Ten Minutes of Torah

with

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Shemot – 5767

שמות ב:יא

וַיְהִי בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל אֶחָיו וַיַּרְא בְּסִבְלֹתָם וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי מַכֶּה אִישׁ עִבְרִי מֵאֶחָיו:

Exodus 2: 11

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brothers, and looked in their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

Shemot Rabbah 1:

He saw that there was no good to come of him or his offspring to the end of time.

Ramban:

And he went out to his brethren [2:11]: This indicates that they told him he was a Jew, and he desired to see them because they were his brethren. Now he looked on their burdens and toils and could not bear the sight of this people enslaved. This is why he killed the Egyptian who was smiting the oppressed Hebrew.

HaEmek Davar:

Beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers [2:11]: He was beating him not because of laziness or such things, but rather because he was a Hebrew - and he was his brother! And he looked this way and that - He looked to find some way to complain against the Egyptian who hit the man needlessly. He saw that there was none to hear the injustice, for all were a den of traitors and oppressors of Israel.

QUESTIONS

How in each case how the commentary provides justification for Moses’ action.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S QUESTIONS:

1. What problem in the verse is the Midrash addressing?

The problem is: Where was this said? The brothers quote Jacob as having commanded Joseph not to punish his brothers. This conversation is not recorded anywhere in the Torah. The Midrash suggests that Jacob never gave this command, and the brothers made it up.

2. The commentator YAFFE TOAR [a commentary on Genesis Rabbah] says:

I do not understand this. There are many events in the Torah that were not mentioned in their proper place, but which we can infer from other stories in the Torah.

- Explain his question.

YEFFE TOAR suggests that Jacob had given the command, but it simply wasn’t mentioned previously in the Torah. The Torah doesn’t mention every detail. This is an approach used frequently by commentators and there are many examples.

- Bring other examples in the Torah of events that were not mentioned in their proper place, but were mentioned later.

At the beginning of Deuteronomy [Deut. 1:22] Moses retells the story of the spies. He mentions that the people had asked him to send spies, although in the original version of the story in the Book of Numbers [Chapter 13] this isn’t mentioned.

After the Sin of the Golden Calf Moses commends the Levites to kills all those who worshipped the calf. He prefixes his command with the words: THUS SAID THE LORD – although there is no record of God telling him to do this. [Ex. 32:27]

- What proof is there that Jacob had never commanded this?

Joseph’s reaction – crying – and the brother’s immediate falling on their knees are signs that they both know that this story wasn’t true.

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Ten Minutes of Torah was prepared by Rabbi Chaim Weiner, based on the methods of Prof. Nechama Leibowitz. Rabbi Weiner studied and corresponded with Prof. Leibowitz for several years.

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