- God sends the plagues of locusts and darkness upon Egypt and forewarns Moses about the final plague, the death of every Egyptian firstborn. Pharaoh still does not let the Israelites leave Egypt. (10:1-11:10)
- God commands Moses and Aaron regarding the Passover festival. (12:1-27)
- God enacts the final plague, striking down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt except those of the House of Israel. Pharaoh now allows the Israelites to leave. (12:29-42)
- Speaking to Moses and Aaron, God repeats the commandments about Passover. (12:43-13:16)
(א) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה ע֣וֹד נֶ֤גַע אֶחָד֙ אָבִ֤יא עַל־פַּרְעֹה֙ וְעַל־מִצְרַ֔יִם אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֕ן יְשַׁלַּ֥ח אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִזֶּ֑ה כְּשַׁ֨לְּח֔וֹ כָּלָ֕ה גָּרֵ֛שׁ יְגָרֵ֥שׁ אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִזֶּֽה׃ (ב) דַּבֶּר־נָ֖א בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וְיִשְׁאֲל֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ ׀ מֵאֵ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְאִשָּׁה֙ מֵאֵ֣ת רְעוּתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֖סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָֽב׃ (ג) וַיִּתֵּ֧ן יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶת־חֵ֥ן הָעָ֖ם בְּעֵינֵ֣י מִצְרָ֑יִם גַּ֣ם ׀ הָאִ֣ישׁ מֹשֶׁ֗ה גָּד֤וֹל מְאֹד֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם בְּעֵינֵ֥י עַבְדֵֽי־פַרְעֹ֖ה וּבְעֵינֵ֥י הָעָֽם׃ {ס}
(1) And the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring but one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; after that he shall let you go from here; indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you out of here one and all. (2) Tell the people to borrow, each man from his neighbor and each woman from hers, objects of silver and gold.” (3) The LORD disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people. Moreover, Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people.
What kushiyot or questions arise from this text?
(א) דבר נא. אין נא אלא לשון בקשה, בבקשה ממך הזהירם על כך שלא יאמר אותו צדיק אברהם (בראשית טו יג) ועבדום וענו אותם קים בהם, (שם יד) ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול לא קים בהם:
Say נא - The word נא here means request. It is a request so the words said to Avraham Avinu are true
Genesis 15:13-14
(13) And He said to Abram: ‘Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; (14) but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.
(13) And He said to Abram: ‘Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; (14) but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.
There was a high level of trust and respect between the Egyptian people and the Israelites. For three days the Egyptians were living in a plague of “black darkness” while the Israelites had light in their dwellings. The Israelites could have taken advantage of them and robbed them, but they did not. For that reason, the Egyptians trusted the Israelites and graciously rewarded them with silver and gold.
(Rabbi Jose; Mechilta on Exodus 12:36)
(Rabbi Jose; Mechilta on Exodus 12:36)
The Israelites “proved their sterling moral quality” during the three days of darkness. For three days long their oppressors… were completely helpless in their power; for three days long all their treasures lay open in their houses, and no Jew took the opportunity to take the slightest advantage either against their persons or their possessions.
(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch)
(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch)
The Israelites didn’t steal anything. Instead, the Egyptians offered them gifts, insisting on honoring them out of friendship and neighborliness.
(Josephus)
(Josephus)
The Egyptians willingly turned over their wealth to the departing Israelites. They merely asked for it, and the Egyptians responded by giving them gifts.” There was no force and no persuasion.
(Rambam)
(Rambam)
The silver and gold were not just neighborly gifts but rather spoils of a justified Jewish victory over the Egyptians. For years the Egyptians had treated the Israelites cruelly, insulting their dignity and intelligence as human beings. Taking “gifts” from the Egyptians was a means of restoring Jewish pride. It proved that Jews were equal in every way to their oppressors. The Israelites escaped from Egypt with their dignity intact.”
(Nahum Sarna)
(Nahum Sarna)
The Hebrew slaves had worked for their masters… they were entitled to their freedom and, therefore, at the same time, to a just farewell payment. Justice demanded it.
(Umberto Casuto on Deuteronomy 23:8)
(Umberto Casuto on Deuteronomy 23:8)
The gold and silver that the Egyptians gave to the Israelites represented “atonement,” a payment of regret, for the damages they had inflicted upon the Jewish people. The Egyptians sought forgiveness with their gifts. It is as if the Egyptians were saying, “we are the wicked ones. There is violence in our hands, and you merit God’s mercy.” Their gifts were an admission of guilt, a confession of all the wrongs they had done, and a request for pardon.
(Ramban – Nachmanides)
(Ramban – Nachmanides)
Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin, in his commentary Oznayim LaTorah, writes that this Talmudic teaching of over 1500 years ago can only be fully understood in our own times after World War II when the question of whether or not Israel should accept Holocaust reparations from the Germans was on the table.
Public debate on this issue was among the fiercest in Israeli history. The entire country was split into two camps. Opposition to reparations came from both the right and the left of the political spectrum; both sides argued that accepting reparation payments was the equivalent of forgiving the Nazis for their crimes. Others maintained that it was a good idea to accept reparations. They felt that even though we can’t get our six million back, at least let the Germans pay for their crimes – especially considering the fact that they owed us so much money for all the forced labor they made our people do for them.
[Despite all the debates and protests, the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett on September 10, 1952. According to the Agreement, West Germany was to pay Israel huge sums of money over many years for the slave labor and persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, and to compensate for Jewish property that was stolen by the Nazis.]
This same dilemma, explains Rav Sorotzkin, faced our Jewish ancestors over 3300 years ago as their ‘Egyptian Holocaust’ finally ended and they prepared to leave the country for good. No doubt many of them - whose brothers and sisters had been brutally enslaved, tortured and murdered, and who had seen their little babies thrown into the Nile River by the sadistic Egyptians to drown right in front of their eyes - would not even consider accepting what amounted to “blood money” from their non-Jewish neighbors. Still others felt that after working as slaves building pyramids for the Egyptians for 210 years, they deserved to take all the money of their enemy along with them as a small compensation for their hard labor.
G-d understood how painful it might be for some of the Jews to accept this money, and therefore did not obligate the entire nation across the board to take the Egyptians’ riches when they left the country. However, in order to fulfill the promise He had made to our ancestor Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth, G-d ‘beseeched’ the Jewish people to force themselves to take some money from their Egyptian neighbors.
(Rabbi David Zauderer)
Public debate on this issue was among the fiercest in Israeli history. The entire country was split into two camps. Opposition to reparations came from both the right and the left of the political spectrum; both sides argued that accepting reparation payments was the equivalent of forgiving the Nazis for their crimes. Others maintained that it was a good idea to accept reparations. They felt that even though we can’t get our six million back, at least let the Germans pay for their crimes – especially considering the fact that they owed us so much money for all the forced labor they made our people do for them.
[Despite all the debates and protests, the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett on September 10, 1952. According to the Agreement, West Germany was to pay Israel huge sums of money over many years for the slave labor and persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, and to compensate for Jewish property that was stolen by the Nazis.]
This same dilemma, explains Rav Sorotzkin, faced our Jewish ancestors over 3300 years ago as their ‘Egyptian Holocaust’ finally ended and they prepared to leave the country for good. No doubt many of them - whose brothers and sisters had been brutally enslaved, tortured and murdered, and who had seen their little babies thrown into the Nile River by the sadistic Egyptians to drown right in front of their eyes - would not even consider accepting what amounted to “blood money” from their non-Jewish neighbors. Still others felt that after working as slaves building pyramids for the Egyptians for 210 years, they deserved to take all the money of their enemy along with them as a small compensation for their hard labor.
G-d understood how painful it might be for some of the Jews to accept this money, and therefore did not obligate the entire nation across the board to take the Egyptians’ riches when they left the country. However, in order to fulfill the promise He had made to our ancestor Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth, G-d ‘beseeched’ the Jewish people to force themselves to take some money from their Egyptian neighbors.
(Rabbi David Zauderer)
Jason Russell, "Black Lives Matter Asks State Dems for 'Reparations,'" Washington Examiner Oct. 3, 2015.
Will Black Lives Matter revive the debate over reparations?
The case for reparations is typically made as a form of economic compensation to descendants of slaves. These days, some racial activists also make the case for reparations as compensation for systemic discrimination in law enforcement.
Several black leaders addressed Democratic state legislators Friday at the State Innovation Exchange in Washington, D.C.
"Thinking about decriminalization with reparations," Marbre Shahly-Butts, deputy director of racial justice at the Center for Popular Democracy, said. "The idea is we that have extracted literally millions of dollars from communities, we have destroyed families. Mass incarceration has led to the destruction of communities across the country. We can track which communities, like we have that data. And so if we're going to be decriminalizing things like marijuana, all of the profit from that should go back to the folks we've extracted it from." That comment received widespread applause from the crowd of Democratic state legislators. Shahly-Butts was referring to decriminalizing more than drug crimes, but also loitering, bans on saggy pants and thousands of other laws that disproportionately affect blacks.
Shahly-Butts added, "'Reparations' makes people kind of uncomfortable, so we can call it 'reinvestment' if you want to. Use whatever language makes you happy inside."
Will Black Lives Matter revive the debate over reparations?
The case for reparations is typically made as a form of economic compensation to descendants of slaves. These days, some racial activists also make the case for reparations as compensation for systemic discrimination in law enforcement.
Several black leaders addressed Democratic state legislators Friday at the State Innovation Exchange in Washington, D.C.
"Thinking about decriminalization with reparations," Marbre Shahly-Butts, deputy director of racial justice at the Center for Popular Democracy, said. "The idea is we that have extracted literally millions of dollars from communities, we have destroyed families. Mass incarceration has led to the destruction of communities across the country. We can track which communities, like we have that data. And so if we're going to be decriminalizing things like marijuana, all of the profit from that should go back to the folks we've extracted it from." That comment received widespread applause from the crowd of Democratic state legislators. Shahly-Butts was referring to decriminalizing more than drug crimes, but also loitering, bans on saggy pants and thousands of other laws that disproportionately affect blacks.
Shahly-Butts added, "'Reparations' makes people kind of uncomfortable, so we can call it 'reinvestment' if you want to. Use whatever language makes you happy inside."
Systemic racial oppression in the United States began four hundred years ago with the institution of slavery and it was inextricably intertwined with the development of the American economy and of the nation overall. Today, racial inequity is present in virtually every aspect of American life, from homeownership to college enrollment, employment to healthcare.
One means of addressing centuries of entrenched racial discrimination is through reparations. Reparations can take many forms and, in practice, these measures may manifest as congressional hearings, a national apology, the institution of government programs, creation of tax incentives for Black-owned businesses, educational stipends for Black Americans, individual or community compensation, or other approaches. At the 2019 URJ Biennial, the Reform Movement passed the Resolution on the Study and Development of Reparations for Slavery and Systemic Racism in the U.S., becoming the first major Jewish denomination to do so, and immediately began urging Congress to take action to this end.
One means of addressing centuries of entrenched racial discrimination is through reparations. Reparations can take many forms and, in practice, these measures may manifest as congressional hearings, a national apology, the institution of government programs, creation of tax incentives for Black-owned businesses, educational stipends for Black Americans, individual or community compensation, or other approaches. At the 2019 URJ Biennial, the Reform Movement passed the Resolution on the Study and Development of Reparations for Slavery and Systemic Racism in the U.S., becoming the first major Jewish denomination to do so, and immediately began urging Congress to take action to this end.