The book of Sh’mot is described as the book of Exile and Redemption. It opens with the account of the Israelites’ integration into Egyptian society. By the time of Joseph’s death, at the age of 110 years, for legal and economic reasons it became impossible for them to leave. As a result of Joseph’s measures during the famine, the entire Egyptian farming population became enslaved to Pharaoh, but the Israelites remained relatively free in the land of Goshen. In the course of a few generations, their numbers grew miraculously. Chapter 1, verse 7, reads: “The Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them.” According to our rabbis, the seven words in the Hebrew text which describe their enormous increase indicate that each pregnancy produced five or six children. Moreover, they hint to perfection and harmony, which emphasises that everything happened in accordance with divine plan.
But the good years came to an end. Some historians think that this change was connected with the overthrow of the Hyksos rule, in the year 1570 BCE. Their capital city was Zo’an, which was situated in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. Other historians dispute this because they take the view that the new Pharaoh, mentioned in our Sidra, was Ramses II, who reigned much later between the years 1290 to 1224 BCE. Indeed, this may be the reason why the Torah says, quite pointedly, that he was not aware of Joseph’s achievements and had no regard for them.
The Israelites began to suffer from jealousy and fear. In his address to his people, the new King told them of his intentions to take measures against the Israelites. Like all anti-Semites, throughout the generations, he exaggerated when he referred to the Israelites as being a more powerful nation than his own. He claimed that, as they increased, the Israelites would form an alliance with Egypt’s enemies, the Hittites and the Hyksos, refuse to pay their debts and taxes, and take over the land. According to another interpretation, he was afraid that the Israelites would emigrate. Although he hated them, he knew that they brought benefits to his country.
Pharaoh’s first measure against the Israelites was to strip them of their freedom and turn them into slaves. They were forced to build storage cities for Pharaoh, which the Bible calls MAS. It is very interesting that a letter from that period has been discovered, which was written by an Egyptian official to some soldiers and to the Hapiru, (Hebrews) regarding the supply of food to workers who carried the stones for the construction of the sanctuary at Ramses. Although there is no proof, it may be connected with the Israelites’ work. It is known that Ramses II was famous for his love for magnificent buildings and strong fortresses. The King appointed special ministers to oversee the work, which they enforced with considerable brutality. But, despite this cruel measure, the Israelites still increased in an exceptional way, which the Torah describes by using the verb YFROTZ. This verb denotes a population explosion, which explains why the Egyptians felt that they were in a hopeless situation. The Torah uses for them the unusual Hebrew verb VAKUTZU, which may be linked to the word KETZ, meaning end- in other words, the Egyptians were fed up with their lives. Alternatively, it may be connected with the word KOTZ which means a ‘thorn’: the Egyptians felt that the Israelites were causing them great harm.
The failure of this initial measure led Pharaoh to impose upon the Israelites a much more severe form of slavery. It was no longer to be a defined task, with a beginning and an end, like the construction of two store cities, but work which entailed going all over Egypt and serving the entire Egyptian population in their fields. The Israelites were forced to plough, sew and reap. In other words, the Israelites became slaves for all the Egyptians, which broke them physically and emotionally.
Pharaoh failed in these measures. His people were not behind him. Even his daughter refused to support his murderous policies.
The situation was, therefore, ripe for a liberator to emerge amongst the Israelite population. Chapter 2 begins by telling us that a man arose from the tribe of Levi and married Levi’s daughter. The absence of any other names except for that of Moses is a most striking feature in the story of Moses’s birth. It comes to emphasise the uniqueness of Moses. His father’s name was Amram and his mother’s name was Yocheved. The Torah tells us that when Moses was born, his mother noticed that he was good. It’s not certain what she saw so special in him, for he was just a small baby. Some commentators say that she noticed that he didn’t cry a lot and therefore it was easy to hide him. Others think that she saw that he was exceptionally healthy and strong and that he would be able to endure such an ordeal.
After three months, she was no longer able to conceal him from the Egyptians, so she built for him an Ark. The Hebrew word for Ark is Tevah. It is significant that this word occurs only here and in the story of the flood. The biblical scholar Umberto Cassuto remarks that by this verbal parallelism, the Torah apparently intends to draw our attention to the thematic analogy. In both instances the person who was destined to be a saviour was rescued from death by drowning. No’ach saved the whole of humanity and Moses saved the chosen people.
Chapter 3 opens with the famous story of the Burning Bush in which Moses was appointed as the liberator of his people. The Torah recounts that Moses came to Horeb, the mountain of God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed.
Moses found the scene in front of his eyes extremely strange. Our rabbis understood that it was symbolic of Israel. They said that “just as the bush burns with fire but it is never consumed, so Egypt will never destroy Israel.” This bush has remained a most important symbol for our people throughout history. So many nations have tried to destroy us, but the Almighty saved us from their evil intentions.