Exodus · Chapter 11

And Hashem said to Moses: One more blow I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; after that he will send you away from here. When he sends you away in full, he will surely drive you out from here.

כלה Onkelos renders it by גמירא, taking כלה in sense of כליל entirely; i. e. he will send all of you away.

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO MOSES: YET ONE PLAGUE MORE WILL I BRING UPON PHARAOH. “This [prophecy] was spoken to him while he was still standing before Pharaoh, for after he left him he did not see his face again.” Thus the language of Rashi. Our Rabbis have similarly said: “G-d sprung upon Moses. He, as it were, entered Pharaoh’s palace, [which was replete with abominations], for the sake of Moses — who had said, I will see thy face again no more — so that Moses might not be branded a liar. Now you find no other occasion on which the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke to Moses in the royal palace except this moment. Whence may we deduce this? From the verse, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread forth my hands unto the Eternal. But now the Holy One, blessed be He, sprang upon Moses and said to him, Yet one plague more, etc.”Now here too there is a shortening of narrative. G-d said to Moses, Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh, and He informed him of the nature of that plague, saying to him, At midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, as well as the whole communication stated in this section, [further in Verses 5-8, as Moses’ address to Pharaoh in the Name of G-d]. But Scripture did not want to lengthen the account by first narrating what G-d said to Moses, it being sufficient to state what Moses said to Pharaoh, i.e., Thus saith the Eternal, just as I have explained in the case of the locusts. There are many such sections in the Torah. In this Seder (section of the Torah), in the segment, Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn, Scripture shortens the subject which the Holy One, blessed be He, communicated to Moses, and it prolongs the account of Moses’ words to the people, i.e., Remember this day, etc., and so on to the end of that entire segment. They really are G-d’s words to Moses, which he said to Israel in the very language with which he was commanded.

"And Hashem said" — This passage ought to have been directly joined to the passage "And Moses said: Thus says Hashem" (11:4), but the section "Yet one more plague" intervened between them. The reason is to indicate when He said "Thus says Hashem" to him — and this was told to him in Midian: "Behold, I am about to slay your son, your firstborn" (4:23). And when the plague of the firstborn was about to come, the command from Hashem given at Mount Sinai was that they should ask, each man from his neighbor. I have already explained why there it is written "and a woman shall ask of her neighbor" (3:22) while here it is written "and they shall ask, each man from his neighbor." The meaning is thus: "And Hashem said to Moses: Yet one more plague" — and Hashem had already said this to Moses, for many times does Scripture say so. And [as for] "he will surely drive them out": as He said, "and with a strong hand he will drive them from his land" (6:1).

ישלח אתכם מזה כשלחו, in the same manner as he has already expelled both you and Aaron from his presence when he had lost his cool. (compare 10,11). When he will send the whole people of Israel from his land, he will act under a similar type of stress. כלה גרש יגרש אתכם, at that time he had only expelled the two of you. This time he will expel all of you from this entire country. This is the attribute of G’d’s justice at work. When a person obstinately insists on not performing the expressed will of his Creator, (owner) he will ultimately have to do what he tried to avoid doing under infinitely worse circumstances. The Torah had warned us in Deuteronomy in Moses’ famous speech of admonition that because the Jewish people had refused to observe G’d’s commandments joyfully, out of a feeling of gratitude for their success in the Holy Land, they would ultimately still have to do what G’d wanted them to do, and what they had contracted to do, by serving G’d’s servants [host nations in the land of our exile. Ed.] instead of Him directly. (Deut. 28,47-48). Our sages phrase it thus: “everyone who ignores and fails to observe Torah pleading his wealth as his excuse, will ultimately keep the Torah because he has become impoverished.” (Avot 4,10) He will then be so preoccupied with keeping body and soul together that he has no time to devote to Torah study and observance. Numbers 14,28 also outlines the principle of retribution matching the nature of the sin.

ויאמר ה׳ ..עוד נגע אחד, G'd said to Moses: "one more plague, etc." This chapter tells us about matters G'd had already mentioned to Moses earlier while Moses was still in Midian. At that time (3,19) G'd had informed Moses that Pharaoh would not let the Israelites depart even after He applied a strong hand against him. In 4,22-23 G'd had already warned Pharaoh of the consequences of not letting the Israelites depart. You will observe that the end of the cycle of nine plagues left Pharaoh exactly as obstinate as he had been at the beginning. He had started out by not even considering the demands of G'd, and though he appeared to have softened his stance, making progressively greater concessions, he was now back to square one having ruled out the departure of any of the Israelites. In 7,4 G'd had told Moses that the sign that the plague of the killing of the firstborn was about to occur would be Pharaoh's refusal to listen. As soon as Moses heard that he was not to appear again at court he knew that the time had come for the last plague after which the Exodus would begin. Moses knew that this plague would be the most severe because G'd asked him to instruct the people to "borrow" as many silver and golden trinkets as they could. The word עוד then does not mean an additional plague as much as it means "the plague I have already spoken to you about once before, I am mentioning again." This explains why Moses did not wait after verse four until G'd described the plague to him, though G'd had done so every other time when Moses was told to warn Pharaoh. Moses proceeded to inform Pharaoh on the spot. Whereas it is true that we do not find that G'd had previously told Moses that the plague of the killing of the firstborn would occur at midnight, we may assume that G'd had told Moses that detail also at that time, but that the Torah did not record it there as it had not yet become relevant. This is why it is not difficult to understand that G'd repeated here what He had told Moses originally, i.e. that the Jews would take with them the silver and gold trinkets borrowed from the Egyptians as well as their garments and that they would "empty" Egypt (Exodus 3,22).

עוד נגע אחד, “one more plague;” this paragraph was communicated by G-d to Moses and Aaron while they were standing in front of Pharaoh. It had to be so, as we never read of Moses seeing Pharaoh again. However, he received this communication outside the capital as we understand from 7,15: “here when he goes to the water (to have his daily bowel movement)” [this explains that Moses could not receive communications from G-d while in a ritually contaminated area. Ed.] As far as this last communication is concerned, the Midrash states that G-d lifted Moses more than ten hand breadths from the floor of the palace in order to communicate with him. (Compare Torah shleymah 11,27) After that, Moses predicted the plague of the killing of the first born with which G-d would smite Egypt.

כשלחו כלה גרש יגרש, “when he does send them off, he will expel them.” The word כלה means “in toto,” i.e. including all the flocks and herds and all their moveable belongings. Not a single one of these will be left behind. This corresponds to the message of Ezekiel 39,28 concerning the redemption of the future: “I (G’d) will not leave behind a single one of you.”

“When he sends you away, he will drive you out completely from here.” Rashi explained “he will send all of you.” It seems that the word when he sends you is superfluous. I say that this is the explanation: Moses was distressed because he was humiliated when Pharaoh drove him away twice. In the plague of locusts it is written and he drove them away from before Pharaoh, and in the plague of darkness, Pharaoh said to him, ‘Go away from me.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, responded to him, “Do not be distressed, for this is a bad sign for Pharaoh, as he began to drive you out little by little, until in the end he will drive out all of you.” For at first it says, and he drove them away from before Pharaoh, but it did not say that they should not see his face again. Later, he increased the expulsion by saying, Do not see my face again. But in the end, when he sends you, when the time comes that he will send you, then he will drive all of you out, not like the first time when the expulsion was lighter, for he only drove out Moses and Aaron. But when he sends you, then he will drive you out completely. This is precisely deduced from the word when he sends you.

עוד נגע אחד אביא על פרעה, “I shall bring one more plague upon Pharaoh.” Moses received this message from G’d while still standing in the presence of Pharaoh. Ibn Ezra writes that Moses was given this instruction while in Midian, when G’d told him to tell Pharaoh that he would kill his firstborn son (Exodus) The meaning of the word ויאמר in our verse is simply that G’d had already told this to Moses some time ago. Here too the Torah engages in an abbreviation. The Torah relies on the details of this plague having been announced in verses 4-10.

(1) ADONAI SAID TO MOSHE while he was standing in front of Par'oh, "ONE MORE PLAGUE, ETC." And after that, Moshe responded to Par'oh (v.4), "Thus says the LORD: At midnight, etc." (2) ONE AND ALL (KALAH). All -- men, women, children, and livestock.

ויאמר ה'....עוד נגע אחד, “the Lord said:....”one more plague;” what is meant is that G–d told Moses that after Moses would leave Pharaoh now, he would not see him again. In light of what is written later, we must assume that G–d lifted Moses at least ten handbreadths above the soil of Egypt on account of the state of ritual pollution that existed in Egypt.

Speak now before the people, and let each man ask of his neighbor, and each woman of her neighbor, vessels of silver and vessels of gold.

דבר נא SPEAK נא — The word נא is always an expression of entreaty. Here it means: I entreat you, admonish them about this which follows (impress this injunction upon them), so that righteous man, Abraham, may not say: the prophecy (Genesis 15:13) “they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them” He permitted to be fulfilled in them, but the promise (Genesis 15:14) “and afterwards they shall go forth with great substance” He did not bring to fulfilment for them (Berakhot 9a-b).

SPEAK NOW IN THE EARS OF THE PEOPLE. I.e., after you depart from Pharaoh.

"Please speak" — I have already explained that "na" means "now."

דבר נא באזני העם וישאלו, they needed to be encouraged to ask for this as they might have worried about the Egyptians pursuing them in order to retrieve their riches. It worked in reverse; the very fact that the Egyptians chased after the Israelites, i.e. reneged, was the immediate reason G’d came to the Israelites’ assistance and drowned their pursuers. That is what made them absolutely free.

דבר נא, “speak please;” Moses was to do this at this time as they would not have any time to do so once Pharaoh would discharge them unconditionally, i.e. even expel them. If the people had made these requests still earlier, Egyptians would have demanded that they would give back what they had borrowed, seeing that Pharaoh had refused to allow them to leave permanently. 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. 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. 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.

וישאלו איש מאת רעהו, “let them each ask from their fellow Egyptian male, etc.” This “request” was not similar to a man or a woman asking his or her respective neighbour for some tool on the understanding that after he or she has finished using it it would be returned it to its owner. Here G’d’s instructions were to ask for the respective items as outright gifts. It was understood that G’d would make the Egyptians feel well disposed toward the Israelites so that they would willingly comply with their requests for such gifts. The last thing G’d had in mind was that the Israelites, at the very moment when their redemption was at hand, would leave behind the impression that they had fooled their neighbours and pretended that they would give back the items in question. According to Jewish law whenever a servant is released from service after he has toiled for the agreed period of time, he is entitled to receive a stake from his erstwhile master to enable him to start his economic independence. This is spelled out in Deut. 15, 13-14: “but when you send him away free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. Furnish him out of your flocks, your threshing floor, and vat, with which the Lord has blessed you.” If this law applies to treatment of a fellow Jewish servant whose wages the master has paid six years in advance, how much more so were the Jewish slaves in Egypt entitled to receive some silver trinkets in compensation for over 200 years of slavery for which no wages had ever been paid. We may find the expression רעהו both in the masculine and the feminine form as peculiar when applied to Egyptians who could hardly be described as equal to the Israelites so that this definition would apply. We have to answer that prior to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai all human beings were treated as equal before the law. Hence the expression רע “fellow human being” was appropriate. Ever since the giving of the Torah Gentiles are not again referred to by that description. Seeing that G’d had offered the Torah to the Gentile nations and they had refused it they no longer qualified as equals. Henceforth Jews were described as brothers and companions of G’d as we know from Psalms 122,8: “for the sake of My brothers and friends, I pray for your well-being.” Our sages in Baba Kama 113 explain the phrase לכל אבדת אחיך (Deut. 22,3) as “your brother, but not a Gentile.” In other words, a Jew does not have to go out of his way to restore lost property to a Gentile seeing he is not his brother anymore. The same law applies to the prohibition of charging or paying interest to others. While the Torah forbids this inasmuch as it writes: “you must not charge interest to your brother” (Deut. 23,20), this excludes those whom the Torah does not recognize as our brothers, i.e. the Gentile.

“Speak to the ears of the people and let them ask, etc.” Our Rabbis of blessed memory said (Berachot 9a) that “na” is only a language of request, so that righteous one [Abraham] would not say: They will be enslaved and oppressed was fulfilled, but and afterward they will leave with great wealth was not fulfilled. And it is difficult: why does the fulfillment of His promise depend on that righteous one’s statement? Without his statement, would God not fulfill His word, Heaven forbid? It appears that this can be resolved according to the conclusion in Tractate Berachot (ibid.) And they lent to them — against their will of the Israelites, because of the burden of the journey. According to this, God fulfilled His promise when He showed them the place where His promise would be fulfilled. What more could He do if they themselves did not want to accept? Nevertheless, there is concern “that righteous one would say, etc.” because he did not know that they did not ask to receive, and because Abraham was righteous and upright, it would be distressing to him that they were enslaved for nothing. Therefore it was said to him and afterward they will leave with great wealth. With the phrase and afterward, it indicated that they would take their wages for their labor from the Egyptians. Therefore it specifies and afterward because wages are only paid at the end. Although nothing prevents God from giving Israel great wealth without them needing to take from the Egyptians through borrowing and deception, nevertheless the God of justice did this to recover their wages from them, as is found in Chapter Chelek (Sanhedrin 91a) regarding Geviha ben Pesisa, etc. Therefore, that righteous one would not be satisfied with any wealth except the wealth of Egypt in exchange for their labor, because this would provide consolation for the harsh labor that his descendants endured. And this is what is meant by and afterward they will leave with great wealth was not fulfilled. Rashi brought the phrase and afterward for the reason we mentioned.

כלי כסף וכלי זהב, “vessels made of silver and vessels made of gold.” Why did Moses not include a reference to garments, as the Torah had done 3,22? This reference to garments surfaces again when the Torah describes that the Israelites “borrowed” these from their neighbours immediately prior to their departure (12,35). Some commentators say that the reason was that “shlepping” along all kinds of garments was more of a handicap for the people on their impending journey, so that G’d omitted reference to the garments, to indicate that this was entirely voluntary; they did not have to ask for clothing. The Israelites, when it came to the departure, decided to fulfill G’d’s commandment in its entirety, hence they also asked and received fancy garments.

וישאלו, to be an outright gift, just as in Psalms 2,8 שאל ממני ואתנה נחלתך, “ask of Me, and I will give your inheritance.”

And Hashem granted the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was exceedingly great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants and in the eyes of the people.

AND THE ETERNAL GAVE THE PEOPLE FAVOR IN THE SIGHT OF THE EGYPTIANS. The purport thereof is that the Egyptians did not hate them because of the plagues. Instead, they conceived affection for them, and the Israelites found favor in their eyes, the Egyptians acknowledging, “we are the wicked ones. There is violence in our hands, and you merit that G-d be gracious to you.” MOREOVER, THE MAN MOSES, who brought the plagues upon them, WAS VERY GREAT IN THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT, IN THE SIGHT OF PHARAOH’S SERVANTS — his opponents — AND IN THE SIGHT OF THE PEOPLE, Israel. After [the officers of the children of Israel] had said to Moses and Aaron, The Eternal look upon you, and judge, after they hearkened not unto Moses for impatience of spirit, he now became very great in their sight when they saw that he was established to be a prophet of the Eternal. And some scholars say that the expression, in the sight of the people, means the Egyptians. The reason Scripture does not state [that Moses was very great] “in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants,” [but instead mentions only Pharaoh’s servants], is that G-d made Pharaoh’s heart obstinate towards Moses because he [Pharaoh] had twice spoken to him improperly, and He desired that Pharaoh come to Moses and bow down to him as one comes before his enemy, all this being a sign of the power and achievement of Moses. Now it is impossible to explain the expression, And the Eternal gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, as referring to the favor they found in the eyes of the Egyptians at the time of the borrowing, [mentioned further, 12:36]. In that case, the verse there relates that G-d later fulfilled the promise He made here. If the verse here were establishing the Divine promise, [i.e., that the people will find favor in the sight of the Egyptians and that they will let them have what they asked], the verse here should not have said, And the Eternal gave; it should have said, “And I will give the people favor.” [Hence we must conclude that the intent of the verse here is to be explained as above, i.e., that the Egyptians bore no grudge against the Israelites because of the plagues.] It is further on at the time of the actual event that Scripture says, And the Eternal gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked.

"And He gave" — Scripture relates that Hashem fulfilled what He had promised Moses: "And I will give this people favor" (3:21). The sense of "also the man Moses" is that many would lend them [articles] on account of the honor due to Moses. "In the eyes of the people" refers to the people of Egypt.

גם האיש משה גדול, in his honour the Egyptians gave the Israelites generously.

גם האיש משה גדול מאד, “also the person called Moses was a very greatly esteemed man.” The Torah writes this in order for us to understand the reason why the Torah reports that the Israelites “emptied out” Egypt. Many Egyptians gave gifts to the Israelites as a sign of their high esteem for their leader Moses. ובעיני העם, “as well as in the eyes of the people.” (the Egyptian people, not only in the eyes of Pharaoh’s officials.)

ויתן ה' את חן העם בעיני מצרים, “G’d granted the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians.” In spite of the fact that the Egyptians experienced all these plagues orchestrated by the messenger of this Jewish G’d, they no longer related to the Israelites with hostility; on the contrary, they had belatedly realized that not the Israelites but they themselves had been the sinners all along by using brute force in their relations with them. It was therefore no more than fair that G’d recompensed them by endowing them. We must not translate the words ויתן ה' את חן העם בעיני במצרים, as a reference to the “borrowing” the Israelites were about to do, as, at the time when the Israelites had not yet received these items the expression ויתן would be premature when all they had as yet was a promise by G’d. Here G’d could only have said “I will give the people favour, etc.” In chapter 12,36 G’d is reported (in the past tense) of having given the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians as the reason why they handed over all these valuables. גם האיש משה, “moreover, the man Moses,” he enjoyed such an image because he had orchestrated the plagues. גדול מאד בעיני עבדי פרעה, “enjoyed great stature in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants.” This is a reference to the servants who had challenged Pharaoh’s policy. ובעיני העם, “and in the eyes of the people.” This refers to the Jewish people. Seeing that the people, after Moses’ failed intervention on their behalf, had challenged him to a דין תורה with G’d, protesting his mixing in their affairs (Exodus 5,21). The Torah now reports that the minds of the people had undergone a change of heart vis a vis Moses, even though they were still enslaved in Egypt. Other commentators understand the words ובעיני העם as referring to the Egyptian people. The reason that the Torah did not report Pharaoh and his pliant ministers as sharing this high regard for Moses, was because G’d had toughened his heart so that he spoke to Moses in a disparaging manner [something he had not done previously. Ed.]. G’d had created this scenario in order to eventually force Pharaoh to come to Moses and plead that the Israelites leave, the sooner the better. In this manner, Moses’ stature would be enhanced still further if the “mighty” Pharaoh came begging to him in the middle of the night. Ibn Ezra writes that the words ויתן ה' את חן העם בעיני מצרים are to be understood both as relating to the Egyptians lending their valuables to the Israelites, and to the esteem that they held Moses in by that time.

And Moses said: Thus says Hashem — at the middle of the night I will be revealed in the midst of Egypt.

ויאמר משה כה אמר ה AND MOSES SAID, THUS SAITH THE LORD — Whilst he was still standing before Pharaoh this prophecy was spoken to him, because after he left him, he did not see his face again (Exodus Rabbah 18:1). כחצות הלילה means, WHEN THE NIGHT IS DIVIDED (i. e., when midnight arrives). כחצות is an infinitive with prefix, of similar form to, (1 Kings 18:36) בעלות, “when went up” and (Psalms 124:3) “when their wrath was kindled (בחרות)”. This is its literal meaning which fits in with the sense, for חצות is not a noun, being another form of חֵצִי (when the meaning would be about midnight I will go out etc.”, for this does not fit in with the sense, since God would certainly have stated exactly when He would do this). But our Rabbis took it in this sense and explained it as meaning “about the middle of the night”, and they asserted that Moses said כחצות “about midnight”, which implies near to it — either just before it or just after it, and he did not say בחצות “at midnight” (as God had bidden him say) because he feared lest Pharaoh’s astrologers might make a mistake as regards the time when the slaughter of the firstborn actually took place, thinking that it was a little earlier or later than midnight, and would say, in consequence of this error, “Moses is a liar!” (cf. Berakhot 4a).

AND MOSES SAID: THUS SAITH THE ETERNAL: ABOUT MIDNIGHT WILL I GO OUT INTO THE MIDST OF EGYPT. Moses said this to Pharaoh and to his servants, as he mentioned at the end of his words, And all these thy servants shall come down unto me. Now he did not explain on what night this plague will take place, since this Divine communication to Moses and the transmission thereof to Pharaoh happened before the first of Nisan, and when he said about midnight, he did not yet know on which night it would be. Thus Moses did not inform them of the specific night on which this plague would take place, but instead he said in kindled anger, “I will see thy face again no more. It is you who will call upon me at about midnight to go out from your country, and your servants will bow down to me.” In the second section He elucidated to Israel, And I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and in the third section Scripture states, And it came to pass at midnight, i.e., the night mentioned when they were eating the paschal lamb.

"About midnight" — Some grammarians say that "ka-chatzo" is a verbal noun, meaning: when midnight exactly arrives, since they sought to parallel it to "And it came to pass at midnight" (12:29). But it is well known that even a scholar cannot determine the precise moment of midday except with great difficulty and large bronze instruments — how much more so midnight, which is more difficult to determine. In my view, none of this is necessary, for the meaning of "about midnight" is: when the first half of the night has passed. And similarly "at midnight" (12:29) refers to the remaining half. The trustworthy proof is: "And it came to pass at midnight, that the man trembled and turned himself" (Ruth 3:8), and "At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You" (Ps. 119:62). The sense of "I am going out" concerns the decree that goes forth from Hashem.

כחצות הלילה, "at around midnight, etc." The Talmud Berachot 4 already discusses that the reason that Moses did not give the precise time but only an approximation was so that in the event the Egyptian astronomers were inaccurate in their calculations they should not be able to accuse Moses of having lied. Possibly the reason is related to what Bereshit Rabbah 43,3 has to say about Genesis 14,15 where Abraham is described as defeating the four kings. That event occurred on the night of the 15th of Nissan. In that case the letter כ before the word חצות does not describe an approximation but refers to a previous event which took place on that date at that time. Our sages in Shemot Rabbah 42 tell us that the night in which Abraham defeated the four mightiest kings of the world (Genesis 14,15) caused many people to re-evaluate the beliefs they had held up to that time. The Torah therefore mentioned the time when this miracle had occurred. In our paragraph too, the people who survived this event must have done some serious soul-searching as to the validity of their religious beliefs. The letter כ then refers to such re-evaluations as a result of what would occur at midnight. אני יוצא. "I will go out, etc." G'd stressed the "I" as if to say that although He has many agents who could perform this task at His behest, He would do so personally and would descend right into the midst of Egypt. G'd had two reasons for doing this personally. 1) As an expression of His fondness for His people whom He wanted to liberate personally. 2) Angels are not capable of distinguishing which human being was formed from the first drop of semen of his father so that he deserved the description בכור, firstborn. Even if such a fetus would emerge as the second or third of a multiple birth it would still deserve to be considered the firstborn. No one but G'd Himself is able to make these distinctions.

ויאמר משה, Moses said: according to Rashi this paragraph was told to him while he was still standing in the palace in the presence of Pharaoh as he never saw him again later. The words: נאמרה לו, “were said (revealed) to him,” refer to Moses relating his latest prophecy to Pharaoh. The proof of this is that if these words were only now communicated to Moses by G-d, why did Rashi not comment this on verse 1 of our chapter? We must therefore understand Moses as having announced the plague of his own volition without a commandment at that time, as he had already done so with the plague of the locusts, as stated in Pessikta on the verse 29 in chapter 12. This is also the way it is described in Tanchuma 12,37 (older version) concerning that paragraph commencing with: “it was at about midnight;” כחצות הלילה, “approximately at midnight;” actually when midnight struck; here the prefix כ is used in the prediction whereas at the actual hour of the dying of the firstborn, the Torah describes it as having occurred precisely at midnight. We find something similar in Exodus 13,4 where Moses tells the people: היום אתם יוצאים בחודש האביב, “you are leaving this day in the month of spring.” (Rash’bam) אני יוצא, “I am going out (taking a walk);” seeing that Pharaoh had failed to heed Moses’ warning, I will personally descend from heaven to carry out what Moses had threatened would happen at this hour.”

כה אמר ה' כחצות הלילה, “thus has the Lord said: ‘around midnight,’ etc.” Actually, G’d had told Moses that the dying of the firstborn would occur precisely at midnight, as the Torah testifies that it took place בחצות הלילה, “at midnight” (12,29). Moses changed the wording to “around midnight.” Berachot 4 explains that Moses did so in order not to give the Egyptian astrologers a chance to call him a liar in the event their calculations of midnight were not precise and they thought that Moses did not know the exact time of midnight. The obvious question which arises is that we know that for several plagues past the astrologers and magicians had not dared show their face at Pharaoh’s palace anymore after they had acknowledged that the plagues were G’d’s doing. What would cause them to accuse Moses of being imprecise if the plague did not occur at the time they considered as “midnight?” Had Moses not established his own credibility beyond any doubt during the preceding nine plagues, each one of which had occurred precisely when and how Moses had predicted? These astrologers were well aware that Moses had not done anything on his own but had only announced what G’d was about to do! Furthermore, even assuming that the astrologers would accuse Moses of having lied, would this bother him enough to edit what G’d had told him, i.e. “at midnight?” We may have to answer that up until the third plague all the Egyptian astrologers and magicians had indeed thought that Moses had instigated the plagues on his own, not G’d. They had credited him with superior skills and knowledge. Once they had observed the third plague they had revised their attitude and admitted that “a finger” of G’d was at work. After that they had observed that the plagues had been performed by Moses himself after he had issued warnings. They had also observed that each time the cessation of the plague had occurred after Moses had prayed to G’d to cancel it. Moses’ image as a powerful prophet had increased from plague to plague. The image of the Egyptian astrologers and magicians had suffered in direct proportion to the image of Moses and G’d having increased in the minds of the Egyptians at large. Seeing this was so, Moses worried that all of this could be undone if at the last plague the Egyptian astrologers would finally be able to accuse him of an inaccuracy. If that were to occur, they would retroactively renounce their new-found belief in G’d and His power. Moses was not prepared to risk this desecration of the name of G’d. I believe that a further consideration which compelled Moses to change the word בחצות to כחצות, was the well known fact that according to the astronomers the beginning of a day rotates in the order of the following seven planets commencing with ח'לם כצ'נש, whereas the nights commence according to the pattern כנ'צש חל'ם. [The first set of letters stands for the planets “sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. Sunday morning would be under the aegis of the sun; Monday morning under the aegis of the moon, etc., Ed.] Moses changed the word בחצות to כחצות to create the impression that the plague of dying would commence at the end of the 6th hour of the rule of Jupiter which was perceived to be the omen for life, not death. Had the plague commenced or been predicted to commence at midnight, i.e. at the time that the planet Mars came into its own, the fact that dying would occur then would have been considered far less miraculous. They would have attributed the whole disaster to natural forces. In fact, the plague did begin at that moment as G’d does not bother to interfere with laws of nature unless there is a compelling reason. Whenever He can accomplish His purpose by utilizing the existing norms He does so. In this instance He was desirous of utilizing one of His regular servants, i.e. the planet Mars in order to kill His enemies. We find something similar in connection with the deluge. The Talmud Berachot 59 explains that in order to orchestrate the deluge G’d took two stars out of the constellation Pleidas and as a result there developed the deluge. [In other words, G’d used mechanisms existing in nature in order to produce certain hitherto unknown phenomena. Ed.] The plague of the dying of the firstborn would have remained a most powerful plague even if Moses had not changed G’d’s wording seeing that even the scoffers would not have credited Mars with the power to effect more than a few deaths at a time, especially seeing this was not the time of year the influence of this planet was at its height. The demonstration of maybe a million Egyptians dying and all of them being firstborns at that would surely have enhanced G’d’s image rather that diminished it. It would have been demonstrated beyond doubt that such an occurrence could not be credited to horoscopic influences at all. Nonetheless, all the believers in horoscopic influences are convinced that the majority of children born after a nine-month pregnancy owe their live birth to the influence of the planet Jupiter. This prompted Moses to word G’d’s warning in such a way that if the dying occurred at a time which was governed by the planet Jupiter the phenomenon would appear to contradict accepted concepts even more than if he had announced that it would take place when the planet Mars was the dominating planet in the skies. It would prove once and for all that the power over life and death was firmly rooted in G’d’s domain not in a domain which He had delegated to the planetary system. When we read in Job 34,20: “some die suddenly, in the middle of the night people are in turmoil and pass on,” the expression יגועשו used in the verse in Job is similar in meaning to Psalms 18,8 ותגעש ותרעש הארץ, “then the earth quaked and rocked.” The word ויעבורו “and pass on” in that verse in Job referred to the Israelites to whom Pharaoh had said: “rise and leave my people, etc.” The last words in that same verse in Job: “even great men are removed -not by human hands,” are a reference to the Egyptians who up until that moment had exerted fear upon the Israelites, an emotion which evaporated as if it had never existed without human force accounting for this. According to Shemot Rabbah 18,2 the meaning of the word כחצות is that midnight would have a dual function; death as a form of retribution for the Egyptians, and justice and righteousness for the long suffering Israelites. אני יוצא בתוך מצרים, “I will go out amongst Egypt,” Onkelos translates these words as “I will reveal Myself.” Our sages quote Micah 1,3 on this verse “G’d will leave His abode and He will come down and stride on the heights of the earth.” Talmud Yerushalmi Taanit 2,1 suggests that G’d will switch application of one of His attributes for another i.e. He will exit from one attribute and switch to another, in this instance the attribute of Justice.

“Around midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt.” Rashi explains in the portion of Exodus (2:11) on the verse and he saw an Egyptian man beating etc., that the taskmasters would wake up the Israelites for their labor at the crowing of the rooster. And from where did Rashi learn to say that they would wake them specifically at the crowing of the rooster? Perhaps Rashi learned this from what is stated around midnight etc., because we find that the punishments for the Egyptians were measure for measure in all 10 plagues. But we still have not found a punishment related to time. Therefore it says around midnight with the letter “kaf” [which can mean “like” or “approximately”], meaning like that midnight when they wronged and oppressed them by waking them for labor at the first crowing of the rooster, which is at midnight, and the taskmasters were high-ranking officials. So too, the firstborn of Egypt were also struck at midnight. Or it refers to that midnight of Abraham, just as Abraham struck the kings at midnight, so too the firstborn of Egypt were struck at midnight. And what is written, “I am going out,” that is to tell you that initially, the Holy One, Blessed be He, went out Himself in order to bring down the guardian angel of Egypt, because this is something that no messenger or angel has the power to do. After this, God sent destroyers against the firstborn of Egypt. Therefore, it says I am going out in the midst of Egypt and not “in the midst of the land of Egypt,” and afterward it says and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die. Rather, it is certain that the first going out was not on earth but in heaven, and with this all the questions of the commentators are resolved. For how could they say about the plague of the firstborn “I and not an angel,” etc., when the verse says and He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses? Rather, it is clear as we have explained. And it uses the language of “going out” in the way that it is said For behold, the Lord goes out from His place (Isaiah 26:21), and our Sages, of blessed memory, explained (Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 2:1), “He goes out from the throne of mercy and sits on the throne of judgment.” So too, the “going out” here is to first execute judgment on their gods, as it is written For My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens (Isaiah 34:5), and afterwards, behold, it shall come down upon Edom, so too is the matter here, and this is a precious explanation.

כחצות הלילה, “around midnight.” Rashi says that the reason that Moses did not refer to בחצות הלילה, ”precisely at midnight,” as the Torah reports the slaying of the firstborn having occurred at, was because he did not want to take a chance of being called a liar in the event that the astronomers’ clocks in Egypt were not accurate. Ibn Ezra writes that according to some experts in grammar, the word כחצות is a form of the verb when it becomes converted into a noun. The meaning is: “at the point of time known as midnight, etc.” In other words, the meaning is no different than if the Torah had written בחצי הלילה. Personally, I do not think there is a need for all this, as the meaning of the words כחצי הלילה is “the moment the stroke of midnight is over, etc.” At that moment the second half of the night commences. Nachmanides writes that G’d had never said to Moses that this would take precisely at midnight of a certain date, but that the words reflect that Moses had been informed that on some midnight this plague would become effective. The precise date when this would occur was revealed to the Israelites only in the second paragraph dealing with it. (12,23) The third paragraph dealing with this plague reports on what happened and to whom. (12,29)

'ויאמר משה לפרעה כה אמר ה' כחצות הלילה, וגו, the construction of כחצות is derived from the root חצה just as כעשות is derived from the root עשה, or as in the expression כעלות המנחה the word כעלות is derived from the root עלה. In other words, the meaning of כחצות הלילה is: “as soon as midnight arrives.” אני יוצא בתוך מצרים, when it came to the execution of this prophecy the Torah writes instead: ויהי בחצות הלילה, “it was exactly at midnight.” (12,12). This is the plain meaning of the text. The reason Moses had to use a slightly different formulation was that he meant to say that G’d will divide the night into 2 halves, יחצה. Seeing that the word כחצות describes an activity by G’d being performed at a certain time, Moses could not merely have described the time without avoiding reference to G’d doing something at that time.

כחצות הלילה, “around midnight, etc.” G–d brought on the plagues on Egypt according to norms familiar to kings of flesh and blood. When a nation disobeys its ruler, the first thing such a ruler does is to interfere with its water supply. This is why Good first interfered with Egypt’s water supply, turning it into blood. When this proved ineffective, He resorted to frighten them by noises; in order to achieve this he had the frogs which are extremely noisy invade every part of the Egyptians’ homes, including their most private rooms. When this also proved useless, He subjected them to pricks such as are caused when a person is struck by arrows. The vermin did this to the skin of the Egyptians. Following the failure of achieving his objective, He subjected civilised Egyptians to barbarians, i.e. to hordes of ferocious animals whose normal habitat was elsewhere. The next step was to strike their livestock, still not afflicting them with lethal force. They were then subjected to intolerable stench, eventually even immobilised during the plague of darkness. When this proved ineffective, He struck dead both adults and children, i.e. their respective firstborns. Our author quotes verses from different parts of the Bible backing up his claims about frogs being noisy, etc.; etc.;

And every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who is destined to sit upon the throne of his kingdom, to the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the millstones, and every firstborn of the cattle.

עד בכור השבי UNTO THE FIRSTBORN OF THE CAPTIVE (these words are used in 12:29 instead of עד בכור השפחה “unto the firstborn of the handmaid” in this verse) — Why were the captives smitten, for they had not enslaved the Israelites? In order that these might not say that their god had claimed satisfaction for the humiliation imposed upon them and had brought this punishment upon the Egyptians (cf. Mekhilta). מבכור פרעה עד בכור השפחה FROM THE FIRSTBORN OF PHARAOH UNTO THE FIRSTBORN OF THE HANDMAID — All who were of less importance than the firstborn of Pharaoh and of more importance than the firstborn of the handmaid are included in this description. And why were the sons of the handmaids stricken? Because they, too, treated them (the Israelites) as slaves and rejoiced at their misery (Midrash Tanchuma, Bo 7). וכל בכור בהמה AND ALL THE FIRSTBORN OF BEASTS — because they worshipped these as gods. When the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment from a nation, He punishes their gods at the same time (Genesis Rabbah 96:5).

"Who sits on his throne" — that is, the one fit to sit on his throne after him. Scripture mentions the most honored of all Egypt — the son of their master, to whom all are servants — and the most despised of all: the firstborn of the maidservant, who is a slave. The sense of "who is behind the millstones" is one who grinds, as in "and he was grinding in the prison house" (Judg. 16:21). I have already stated that the prophets do not preserve the exact words but only the meanings, for "let me swallow" (Gen. 24:17) and "give me to drink" (ibid. 24:45), and "remember" and "observe," and "vanity" and "falsehood," and "you shall not covet" and "you shall not desire" are equivalent in meaning — and I will discuss this further in Moses's prayer. Now, "the firstborn of the maidservant" is equivalent to "the firstborn of the captive" (12:29), for the captive woman is a maidservant; she would sleep in the pit-house at night, as was the custom of prisoners, as Joseph mentioned: "for they put me into the pit" (Gen. 40:15).

מבכור פרעה עד בכור השפחה, from the highest layer of Egyptian society to the most lowly. When we read a similar line in 12,19 the meaning is “from the most severe sinner to the relatively least guilty sinner.”

ומת כל בכור, and every firstborn will die, etc. G'd did not say: "I will kill him." The reason, as we have pointed out on previous occasions is, that evil does not originate with G'd. He is the Creator of all that is good. Anything in the nature of evil is initiated by one of the agents He has designated. G'd Himself indicated who was the firstborn, His agents carried out the death sentence. This is why the mention of "destroyers" at the time the Israelites put the blood on their door-posts and the fact that G'd Himself orchestrated the plague are not contradictory. There may also be another meaning, similar to what we are told in Shabbat 34 where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai put his eye on a sinner and that sinner died as a result. At first glance, how are we to understand that a pious person of the calibre of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai would summarily "execute" someone by giving him "the eye?" The same Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai had castigated people of the evil eye as possessing a very negative virtue (Zohar 3, page 211). Actually, the exact wording in the Talmud was יהבי עיניה, "he looked at him with his eye" (singular). We would have expected the Talmud to say that "he looked at him with his eyes (pl)." We have to remember that inasmuch as "evil" and "death" are synonymous how is it that evil exists at all? This is because there are no absolutes; just as the attribute of Mercy contains a small part of the attribute of Justice, so every good virtue contains a small element of evil, and vice versa. In the case of evil, death occurs when that small part of "good" or "life" which kept it alive is withdrawn. Keeping this in mind, we can understand the peculiar statement in Sukkah 52 according to which G'd will slaughter the evil urge at an appropriate time in the future in the presence of the righteous. How are to understand this? How can one slaughter an angel (disembodied spirit)? Considering what we have just said we can understand the statement in the Talmud very easily. G'd will remove the part of the evil urge which makes it a viable i.e. active force. We also need to appreciate the natural tendency of identical or basically similar virtues to coalesce with each other. The good attracts the good, the evil tends to attract more evil to itself. This is the secret of how the souls of the Israelites which had their origin in the positive emanations could "draw" to themselves the "lost" souls which we described as being particularly prevalent in Egypt. [The author has repeatedly described these souls as having been captured by the negative side of the emanations as a result of Adam eating from the tree of knowledge (compare his comments on Genesis 49,9). Ed.] G'd had given outstanding Torah scholars the ability to attract to themselves the "good" part of any sinner. When Rabbi Shimon looked at the sinner in question he extracted the good part of that sinner, thus leaving no viable element within that person. As a result the sinner died. When G'd passed ...

כל בכור, “every firstborn.” Both the firstborn of a mother and the firstborn of a father were included. הבכור פרעה, “from the firstborn of Pharaoh,” i.e. a firstborn of the father, to עד בכור השפחה, “including the firstborn of a servant maid,” i.e. the firstborn of a mother. עד בכור השפחה, according to Rashi, seeing that most commentators here understand the words בכור השפחה, to be identical to בכור השבי in 12,29, they use that term in their commentary on this verse. They assume that Rashi agreed seeing that nearly all prisoners of war become slaves. [According to my understanding of Rashi on 2,29, there are degrees in the hierarchy of slaves. The Torah uses both terms, as the slave who was a prisoner of war is considered as at the rockbottom of that hierarchy. Ed.] Another reason for the two terms being used by the Torah for servant women; when the firstborn sons of servant maids heard Moses use the term שפחה in our verse, they decided to become captives so as to escape the threat of being killed. Upon noticing this, G-d said: while it is true that I had only spoken about the firstborn of the servant maid being killed, now I must include also the firstborn of a woman prisoner. A different interpretation: the expression בכור השבי is subordinate to the general heading of בכור השפחה. The prophets in their way of expressing themselves (as opposed to the Torah itself) do not bother with stylistic effects but are concerned with the basics. Such nuances as השקני “let me drink,” as opposed to הגמאיני, “let me sip,” when Eliezer is quoted as speaking to Rivkah, (Genesis 24,38) or the two versions of the commandment to keep the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments no less, i.e. in Yitro it says: זכור for “remember,” whereas in the Book of Deuteronomy, the text of which is attributed to Moses, it says: שמור to express the same commandment, or minor differences such as swearing a false oath which in Yitro is described as לשוא, and in Leviticus 19,12, לשקר, or differences such as לא תחמוד, for “do not covet,” and לא תתאוה, in the version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5,18, are to be viewed as if two sides of the same coin. [My words, Ed.] Both expressions convey the same basic thought. Still another explanation: when Moses said: ומת כל בכור, “and every firstborn will die,” the firstborn of the maidservants rejoiced noting that they are not considered in the eyes of the Jewish G-d from the firstborn of the nobility. When their masters noted their joy, they threw them in a dungeon to teach them a lesson and not to forget their place in the Egyptian hierarchy. As a result they died, while still in the dungeon. In effect what happened is simply that the first born who had been only slaves at the time the plague had been announced had become also prisoners by the time the plague became effective. אשר אחרי הרחים, “who walks behind the millstones to help grind. When the plague was over the Torah describes these people as having been in a dungeon. This is another example of what we discussed earlier on this page. Some commentators believe that these two verses are actually to be understood as a single verse, i.e. that these lowly slaves performed one kind of task by day and another by night. We find an example of this in the Book of Judges when Shimshon had to perform the task of pushing the millstone by day, whereas at night he was put back into the dungeon and the millstone was placed on to prevent him from escaping. (Judges 16,21.) וכל בכור בהמה “and every firstborn of the domestic animals.” According to Rashi, G-d first punishes a people’s deities and then the people themselves. We see this from Exodus 7,17, where the river Nile, a major deity of the Egyptians was struck before the people suffered as a result of this.

ומת כל בכור, “and every firstborn will die.” The meaning is “regardless of whether he is the firstborn of the male (who provided the sperm) or if he is the firstborn of the female.” The curious wording in the Midrash Hagadol means that if one man impregnated 10 women all of whom had previously not given birth, the males born as a result are considered as “firstborn (of) the women.” If the situation is reversed, and a woman gives birth to ten males each by sperm of another male, then such “firstborn” are considered as “firstborn (of) men.” This is what Assaph means in Psalms 78,51: “He struck every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Cham.” We have another verse in Psalms 105,36 where the firstborn are also described as “the first fruit of their vigor.” It appears that the firstborn of “males” are described as ראשית לכל אונם, whereas the firstborn of women are described as ראשית אונים באהלי חם. The reason is that woman is traditionally associated with the word אהל, “tent.” Compare Judges 6,8 הם ומקניהם יעלו ואהליהם, “they and their cattle ascended together with their “tents,” i.e. with their women. מבכור פרעה אשר יושב על כסאו עד בכור השפחה, “from the firstborn of Pharaoh who would sit on his throne to the firstborn of the maidservant, etc.” The Torah first mentioned the most aristocratic firstborn and concluded with the most lowly born firstborn who performed the menial task of rotating the millstone so that these convicts should not say that their deity had protected them against this ultimate punishment. Later on, (12,29) when the Torah reports what happened, this lowly born firstborn is described as the “firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon.” It all amounts to the same thing. [This presumes the question that seeing these slaves could not have enslaved the Israelites, why should they now become victims. Ed.] However, I have heard a reason given for the Torah changing the description of the people at the low end of the social scale being that male slaves used to be employed by day to rotate the millstones whereas at night they were brought back to the dungeons. Seeing that when Moses was prophesying what would happen it was daytime, he used the metaphor of the firstborn rotating the millstone. However, seeing the actual happening took place at night, the Torah switched metaphors and referred to the captive in the dungeon, the place where he died. וכל בכור בהמה, “and the firstborn of every domestic animal.” If man sinned, what did the animals do that they too had to pay the penalty? The reason the firstborn animals had to die was because the Egyptians had made deities of them. When G’d exacts retribution from a nation, He commences by punishing their livestock first (compare Mechilta Pisscha 13). Our sages Bereshit Rabbah 96,5 explain that just as the worshipers are punished so are those being worshipped.”

Until the firstborn of the maidservant. They raise a difficulty here: Why regarding the actual plague (later, 12:29) does it say until the firstborn of the captive, who is presumably of lesser status than the firstborn of the maidservant? It seems that this is not much of a difficulty, because it’s possible that at the time this prophecy was given, there were not yet captives in Egypt, as this prophecy was given before the first of the month of Nisan, and during this time some of them became captives, and then they were also necessarily struck — both so that [the Egyptians] would not say “their deity avenged their insult,” and because [the captives] had rejoiced at [the Israelites’] misfortune before they were taken captive. Another explanation: This is why Moses did not mention the firstborn of the captive before Pharaoh, so that Pharaoh would not challenge, “What sin did the firstborn of the captive commit?” For the explanation that “their deity avenged their humiliation” would not be sufficient for Pharaoh, and even less convincing would be the explanation that “they rejoiced in Egypt’s downfall”. Pharaoh might mistakenly say that the Lord did not cause all this as a punishment, but rather that Moses foresaw through astrology a general plague affecting all the firstborn of Egypt. And there are those who say that it is all one and the same, because during the day they would put the captives to grind at the millstones, and at night they would put them in the pit, and Moses’s prophecy was during the day, therefore he called them the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the millstones. But the plague occurred at night when they were in the pit, therefore they are called the firstborn of the captive.

עד בכור השפחה אשר אחר הרחיים, ‘to the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the millstone.” When the Torah reports about the actual plague happening, it uses a different example when describing the woman at the lowest rung of the social order, namely “the firstborn of the prisoner in jail.” Actually, the Torah refers to the same person each time. When the warning was issued it was daylight, so that the prisoner was at work moving millstones. When the plague occurred it was midnight, a time when all the prisoners are in their cells to prevent them from escaping.

אשר אחר הרחיים, later on the simile is changed and the Torah speaks about השבי אשר בבית הבור, “the prisoner in the dungeon.”(12,29) There is no contradiction, seeing that we know from Judges 16,21) that Shimshon as well as other prisoners were obliged to act as the “horse-power” turning the millstones while they were incarcerated.

And there shall be a great outcry throughout all the land of Egypt, the like of which has never been, and the like of which shall never be again.

"And there shall be a great cry" — We have not seen anything like it anywhere in Scripture, to say both "the like of which has never occurred" and "the like of which there shall never be again" — the word "over" ["al"] is missing, so it reads: "the like of which has never occurred, and over the like of which there shall never again be a cry." The sense of "like it" is: devastation, or ruin, or death, and the like.

אשר כמוהו לא נהיתה, never had there been such an outcry in any of the nights the Egyptians had known. The reason was that this was not a night during which a battle was being waged against the enemies of the Egyptians, an occasion when there are many outcries in the city, as we know from Tzefaniah 1,10 “a loud outcry from the fish gate and howling from the Mishneh, and a great sound of anguish from the hills. The dwellers of the Machtesh howl.” This was a night during which Egypt was at peace. Never again would there be such an outcry in the midst of peace.

אשר כמוהו לא נהיתה, “the like of which had never occurred and will never occur again.” [The following is a comment on the grammatical incongruity in this verse where masculine and feminine constructions have been used inconsistently. Ed.] We find this kind of incongruity not only here but also in Leviticus 6,9: והרים ממנו בקומצו, as well as in Leviticus 27,9. Compare also Genesis 32,9. A different explanation: the word כמוהו, does not refer to the outcry of the Egyptians but to the night, לילה, which is masculine also. In chapter 11 verse 4, G-d had said that He would go out during that night. In our verse here the reference is to that night.

אשר כמוהו לא נהייתה, although we have a mixture of masculine and feminine construction here, this is only one of many such examples in the Torah. Genesis 32,9 המחנה האחת והכהו is just one such example which is well known.

But against all the children of Israel, no dog shall move its tongue to bark against man or beast, so that you may know that Hashem distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.

לא יחרץ כלב לשנו NO DOG SHALL חרץ HIS TONGUE — I say that it has the meaning of sharpening: “no dog shall whet his tongue”. So, too: (Joshua 10:21) “לא חרץ his tongue against any of the children of Israel”, i. e. “none whetted”; (II Samuel 5:24) “then תחרץ” — then thou shalt utter a sharp sound; (Isaiah 41:15) “a threshing-sledge חרוץ” i. e. sharp; (Proverbs 21:5) “the plans of a חרוץ” — of “an acute and sharp man”; (Proverbs 10:4) “the hand of the חרוצים maketh rich”, i. e. the hand of the acute — of sharp merchants. אשר יפלה meant THAT HE MAKETH A DIFFERENCE.

"No dog shall sharpen its tongue" — that is, to frighten them, as in "no one sharpened his tongue against any of the children of Israel" (Josh. 10:21), meaning: to bark or to bite. Thus in the land of Egypt no dog shall sharpen its tongue against them or against their livestock — how much more so will He send a destroyer from heaven to strike their firstborn.

ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו, "not a single dog will whet his tongue against any Israelite, etc." Why was this so important? If the meaning of the line is that not a single Israelite would die as a result of a bite by a dog, why did the Torah not spell this out? Perhaps we should understand this as an allusion to a well known proverb quoted in Baba Kama 60 that when one hears the dogs bark it is a sign that the angel of death is in town. The Torah wanted to tell us that the angel of death did not cause the death of a single Israelite during that night. The Torah added the detail about the dogs not whetting their tongue against Israel as evidence that they did not even attack a Jew. The reason was "so that you shall know that G'd will make a miraculous distinction between Egypt and between Israel." The word ולכל may also mean that only where the Jews congregated did the dogs not whet their tongues against them because this would prove that no stranger was amongst them. Wherever Jews and Egyptians would mingle the dogs would most certainly bark as proof that the משחית, the angel of death, was active in that environment. What the Torah revealed then is that no trick would save the Egyptian firstborn. If they decided to hide amongst the Israelites the barking of the dogs would reveal their presence (compare Shemot Rabbah 18,2).

לא יחרץ כלב לשונו, “not a single dog will whet its tongue;” it was customary for the dogs to bellow at midnight as midnight was the time when the watches changed as we know from the Talmud in B’rachot folio 3. When the Israelites made ready to leave, each one with his walking stick in his hand, these watchdogs did not raise their voices in protest and gave no alarm.

לא יחרץ כלב לשונו, “not a dog will whet his tongue.” Looking at the plain meaning of the text the Torah appears to compare the plague of the dying of the firstborn to dogs. This is to teach us that at the time wicked people suffer damage the righteous are saved from suffering such damage. This concept is spelled out in Psalms 91,6 “a thousand shall fall on your left and ten thousand on your right, but it shall not reach you.” A Kabbalistic approach: “what does the whetting of a dog’s tongue have to do with the plague of the dying of the firstborn?” It is a well known fact that the dog is a totally materialistically oriented animal which is never satiated. Isaiah 56,11 confirmed this when he said: “moreover the dogs are greedy; they never know satiety.” The greed of the destroyer (Satan) is similarly never satiated. Proverbs 30,15 describes him as הב, הב, “constantly demanding: “give! give!” Seeing that the animal which died of natural causes as well as the one which was torn by wild beasts (נבלה וטרפה) died due to the power of said “destroyer,” the Torah commanded to throw such carcasses to the dogs (compare Exodus 22,30) so that two species of the same category should meet. This is the mystical dimension of our verse here. Seeing that it is the nature of the dog to constantly attack and cause damage, it was appropriate that just as the celestial destroyer (Satan, the angel of death) did not attack the Jewish firstborn so its terrestrial counterpart would not make any threatening noises either. The tongue is characteristic of the original serpent which inflicted its damage upon the world and upon man by the indiscriminate use of its tongue. This is why the tongue of the dog is singled out by the Torah in this connection. The most concentrated power of the destroyer is emanated to it by the attribute of Justice which killed all the firstborn of Egypt. This attribute is at its most powerful at midnight. This is why the dying of the firstborn had to occur at midnight. The Torah informs you here by inference that the dogs used to bark halfway through the second משמרת, “watch” (out of a total of three) of the night. In other words, it was customary for the dogs to bark at midnight. This was the time when the angel of death would normally reap its harvest in Egypt. Baba Kama 60 states that when the dogs wail it is a sign that the angel of death has arrived at that time. On the other hand, when the dogs make happy sounds it is proof that the prophet Elijah has arrived in that town (in the absence of bitches). We have a further statement in Berachot 50 that the night watch is to be divided into three sections. During the first watch the donkey brays, a sign of the attribute of Mercy, kindness. (The donkey was never mentioned by name until the advent of Avraham who represents the attribute of loving kindness). During the second watch the dogs bark; this is an allusion to the presence of the attribute of Justice. During the third watch a wife engages in intimate talk with her husband and the infant suckles at the breast of its mother. This is an allusion that this is the time G’d arranges the livelihood for every creature at this hour. Solomon alluded to this in his famous poem אשת חיל (Proverbs 31,10-31). He wrote (verse 15) “she rose when it is still night and supplied provisions for her household and the daily fare for her maids.” The “infant” mentioned in Berachot is a reference to the universe at large, i.e. G’d’s “infant.” The “breast of its mother” is a reference to the conversation between wife and husband. Our verse here tells us that at the same hour when the dogs were barking at the Egyptians, not a single one barked at an Israelite. The Torah added: “in order that you shall know that Hashem will have differentiated between Egypt and Israel.”

ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו, “but against all the Children of Israel not a dog will whet its tongue.” (in preparation to giving the alarm) even though the city was full of corpses and it is the custom of the dogs to howl in the presence of corpses, as well as when they hear people walking at night; in fact there is a popular proverb according to which howling of dogs without visible reason, signifies that the angel of death is about. In spite of all this, on this night in Egypt the dogs kept mum.

לא יחרץ כלב, the angel proceeds to afflict and kill the firstborn of the Egyptians. By contrast, the Jewish firstborn did not even have to endure the barking of a dog.

ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו, “but not a single dog raised his voice against a single Israelite.” This was the miracle; normally dogs alert their owners to the presence of the angel of death in their midst. In this instance, not one of the watch dogs wagged as much as a tail to warn their owners of danger.

And all these servants of yours will come down to me and entreat me, saying: Go out, you and all the people who follow you — and after that I will go out. And he went out from before Pharaoh in fierce anger.

וירדו כל עבדיך AND ALL THY SERVENTS SHALL COME DOWN [UNTO ME] — He showed respect to the king, for as a matter of fact ultimately Pharaoh himself came down to him at night, (Exodus 12:31) “And he said, Arise, go out from the midst of my people”; but Moses did not at the outset say to him, “And thou shalt come down to me and shalt prostrate thyself”, out of respect for the king, (Exodus Rabbah 7:3) אשר ברגליך (lit., who are at thy feet) — who go after (follow) thy counsel and ways. ואחרי כן אצא AND AFTER THAT I WILL GO OUT, with all my people, from thy land. ויצא מעם פרעה AND HE WENT OUT FROM PHARAOH — After he had concluded his words he went forth from his presence. בחרי אף IN FIERCENESS OF WRATH because he (Pharaoh) had said to him, (Exodus 10:28) “Do not again see my face.

"And they shall come down" — and bow to me, saying: "by your leave." "And all the people who are at your feet" means those who are in your charge, whom you will lead wherever you wish, as in "and he went up with his followers at his feet" (Judg. 4:10). Because Pharaoh had said to him "see my face no more" (10:28), [Moses] went out in burning anger.

ואחרי כן אצא, I will not leave Egypt at once, as you have requested from me, but afterwards, in the morning.

וירדו כל עבדיך, "and all your servants will come down, etc." This was a promise by G'd that the servants referred to would all survive this plague. Perhaps this was because none of them were firstborns and Moses knew this through his prophetic vision. Alternatively, even though some of these servants may have been firstborns, Moses exempted them from the effects of this plague. This was not because of their righteousness but so that they would get their deserts for having been present and silent when Pharaoh used abusive language against Moses and Aaron. The principle of the punishment fitting the crime demanded that these servants would themselves be demeaned when they would beg Moses and Aaron to leave the land in order that not all the Egyptians would die. They would have to ask public forgiveness for their previous conduct. We know that Moses had felt insulted by their behaviour since the Torah told us at the end of this verse that Moses left the palace in a very angry frame of mind. Actually, Moses included Pharaoh himself in his warning that all his servants would get up at night, etc.; he only maintained a degree of respect for Royalty and that is why he did not refer to Pharaoh by name. והשתחוו לי לאמור, "they will bow down to me saying, etc." The reason that Moses said לאמור instead of ויאמרו לי, was that he implied that the mere fact they would prostrate themselves would convey their intent to beg Moses to leave the country with his people. Inasmuch as Moses was superior to them why would he need their permission to leave altogether? In addition the Torah tells us that the servants treated Moses like a king. Just as it is not customary for a citizen to approach the king and begin to speak without having received permission, Pharaoh's servants prostrated themselves as a sign that they asked for permission to speak. The Torah makes this plain by quoting Moses as saying: "they will bow down to me to say, etc;" the bowing was a form of asking permission to speak. While it is true that the Torah does not report these details as having occurred when the events of that night are described in chapter twelve, the fact that the Torah does report that Pharaoh himself arose during that night is sufficient proof that whatever Moses had predicted did in fact occur.

צא אתה וכל העם אשר ברגלך , “leave! You and all the people that follow you.” Moses predicted that prior to his and Israel leaving the land of Egypt Pharaoh himself would have to issue the order to do so. Our verse tells us that when this point would be reached the Israelites would cease being subjects of human masters, i.e. Pharaoh, and begin to become subjects of a higher power, i.e. G’d. This is the reason why this verse is invoked to help women about to become mothers who experience difficulty in giving birth. The power of this verse is very strong. The baby struggling to exit from its mother’s womb is considered like a prisoner in a cell in need to be released from its prison in order to enter the world and study Torah. [If I understand it correctly, the whole verse is part of the name of G’d just as the whole Torah is an elongated name of G’d. By isolating this name (verse) and invoking it on behalf of the baby and its mother G’d is likely to respond to the difficulty experienced by both parties concerned. Ed.]

וירדו כל עבדיך אלה אלי, “and all these servants of yours will be coming down to me, etc.” According to Rashi, this is a form of courtesy to Pharaoh, as the King. Moses had in mind that Pharaoh would come down to where he lived, but he used a euphemism in order not to sound as if he meant to insult him. Although the Torah had described Moses’ as leaving Pharaoh for the last time in a state of “burning fury”, meaning that he had slapped Pharaoh so that at that point Moses certainly did not treat Pharaoh deferentially, we may accept the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish who says that instead of replying to Pharaoh’s insolent refusal, he slapped Pharaoh. [there are numerous explanations as to what Resh Lakish meant with his statement. Ed.] Others say that Pharaoh had slapped Moses prior to his leaving. [the basic problem is that the Talmud feels that every expression of anger must have a tangible symbol, and here none such has been spelled out. Ed.]

וירדו כל עבדיך, Even at this point Moses respected royalty, and, when referring to something undignified for a king, instead of describing the indignity as being something the king had to endure, described it as something his servants would have to endure. Let us look at the facts reported in the Torah: While the dying was in progress, the Torah reports Pharaoh as rising from his sleep in 12,30-31 calling in Moses and Aaron and doing exactly what Moses had predicted at the time Pharaoh had expelled him from his presence. (10,29)

And Hashem said to Moses: Pharaoh will not accept from you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

למען רבות מופתי SO THAT MY WONDERS MAY BE MULTIPLIED (more lit., so that my wonders may be many) — referring not to one wonder alone (the slaying of the firstborn) but to the slaying of the firstborn, the division of the Red Sea and the overthrowing of the Egyptians in it.

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO MOSES: PHARAOH WILL NOT HEARKEN UNTO YOU. It was to be expected that Pharaoh and his servants should dread the plague of the firstborn and be in consternation thereof moreso than for anything that had happened to them — indeed they had previously seen all the words of Moses fulfilled. G-d therefore informed Moses that it is He Who is hardening his [Pharaoh’s] heart, so that His wonders would be multiplied through the plague of the firstborn in both man and beast and the judgments He will execute against their gods. Rashi commented: “So that My wonders may be multiplied. This refers to the slaying of the firstborn, the division of the Red Sea, and the overthrowing of the Egyptians in it.” This explanation is not possible, because of the verse after that which states, And the Eternal hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

"And Hashem said" — This is the manner of the Hebrews, according to the rule of the language; Hashem had already said this, and many instances like it occur.

ויאמר ה' אל משה לא ישמע אליכם פרעה, G’d told him that the reason why Pharaoh would not react positively to Moses’ warning was simply that He, G’d, had stiffened his heart in order to be able to demonstrate more miracles. This was designed to teach both the Egyptians and the Israelites the multi-faceted power of G’d, as well as His goodness, as He had said: “you will know that I am Hashem.” (10,2) Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles in order to fulfill what G’d had wanted to demonstrate through human messengers. Now, that the time had come to punish the Egyptians, not to demonstrate miracles, and to save the Israelites, i.e. at least the ones that deserved being saved, and also to destroy the Egyptian deities, G’d introduces the part the Passover was to play in this end-game. This portion commences with 12,12-13. G’d wanted that the command-ment of the Passover be communicated to the people by both Moses and Aaron so that just as Moses and Aaron both had had a part to play in their confrontation with Pharaoh, they should also have a similar part to play in getting the Israelites to perform the two commandments which would qualify them to take advantage of Pharaoh’s downfall, i.e. their own salvation, the Exodus. Only in this way would Moses and Aaron reap the reward of all their efforts so far.

ויאמר ה׳ אל משה לא ישמע אליכם פרעה, G'd said: "Pharaoh will not listen to you, etc." Perhaps G'd answered a privately held belief by Moses that after Pharaoh would experience this dreadful plague he would not only free the Israelites but not pursue them even when he became aware that they had no intention of returning. This would also explain the use of the future tense by G'd. The reason that Pharaoh would remain obstinate was to give G'd an opportunity to perform still more miracles in the land of Egypt. Compare Mechilta 14 which explains why the word ארץ was needed and it was not enough to speak about מצרים. G'd may also have told Moses that Pharaoh had not yet understood the impact of Moses' prediction, namely, that as of the moment that he and his servants would urge Israel to leave they would be subject to Moses' authority and not to his. G'd did not want him to understand this yet so as to bring more plagues upon Egypt.

לא ישמע אליכם פרעה, “Pharaoh will pay no heed to you.” You might argue that this contradicts what we read in verses 30-31, where Pharaoh and his servants are described as rising in the middle of the night, showing that he certainly did not ignore Moses’ warning. We therefore have to understand our verse here as referring to the entire period during which Moses was “negotiating” the release of the Jewish people. G-d had told Moses already at the burning bush that Pharaoh would not pay heed to his demands or threats. (Exodus 3,19) He had told him at that time that the reason for the lengthy negotiations was to demonstrate to him and his people G-d’s power by orchestrating the plagues. Another exegesis of the line: לא ישמע אליכם פרעה. Since I knew in advance that Pharaoh would not heed your warnings I should have smitten him and his people with the last plague at once in order to make good on what you told him that you were afraid that any delay would result .in the Israelites being punished by Me. The reason why instead of you being punished with the sword and pestilence, as you had warned him, is that now I am entitled to punish him with what he had not minded that you would be punished. His obstinacy enabled me to demonstrate My power.

לא ישמע אליכם פרעה, “Pharaoh is not going to listen to you.” G’d meant that Pharaoh would not even be moved by this warning until the plague would strike him personally. למען רבות מופתי, “in order to multiply My miracles.” This was a reference to the dying of the firstborn. The reason G’d used the plural, i.e. מופתי, was to include the splitting of the Sea of Reeds which was still to follow.

למען רבות מופתי, “in order to increase the number of My miracles.” Seeing that there was only one plague left to be performed in Egypt, Rashi understands the plural mode moftay” as applying to both the killing of the firstborn and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, and the Egyptians being poured into that sea and drowning. Nachmanides claims that this could not be the meaning here, seeing the Torah concludes by “and he did not release the Israelites from his land.” He explains the meaning of מופתי as meaning that although the plague of the killing of the firstborn was the plague most feared by Pharaoh, and we would have expected him to humiliate himself rather than to maintain his posture, G’d explains that Pharaoh’s attitude was only due to His having strengthened his heart, giving him this unbelievable fortitude. G’d explains to Moses that this will provide Him with the justification to orchestrate more miracles. The plural mode is justified because the plague of killing the firstborn also resulted in the Egyptian deities being destroyed and their livestock similarly experiencing the death of the firstborn.

לא ישמע אליכם פרעה. This was a refrain which G’d repeated to Moses and Aaron before every plague except the last one.

And Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, and Hashem strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not send the children of Israel out of his land.

ומשה ואהרן עשו וגו׳ AND MOSES AND AARON DID etc. — It (Scripture) has already written this in the description of all the preceding wonders, and it repeats it here only in order to connect it with the chapter which comes after this (as giving a reason why the commands in the next chapter were given to Aaron as well as to Moses; cf. Rashi’s comment on the following verse).

AND MOSES AND AARON DID ALL THESE WONDERS. These are the wonders mentioned above. Scripture states this now because it completes [the narrative of] all the deeds they did [before Pharaoh], including the decree of the plague of the firstborn of which they already informed Pharaoh, for in the actual slaying of the firstborn, Moses and Aaron had no part.

"And Moses" — Even though they performed all these signs that are mentioned, [Pharaoh's] heart did not soften to let them go, because Hashem hardened it. The proper order would have been for the passage "And it came to pass at midnight" to follow this, so that the plagues should appear in sequence; but the passage beginning "This month" (12:1) was inserted between them, to inform [us] how the firstborn of Israel were saved when the destroyer came upon the Egyptians.

ומשה ואהרון עשו…ויחזק ה׳ את לב פרעה, Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles in Pharaoh's presence….but G'd hardened the heart of Pharaoh, etc. This verse tells us that in spite of all the miracles Moses had performed, Pharaoh was still not willing to let the Israelites leave, not even conditionally, such as had been proposed in 5,3.

את כל המופתים האלה, “all these miracles.' This refers to the nine plagues that had preceded the killing of the firstborn. G-d’s performing the 10th plague, however, would result in Pharaoh finally heeding all the warnings he had ignored previously. After the dying of the firstborn he will discharge the whole people and their portable belongings.

ומשה ואהרן עשו את כל המופתים האלה, “Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles.” This refers to the ten plagues which have been enumerated thus far. They have been summarized under the letters דצ'ך עד'ש באח"ב in the chronological order in which they occurred. They are actually divided into four groups consisting respectively of the four basic raw materials the earth is made of. Blood and Frogs are basically related to water. Actually, seeing that earth had been the most recently created raw material it should have been struck first. Seeing that the earth “drinks” water, G’d decided to produce first plagues which emanated from the water. When water is struck by a plague then indirectly all the four raw materials suffer. The fish in the water which really are an independent detail died as a result of their habitat being stricken. Lice and the wild beasts were manifestations of the earth being struck, the earth being “stronger” (more substantive) than the water. The Torah had reported that earth itself was ruined by the wild beasts roaming all over (8,20). Seeing that Pharaoh remained obstinate, G’d also brought upon him plagues originating in the atmosphere, plagues which attacked people’s bodies. The pestilence attacked primarily the animals, whereas the boils originating in the element fire attacked the humans. The hail and locusts originated in the atmosphere, “air.” The locusts attacked vegetation whereas darkness originated in the atmosphere. The loss of life, i.e. the loss of נשמת רוח חיים occurred as a result of the plague of מכות בכורות. When the Torah wrote that Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles, how do we reconcile this with the fact that neither Moses nor Aaron had done anything to bring about the plague of wild beasts, the plague of pestilence, or the dying of the firstborn? The word כל, both here and elsewhere does not really mean “all, each one,” but means “most.” The expression “inclining the hand” occurs in connection with seven of the ten plagues; only the three plagues just mentioned did not involve such use of either Moses’ or Aaron’s hand. Even after all the ten plagues had occurred Pharaoh was still not humbled so that G’d was obliged to continue to strengthen his heart as we know from Pharaoh’s pursuit of the Israelites (14,8).

ומשה ואהרן עשו את כל המופתים האלה, “and Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles. This verse refers to the miracles which have already been described in detail. The reason this is mentioned here is because Moses and Aaron had completed the task of warning the Egyptians of what would befall them if they did not heed the warnings. Ibn Ezra writes that in light of the fact that G’d had told Moses at the outset that Pharaoh would not respond to warnings or plagues until the last one, and this stage had now been reached, seeing that he had received all the warnings he would ever receive, the Torah reports that Moses and Aaron had carried out all the instructions they had received. If not for the need to write the Passover legislation prior to the Israelites performing those rites, the Torah would have continued with reporting the killing of the firstborn and the departure of the Israelites immediately.

'ויחזק ה, every single time.