Netvort, Parshas Yisro, 5773 – Shir Hama’alos Edition

Who Cares?

By Rabbi Joshua (caringly known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

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With thanks to the Almighty for sustaining me, and a prayer that He continue to do so, this week’s message completes fifteen years of Netvort. Thanks to the readers for their corrections, comments and suggestions, and a special thank you to all those who have helped to issue Netvort each week since my initial hospitalization in November 2011. And a special tip of the Hoffer cap to my long time gabbai/editor, for his continued assistance.

In memory of my mother, Yonina bas Tzvi Hirsch, whose yahrzeit occurs on the thirteenth of Shevat. May her memory be a blessing.

After the end of the plague of darkness, God tells Moshe to tell people to request of their fellows, the Egyptians, silver and gold vessels. The Torah then tells us that God granted the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and that Moshe was very great in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh and the eyes of the people (Shemos 11:2-3). Why did the Egyptians suddenly looked so favorably upon the Jews? Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Luzzatto, colloquially known as Shadal, writes in his commentary that it is human nature for people to change their attitude toward a formerly downtrodden group once they begin to achieve a higher level in life. Now that the Egyptians saw that the Jews had a God who helped them and performed miracles for them, they began to respect them, and did what they could to further relieve them from their previous condition. Shadal, however, does not mention anything specific about the plague of darkness that led the Egyptians to act kindly toward the Jews, to the point of being referred to as fellows. In terms of miracles, the plague of darkness was not the first one that the Egyptians had witnessed. What was special about this plague that evoked such a positive reaction?

We have mentioned, in the past, the comment of Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch, zt”l, in his Peninei Da’as, in regard to the midrash brought by Rashi which says that while the Egyptians sat in darkness, the Jews entered their homes and saw where they kept their various possessions. Therefore, after the plague, when the Jews asked for these items, they could tell the Egyptians exactly where they were located, and the Egyptians could not deny them. Why, asks Rabbi Bloch, zt”l, would this endear the Jews to the Egyptians? On the contrary, we would expect them to resent the fact that the Jews went snooping around their houses when they were defenseless to stop them! It must be, says Rabbi Bloch, zt”l, that since the Egyptians could not see in the darkness they needed help simply to eat and drink. The Jews entered their homes and provided them with this assistance, and that is how they knew where the Egyptians kept things. In gratitude for this help the Egyptians became friendly with the Jews.

Rabbi Bloch’s comment takes on added significance when we take notice of Rabbi Mordechai Ilan’s observation in his Mikdash Mordechai. He points out that the Torah says that during the plague of darkness, a man could not see his friend, while the bnei Yisroel had light in all their habitations. Rabbi Ilan says that, among the Egyptians, one man did not see the suffering of the other, even if he was his friend, while the Jews had light and saw each other. Following Rav Bloch, zt”l, the Jews not only helped each other, but helped the Egyptians as well while the Egyptians themselves did not even help each other. This uncaring attitude reflected that of Pharaoh himself. As we brought last week from the Shiras Dovid, Pharaoh cared only about himself, and did not issue the warning about the plague of hail to his people, and did not tell them of the opportunity to save their possessions. This uncaring attitude, apparently, set the tone for the Egyptian people, as well, in their own interrelationships. When they saw how the Jewish people cared for the welfare of others, even their oppressors, they responded by becoming their friends.

The caring attitude of the Jews for the suffering of another people reflected the attitude of God, who told Moshe to grant the Egyptians the opportunity to save their possessions and to escape the plague of hail. As the Creator of all human beings, God did not rejoice in their suffering, and tried to avoid it happening. According to Rav Shaul Yisraeli, zt”l, it was this caring attitude of God for all people that led Yisro to convert to Judaism. According to Targum Onkelos in parshas Yisro (Shemos 18:12), God’s system of judging the Egyptians measure-for-measure led Yisro to recognize Him as greater than all of the gods of the idolators. Applying this principle of not punishing them more than commensurately for their sins, even though they had oppressed the Jewish people, indicated that He viewed them all as his children and cared for them accordingly.