Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 10:1

A continuation of the analysis of Exodus 13:8-9. Rabbi Horowitz turns reasoning on its head. The reason for the Passover is not the Exodus; the reason for the Exodus was to have a story for future generations to tell on Passover. God made the Exodus from Egypt more dramatic so that we would have a story to tell in times to come.
One might think that the obligation to discuss the Exodus begins on the first day of Nissan: - The Haggadah deduces the lesson that the Seder should be recited only on Passover from two expressions in Exodus 13:8: “On that day,” (on that day but not on Rosh Hodesh) and “It is because of this,” (it is recited only when “this,” matzah and maror is before you.) But why is it necessary to deduce the exclusion of Rosh Hodesh from the words, “On that day?” This would seem to be obvious since “because of this,” also implies that one may recite the Seder only at that time when matzah and maror are on the table - on the eve of the fifteenth day of Nisan. The second expression could have cut right to the essence of the argument: Can one recite the Seder at any time on Passover? No – it must be done when you can say “It is because of this” – the matzah and maror– that God took me out of Egypt. Therefore, it can only be done on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan.
It is not obvious what the verse means when it says, “It is because of this”. The passage being quoted from Exodus 13:7-9 only applies to the matzah and not eating hametz during the seven days; it does not mention the Passover offering or the telling of the Exodus story. We are only able to conclude that Exodus 13:9 applies to Seder night through deductive reasoning from Exodus 12:8: “You shall eat the flesh roasted on this night.”²⁰Exodus 12:8 the word used for deductive reasoning is a gezerah shavah which is a rule of interpretation by which sages connected two verses because both use a similar word or phrase. In this case both Exodus 13:9 and Exodus 12:8 use the word zeh, this. The gezerah shavah is one of the hermeneutic rules in Rabbi Yishmael’s list which appears at the beginning of the daily service One could make similar deductive connection from the phrase in Exodus 12:1: “This month shall be the beginning of months to you,²¹Exodus 12:1; The verse also contains the word zeh.” from which the rabbis concluded that Nisan marks the beginning of the Passover season. Therefore, in our passage, we make a point of saying that Rosh Hodesh is not the day on which we begin the actual celebration of Passover; rather we do so “On that day,” at the eve of Passover.
We can then conclude that the expression “It is because of this which the Lord did for me,” applies to the recitation of the Exodus story. Elsewhere we are told, “For I have hardened his heart…that I might show you these signs which I have done among them, and that you may tell your child and your child’s child what I have done in Egypt, and My signs I have performed among them; that you may know that I am Adonai.”²²Exodus 10:1-2 God did not need to perform so many signs and wonders in Egypt; God could have simply taken us out of Egypt in a single moment. All the signs and wonders and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart served to create a good story to tell on Passover night for generations to come! That is why we say, “It is because of this which the Lord did for me.” The text does not say, “It is because of this God took us out of Egypt;” rather it says “It is because of this that God did for me...” The emphasis is on the signs and wonders and not the Exodus itself. It was for the sake of the future telling of the story that God did all this for me; not simply to take me out of Egypt but to create a story that future generations would tell.
We find other examples in the Bible of people who merited redemption because of generations to come. For instance, we learn in the Midrash²³This Midrash is based on the name of Abraham’s ancestral home town – Ur Kasdim – which is interpreted to mean the furnish of the Chaldeans. that Abraham was saved from the fiery furnace because of the merit of Jacob whose soul he carried in his soul. The binding of Isaac was a greater test for Abraham than it was for Isaac because after the birth of Isaac, the soul of Jacob protected Isaac and no longer needed to protect Abraham. Similarly, the people who left Egypt did not have good deeds and Torah to their credit but were redeemed because of future generations. The Zohar interprets the verse: “so that He chose you, their descendents, from among all peoples, as this present day;”²⁴Deuteronomy 10:15 to mean that God chose Israel due to the future merit of the generation of the Messiah. Similarly, it was for the merit of those who would tell the story of the Exodus that the people in the time of the Exodus merited redemption. This is the meaning of the verse: God redeemed Israel for my sake – that of future generations.

AND I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART. The Rabbis said in Midrash Rabbah:⁹⁴Shemoth Rabbah 5:6. “G-d revealed to Moses that He was destined to harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring judgment upon him for he caused them to work in cruel bondage.” It is also stated there [in Midrash Rabbah]:⁹⁵Ibid., 13:4. “For I have hardened his heart.⁹⁶Further, 10:1. Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘This provides a pretext for the heretics to say that G-d did not allow Pharaoh to repent.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, ‘The mouths of the heretics be closed! Only, if it concerneth the scorners, He scorneth them.⁹⁷Proverbs 3:34. When He warns one on three occasions and he does not turn from his ways, He closes the door of repentance on him in order to punish him for his sin. Such was the case with wicked Pharaoh. After the Holy One, blessed be He, sent him five times⁹⁸“In the case of the first five plagues, it is not stated, ‘The Eternal hardened Pharaoh’s heart,’ but ‘Pharaoh’s heart was hardened’” (Rashi). That is, it was hardened by his own stubborness. [the request to let His people go] and he paid no attention to His words, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You have stiffened your neck and hardened your heart; I will double your defilement.’”⁹⁹Literally: “I will add defilement to your defilement.”
The Rabbis [in the above Midrash] have thus discussed the question which all ask:¹⁰⁰See Ibn Ezra here, and Rambam in his Shemonah Perakim, Chapter 8, and in his Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Teshubah 6:3, where this problem is discussed. “If G-d hardened his heart, what then was Pharaoh’s sin?” For this there are two explanations, and both of them are true. One is that Pharaoh in his wickedness had unjustifiably perpetrated such great evils against Israel that justice required that the ways of repentance be withheld from him, as is so indicated in many places in the Torah and in the Writings.¹⁰¹See Rambam in Mishneh Torah, ibid., where he quotes from the Prophets and Writings to substantiate this point. He was judged according to his wickedness which he had originally committed of his own will. The second explanation is that half of the plagues came upon him because of his transgressions, for in connection with them it is only said: And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened;¹⁰²Further, Verses 13 and 22, and 8:15. And Pharaoh hardened his heart.¹⁰³Ibid., 8:28 and 9:7. Thus Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go for the glory of G-d. But when the plagues began bearing down upon him and he became weary to suffer them, his heart softened and he bethought himself to send them out on account of the onslaught of the plagues, not in order to do the will of his Creator. Then G-d hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate,¹⁰⁴Deuteronomy 2:30. so that His name may be declared [throughout all the earth].¹⁰⁵Further, 9:16. Similar in meaning is the verse, Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Eternal.¹⁰⁶Ezekiel 38:23. And that which He said before the plagues, And I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go,¹⁰⁷Above, 4:21. was merely His warning to Moses of that which He was destined to do to Pharaoh in the last [five] plagues, it being similar to that which He said, And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go.¹⁰⁸Ibid., 3:19. This then is the meaning of the verse [before us], And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs. That is to say, “I will harden his heart so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt,”¹⁰⁹Further, 11:9. since in the last five plagues, as well as at the drowning in the sea, it is said, And the Eternal hardened the heart of Pharaoh,¹¹⁰Ibid., 14:8. for the king’s heart is in the hand of the Eternal; He turneth it whithersoever He will.¹¹¹Proverbs 21:1.

SHETHUM HA’AYIN.’ The commentators have not found the root of this word [shethum] anywhere else in Scripture. Onkelos translated it: “who sees well,” as [if to say] “open-eyed,” and in the language of the Sages we find:²⁰⁶Abodah Zarah 69a. “sufficient time sheyishtom and to close it up” — meaning to say: [enough time to open a hole in the barrel of wine] — and to stop it up again. Perhaps the word [shethum] is a composite one [consisting of the two words shethui mah — “whatever is put” before the eye], from the root ‘shithi’ (My setting) these My signs,²⁰⁷Exodus 10:1. Thus, unlike Rashi and R’dak who explain the word shethum on the basis of the root shatham found in the Mishnah, Ramban explains it on the basis of Biblical language. [and here it means] that Balaam is a person [of whom one can use the phrase] “whatever is put” [before him] — because he understands everything that he puts his eye upon.

have set themselves Heb. שתו, an expression of desolation, gatiront in Old French, to destroy. Others say that שתו is like שמו, they placed, like (Exod. 10:1): “in order that I set up (שתי) my signs.”