Remembering the Slavery in Egypt

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1. Duplication and Contradiction

   Part 6 - Three Themes Unique to Sefer Devarim

   Rabbi Amnon Bazak

   Devarim has a special nature with its idiosyncratic style and unique ideas. Moshe, in his speeches, treats identical topics found in Devarim and in the other books of the Torah with different emphases utilizing specific themes.  This provides a convincing response to the questions raised by Biblical scholars from de Witte onwards regarding the disparities between Devarim and other books of the Torah.

   The expression "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt", which occurs five times over the course of Devarim, is a motif that reflects the emphasis in Moshe's speech on the moral dimension of the commandments, in contrast – or in addition – to the religious aspect that is emphasized in the other books of the Torah. Moshe delivers his speeches as the nation is about to cross the Jordan and enter the land, undergoing a great transformation from a nomadic people to a nation living in its own land. For this reason, Moshe regards it as essential to emphasize the social aspect of the commandments, as a fundamental condition to sustain Israel’s presence in the land for the coming generations.

   Moshe's speeches are the only sources in the Torah that treat the relationship between God and Israel from a perspective of love and the reciprocal command for Israel to love God. Only in the Land of Israel can the relationship between God and Israel reach a level that may properly be called "love." For this reason, it is just prior to entry into the land that Moshe permits himself to mention this concept to describe the bond between God and the nation.

   The phenomenon of the sanctity of Israel appears so prominently in Devarim. It would seem that on the eve of the entry into the land, Moshe describes a utopian reality – the ideal situation of Israel. The whole nation was indeed supposed to be imbued with the same sanctity as that of the kohanim, but only if Israel were truly deserving of their status as a holy nation. This question – of whether Israel merit God’s benevolence and designation as a holy nation – is one of the central themes of Moshe's speeches throughout Devarim. On the one hand, he asserts that the people are indeed holy. On the other hand, this vision itself hints strongly that this holiness is not automatic; rather, it is contingent upon observance of the commandments. This idea, too, recurs in Moshe's speeches on the eve of the entry into the land. 

2. The Matza Mystery - The Meaning of the Command to Eat Matza Prior to the Exodus

   Rabbi Yair Kahn

   תאריך פרסום: תשע"ג | |

   Sefer Shemot describes how Bnei Yisrael baked matza as they were being rushed out of Egypt because they didn't have time to wait for the leavening process in bread. But there was already a law about matza that appeared in the instructions before the Pesach in Egypt. - that Bnei Yisrael were to eat the lamb with matza and maror. Why are Bnei Yisrael commanded to eat matza for Pesach Mitzrayim-- what is the symbolism for the matza before Bnei Yisrael left in haste? We find clues in earlier chapters in Shemot as well as in the Brit Bein HaBetarim (Covenant Between the Parts) that present the matza as paralleling two different parts of the exodus. Multiple aspects of the matza experience are important in commemorating the Exodus, as the matza may symbolize the enslavement, oppression (innuy), and redemption.

3. God’s Nudge

   Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

   In Parshat Yitro there were the Aseret Hadibrot, the “ten utterances” or general principles. Now in Parshat Mishpatim come the details. They begin by outlining the laws of Hebrew servant.

   Why begin here? There are 613 commandments in the Torah. Why does Mishpatim, the first law code, begin where it does?

   The Israelites have just endured slavery in Egypt. It seems that this was the necessary first experience of the Israelites as a nation. From the very start of the human story, the God of freedom sought the free worship of free human beings. It took the collective experience of the Israelites, their deep, intimate, personal, backbreaking, bitter experience of slavery – a memory they were commanded never to forget – to turn them into a people who would no longer turn their brothers and sisters into slaves, a people capable of constructing a free society, the hardest of all achievements in the human realm. 

    

   This lecture is part of the Covenant & Conversation series.

   To read more from Rabbi Sacks or to subscribe to his mailing list, please visit http://www.rabbisacks.org/. You can also follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

4. God’s Nudge (Audio)

   Rabbi Jonathan Sacks | 7 minutes

   In Parshat Yitro there were the Aseret Hadibrot, the “ten utterances” or general principles. Now in Parshat Mishpatim come the details. They begin by outlining the laws of Hebrew servant.

   Why begin here? There are 613 commandments in the Torah. Why does Mishpatim, the first law code, begin where it does?

   The Israelites have just endured slavery in Egypt. It seems that this was the necessary first experience of the Israelites as a nation. From the very start of the human story, the God of freedom sought the free worship of free human beings. It took the collective experience of the Israelites, their deep, intimate, personal, backbreaking, bitter experience of slavery – a memory they were commanded never to forget – to turn them into a people who would no longer turn their brothers and sisters into slaves, a people capable of constructing a free society, the hardest of all achievements in the human realm. 

    

   This lecture is part of the Covenant & Conversation series.

   To read more from Rabbi Sacks or to subscribe to his mailing list, please visit http://www.rabbisacks.org/. You can also follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

5. Love the Foreigner - for You Were a Foreigner

   Rabbi David Silverberg

6. Ramban on Bo: HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem - This Month is for You

   Rabbi Ezra Bick | 36 minutes

   Parashat Bo features the first mitzvah given to the Nation of Israel: that of sanctifying the months. Ramban explains that the Torah is teaching us that the Jewish people should count the months from this month of redemption in order to remember God’s miracles for us, and that the Torah purposely does not use names for months or days – so that as we count, we remember God’s wonders.  Why, then, do we use the Babylonian month names for the “Jewish calendar” today?

   Ramban points us to a verse from Yirmiahu, which seems to suggest that the redemption from Babylonia will surpass that of the Exodus from Egypt. Is that really a justification for changing the calendar? And how can we say that anything erases the Exodus?

   The exodus from the Babylonian exile does not negate the Exodus from Egypt – it extends it with the amazing realization that God, after exiling Israel, is willing to redeem us again. 

7. Re'eh: The Strange Laws Of Jewish Slavery

   Rabbi David Fohrman |

   In this week's parsha, we are given the commandments relating to a Jew having a Jewish slave. The laws here seem strange: we give gifts to the slave? If he wants to stay, we must pierce his ear? Rabbi Fohrman goes through these oddities to show us that the Torah is reminding us of our own national slavery in Egypt.

    

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8. Themes Unique to Sefer Devarim

   Rabbi Amnon Bazak