Parshat Bo

(Compilation of midrashim probably from 13th century scholar Rabbi Simeon the expositor from Italy)
When God said 'send your cattle inside' our rabbis expounded that: in none of the plagues did Pharaoh confess 'God is righteous' except for Barad. Why? When you fight someone the element of surprise is important to defeat him; God however, gives a warning to Pharaoh (and Egypt), at that moment Pharaoh said He is righteous.

• R. Baruch b. Yechiel Michel HaLevi Epstein 1860-194 Russia– Banker
• Family – His father, Arukh HaShulchan uncle R. Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv)
• Wuotes Rabbi Yishmael who says Job was one of those 'God fearing servants'!

11th century Midrash compilation Rabbi Tuviah b Eliezer. Come and see, how is it possible that chasing the Isrealites were 600 chariots, where were they from? Didn't it say 'and all the cattle died in Egypt'? That is what Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said 'the best of the Egyptians kill!'

(1) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, (2) and that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and of your sons’ sons how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them—in order that you may know that I am the LORD.” (3) So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go that they may worship Me. (4) For if you refuse to let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts on your territory. (5) They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the surviving remnant that was left to you after the hail; and they shall eat away all your trees that grow in the field. (6) Moreover, they shall fill your palaces and the houses of all your courtiers and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your fathers nor fathers’ fathers have seen from the day they appeared on earth to this day.’” With that he turned and left Pharaoh’s presence. (7) Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, “How long shall this one be a snare to us? Let the men go to worship the LORD their God! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?”

(1) התעללתי means I HAVE MOCKED, as in, (Numbers 22:29) “Because thou hast mocked (התעללת) me”; (I Samuel 6:6) “Indeed, when he mocked (התעולל) them”, which, also, is said in reference to Egypt.

A soft voice (at first) Pharaoh gave the impression they were building cities for themselves but at the end...

(16) Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I stand guilty before the LORD your God and before you. (17) Forgive my offense just this once, and plead with the LORD your God that He but remove this death from me.” (18) So he left Pharaoh’s presence and pleaded with the LORD. (19) The LORD caused a shift to a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and hurled them into the Sea of Reeds; not a single locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. (20) But the LORD stiffened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

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• • Hebrew name – ר' שמואל דוד בן ר' חזקיה לוצאטו (known by the acronym שד"ל)
  • Italian name – Samuele Davide Luzzatto
• Dates – 1800 – 1865
• Location – Shadal was born and raised in Trieste, Italy, and lived most of his adult life in Padua.
• Education – Shadal was educated in an Italian Jewish community that was open to general education alongside a Jewish one. His elementary education included Bible, Mishnah, mathematics, geography, history, Italian, French, and German, and in his teens, he intensively studied Latin.² Shadal's research and literary activities began in his early teens,³ and he completed studying the entire Talmud at age 17.
• Occupation – At age 20, Shadal began working as a private tutor, and at 29, he was appointed professor at the rabbinical college in Padua, where he taught for the rest of his life.⁴ His extensive educational and literary work spanned the fields of philology, Semitics, poetry, philosophy, and biblical exegesis, and included correspondence with many of the leading Jewish scholars and rabbis of his day. Through his teaching and written works, Shadal defended traditional Judaism against modern critical movements, while also forging his own brand of Modern Orthodoxy. He is considered one of the founders of the Hebrew "Chokhmat Yisrael" literature and school of thought.⁵
• Family – Shadal had a tragic personal life, his mother dying when he was just fourteen, and his father Hezekiah dying ten years later. His first wife, Bilhah Bat-Sheva Segre, died after a long illness, and he later married her sister, Leah. His children from his first wife included Isaia (who died at 14 months), a second son named Isaia (a lawyer), Filosseno (Philoxenus),⁶ a promising young scholar who died at the age of 24, and a daughter Milcah, who died at 18. With his second wife, he had four children: Miriam, Baruch Iyyov (died at age 7), Yosef, and Binyamin (a physician).
• Teachers – Shadal studied Hebrew language and Talmud with his father, Talmud under R. Abraham Eliezer Halevi,⁷ and ancient and modern languages and science under R. Mordechai de Cologna, Leon Vita Saraval, and R. Raphael Baruch Segre.⁸
• Contemporaries – Among those Shadal corresponded with were Isaac Samuel Reggio, Abraham Geiger, and Leopold Zunz. He also had close ties with R. Solomon Judah Löb Rapoport, and R. Nachman Krochmal, who together with Shadal founded the Hebrew "Chokhmat Yisrael" school of thought.

(1) וישאלו איש מאת רעהו ואשה מאת רעותה כלי כסף וגו', the meaning of שאלה here is not the same as when women “borrow” kitchen utensils and the like, it being understood that these will be returned to the lender. G’d, i.e. Moses, commanded the people to ask for these trinkets, garments, etc., as outright gifts. G’d would see to it that the Israelites asking for this would be considered by the Egyptians as deserving of this so that they would gladly part with the items in question. This did not involve any misrepresentation on the part of G’d, the Egyptians being perfectly aware that nothing they would give their Israelite neighbours could even remotely compensate them for the wages these people had never received during all these years. In that connection, consider that a Jewish servant (for whose services his master paid six years’ wages in advance to the servant’s creditor) at the end of his 6 years of service must be given an ex gratia payment by his master so that he can establish himself economically. (Deuteronomy 15,13-14). How much more so would the Israelites be entitled at this time to a small installment of all the money owed them for 210 (or 86) years of slave labour!

(2) וישאלו איש, “they each asked for, etc.” they complied with what G-d had asked them to do, so that He could fulfill His promise to Avraham that after servitude to a land other than the land of Canaan, they would leave that country as free people with a great deal of wealth. (Genesis 15,14). Some commentators insist that the expression: וישאלו refers to asking for an outright gift. (Rabbeinu Chananel) They claim that Psalms 2,8: 'שאל ממני ואתנה וגו, “ask something of Me and I will grant it,” is proof of this. (3) מאת רעהו, “from his friend or comrade;” to the question of: “since when were the ordinary Egyptians the personal friends of the Israelites?” The answer is that after the plagues had ceased, the Egyptians’ attitude towards the Israelites underwent a drastic change, and they became very willing to let them use their vessels. (4) כלי כסף וכלי זהב, “silver vessels and golden vessels.” It was no more than a fair exchange, seeing that the Israelites left behind their houses and their fields which no one compensated them for. We read already in Genesis 47,27 ויאחזו בה, that the sons of Yaakov instead of or in addition to being shepherds, also became land owners.