Shabbat Parashat Va'eira - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Va'eira - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon and commanded them to the children of Israel and to

  Pharaoh king of Egypt to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. [Shemot 6:13]

Breaking this verse down leaves us with some questions. "God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon" is pretty straightforward but the next word, va'yitzaveim, is not. There is also a question of what God wanted the two brothers to do "to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh".

The key to the verse has to be in the verb va'yitzaveim. Most commentators interpret it as "and He commanded them" based on the word tzav, although there are different opinions as to how it fits into this verse. Most see it as God commanding Moshe and Aharon to do something. There are a few who choose other interpretations. Onkelos says that God was giving instructions to the people through Moshe. Talelei Oros defines it as dispatched, that God made Moshe and Aharon His messengers. Sforno reads it that God appointed or charged the two, and the Brisker Rav concurs since the verse is not clear about what is commanded. He then explains based on Rashi and Ramban the interruption of the story with the lineage of Moshe and Aharon, saying that any such appointment of leaders must come from people who are of clear and pure background, thus the Torah shows us that such appointments are valid here.

Rav Hirsch and Rav Soloveitchik note the change over time from God's 'saying' to Moshe to now 'speaking' to him, for the word say is considered gentle, but speak is more harsh. It almost sounds as if God was becoming frustrated with Moshe over his complaints and unwillingness to cooperate, were such an emotion attributable to God. Ramban notes this as well.

For those who understand the word in its plain meaning of command, the question remains what is being commanded. The end of the verse gives us a clue, "to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt", but how could that apply equally to both the children of Israel and to Pharaoh? Two verses before ours, God tells Moshe to speak to Pharaoh to demand he let the people go, and then in verse 7:2, it is repeated one more time. What does our verse add to this? The interruption for lineage can explain some of this, that the Torah in 7:2 is returning to the story, and only then giving the commands.

Kol Dodi understands the one command to be to both Pharaoh and the Jews, that Moshe is to demand release of the people from Pharaoh, and demand from the people that they make themselves worthy of this redemption. Sforno is similar, that Moshe demand the release from Pharaoh and that the people should listen to him as their leader. But most others understand that there are two separate commands going on here. All agree that one is that Pharaoh is to let the people go.

Rashi explains the second from Shemot Rabbah [7:3] that Moshe is being commanded here, both to show due respect to the king of Egypt and to be patient and understanding with the people of Israel, who need gentle leadership. Brisker Rav cites this midrash as well. Talelei Oros and Torah Temimah give the second command as being to teach the people the laws of how to treat slaves in the future, since the Jewish people were destined to hold Canaanite slaves. This also includes the sending out of future Hebrew slaves in the Shemittah year.

Our verse thus begins the actual commanding of these topics, but they are not finished until the end of the chapter after the interruption about lineage.