Parshat Vaera 5778-‘Never take it for granted’

Dedicated to the memory of my father in law, Professor Manny Lehman zal whose yahrzeit is on 22nd Tevet)

There are certain Biblical expressions which we take for granted, when we see them every year, and yet when asked to explain the words, we are very challenged even to translate, let alone fathom the deeper meaning of the language which is so well known to us.

One such phrase is found in the beginning of the Hagada and is found throughout the Exodus story .

עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם, וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מִשָּׁם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה

We normally translate the underlined section as ‘with a strong hand and an outstretched arm’. However, apart from issues of anthropomorphism (which I do not want to get into), what do these two phrases really mean?

This question is found in the commentary of the Netziv, and his words are enlightening.

בזרוע נטויה ובשפטים גדולים. יש לבאר השנוים הנופלים במקראות בזה. פעם כתיב ביד חזקה לחוד. ופעם כתיב ביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה. וכאן כתיב בזרוע נטויה ולא ביד חזקה. ולא דבר ריק הוא חלילה

He quotes from the Mechilta, which states that the situation of Bnei Yisrael in Egypt can be described in 2 different ways. Firstly it is like a person who is holding a bird and when he is angry he can go ahead and choke the bird with ease. The second comparison is to a person who is removing a calf from the mother’s womb, which describes the removal of the Jews from Egypt:

או הנסה אלהים לבוא לקחת לו גוי מקרב גוי …to take one nation from within the other nation…

This is literally like taking out a fetus from the womb, which represents the way the Jews were enveloped in Egypt and how they were removed in the most miraculous way.

He comments further that besides the power of Egypt, there were 2 other factors which made the Exodus very difficult. Using the metaphor of the captured bird, he says that Pharo might have considered taking out his anger against the Jewish people by killing them all in one move, as they are all living in Goshen and were very vulnerable to this attack. Even the plagues would not prevent this possibility as there was a respite between plagues which would give Pharo time to carry out this plan. In order to prevent this God came at Pharo with the ‘zeroa netuyah’ which means that even during the ‘down time’ between plagues he was smitten by the ‘outstretched arm of God’, so that his mind was preoccupied and unable to attack the Jewish slaves. The Midrash in Shmot Rabba confirms that this is what happened to Pharo’s officers and princes, who were killed during the respite periods. This is also explained in the Hagada where it says:

וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה. זוֹ הַחֶרֶב, כְּמָה שֶּׁנֶּאֱמַר: וְחַרְבּוֹ שְׁלוּפָה בְּיָדוֹ, נְטוּיָה עַל-יְרוּשָלָיִם.

"And with an outstretched forearm" - this [refers to] the sword, as it is stated (I Chronicles 21:16); "And his sword was drawn in his hand, leaning over Jerusalem:

The ‘sword’ refers to the death which was being visited upon Pharo’s people so that they would not think of attacking the Jews.

Another problem for redemption was the fact that you can only redeem those who want to be redeemed. We know that many Jews did not want to leave Egypt and many died in the plague of darkness, (as referred to by Rashi in Parshat Beshallach).This connects to the second metaphor of taking the fetus from the womb of the cow, which corresponds to the level of involvement in Egypt of the wicked members of the Jewish people, who had assimilated and did not want to leave. These people were punished by death as the Hagada explains:

בְּיָד חֲזָקָה. זוֹ הַדֶּבֶר

which the Netziv explains as referring to the death of the people who did not want to leave Egypt, during the plague of darkness.’Yad Chazakah’ implies ‘the hand of God which was against them’ in the plague of darkness, which is called ‘dever’, as was the 5th plague in Egypt itself.

With this introduction, the Netziv explains how the two phrases בְּיָד חֲזָקָה, וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה do not always appear together, as one refers to the punishment of the leaders of Pharo’s government and the other refers to the punishment of the Jewish slaves who refused to leave Egypt.

The Netziv adds that when the Torah refers to the question which the son will ask, regarding the Exodus, it only mentions ‘yad chazakah’ and not ‘zeroa netuyah’.

כִּֽי־יִשְׁאָלְךָ֥ בִנְךָ֛ מָחָ֖ר לֵאמֹ֑ר מָ֣ה הָעֵדֹ֗ת וְהַֽחֻקִּים֙ וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֛ה יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ אֶתְכֶֽם׃

When, in time to come, your children ask you, “What mean the decrees, laws, and rules that the LORD our God has enjoined upon you?”

21

וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔ עֲבָדִ֛ים הָיִ֥ינוּ לְפַרְעֹ֖ה בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וַיּוֹצִיאֵ֧נוּ יְהוָ֛ה מִמִּצְרַ֖יִם בְּיָ֥ד חֲזָקָֽה׃

you shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the LORD freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand.

Why only 'yad chazakah'?? According to his explanation it is now clear in that this question of the Jewish child is not answered by referring to the Egyptians who were punished, but is very well explained by the reference to the punishment of the Jews, who refused to leave and they became a great part of the reason why the Exodus was so difficult and so miraculous, in terms of the Jews who did leave and whose redemption we celebrate every year in our many Passover rituals, as referred to by the son.

Our great commentators were never intimidated when explaining our holy texts and this should be an inspiration for us to be the same, in order to seek the truth in everything we learn, to the best of our ability. This was definitely one of the attributes of my father in law, who both in his career in computer science and in his Torah studies, he always looked for the truth and was not afraid to express that truth when it needed to be heard. May his memory be for a blessing.

Rabbi Ian Shaffer        Cherry Hill NJ/SCW     Tevet 5778