I Get It

By Rabbi Joshua (discerningly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Moshe, after attaining a position of prominence in Pharaoh’s household, where he grew up, goes out to see his brethren, the Hebrew slaves. He sees an Egyptian smiting a Herew, and, to save him, smites the Egyptian and hides his body in the sand. The next day, he goes out and sees two Hebrews fighting with each other, and says to the evil one, “Why are you about to smite your fellow?” In response, the offending Hebrew says, “Who made you a man, a ruler and a judge over us? Are you saying that you are going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Hearing this, Moshe becomes frightened and says, “Indeed, the matter has become known” (Shemos 11-14). The simple meaning of Moshe’s statement is that the Egyptians heard of his deed the previous day, and, so his life was in danger. Rashi, however, cites a midrash which says that Moshe was saying that he now knew why the Hebrews were subjugated, seeing that there were informers among them.

The Kesav Sofer, in his Torah commentary, explains Moshe’s conclusion. He says that the reason the Egyptians thought that the slaves may plot against them, and engage in an uprising, is that they didn’t get along among themselves, to the point that they informed on each other, and therefore, would certainly not refrain from rising against their masters. That is why they intensified the enslavement and made new decrees against them. The Kesav Sofer, also notes that when Ya’akov’s family first came to Egypt, the Torah refers to their number as “shivim nefesh” seventy souls, with the word for souls in the singular, indicating, as the rabbis tell us, that they were unified. As long as Yosef was alive, that unity was maintained, but , after his death, they became fractured, and did not get along with each other. This insight of the Kesav Sofer can help us understand the message given to Moshe on the mountain at the burning bush, appointing him to lead the people out of Egypt to redemption.

When God spoke to Moshe at the burning bush, he told him that He had seen the suffering of the people and that He would deliver them from their bondage and take them up to a land flowing with milk and honey (Shemos 3:7-8). Moshe was to lead them, and he asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the bnei Yisroel out of Egypt?” God answers, “for I shall be with you, and this is the sign for you that I have sent you: When you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (Shemos 3:12). Rav Moshe Tzuriel, in his pamphlet “Eretz Chemdah,” points out that in His initial revelation to Moshe, God did not mention the giving of the Torah, but, rather, the bringing of the people to Eretz Yisroel. He mentions the giving of the Torah as a sign that He has sent Moshe on the mission of redemption, which will culminate with the entry of the people into the land. Rav Tzuriel explains this on the basis of a Sifrei, brought in Rashi and explained by the Ramban in parsha Vaeschanan, which says that the optimum place to keep all of the mitzvos, even those that apply everywhere such as tzitzis and tefillin, is Eretz Yisroel. His message to Moshe, then, was that through redemption He would enable the people to observe the Torah in Eretz Yisroel.

The rabbis tell us that a pre-condition for the acceptance of the Torah is the unity of the Jewish people, and that is why when the people encamped at Mt. Sinai in preparation for the giving of the Torah, they are referred to in the singular – vayichan – and the people encamped – to indicate that they were united as one man with one hearth. Interestingly, the Zohar (Vayikra, 93b) says that the people are truly unified in Eretz Yisroel, as indicated in a verse in Shmuel (2, 7:23), “and who is like your nation, Yisroel, one nation in the land.” Following the Kesav Sofer, we can understand that since it was a lack of unity that brought about the nations’ subjugation and suffering, it would be the achievement of complete unity that would constitute full redemption.