Question of the Lesson

Week Ending 17th January 2003

Yehoshua, Noam and Rachel

for their answers to our question on 

Shemot 1; 7

"The B'nei Yisrael were fruitful and prolific, and their population multiplied.  They were exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them."  (Metsudah translation)

On this pasuk we asked why there is such a strong emphasis on the increased numbers and strength of B'nei Yisrael.  We know that the Torah does not 'waste words,' yet so many words in this pasuk seem to be telling us basically the same thing, that B'nei Yisrael grew in numbers and in strength.
The class came up with many thoughtful answers, including the following:

Yehoshua:  "The pasuk is explaining that there were too many of them."

Yehoshua's idea was that the emphasis in the pasuk is teaching us that, in some sense, there were not only many but too many people in B'nei Yisrael.  We asked:  "How can there be too many Jewish people?  Did Hashem not promise that we would become a great nation, as many as the stars in the sky and grains of sand?"

Noam helped us out:

Noam:  "Yes, too many, but only from the point of view of the Mitzriim, the Egyptians.  It was Paroh who felt that we were becoming too strong, which is why he was now about to make us work for him, eventually turning us into complete slaves."

Rachel added the following interesting thoughts:

Rachel:  "Strong can have two meanings:  it can mean physically strong but can also mean spiritually strong.  Paroh didn't like it that B'nei Yisrael were close to Hashem."  

This idea connected back to the end of Mikeitz, which we recently finished.  In Bereishit 43, 32 we saw that Yosef was served separately, his brothers separately and the Egyptians separately, "for the Egyptians could not bear to eat food with the Hebrews, it being loathsome to Egyptians."  One explanation of this was that the Egyptians hated the Hebrews' spiritual and moral way of life.  (See the Stone Chumash (Artscroll) p.245)

Rachel continued:   
"Another answer is that anyone can be strong, but because it says very, very strong it means that B'nei Yisrael were much stronger than normal."

***

Yehoshua, Noam and Rachel!
...well done indeed!