פרשה: שמות · עלייה: שלישי (תפארת)

2,11 איש עברי מאח ;יו, a Hebrew man, one of his brethren. The Torah makes a point of adding "one of his brethren." This is the Torah's way of hinting that Moses recognised that the individual in question was one of the righteous Israelites. There were at that time both righteous and wicked Israelites. It is worthwhile reading how the Mechilta 12,26 interprets the meaning of Exodus 13,18 that the Israelites marched out of Egypt חמושים, reduced to one fifth of their original number. According to the Mechilta only one in every five Israelites took part in the Exodus. The other 80% of the Israelites (the wicked ones) died during the plague of darkness so as not to publicise that fact and allow the Egyptians to gloat. The two Jews who are described as Jews fighting amongst themselves in verse thirteen were not described as "Moses' brethren;" this proves that they were wicked Jews; according to Shemot Rabbah 1,29 they were Datan and Aviram of whom we hear more in פרשת קרח.

?ויאמר לרשע למה חכה רעך He said to the wicked one: "why are you about to strike your companion?" Moses addressed the one of the two who was clearly wicked. He referred to the victim as "your companion," because if the victim were as wicked as the attacker why would the attacker want to strike him, seeing they were birds of a feather. Alternatively, Moses recognised that he dealt with one righteous and one wicked Israelite. This is why he challenged the attacker saying: "why are you about to strike a righteous person, someone who has not done you any harm?" He called the righteous person רעך, i.e. he relates to you like a friend. Although the Torah described the two as apparently on the same moral level when it says שני אנשים נצים, "two quarrelling people," it will be found that one of them started the fight because he was wicked, whereas the other continued the quarrel without compelling cause.

את הדבר הזה, this matter, etc. Moses used the word הזה, to indicate that it was only after this aggressive Jew had said to Moses: "are you going to kill me also, etc." that he realised with certainty that he had observed him killing the Egyptian.

ויבקש להרוג אותו. He tried to kill him. This means that Pharaoh tried to establish proof that Moses had killed the Egyptian as a result of which he would be brought to trial and be executed. This is why Moses fled from Pharaoh in case Pharaoh would obtain enough proof to make him stand trial. On the other hand, the words מפני פרעה may refer to Pharaoh's face. When Moses looked at Pharaoh's angry face he realised that he was in danger and fled even though he did not know what Pharaoh knew and what he did not.

למה זה עזבתם את האיש, "Why did you leave the man?" Yitro meant "why did you abandon a man who had done you a favour?" Alternatively, he meant: "how long can you let a man who has done you such a favour wait outside? Bring him inside, etc.!" Still another meaning of Re-uel's (Yitro's) words may be that though ordinarily Yitro would not want his daughters to strike up an acquaintanceship with men to whom they had not been introduced, this situation was different. He stressed that this man had already proved himself by his deeds. The word זה indicates that Yitro meant that this situation was different. This was especially so in view of the opinion expressed in Shemot Rabbah 1,32 that the waters in the well rose of their own accord towards Moses.

ויתן את צפורה בתו למשה. He gave his daughter Tziporah to Moses. The reason the Torah repeats Moses' name in this verse, when it could have simply written: "he gave her to him," is that Tziporah was the divinely appointed wife for Moses, his בת זוג.

גר הייתי, "I was (used to be) a stranger, etc." The Torah deliberately phrases this in the past tense because the Torah reports events as of the time the Torah was written (at that time Moses could speak of his being a stranger in the past tense, whereas at the time the baby was born he was still a stranger in Midian). Alternatively, the words may be understood along the lines of Psalms 119,19: גר אנכי בארץ, "I am only a stranger on earth." Righteous people in this world are merely strangers, they have no permanent abode. Moses meant that ever since he was born he had merely been a stranger in a foreign land, seeing he had not been raised in his parents' home or shared his youth with his siblings.

מן העבודה, on account of the bondage. They did not appeal to G'd to save them from their situation; they merely groaned, something which people who feel that their burdens are too great are wont to do out of a sense of helplessness. The Torah informs us that although this outcry was not a direct appeal to G'd for help, it did reach the ears of G'd because their situation was indeed intolerable; this is why the Torah adds that the reason G'd responded was מן העבודה, their bondage was too intolerable. However, G'd did not respond to a prayer but to a general groaning, i.e. נעקתם (verse 24).

The Torah may also teach us something that David referred to in Psalms 118,5, where he speaks about מן המצר קראתי קה, "I have called upon the Lord out of distress, etc." One of the prayers to which G'd responds is the one that is prompted by the distress a person finds himself in. We find that Jonah prayed from similar motivations (Jonah 2,3) when he said: "I called out because I am in distress." The Torah testifies that G'd responded to the distress the people found themselves in. According to our analysis the word שעוה means prayer, as well as an outcry prompted by pain; this is hinted at by the Torah's use of the words מן העבודה ויזעקו; the Torah is quite correct therefore when it introduces G'd's response as being in response to שועתם instead of זעקתם. The Torah wanted to point out that the outcry of the children of Israel consisted of two elements, i.e. both זעקה and שעוה.

The stress on the words מן העבודה may indicate that the prayer/outcry rose up to G'd without the help of any intermediary [such as the accompanying prayer of the patriarchs Ed.] because it was due to the intolerable burden of their workload and working conditions.

וירא אלוקים…וידע אלוקים. G'd saw,….and G'd knew. After the children of Israel had raised their voices in groanings and prayers and G'd had heard those, He remembered His covenant with the patriarchs. This was the reason He turned His attention to the people. Whenever G'd is described as viewing someone's pain this is sufficient to result in the removal of such pain from the person so afflicted, for His mercy extends to all His creatures. It follows that when G'd is angry He must hide His face from the people otherwise He would have to act in accordance with the principle we have just described. This is why G'd said in Deut. 31,18: "As far as I am concerned, I will surely have to hide My face, etc." The word וידע may refer also to information that had thus far been hidden even from the Israelites concerning evil the Egyptians had perpetrated against that people.