The tag has no wiki summary.

learn more… | top users | synonyms (1)

2
votes
0answers
65 views

Could the destroyer in Egypt discriminate?

In Rashi's comment to Shemos 12:22 we read ואתם לא תצאו וגו': מגיד שמאחר שנתנה רשות למשחית לחבל אינו מבחין בין צדיק לרשע …once permission has been given to the משחית (destroyer) to ...
1
vote
1answer
59 views

Why are the Egyptians more concerned with the Exodus of the Jews than their own defeat?

In the Haggada we read the following verse (Shemos 1:10 from Chabad.org): הָבָה נִתְחַכְּמָה לוֹ פֶּן יִרְבֶּה וְהָיָה כִּי תִקְרֶאנָה מִלְחָמָה וְנוֹסַף גַּם הוּא עַל שׂנְאֵינוּ וְנִלְחַם בָּנוּ ...
2
votes
2answers
121 views

Why did the Egyptian “astrologers” tell Pharaoh that a savior would be born?

רש"י suggests that Pharaoh's astrologers told him that they had a vision that a savior would be born on a certain day (שמות א:כב & שמות א:טז). Assuming the “astrologers” had no real power of ...
2
votes
2answers
108 views

Magicians of Egypt (sometimes referred to as Jannes and Jambres)

Exodus 7:11 ESV Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. Exodus 7:11 Hebrew Study Bible (Apostolic / ...
2
votes
1answer
35 views

The source that the famine ended when Yaakov blessed Pharaoh

I've been looking for the source that the famine actually ended when Yaakov blessed Pharaoh. I found it in the Midrash, but I'm not sure whether it is a purely midrashic source, or whether it is based ...
3
votes
0answers
67 views

Famine in Egypt

Question: How can there be a famine in egypt? Parshas Miketz and Vayigash discuss a famine in Egypt and the world. Rashi's comments to Eikev 11:10 that the Nile's annual flooding was critical for ...
13
votes
2answers
287 views

Goshen, the most immoral part of Mitzrayim

Rashi on Vayikra 18:3 says (as understood by the Mizrachi) that the most immoral part of Mitzrayim was Goshen, where the Jews had settled — indeed, according to B'reshis 45:10, Yosef chose it as ...
2
votes
2answers
129 views

Go out to receive the Torah then come back to convert Egypt

I just heard from my uncle a novel idea about the Exodus. Apparently, the original intention was for the Jews to go out of Egypt to receive the Torah, and then come back to convert the Egyptians. ...
3
votes
1answer
94 views

the land from which you brought us out = Egypt?

Dvarim 9:28 reads: פֶּן יֹאמְרוּ הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתָנוּ מִשָּׁם מִבְּלִי יְכֹלֶת יְהֹוָה לַהֲבִיאָם אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר לָהֶם וּמִשִּׂנְאָתוֹ אוֹתָם הוֹצִיאָם לַהֲמִתָם ...
2
votes
2answers
82 views

Why did Pharaoh try to kill Moshe?

Moshe Rabbeinu was raised in Pharaoh's house. Yet when Dasan and Aviram claimed that Moshe killed an Egyptian taskmaster, Pharaoh tried to kill him (Shemot 2:13-15). Why would an all powerful tyrant ...
6
votes
3answers
103 views

Why the extra words “who sits on his throne”, “who is behind the millstone”?

In Parshas Bo, 11:5, the Torah says: "Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave-woman who is behind the ...
0
votes
1answer
62 views

Are the airuv rav compared to tza'ras?

Looking for a source in chazal that compare the airuv rav to tza'ras. I have vague recollection of learning something to this effect once and it would make a killer addition to my Shavuos dvar ...
2
votes
1answer
129 views

How bad was life in Egypt?

There were 70 Jews that entered Egypt. 430 years later, there were 3 million of them (600 thousand males of warrior age). A few thousand years since then, there are 13 million, only a fourfold ...
-4
votes
1answer
182 views

How do we explain how God told jews to treat Egyptian, Amalekites, and Nearby Nations that Simply Refuse to do Labors

Egyptians were pretty bad. They killed Jewish boys. It's as bad as the Chinese one child policy. But God told Jews not to abhor the Egyptian. The Amalekites are evil too. But they did not have non ...
5
votes
2answers
162 views

Return to Egypt: Allowed?

There is an injunction on returning to Egypt. Why was it and is it ignored? For example, how is it that the Rambam an even Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef lived there?
1
vote
3answers
74 views

Returning to Egypt on Boats

The Posuk says (Devarim 28:68): וֶהֱשִׁיבְךָ יְ־הֹוָ־ה מִצְרַיִם בָּאֳנִיּוֹת בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתִּי לְךָ לֹא תֹסִיף עוֹד לִרְאֹתָהּ And the LORD shall bring thee back into Egypt in ships, by ...
10
votes
2answers
397 views

If shepherds are taboo to Egyptians, what do we make of them having sheep themselves?

Yosef tells his family to say they're shepherds because that's taboo to Egypt: you must say, 'We and our fathers have dealt in livestock all our lives'. You will then be able to settle in the ...
16
votes
2answers
262 views

Why are none of the Pharaohs in the Torah identified by name?

Throughout the Torah, the various Egyptian Pharaohs are always referred to as simply "Pharaoh" or "the king of Egypt" (or both), but never with any other parts of their official titulary. By ...
7
votes
2answers
438 views

Ten plagues of Egypt: hail and pestilence

According to Moses, the fifth plague of Egypt killed all livestock except that of Israel. If all were killed, then why did Moses warn the Pharaoh to bring his cattle to shelter before the hail? The ...
8
votes
1answer
313 views

Did the Egyptians use whips on the Hebrew slaves? Why do we assume so?

It seems like every image I've ever seen drawn (or acted) of the Jews' slavery in Egypt involves them being whipped by Egyptians. The Torah says that the Jewish foremen were stricken as their ...
2
votes
1answer
128 views

Diaspora of Egypt: has it already happened?

I have read in Ezechiel 29:12-15 that "And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be ...
5
votes
4answers
177 views

Why does there seem to be different standards for future sinners?

In Bereshit (21:17) Rashi tells us that the Angels wanted G-d to kill Yishmael, but G-d said that He wouldn't judge him according to his future deeds, but rather according to his present state: In ...