ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף דברים 9:15

And great: the author of the Haggadah was curious why the word, rav, “great,” comes after the word atzum, ‘mighty” in Deuteronomy 26:5. Earlier the words appeared the other way around. Pharaoh says: “Look, the children of Israel are great (rav) and mightier (v’atzum) than us.”¹⁴⁰Exodus 1: 9 Also in the book of Joel, we read: “A great, mighty nation.”¹⁴¹Joel 2:2 The word rav here is an allusion to the verse “I let you grow like the plants of the field,” and the explanation found in Sotah11b. Rabbi Awira¹⁴²There is a mistake in the text – Rabbi Weil writes Akiva – the Talmud says Awira. expounded:
As the reward for the righteous women who lived in that generation, were the Israelites delivered from Egypt. When they went to draw water, the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged that small fish should enter their pitchers, which they drew up half full of water and half full of fish. They then set two pots on the fire, one for hot water and the other for the fish, which they carried to their husbands in the field, and washed, anointed, fed, gave them to drink and had intercourse with them among the sheepfolds… After the women had conceived they returned to their homes; and when the time of childbirth arrived, they went and were delivered in the field beneath the apple-tree… The Holy One, blessed be He, sent down someone from the high heavens who washed and straightened the limbs [of the babes] in the same manner that a midwife straightens the limbs of a child; ….He also provided for them two cakes, one of oil and one of honey…. When the Egyptians noticed them, they went to kill them; but a miracle occurred on their behalf so that they were swallowed in the ground, and [the Egyptians] brought oxen and ploughed over them, as it says, “The ‘ploughmen’ ploughed upon my back.”¹⁴³Psalms 129:3 After they had departed, they broke through [the earth] and came forth like the herbage of the field, as it is said: “I caused thee to multiply (r’vava) like plants of the field;”¹⁴⁴Ezekiel 16:6-7 Note that Rabbi Weil carefully edited this passage from the Talmud removing some of the proof texts and leaving the ones necessary for his explanation. and when [the babes] had grown up, they came in flocks to their homes, as it is said: “And thou didst increase and wax great and didst come with ornaments,” - read not with ornaments (ba'adei 'adayim) but in flocks (be'edre 'adarim). At the time the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself by the Red Sea, they recognized Him first, as it is said: “This is my God and I will praise Him.”¹⁴⁵Exodus 15:2
Why do we read ba’adei adayim as ‘flocks’ instead of the plain sense meaning of the words, ‘ornaments?’ If the expression means ornaments, then how can the verse also say, “You were naked and bare;”¹⁴⁶Ezekiel Ibid if they had ornaments then they weren’t naked. Therefore the expression must mean, ‘flocks.’ There wore their ornaments, that they were easily recognizable to their parents as we have said above. Everyone immediately knew that these children were not the offspring of loose Egyptian women.¹⁴⁷The expression adei adayim, Weil explains refers to the children (adei) and the parents (adayim) The expression “mighty and great,” then, is a reference to this. They not only increased in number but they were only numerous in their numbers but they were born like the plants of the field and protected by God.
According to the Midrash ten thousand babies were cast into the Nile, “I let you like ten thousand plants of the field.”¹⁴⁸Song of Songs Rabbah Parshah 2 The verse from Ezekiel is used elsewhere to explain how the Israelite babies were saved in Egypt.¹⁴⁹Pirke D’rebbe Eliezer, chapter 32 In both of these midrashim, the word r’vava is taken in its literal sense of ten thousand. The children that were thrown into the Nile were carried away and ejected into the wilderness – this too is, “I let you grow like ten thousand the plants of the field.”

ויפן וירד משה מן ההר. We learn from this word ויפן, he turned around, that Moses descended while facing the cloud just as he had done when ascending the mountain. In other words, just as he had ascended facing the cloud, he now descended keeping his face toward the cloud, walking backwards. The High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, emulated this when withdrawing from the Holy of Holies by walking backwards after having offered the incense before the lid of the Holy Ark, the kapporet, as well as some of the blood of the two offerings on behalf of the people as well as sprinkling some on the dividing curtain. We have a similar verse in Chronicles II 1,13 describing Solomon’s approach to the altar that was standing in Givon at that time. Even though one could say that the words ויבא שלמה לבמה אשר בגבעון ירושליםmean: “Solomon returned from the altar in Givon to Jerusalem,” [seeing Givon at that time was certainly not part of Jerusalem Ed.] the correct interpretation is that he withdrew in the same way as he had approached. The point of all this was to conform to the principle of שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד, “I am keeping Hashem in front of Me at all times.” (Psalms 16,8) One does not turn one’s back on G’d. The Mishnah, Yuma 52 states: “in the manner he had entered he also exited.” This is also the way Leviticus 16,24 describes this, writing: “he exited and completed the ritual of his own burnt offering as well as that of the people.” These words have been interpreted by our sages to mean that the word לבמה “to the altar,” must also be read as מבמה.”from the altar,” when he was headed back to Jerusalem (Yuma 53). There is a precedent for this in Numbers 31,21, where the words הבאים למלחמה, must also mean הבאים מן המלחמה, “the ones who were returning from the war.” How do we know that indeed the Shechinah was on the mountain at the time Moses descended? In Deuteronomy 9,15 where Moses refers to his descent from the mountain, he adds the words: “and the mountain was burning in fire while the two tablets of the covenant were on my hands.” We learn from all of this that the student, when taking leave of his teacher, walks backwards until the face of his teacher is no longer directly visible to him. (Yuma 53) This is also the reason why, at the end of the principal prayer the amidah, we step three steps backwards, as if to take leave of the G’d Whom we had faced and addressed before. (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim section 123).

ויפן וירד משה מן ההר. We learn from this word ויפן, he turned around, that Moses descended while facing the cloud just as he had done when ascending the mountain. In other words, just as he had ascended facing the cloud, he now descended keeping his face toward the cloud, walking backwards. The High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, emulated this when withdrawing from the Holy of Holies by walking backwards after having offered the incense before the lid of the Holy Ark, the kapporet, as well as some of the blood of the two offerings on behalf of the people as well as sprinkling some on the dividing curtain. We have a similar verse in Chronicles II 1,13 describing Solomon’s approach to the altar that was standing in Givon at that time. Even though one could say that the words ויבא שלמה לבמה אשר בגבעון ירושלים mean: “Solomon returned from the altar in Givon to Jerusalem,” [seeing Givon at that time was certainly not part of Jerusalem Ed.] the correct interpretation is that he withdrew in the same way as he had approached. The point of all this was to conform to the principle of שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד, “I am keeping Hashem in front of Me at all times.” (Psalms 16,8) One does not turn one’s back on G’d. The Mishnah, Yuma 52 states: “in the manner he had entered he also exited.” This is also the way Leviticus 16,24 describes this, writing: “he exited and completed the ritual of his own burnt offering as well as that of the people.” These words have been interpreted by our sages to mean that the word לבמה “to the altar,” must also be read as מבמה.”from the altar,” when he was headed back to Jerusalem (Yuma 53). There is a precedent for this in Numbers 31,21, where the words הבאים למלחמה, must also mean הבאים מן המלחמה, “the ones who were returning from the war.” How do we know that indeed the Shechinah was on the mountain at the time Moses descended? In Deuteronomy 9,15 where Moses refers to his descent from the mountain, he adds the words: “and the mountain was burning in fire while the two tablets of the covenant were on my hands.” We learn from all of this that the student, when taking leave of his teacher, walks backwards until the face of his teacher is no longer directly visible to him. (Yuma 53) This is also the reason why, at the end of the principal prayer the amidah, we step three steps backwards, as if to take leave of the G’d Whom we had faced and addressed before. (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim section 123).