Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 10:10

And I say to resolve all of these [issues], with one suggestion taken from the words of the commentators, that Pharaoh considered the Nile to be a deity, and therefore he did not want to say “I am standing over the Nile” because he wanted to show respect to his god. And with this, all the aforementioned variations will be resolved, because for this reason he did not want to say that the bad cows came up from the Nile, as he did not want to attribute any bad thing to his deity, thinking that it only ruled over good things and nothing bad would come from it. Perhaps he thought there was another deity ruling over bad things, like the opinion of the Manicheans that the Akeidat Yitzchak brings in Parshat Va’etchanan. And perhaps this is why Pharaoh said See that evil is before your faces (Exodus 10:10) — meaning that the ruler over evil things is before your faces. And this is what is meant by Speak not so exceeding proudly (1 Samuel 2:3) — literally high, high — meaning don’t say there are two higher powers, one ruling over good things and one over bad things. Therefore, it immediately says The Lord kills and makes alive, makes poor and makes rich — meaning He causes all opposites and everything comes from Him, blessed be He. And similarly it is said See now that I, I, am He… I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal (Deuteronomy 32:39), and the repetition of I, I parallels the repetition of “high, high.”

When a person has on the skin of his flesh, etc. The section on skin afflictions [nega’im] is juxtaposed to the previous section that discusses circumcision, to teach you that circumcision pushes off skin afflictions, because in every place, the earlier commandment pushes off the later one, as explained above in Parashat Vayakhel regarding the statement of our Sages that the Sabbath precedes the Tabernacle, telling you that the Sabbath pushes off the work of the Tabernacle. And by way of allusion, it seems to me that this relates to our Sages’ statement (Nedarim 31b): “Great is circumcision, for it pushes off skin afflictions.” This is because circumcision is generally a catalyst for the removal of all four types of “foreskins,” including the “foreskin of the lips,” and when one is circumcised from the foreskin of the lips, they will not speak evil speech [lashon hara], and thus will not come to have skin afflictions, which come as a result of evil speech (Arachin 15b). Regarding this, Moses complained, saying: From when [az] I came to speak in Your name, etc. (Exodus 5:23) according to the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Exodus 174) that states that all of Moses’ transactions were with az [the Hebrew word for “when/then”], alluding to circumcision. This is also explicitly concluded in the Yalkut Parashat Beshalach (241:15) on the verse Then [Az] Moses sang: that the sea was split in the merit of circumcision, which is performed on the eighth day, corresponding to the numerical value of az [which is eight]. Similarly, all those instances of az mentioned in Midrash Devarim Rabbah on the verse Then [Az] Moses set apart (Deuteronomy 4:41) also allude to circumcision, which saves one from bloodshed, as explained above in Parashat Bo on the verse See that evil is before your faces (Exodus 10:10). Likewise, the salvation of his [Moses’] life was only through az, as it says: Then [Az] she said, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision” (Exodus 4:26). And similarly, his complaint was only with az, as it says: From when I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name (Exodus 6:23). Moses said: “I know that I am of uncircumcised lips, and I only came to speak in Your name from az, as I relied on circumcision, which is alluded to in az, that it would also be a catalyst for fixing the foreskin of the lips, but I see that it has not helped at all.”

Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra claims that the word אלוהים in this instance (the one in verses 5 and 1) means that they wanted the attribute כבוד of G’d to rest in a stationary position in the form of a body, as a symbol of G’d’s Presence amongst them. If you will reflect on the first journey of the people in chapter 14,19 where the Torah describes the מלאך האלוהים which traveled first in front of the camp of the Israelites and afterwards behind them, you will understand the true nature of the people’s request. The stationary columns of cloud or fire were described as מלאך אלהים. [I have found this Ibn Ezra in his introduction to the episode of the golden calf. Ed.] Nachmanides disagrees with the Ibn Ezra he just quoted, seeing that none of the other reproductions of zodiac signs portrayed the golden calf as reposing. Thus far Nachmanides.
The truth is that the whole point of making the golden calf was not to duplicate what the idolaters who construct a lifeless form do when they hope to imbue this lifeless stature or hewn image with some spirit and powers of prophecy. These idolaters expect the creation of their hands to have some form of life breathed into them by their counterparts in the cosmos, much as they imagined the first man to have had life breathed into him.
When Aaron constructed the golden calf he intended for it to be a body which would receive divine input from the angel Mattatron, the one in charge of the universe and the powers assigned to the planets and their constellations in the sky. He thought in terms of the ox which is one of the four “animal-like faces” (concepts) supporting the throne (carriage) of G’d. He assumed that such insights would be provided by the ox seeing it is on the left side of the מרכבה, and it would show the Israelites the way so that it would counteract the negative northern influences. [The journey of the Israelites towards the Holy Land took them straight north. Ed.] At that time the Israelites found themselves within the domain of the planet Mars (as Pharaoh had already warned them about, see Exodus 10,10 compare Rashi). That planet derives all its celestial input from the attribute of Justice. Aaron hoped that just as the Israelites had been guided under the leadership of Moses by the attribute of Justice, so now, under the auspices of that attribute the Israelites would continue to receive celestial guidance. The calf merely symbolized which attribute of the מרכבה would guide the people. He misunderstood such verses as על פי ה’ ביד משה at the command of G’d by means of Moses (Numbers 9,23), as being something that could also apply to על פי ה’ ביד העגל, “at the command of the Lord by means of the ox.”. Aaron’s fatal error was to build an altar in front of this calf. Seeing he announced that the celebration on the following day would be in honor of Hashem (only), he had not become guilty of an act of idolatry by building this altar.

I have removed. (Lit. I have rolled) I have removed the ridicule of the Egyptians who had said [when they were leaving], “See that ‘Raah’ is before you.⁷Shemos, 10:10. There is a star named Raah, which is a symbol of blood. We see it overpowering you in the wilderness.”⁸The Egyptians intimated that Bnei Yisroel would meet with disaster if they left Egypt because they would be under the power of the star of blood. This is what Moshe referred to in the wilderness [when he said,] “Why should the Egptians speak, saying, ‘With Raah, He took them out.’” But they did not know that [the blood they saw] was the blood of circumcision. And now when they were circumcised in the days of Yehoshua, and the blood of circumcision appeared, that ridicule was removed; for the mixed multitude that went up with them [from Egypt] were still taunting them. This is the way R’ Moshe, Ha Darshan explained [this passage.]