Parshas Shemos
ד"ה ואלה שמות בני ישראל
Q: Why does Hashem count the Children of Israel by their names after their deaths despite having counted them already during their lifetimes?
A: To demonstrate their preciousness.
ד"ה ויוסף היה במצרים
Q: Did becoming king of Egypt cause Yosef to decrease in his righteousness?
A: To emphasize how righteous Yosef was.
ד"ה וישרצו
Q: Why are the Jewish people described as "swarming" in the land of Egypt?
A: They bore six children at one time.
Q: What is the scriptural hint to the number of children they were having?
A: Six words describing the proflicacy of the Jewish people.
Q: Was this king truly new?
A: Two possibilities:
- The king had a change of heart after Yosef died.
- A literally new king.
ד"ה נתחכמה לו
Q: Who did Pharaoh instruct his people to deal shrewdly with?
A: Two possibilities:
- With th Jews.
- With G-d.
Q: Why did Pharaoh choose water as his tool to torment the Jewish people?
A: Because they assumed that H' would not punish them water, because he already promised not to destroy the world with a flood.
ד"ה בפרך
Q: What does בפרך imply?
A: Hard work that crushes and brakes the body.
ד"ה שפרה
Q: What was her real name and why was she called Shifra?
A: She was Yocheved,and she would clean the babies after being born.
ד"ה פועה
Q: What was her real name and why was she called Puah?
A: She was Miriam, and she would "coo" at the babies to calm them down. "Puah" is cooing in Hebrew.
ד"ה אם בן הוא וגו
Q: What did Pharaoh have against the boys - why did he decree that only boys be killed?
A: Their Astrologers said that a boy would come and save the Jewish people.
ד"ה ויעש להם בתים
Q: Which dynasty came from each of the midwives?
A: Yocheved had Chohanim, and Levim. Miraim had the Davidic dynasty.
ד"ה ויקח את בת לוי
Q: Who were these two?
A: Amram and Yocheved.
Q: Why did they get married (remarried)?
A: Miraim encouraged them. She said "you are worse than Pharoh, since this means no more girls either."
ד"ה את אמתה
Q: What did Batya send to get the basket?
A: Two possibilities:
1: A literal slave girl.
2: She outstretched her arm, and her lengthend.
ד"ה וירא בסבלותם
Q: What was special about how Moshe saw the people's suffering?
A: Not only did he see their pain, he felt in his heart.
Make Egypt Great Again! Go back t
ד"ה שני אנשים עברים
Q: Who were the fighting men?
A: Dasan and Aveerim.
Q: What was another sin that they committed?
A: Leaving man until tommarow.
ד"ה וישב על הבאר
Q: Where did Moshe get the idea of waiting by the well?
A: He learned from yeekinv who met his wife at a well.
ד"ה ויהי בימים הרבים ההם
Q: Why is the description of the Jewish groans reminding Hashem of his promise, juxtaposed to the story of the burning bush?
A: It was on the death of the Pharoh that Jews cried out.
ד"ה וימת מלך מצרים
Q: What was the 'death' experienced by the Pharaoh, and what was the prescribed treatment?
A: He was smitten with leprocy, the doctors prescribed the blood of Jewish babies.
ד"ה אחר המדבר
Q: Why would Moshe bring his flocks all the way into the wilderness?
A: So they wouldn't steal.
ד"ה מתוך הסנה
Q: Why did Hashem speak to Moshe from within a lowly thorn bush?
A: To show that he is with them, since he to feels lowly and oppressed.
ד"ה מי אנכי
Q: Why did Moshe refuse to speak with Pharaoh?
A: He felt he was not important enough.
ד"ה וכי אוציא את ישראל
Q: What was his concern about the Jewish people?
A: That they wer unworthy of being saved.
ד"ה ויאמר כי אהיה עמך
Q: How did Hashem address Moshe fear of talking to Pharaoh?
A: Hashem says "I'm going with you, and I'm important."
Q: What sign did Hashem give that Moshe would be safe while fulfilling his mission?
A: This is for a sign, and Hashem means the Bernie bush. Just as this bush isn't being burned, so to you won't.
Q: Whe was it so important to save the Jews from Egypt?
A: When they would be saved, they would serve Hashem at the mountain.
Q: What would be the sign that that purpose would be fulfilled?
A: When they would be freed that would be the sign that they would worship at the moutian.
(18) They will listen to you; then you shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, manifested Himself to us. Now therefore, let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to Hashem our God.’
ד"ה ושמעו לקולך
Q: What would cause the people to believe Moshe?
A: The language that Hashem commanded Moshe to relay to the people is, "I have surely remembered you". This is the very language used by Yaakov and later by Yosef when they described the coming redemption.
(10) But Moses said to Hashem, “Please, O Hashem, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
'ד"ה גם מתמול וגו
Q: What is the scriptural evidence that Moshe argued with Hashem for seven days?
A: There are three overt references to days past, then there is thrice the word also plus the day on which this conversation happened = seven days.
Q: Why was Moshe refusing the leadership of the Jewish people?
A: He felt Aharon deserved it more.
Q: How do we know that Aharon was a leader in Egypt?
A: In Samuel 1:2:27 "A man of Hashem says to Eli the Chohen "Thus says Hashem, I revealed myself to your father's house" " That must be Aharon.
(24) At a night encampment on the way, Hashem encountered him and sought to kill him.
ד"ה ויבקש המיתו
Q: Who attacked Moshe at the inn, and in which form?
A: An angel of Hashemin the form of a snake.
Q: Why would he deserve to die at this point?
A: Because he didn't fulfill Circumcision one they settled in the inn.
Q: Why did Moshe delay?
A: Because he was rushing to do the command of Hashem to save the Jewish people. One is absolved of a Mitzvah when he has to complete the first one. (Sleeping at an inn is not part of the Mitzvah.)
Parshas Va'era