출애굽기 13:2의 Chasidut
קַדֶּשׁ־לִ֨י כָל־בְּכ֜וֹר פֶּ֤טֶר כָּל־רֶ֙חֶם֙ בִּבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בָּאָדָ֖ם וּבַבְּהֵמָ֑ה לִ֖י הֽוּא׃
이스라엘 자손 중에 사람이나 짐승이나 무론하고 초태생은 다 거룩히 구별하여 내게 돌리라 이는 내 것이니라 하시니라
Likutei Halakhot
And this is the aspect of (Ex. 13), “Sanctify to Me all the male firstborns, whatsoever opens the womb among the children of Israel,” which is the beginning of the first passage in the tefillin. For the essence of the tefillin are drawn from the sanctity of the firstborn, which is the first birth, which is the aspect of Yetziath Mitzrayim, which is the aspect of birth, as is known, as on account of this we need to sanctify the first birth which is a male firstborn. As written there, “And it came to pass, when Par`oh would hardly let us go... therefore I sacrifice” etc. And all this is in order to draw on oneself the sanctity of birth of the brains which is the essence of birth, that is, to manage to renew ones vitality and brains at all times as if he was born today, as mentioned. Which, this is is the essence of long life, which are the aspect of tefillin as mentioned. And therefore one needs to give the firstborn to the Kohen or redeem him from him, for the Kohen is the aspect of the elder in holiness, in the aspect of (Ps. 133), “It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard; even Aharon's beard” etc., the aspect of the Eight Tikkunim of the Kohen Gadol, as is known. And this is what our Rabbis z”l said (Shabbath 151), “And let your head lack no oil (Eccl. 9:8) — this is head tefillin.” For the essence of tefillin are drawn from the aspect of “like the precious oil upon the head...” of the elder, Aharon, as mentioned. And therefore by means of giving the firstborn, who is the first birth, to the Kohen, we draw the sanctity of the birth of the brains and vitality, to remember to always renew himself as if he was born today, which this is the essence of tefillin, which are the aspect of brains and long life which we receive from the aforementioned Elder in Holiness, who said that he is extremely old and yet has not begun living at all, as if he was born today. For, one needs to each time begin anew as mentioned, and this is the aspect of Mashiach, of whom it is said (Ps. 2), “Today I have borne you.” For Mashiach will attain this aspect perfectly, which is the aforementioned aspect of long life, as each moment he will begin living anew as if he was born today, in the aspect of “I have borne you today.” For Mashiach will attain the aspect of above time, as explained in Rabbeinu z”l's words on this verse, “I have borne you today;” see there [LM II #61]. For this aspect that the blind one boasted of, who is old yet infantile etc. and the whole world does not amount to him so much as an eyeblink etc., all this is the aspect of above time, which this is the aspect of long life that Mashiach will attain, the aspect of (Ps. 21), “He asked life of You; You gave it to him,” which is the aspect of “David King of Yisrael is Alive and Well.” For David is Mashiach. And this is the aspect of tefillin; that is where is the root of the Mashiach's soul, as is brought, as the root of Mashiach's kingship is in the aspect of the tefillin's knot, and as Rabbeinu z”l said (LM #54), which this is the aspect of (Sam. 1 25), “yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life,” which is said of David, who is Mashiach. The bundle of life is the aspect of tefillin knot, which are the aspect of life as mentioned, the aforementioned aspect of long life, as mentioned.
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 5,22. “Moses said to G’d: ‘what is the purpose of Your having brought harm to this people, etc;?”, ויאמר ה' אל משה עתה תראה כי ביד חזקה וגו' , “G’d said to Moses: ‘now you will see that with a strong hand, etc.’”
We do not only need to understand what Moses meant by adopting what sounds like accusatory attitude vis a vis G’d, but that far from this being the case, he alluded to a very important aspect of Judaism with his wanting to know G’d’s purpose in the details of how He guides the fortunes of the Jewish people. [After the sin of the golden calf, Moses again persists in his desire to be taken into G’d’s confidence. [Compare Exodus Exodus 33,13-16 Ed.]
In our daily prayers in the amidah we pray for Hashem to redeem us, justifying our request by the conviction that it is within His power to do so by saying: כי גואל חזק אתה, “for You are a powerful redeemer.” Why did the sages who formulated this prayer find it necessary to add the adjective חזק, “powerful,” after the word גואל, “Redeemer?” The very idea of G’d “requiring” to resort to התחזקות, “strengthening Himself,” is strange, seeing that we perceive of Him as the personification of “Strength.”
Let us first explain another verse in Exodus 13,2: וידבר ה' אל משה קדש לי כל בכור פטר כל רחם וגו', Hashem said to Moses: ‘sanctify unto me every first born male produced by the womb of a Jewish mother, etc.’” In an apparent response to this commandment, the Torah quotes Moses as saying (verse 3) ויאמר משה אל העם זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים...כי בחוזק יד הוציא ה' אתכם מזה, “Moses said to the people to remember this day when you left Egypt, for Hashem took you out from here using the “strength of His hand.” Moses appears to have departed materially from what G’d had told him to tell the people in His name. Instead of telling the people to sanctify their male firstborns, both of man and beast (in most instances) he tells them to remember the day that they left Egypt!
We do not only need to understand what Moses meant by adopting what sounds like accusatory attitude vis a vis G’d, but that far from this being the case, he alluded to a very important aspect of Judaism with his wanting to know G’d’s purpose in the details of how He guides the fortunes of the Jewish people. [After the sin of the golden calf, Moses again persists in his desire to be taken into G’d’s confidence. [Compare Exodus Exodus 33,13-16 Ed.]
In our daily prayers in the amidah we pray for Hashem to redeem us, justifying our request by the conviction that it is within His power to do so by saying: כי גואל חזק אתה, “for You are a powerful redeemer.” Why did the sages who formulated this prayer find it necessary to add the adjective חזק, “powerful,” after the word גואל, “Redeemer?” The very idea of G’d “requiring” to resort to התחזקות, “strengthening Himself,” is strange, seeing that we perceive of Him as the personification of “Strength.”
Let us first explain another verse in Exodus 13,2: וידבר ה' אל משה קדש לי כל בכור פטר כל רחם וגו', Hashem said to Moses: ‘sanctify unto me every first born male produced by the womb of a Jewish mother, etc.’” In an apparent response to this commandment, the Torah quotes Moses as saying (verse 3) ויאמר משה אל העם זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים...כי בחוזק יד הוציא ה' אתכם מזה, “Moses said to the people to remember this day when you left Egypt, for Hashem took you out from here using the “strength of His hand.” Moses appears to have departed materially from what G’d had told him to tell the people in His name. Instead of telling the people to sanctify their male firstborns, both of man and beast (in most instances) he tells them to remember the day that they left Egypt!
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Kedushat Levi
When we appreciate the foregoing, we can better understand what Moses said to the people in Exodus 13,3 "to remember this day, etc,.” It is interesting that the Talmud is in two minds whether the day Moses wanted the people to remember was a day in Nissan or in Tishrey. Moses left open if the redemption in the future would be under the auspices of the attribute of Mercy or under the auspices of the attribute of Justice. If the former, it would have to occur in the month of Nissan, as had the original redemption when it occurred under the auspices of the attribute of Mercy. If it would occur in Tishrey, this would be proof that the people had sufficient merit to be redeemed even in the month in which G’d sits on His throne as King and judges us all. The Talmud in Rosh Hashanah posits that if the redemption does not occur until the last day in G’d’s “timetable,” it will occur under the auspices of the attribute of Mercy in Nissan. If the redemption will occur sooner, i.e. as a result of the people having accumulated the necessary merits, it will occur in Tishrey under the auspices of the attribute of Justice.
When G’d said to Moses in Exodus 13,2 קדש לי כל בכור, “sanctify for me every firstborn, etc.;” He reminded him that as far as the attribute of Justice was concerned every Jewish firstborn required to be sanctified seeing he had just been spared by the attribute of Justice when it killed the Egyptian firstborns. The Jewish firstborns had been redeemed together with the whole people by an act of Mercy. But the firstborns had a special reason to be grateful; therefore they had to be sanctified to G’d. This is why before relating the content of this legislation concerning the holiness of the firstborn, Moses added a preamble reminding them of the date on which this had occurred. The reminder was an oblique reference that their lives had been spared although they had not been worthy of this at the time. He did not want the Jewish firstborn to interpret the fact that they had survived as proof that they had been more deserving than the rest of the people.
Now we can also understand the verse (5,22) in which Moses asked G’d what had been His purpose in allowing the Jewish people to become subjected to more abuse by the Egyptians since he had appeared on the scene so that he could not understand why G’d had sent him to orchestrate their release.
When G’d said to Moses in Exodus 13,2 קדש לי כל בכור, “sanctify for me every firstborn, etc.;” He reminded him that as far as the attribute of Justice was concerned every Jewish firstborn required to be sanctified seeing he had just been spared by the attribute of Justice when it killed the Egyptian firstborns. The Jewish firstborns had been redeemed together with the whole people by an act of Mercy. But the firstborns had a special reason to be grateful; therefore they had to be sanctified to G’d. This is why before relating the content of this legislation concerning the holiness of the firstborn, Moses added a preamble reminding them of the date on which this had occurred. The reminder was an oblique reference that their lives had been spared although they had not been worthy of this at the time. He did not want the Jewish firstborn to interpret the fact that they had survived as proof that they had been more deserving than the rest of the people.
Now we can also understand the verse (5,22) in which Moses asked G’d what had been His purpose in allowing the Jewish people to become subjected to more abuse by the Egyptians since he had appeared on the scene so that he could not understand why G’d had sent him to orchestrate their release.
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