(לה) וּבְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֥ל עָשׂ֖וּ כִּדְבַ֣ר מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַֽיִּשְׁאֲלוּ֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם כְּלֵי־כֶ֛סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָ֖ב וּשְׂמָלֹֽת׃ (לו) וַֽה' נָתַ֨ן אֶת־חֵ֥ן הָעָ֛ם בְּעֵינֵ֥י מִצְרַ֖יִם וַיַּשְׁאִל֑וּם וַֽיְנַצְּל֖וּ אֶת־מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (פ)
(35) And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians objects of silver and gold, and clothing. (36) And Adonai had disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they despoiled the Egyptians.
(2) Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.’
OR
Tell the people to borrow, each man from his neighbor and each woman from hers, objects of silver and gold.
Say נא - The word נא here means request. It is a request so the words said to Avraham Avinu are true
(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.
שוב פעם אחת באו בני מצרים לדון עם ישראל לפני אלכסנדרוס מוקדון אמרו לו הרי הוא אומר (שמות יב, לו) וה' נתן את חן העם בעיני מצרים וישאילום תנו לנו כסף וזהב שנטלתם ממנו אמר גביהא בן פסיסא... אמר להן... שנאמר (שמות יב, מ) ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה תנו לנו שכר עבודה של ששים ריבוא ששיעבדתם במצרים שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה אמר להן אלכסנדרוס מוקדון החזירו לו תשובה אמרו לו תנו לנו זמן שלשה ימים נתן להם זמן בדקו ולא מצאו תשובה
Once an Egyptian came to the court of Alexander the Great and presented a case. He said, "it says in the Torah, 'And the LORD showed favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they gave the Israelites money.' Return us the money that you took from us. Gaviha ben Pesisa went and gave proof from the Torah. That it says, "Now the time that Bnei Israel dwelt in Egypt was 430 years..." Return the wages for the 600,000 who were enslaved in Egypt. Alexander said to the Egyptians, "how do you answer this." The Egyptian said, "give us three days." After three days they found no response
Josephus' Antiquities 2.14
The Egyptians honored them with these gifts, in order to hasten their departure. Others gave out of good neighborliness and friendship they had for them. When they went forth from Egypt the Egyptians wept and had remorse for how they treated them.
(21) And I will dispose the Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you will not go away emptyhanded; (22) Each woman shall [ask of/borrow from] her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and gold, and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.’
(א) ושאלה אשה משכנתה - במתנה גמורה וחלוטה. שהרי כתוב: ונתתי את חן העם - כמו: שאל ממני ואתנה גוים נחלתך. זהו עיקר פשוטו ותשובה לאפיקורסים.
(1) . ושאלה אשה משכנתה, as an outright gift. The expression שאל in the same sense as here occurs also in Psalms 2,8 שאל ממני ואתנה גוים נחלתך, “Ask it of me, and I will make the nations your domain.” This is the principal meaning of the verse and it effectively silences the heretics who speak of the Jews borrowing and not giving back these trinkets.
Rabbi Yehuda Appel (Aish HaTorah), "Taking Gold and Silver from the Egyptians"
In the aftermath of World War II, Germany offered to pay reparations to victims of the Nazi regime. This offer was met by an incredibly heated debate in Israel. In fact, the controversy was so great that there was actually speculation in the Israeli media that acceptance of the reparations would cause a civil war.
When Prime Minister Ben Gurion ultimately agreed to accept the reparations, riots took place and there was a march on the Knesset which resulted in the Knesset building being stoned. Though peace and order was eventually restored, it is clear that for many Israelis at the time it was despicable to think that any "blood money" should be accepted.
[Appel discusses the Rashi and the Midrash from Sanhedrin, above]
But this brings us to the second question: If the Jews had legitimate claims to Egyptian wealth, then why did Moses have to encourage them to take it?
One explanation is that the Israelites were so anxious to escape the misery of Egypt, that they didn't want to stay around in order to enrich themselves. When a person is in great pain, his focus is exclusively on ending that suffering - and not on the acquisition of wealth.Furthermore, the Israelites feared that such an action could provoke their former masters into pursuing them, as they made their way out of the Nile Kingdom.
Oznaim L'Torah, a modern commentator, offers a very different explanation. As victims of two centuries of unspeakable horrors, the Jews simply abhorred having contact with anything connected to Egypt.
Additionally, they did not want their seizure of Egypt's wealth to be seen as some type of "quid pro" for all the suffering they had endured. Thus Moses had to encourage them to take this property - in order to fulfill the Almighty's promise to Abraham.
This reluctance to take any money from the hands of their murderous exploiters is an issue that was tragically duplicated by the Jews in Europe some three millennia later.
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."