ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 1:13

!לכו לסבלותיכם, “go back to your labours! “The reason why the tribe of Levi had been exempted from performing slave labour when the Egyptians first began to enslave the Israelites was that Pharaoh pretended to share that burden with them in order to encourage them to perform these labours for patriotic reasons, building fortifications against potential invaders. This is how the sages interpreted the word: בפרך in Exodus 1,13, i.e. as meaning: בפה רך, “spoken softly.” Pharaoh had appealed to their loyalty and told them that by performing this labour they could prove that they were loyal Egyptians citizens. The Jews of then [as we know only too well from all the Jews serving in the German Kaiser’s army in the first world war, 12000 of them giving their lives for the aggressive designs of Germany, Ed.] were only too eager to prove their loyalty, not suspecting how they would be exploited. At that time the tribe of Levi remembered what their founding father Yaakov had said to them on his death bed, that Levi was not to be one of his pall bearers as that tribe was destined in the future to carry the Holy Ark on its shoulders. They therefore declined at the time to participate in the building of fortifications, and Pharaoh did not make an issue of this as also the Egyptians had a caste of priests who Joseph during the years of famine had completely excused from any taxation. Furthermore, we found a Midrash according to which Avraham already taught his son Yitzchok the whole Torah (the written Torah that would be given to the Israelites in the desert) Yitzchok in turned transmitted it to Yaakov, and Yaakov to Levi, who in turn transmitted it to his direct descendants. Seeing that these people had not learned any vocation, they were not physically suitable to perform the kind of physical labour the other tribes were used to. They were therefore rewarded by G-d not to have to share this burden with their brethren. (Compare Torah shleymah by Rabbi M. Kasher item 32 on our verse.) According to that, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron not to try his patience and be content that they, being Levites, were not required to do slavelabour.

And the Egyptians dealt with us in an evil manner, as it is written, “let us deal wisely with them: It seems strange that the author of the Haggadah would choose Exodus 1:10 as the proof text for, “The Egyptians dealt ill with us.”¹⁵⁰Deuteronomy 26:5 There are other verses that are more explicit in illustrating this point such as: “The Egyptians…ruthlessly imposed hard labor upon the Israelites, embittering their lives with hard labor, with mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.”¹⁵¹Exodus 1:13-14 By using “Let us deal wisely,” we learn that worse than physical oppression is causeless hatred. When a person thinks ill of his fellow or when the person has never had such evil thoughts, then he begins to hate him and seeks to kill him – this is causeless hatred. This is the meaning of this passage. The verse does not say, “The Egyptians dealt ill with us (lanu);” rather it says, “The Egyptians thought of us in an evil manner (otanu).” That is, the Egyptians treated them as if they were evil and that they had evil intentions in their hearts even though the Israelites had no such intentions. That is why the text divides the two parts of the verse from one another: “They thought ill about us,” and “they oppressed us.” These two phrases could easily have been together as one. Once Pharaoh began to worry about the Israelites’ intentions, he began to think about how to convince the rest of Egypt to go along with him. He knew that the Egyptians had fond memories of Joseph and were not likely to turn against the Israelites. Therefore, he began by implanting paranoia in the hearts of his people. He told them that the Israelites were planning a rebellion and that they would take all the wealth out of Egypt that Joseph had amassed. Only then did the Egyptians agree to oppress the Israelites when they began thinking about the Israelites great wealth and how they could steal it.
He also declared war on the Edomites (the children of Esau), forcing the Israelites to go along to help in the battle. At the last minute, the Egyptians withdrew leaving the Israelites to fight with the Edomites. This upset the Israelites greatly, and some Egyptians were killed in retaliation, thus turning the Egyptians against the Israelites.¹⁵²Sefer HaYashar It was only then that the advisors of Egypt gathered together and Pharaoh said, “Let us deal wisely with them.”
And they oppressed us, as it is written, “They set task masters over them to oppress them:” In the previous verse, “Let us deal wisely with them,” the verse is written in the singular (hava) instead of the plural (havu); why is this? Pharaoh had three advisors: Jethro, Job, and Bila’am. He addressed all of them together as a single unit (hava, let us deal wisely). Their responses were different from one another. Jethro fled and eventually converted to Judaism. Job remained a silent bystander and was thus punished for not protesting, and Bila’am encouraged Pharaoh to oppress the Israelites. But in this verse, “They set task masters over them,” we see Pharaoh’s wicked and scheming heart. Pharaoh said to the Israelites, “I cannot let you live in my land as citizens unless you pay taxes like everyone else. I will give you a choice: you can pay taxes or you can help build my cities. The Levites warned the people not to enter into the service of the king but the people did not listen. As a result, the Israelites were enslaved but the tribe of Levi was not enslaved. Pharaoh entrapped the rest of the nation and thus was able to oppress them.

וַיְעַנּ֑וּנוּ Va’yanunu:“And oppressed us.” One should know that the actions of Pharaoh and the Egyptians were planned with great shrewdness. God’s words to Abraham in the Covenant of the Pieces were not ignored , “And they shall be enslaved and oppressed.” (Gen. 15:13) Therefore they began to fulfill God’s word by placing heavy taxes and tributes upon them so that they would become impoverished. The possessions of the entire nation were reduced, similar to what the sages stated, “Like a lily among thorns…” (Song 2:2) “Just as a lily, when it is situated among the thorns, a north wind blows and tilts it and the thorn pierces it, a south wind blows and tilts it and a thorn pierces it, a west wind blows and tilts it and a thorn pierces it, and so with the four directions…”¹¹⁵ See Vayikra Rabbah 23:4 and Song of Songs 2:2 for two variations on this Midrash. It strikes me, that Rabbi Foa was quoting these texts from memory both here and elsewhere in the commentary and so he changes the actual version of the Midrash So, it was with the people of Israel; they made their homes subjugated among the nations. These ones said to them, “Give us taxes (פִּיסִּים)!”¹¹⁶[distributions, cmp. Lat. tributum,] taxes, esp. pissim, pissin, name of a Roman tax laid on the community and distributed by the latter according to assessments, Jastrow. and these ones said to them, “Give us your appointed service (זימון)!” and these ones said to them, “Give us your tribute!” and these ones said, “Give us your head tax.” (גִּלְגּוּלֵ). Thus, they were like a lily among the thorns. Similarly, when they rented them houses they charged them ten times the amount compared to what they would charge gentiles. They did the same with anything they sold them.
(Akh) “They neither know nor understand, they go about in darkness,” (Ps. 82:5) God said, first, “They shall enslave them,” and afterwards, “They shall oppress them.” (Gen. 15:13) (Because they did it the other way around - first oppressing and then enslaving) the Egyptians never succeeded. They did just the opposite.¹¹⁷Instead of enslaving and oppressing the Israelites as is stated in Genesis 15:13, first Egyptians oppressed them and then they enslaved them. The more they oppressed them, “the more the Israelites increased and spread out.” In other words the more they oppressed Israel the more the Egyptians enriched the Israelites.” The word yifrotz יִפְרֹ֑ץ comes from the verse, “the man grew exceedingly prosperous פְרֹ֥ץ הָאִ֖ישׁ,” (Gen. 30:43) which is said about Jacob. The Egyptians then saw that their decrees did not have an effect and their actions turned against Egypt. The wealth that they took from the Israelites actually destroyed the wealth of the Egyptians, as is written, “the more they increased and spread out,” (Gen. 1:12) this is to be interpreted, “The more the Israelites’s wealth increased and the more the possessions of the Egyptians were lost,” based on the verse,פָּרַ֖צְתָּ עָלֶ֣יךָ פָּ֑רֶץ “What a breach you have made for yourself!” (Gen. 38:29) This was especially true for Pharaoh who had the intention of building a treasury, and it turned into garrison cities עָרֵ֤י מִסְכְּנוֹת֙¹¹⁸Some translate the expression as store cities. Here Rabbi Foa plays on the connection between miskenot, מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ and sakanah, which means danger. which became a danger to the Egyptians. As a result, “the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites,” (Ex. 1:12) that is, the loss of their wealth caused the Egyptians pain that was like thorns in one’s flesh.
Therefore, the Egyptians took counsel and decided to leave their wealth and only to enslave them. As it is written, “The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed slavery upon the Israelites and they made their lives bitter with hard labor…” (Ex. 1:13-14) From this point forward, the Egyptians only imposed hard labor and slavery are mentioned. It also says, “The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out… their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.” (Ex.2:23) And if you say, “, “I have marked well the oppression עֳנִ֥י of My people in Egypt…” (Ex. 3:7),¹¹⁹ He just said that “Oppression” wasn’t mentioned once they enslaved him and yet here we do find mention of the oppression brought upon the Israelites. I have already answered this question in Goren Arnon: two explanations of the word עֳנִ֥י are offered. One is imposed upon them. עֳנִ֥י is an allusion to exile besides the exile experienced in Egypt, as God said, “I will be what I will be,” (Ex. 3:14) which the sages explained as, “I will be with them in this exile and I will be with them in other exiles.” See what I wrote there at length.
And even if it was their intention to do this evil to Israel by oppressing them, they were not able to, “oppressed us,” since the Holy One combines thought with action…and even more so when the thoughts involve action.¹²⁰I am uncertain about the last section of this passage. Possibly, Rabbi Foa is saying that thoughts of oppression are the same as actual oppression because they lead to action, and therefore the Egyptians were punished for their “thoughts.”