In his introduction, Nachmanides describes the Book of Exodus as the Book of Exile and Redemption. The Exile began when Jacob’s family went to Egypt and the moment of the Redemption was reached when the erection of the Tabernacle was completed and the glory of the Lord rested within its precincts.
The first paragraph in the Sidra of Sh’mot speaks about the beginning of the Exile. It repeats the names of Jacob’s sons who came down to Egypt with him and ends with Joseph’s death as well as with the death of all of Jacob’s grandchildren. The prosperous period in Egypt lasted for 71 years. During this time the Israelite population increased hugely. Jacob’s small family consisting of 70 people grew into a large nation.
A new era began and a new Pharaoh rose to power who regarded the Israelite numerical explosion as a threat to the Egyptian people. He was sure that, as soon as the Israelites would feel powerful enough, they would join Egypt’s enemies and overthrow his regime. He, therefore, decided to afflict the Israelites. The affliction took the form of depriving the Israelites of their freedom. Very gradually and cunningly, he turned on them and made them his slaves. He forced them to build store cities for him. Initially this persecution appeared to be positive, as there seemed to be a purpose to the toil, which was a specific national project that had to be completed. This project had a beginning and an end and the Israelites saw a rash on land and target in their work. It was for this reason that the burden was reasonably bearable and the Israelites continued to increase in numbers. The biblical Hebrew word which describes slavery is MAS. Pharaoh appointed special task masters, to whom the Torah refers, in Hebrew, by the term SAREI MISSIM.
When this measure of affliction against the Israelites failed to achieve a reduction in their population, Pharaoh introduced a new measure. He broadened the scope of the work and the work was no longer defined. It no longer had beginning or end. It was hard labour which went on and on. It was supervised and enforced by all the Egyptian people and not by specially appointed task masters.
The most striking sentence in this passage is the one in which Pharaoh said this to his people, before he began his persecution against the Israelites. HAVA NITCHAMA LO. These words mean: ‘Let us deal shrewdly with the Israelites’. He decided to take measures against the Israelites which would not cause any suspicions. In those days, it was normal for the Pharaohs to impose forced labour on foreigners. In this way they raised revenues for the country. Later in Jewish history, King Solomon also raised revenues in this way and.
The Midrash offers a famous interpretation. The Egyptians oppressed the Israelites BE-FARECH. The normal translation of this word is ‘ruthlessly’. The midrash says: read this as if ‘BE-FE RACH’, which means ‘with smooth words’: Pharaoh deceived them first with words and they became the slaves before they realised that this was their new status.
Nachmanides explains that Pharaoh and his advisers did, in fact, want to destroy the Israelites immediately. However, they realised that it was not possible to carry out a plan of this nature. They did not want to start a war. There were two reasons for this: First, it would have been an act of utter disloyalty to the Pharaoh who had preceded the current Pharaoh, who had welcomed the Israelites with great warmth. The second reason was that, at this stage, the Egyptian people would have found it completely unacceptable to attack the Israelites were their neighbours in living amongst them. Indeed, Later on the in the story, the Torah reports that the Egyptians liked the Israelites. They would not have tolerated such acts of violence.
Professor Yeshaya Leibowitz analyses the commentaries of Nachmanides, who flourished during the Middle Ages. In his interpretation he reflects on the position of the Jewish people in his era. It was undeniable that even the Jews, who did not enjoy any human rights, were still able to rely on the King to keep his word and treat his subjects fairly. It is most interesting to note that Nachmanides was confident that average citizens would not allow the Jews to be attacked violently. Tragically, this observation is in stark contrast to the events that took place in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. At that time ordinary Germans did allow their Jewish neighbours to be robbed, deported, destroyed and murdered right in front of their eyes.
In contrast to Nachmanides explanation, Shmuel David Luzzato, the 18th century Italian commentator, explains that when Pharaoh moved on to his second stage of persecution, all the Egyptians were ruthless in setting taskmasters over the Israelite nation. The midwives were weak. Nevertheless, they refused to carry out Pharaoh’s command and still avoided punishment. How much more easily could all the Egyptian people have avoided, or at least mitigated, Pharaoh’s decrees!
The second chapter in the book of Exodus recounts the great miracle of Moses’s birth and how he is rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, whose name was BATYA. The first 2 words in this chapter are VAYELECH ISH. They mean: A MAN WENT. These words have intrigued our commentators. The Torah does not reveal who the man was and where he went to. Therefore, there are a number of suggestions. All the commentators agree that the subject of this sentence is AMRAM, Moses father. Our ancient rabbis of the Midrash explained that in the light of Pharaoh’s decree that Jewish boys should be murdered, Amram divorced his wife, Yocheved. However, Miriam, their daughter, who was later to become a great prophetess, showed great courage and urged her father to marry her mother again. Amram heeded his daughter’s advice and returned to his wife. The commentator AVRAHAM IBN EZRA explains that the Israelites were living in a number of cities. In order to find a wife, Amram had to move to another city, where he met Yocheved. Nachmanides dismisses this interpretation as pointless. He advances the view that whenever the Torah uses the word ‘VAYELECH’ to introduce an action it highlights a sense of resolution. It indicates that AMRAM was very courageous and refused to take any notice of Pharaoh’s decree. In an act of defiance, he went ahead and got married to YOCHEVED. His action was most praiseworthy and his reward was very great. This extraordinary marriage produced the great saviour, Moses, who became ‘Rabbeinu’, our teacher, for all times.