו, whereas in this instance it is spelled plene. This is an indication that here the pursuit was totally unrelenting. This spelling gave rise to one of our liturgical poets becoming upset about the fact that whereas the pursuit of the Jewish people by their adversaries is spelled plene, the word for redemption, i.e. גאולה, is spelled defective in Isaiah 63,4: ושנת גאולי באה. He was also upset that the word פדת in our verse was spelled defective. [I have not seen an edition in which the words שנת גאולי are spelled defective. Ed.] Moses is therefore supposed to have referred to a different morrow, i.e. למחר, at which time the redemption, פדות, would be total and include the letter ו.

I would like to offer an additional thought on this anomaly. Rashi in his commentary on Leviticus 26,42- where the Torah writes that even while in exile, and while being persecuted, G–d will always remember the covenant with Jacob, Isaac and Abraham (in our favour)- states that the name יעקוב is spelled with the letter ו on only five occasions in the Bible. The name אליהו, on the other hand, is spelled without the final letter ו on five occasions. Rashi views Jacob as having "borrowed" a letter from the name of Elijah on those five occasions. He considers that letter as a pledge by the prophet Elijah that he will come to announce the deliverance of Israel. The mystical dimension of these five occasions is that they refer to the last two letters ו and ה in the Ineffable Name. Jacob, because he is the מרכבה, "carrier" of G–d's Presence, "borrowed" the letter ו from the name of אליהו five times. This letter was to serve as guarantee that the eventual redemption would be a full and comprehensive one. It should be able to combine with the letter נקבה תסובב גבר, the female element. This is an allusion to the promise in Jeremiah 31,22, that at that time שירה חדשה, "woman will court man," as we have mentioned elsewhere, and that the שירה חדשה, will be transformed into a שיר חדש. When Moses speaks about האות הזה, instead of האות הזאת in Exodus 8,19, this is an allusion to the time when the word אות will be treated as masculine in all its aspects. The word אות refers to the extra letter which will be added to the spelling of the word פדת, so that it will be seen to be פדות. Moses speaks of האות הזה as in (זה לך האות), to show that at the time of the final redemption the numerical value of the word זאת (when you ignore the "zeros,") will be 12, the same as the numerical value of the word זה. It is an allusion to the 12 צירופים, different permutations, in which the Ineffable Name can be spelled when using a word for each letter. It is significant that in Michah 7,15 we read concerning such a time in the future: כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות. The prophet describes that the miracles performed by G–d at the time of the Exodus will pale into insignificance, and he describes how the nations of the world will react to G–d's manifesting His power anew. It is at that time that the real thrust of Moses' promise in Exodus 8,19: "I will set these My signs," will truly be fulfilled.