출애굽기 12:22의 주석

אזוב HYSSOP — a kind of herb which has thin stalks.

מן הדם אשר בסף, so that every sprinkling be preceded by immersion of the hyssop in the blood, in accordance with G’d’s instructions in verse 6 “on the two upright posts and the lintel.” The sprinkling of the upright posts with the blood had to precede that of the lintel. This could not be accomplished unless there had been three separate sprinklings to reflect the three letters י which served G’d as a means with which to create the universe. This is based on the saying in Menachot 29 that the world of the future (or the world in which we spend our afterlife) was created with the letter י, as opposed to the material universe we live in now, which was created with the letter ה. The other two occasions when the letter י symbolised a world in a state of perfection was before Adam had sinned in Gan Eden, and on the day the Jewish people accepted the Torah at Mount Sinai until the day they sinned with the golden calf (40 days) All this is based on Isaiah 26,4 כי בי-ה ה' צור עולמים. The reason why the letter י is presumed to symbolise this kind of perfection is that it is a mere dot (when written) and requires no physical outline, צורה, as do all the other letters. Not only that, the uniqueness of that letter symbolises the uniqueness of the Creator Who presides over two universes both of infinite duration, or over heaven and earth (one single universe consisting of two parts both parts of which are eternal).

בסף, a small basin. The word occurs again in Kings II 12,14 as ספות כסף, “silver bowls.” It occurs also in Esther 2,21 as שומרי הסף where its meaning is less clear, more likely meaning ”threshold.”

ואתם לא תצאו, “as far as your yourselves are concerned, do not set foot outside the threshold of your houses.” Rashi points out that this warning became necessary after G’d had given permission to the forces normally active as destructive elements, such as the angel of death, to be about on that night and to perform their duties. These forces are not equipped to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, and the night is the period during which they perform most of their work. He quotes Psalms 104,20 בו תרמוש כל חיתו יער, “that is when all the beasts of the forest stir,” as his source. Nachmanides writes that he does not understand Rashi’s remark that the night is the period during which all destructive forces enjoy free reign. If that were so, he argues, why is it not forbidden to go out every night in order to protect oneself against these forces, based on the warning in the verse we have just read? Rashi should have written that on this particular night the destructive forces in the world had been given a free hand to carry out their work. The reason that the Torah, i.e. Rashi, did not want to present the matter in this light, is that seeing that G’d personally, orchestrated the killing of the firstborn a wrong impression would have been created. What happened was as follows: G’d warned the Israelites not to leave their houses during that night because during that night G’d Himself was traversing all parts of Egypt, similar to a king who patrols his realm. Just as a king does not do so without an entourage which precedes him to herald his coming, and which ensures that no assassins lie in wait for the king, so it is with G’d, as we know from Zecharyah 14,5 ובא ה' אלוקי כל קדושים עמך, “and the Lord my G’d will arrive and all the holy angels will be with You.” Seeing that we find that at a time when the destructive forces have been given free reign they do not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent, the only way the Israelites would all be immune on that night was if they stayed indoors. Normal people do not go out at night even if they have not been told not to do so, because they are aware that it is not as safe as to go out by day. If, on that night, an Israelite would change his habit of staying at home, he would expose himself more than he would on other nights. How do we deal with the words: ולא יתן המשחית לבא אל בתיכם לנגוף, “and He will not allow the destroyer to enter your homes to inflict him?” The meaning is that the destructive forces which abound every night anyways, will be restricted to the outside by G’d on this night, so that no Israelite who stays indoors will die on that night, [even if according to G’d’s timetable set for him before he was born, this was the date when normally he should have died. Ed.] On that night only G’d Himself killed Egyptians. Some commentators simply say that the word המשחית in our context here is not an adjective but a noun describing the act of destruction, השחתה.

Three stalks are called a bunch. I.e., we should not explain that five stalks are needed. See Tosafos, Maseches Succah 13a. (Nachalas Yaakov)

V. 22. Gleich bei diesem ersten Gesetze ist uns ein konkretes Beispiel von השב׳׳פ gegeben. Wir sehen hier Mosche eine die Ausführung eines Gesetzes näher präzisierende Bestimmung den Ältesten des Volkes mitteilen, welche in den voranstehenden Aussprüchen Gottes nicht enthalten ist. So hatte Mosche auch bei allen späteren Gesetzen nähere Erläuterungen empfangen und mitzuteilen, die unter den nur das Allgemeine enthaltenden Aussprüchen Gottes nicht mit aufgeführt sind, und eben der mündlichen Mitteilung vorbehalten bleiben. —

והגעתם אל המשקוף ואל שתי המזוזות, “and apply some to the lintel and to the two doorposts.” In verse 7 of this chapter the Torah had issued these instructions in the reverse order, i.e. to apply the blood to the two doorposts and the lintel.” The reason for this is to teach us that the order in which this ritual was performed did not matter.

אגדת אזוב A BUNCH OF HYSSOP — three stalks are called a bunch (cf. Shabbat 109b; Sukkah 13a).

ואתם לא תצאו, from the house which has been marked with blood. ופסח, and in this fashion G’d will skip, pass-over. The meaning of the words is similar to Ezekiel 9,4 והתוית תו על מצחות האנשים, “you will mark the foreheads of these men with a sign, etc.”

לא תצאו, seeing that the sign of the blood on the doorposts is the only thing which protects you.

This teaches that once dominion is given to the destroyer. . . This is not referring to the destroyer of the Egyptians, as every first-born was smitten although he did not step outside. Rather it is referring to the destroyer that comes out every night, as Rashi proceeds to explain, “Night is when the destroying angels have dominion.” The B’nei Yisrael were commanded not to go out this night in particular — although all nights have the same danger — so the Egyptians would not say, “Just as we were smitten, they were also smitten,” and then they would say that Moshe is a liar. For they would not know that the regular destroyer did it, whereas Moshe was speaking of the special destroyer who smote the Egyptian first-born.

אגודת אזוב wie die Form אזב schon durch ihren Laut sich als die schwächere Form von עשב ankündigt, so bezeichnet es auch ein schwaches, unselbständiges Gewächs im Gegensatz zur starken, hochanstrebenden Zeder. Es scheint allerdings, da es גבעולין, holzartige Stengel hatte (Para 11, 9), zu den strauchartigen Gewächsen zu gehören. Es dürfte jedoch zweifelhaft sein, ob darunter unser Ysop zu verstehen sei, der allerdings auch auf Mauern wachsend vorkommt und somit dem אזוב אשר יצא בקיר entsprechen würde, allein doch immerhin ein schuhhoch werdendes Gewächs ist, das so stark ist, dass es in Gärten zu Einfassungen gebraucht wird. Vielleicht ist es aber eben eine der niedrigsten und schwächsten Baumarten im Gegensatz zur Zeder. Jedenfalls repräsentiert es Kleinheit und Schwäche. Vielleicht ist der Gegensatz מן הארז אשר בלבנון ועד האזוב אשר יצא בקיר (Könige I. 5, 13) auch im Standpunkt zu suchen. Der Ysop ist eine gemeine Pflanze, auf jeder Mauer zu finden, braucht auch keinen besondern, bedeutenden Boden zum Fortkommen; die Zeder aber findet man nur auf dem Libanon. Kleinheit, Schwäche, Bescheidenheit, alle diese Merkmale entsprechen aber dem Gebrauch, welchen das Gesetz vom אזוב hier und auch bei טומאת מת und מצורע macht. Mit Ysop soll das Blut an die Häuser gegeben werden. Schwach, bedeutungslos ist der Gebende und gewinnt nur Kraft und Zukunft durch Blut des Peßach. Während bei פרה das "Bündel" beim Ysop nur מצוה ist, ist es hier beim Peßach wesentlich, מעכב, dass das Blut mit einem aus drei Ysopstengeln gewundenen Bunde gegeben werde. Repräsentiert ja das Blut wie der Gebende nicht einen einzelnen, sondern eine חבורה, eine אגודה, einen Verein von Persönlichkeiten. —

אשר בסף means WHICH IS IN THE VESSEL, as in (2 Kings 12:14) “basins (ספות) of silver.”

Oben heißt es: ונתנו על שתי המזוזת ועל המשקוף, hier: והגעתם על המשקוף ועל שתי המזוזת, um zu lehren, dass אם הקדים זה לזה יצא (Mechilta), daß beide, die sich hingebende Huldigung Gottes in unserer sozialen (מזוזת), wie die in unserer physischen Stellung (משקוף), gleich bedeutsam sind. Wenn gleichwohl והגעתם mehr die Tätigkeit des Hinanbringens des Blutes, ונתנו die Wirkung dieser Tätigkeit, das daraus hervorgehende Vorhandensein des Symbols an den Häusern ausdrückt, so dürfte zunächst wohl ausgesprochen sein, dass zuerst die Dachschwelle und dann die Pfosten mit dem Blute berührt werden sollen, an den Häusern haftend aber das Symbol zuerst an den Pfosten und dann an der Dachschwelle zu denken sei. In dem Begriff des Hauses tritt die soziale Abgrenzung zuerst hervor. Genetisch geht die Huldigung der Gottesmacht in Mitte der Naturgewalten voran, sie bedingt die Huldigung Gottes in der Geschichte. Da auch die erste Wirkung dieser Huldigung nicht die soziale Befreiung, sondern die physische Erhaltung war, heißt es daher auch V. 23: וראה את הדם על .המשקוף וגו׳

מן הדם אשר בסף WITH THE BLOOD WHICH IS IN THE BASIN — Why does Scripture repeat this (אשר בסף) again? In order that you should not say that one dipping of the hyssop in the basin suffices for the three sprinklings, therefore it is again stated: “[you shall touch the lintel…] “with the blood that is in the basin”, to show that each separate sprinkling must be with the blood which is in the basin — for each touching of the lintel and doorposts there must be a separate dipping (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:22:1).

ואתם לא תצאו וגו׳ AND NONE OF YOU SHALL GO OUT etc. — This tells us that when once permission is given to the destroying angel to wound he makes no distinction between righteous and wicked (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:22:2) — and nighttime is the domain of the destroying agencies as it is said, (Psalms 104:20) “[Thou makest darkness and it is night], wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth”.