Parshas Bo 5777

How Did Moses Start the Plague of Locusts?

The Torah writes (Exodus 10:12):

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Hold out your arm over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat up all the grasses in the land, whatever the hail has left.”

Ibn Ezra (ibid) writes):

Rabbi Moshe haDarshan writes the reason why it says "for the locusts" was because a locust was attached to the staff and that is not a proper explanation only the reason why it says "for the locusts" means so they should come

Mechochek Yehudah (ibid) explains Rabbi Moshe haDarshan:

The opinion of Rabbi Moshe haDarshan was that Moshe placed on the staff images of locusts in order to draw in the upper powers to bring locusts to Egypt, and according to this he brought locusts through astrology and therefore Ibn Ezra writes that it is not proper

The Ohr HaChaim (ibid) explains:

Perhaps he tied a locust to the staff or he mentioned the name "locusts" when he raised his hand, for he raised his hand because of the locusts

The Lawsuit over the Borrowed Vessels

The Torah writes (Exodus 11.1-3):

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. Tell the people to borrow, each man from his neighbour and each woman from hers, objects of silver and gold.” The LORD disposed the Egyptians favourably toward the people. Moreover, Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 91a) cites a related story:

There was another time when the Egyptians came to ask for judgment against the Israelites in front of Alexander of Macedonia [Alexander the Great]. They told him: It says [in the Torah] that G-d gave favor to the people in the eyes of the Egyptians and they borrowed [vessels]. Give us the silver and gold that they took from us! Gaviha ben Pesiah asked the Sages: give me permission and I will go and ask for judgment against them in front of Alexander. If they win, you can tell them that they won against a regular person, and I win they will say that the Torah of Moses our teacher won. They gave him permission and he went and asked for judgment against them. He asked them: where do you bring proof from? They answered: from the Torah! He told them: I will also bring you proof from the Torah - for it says that the time the Israelites spent in Egypt was 430 years. Give us the wages for work of 600,000 people who worked in Egypt for 430 years. Alexander of Macedonia told them: answer him! They asked for 30 days to respond. He gave them 30 days and they could not find an answer. They left their fields and their orchards and fled.

Parshas Bo 5776

Was Moses an Egyptian or Hebrew Name? 

The Torah writes (Exodus 11:3):

And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.

The Torah writes earlier (Exodus 2:10):

And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said: ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’

Daas Zkeinim (ibid) cites two opinions:

If you were to ask how she, the Egyptian gave him a Hebrew name? We have to answer that in fact she gave him an Egyptian name which was the equivalent of the word משה in Hebrew. The Torah contented itself with giving us his Hebrew name.

Second opinion (ibid):

An alternate interpretation: Pharaoh’s daughter had learned Hebrew after the Hebrews had come to Egypt and had made up a large percentage of the population. Pharaoh had even given Joseph a Hebrew name as we know from Genesis 41, 45.

Ibn Ezra (ibid) writes:

The name Moses was translated from Egyptian into Hebrew and his name in Egyptian was Monios ... It could also be that the daughter of Pharaoh learned Hebrew or asked someone

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in the Living Torah (ibid) cites several theories how Moses's name would be pronounced in Egyptian:

-- In Egyptian, Moshe means a son. Thus, his naming is prefaced by a phrase that is literally translated, 'he became to her as a son' ... The word moshe may indeed be of Semitic origin.
-- According to other ancient sources, the name Moses comes from the Egyptian mo (water) and uses (drawn from)

Ha-emek Davar (ibid) explains also:

I have seen in the name of Rav Shmuel that in Egyptian this word means "a child" and a son of the king is called a son of the country, when a son is born to the country.

(see also Josh Waxman's posts here and here)

What Happened to the Erev Rav

The Torah writes (Exodus 12:38):

And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

The Malbim learns that were killed after the Golden Calf.

As the Malbim writes (ibid):

"Go and descend, for the nation which you brought up from Egypt has become corrupted" (Exodus 32:7) ... and we do not find in any place that the Jewish people are called by the term "nation of Moses" only by the episode of the Golden Calf. From this our Sages explained that the core of the sinners in the episode of the Calf where the mixed multitude and they are not called "the nation of G-d" and G-d did not wanted them to leave Egypt with the Jews. However, Moses took them thinking that he would bring them closer to holiness.

and later on (Exodus 32:31):

"And G-d struck them with a plague" - the mixed multitudes that made the Calf were struck by a plague. The Sages explain that they did not have warning and witnesses, for only the Jews that worshipped had those since there were many who did not serve it. But among the mixed multitudes, all of them served and could not be witnesses for they were among the ones who made it. Therefore, all of the mixed multitudes were destroyed by a plague since G-d did not swear to Moses about them that He will bring them to Israel (see verse 11 above)

However, numerous Kabbalistic sources including the Zohar disagree and are of the opinion that they survived

(see our earlier post)


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