13
votes
Moses' Hebrew name was given to him in Egyptian?
You had a number of very good suggestions.
Ibn Ezra to Exodus 2:10 suggests 2 possibilities, namely, that Pharaoh's daughter had learned the Hebrew language, or that she asked someone how to say this ...
- 20.9k
10
votes
Are pyramids forbidden?
כמעשה ארץ מצרים וכמעשה ארץ כנען לא תעשו", יכול לא יבנו בנינים ולא יטעו נטיעות כמותם? תלמוד
לומר "ובחוקותיהם לא תלכו" – לא אמרתי אלא בחוקים החקוקים להם ולאבותיהם ולאבות אבותיהם. ומה היו ...
- 3,197
8
votes
Accepted
Why did the last plague target only the firstborn?
A few answers:
1) Shemos Rabbah 15:27 - It underscored the value of firstborns
The Torah writes (Shemos 4:22):
וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר ה' בְּנִ֥י בְכֹרִ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל
Then you shall ...
- 29.9k
7
votes
Moses' Hebrew name was given to him in Egyptian?
Some thoughts from Rabbi Kaplan's Living Torah on that passuk.
He writes that moshe means son in Egyptian. He quotes Ibn Ezra & Hadar Zekenim who say this and uses this idea to translate the ...
- 33.3k
7
votes
How short was Pharaoh?
The Gemara in Moed Katan 18a says the Pharoh that was in the times of Moshe was 1 Amah.
- 2,515
6
votes
Accepted
Are Ra'meses and Ra'amses the same place
Ibn Ezra in his long commentary to Shemot 1:11 and 12:37 claims they are different places and that the Jews lived in Ra'meses and not in Ra'amses which they built. (According to this it would be a ...
- 97.2k
6
votes
How many Jews were in Egypt before the Exodus?
R. Judah Loewe explains in his commentary to this passage that the Talmud is referring to all the people who died in Egypt over the entire course of time the Israelites were there:
והם כל הדורות ...
- 49k
6
votes
Why couldn't the Jewish people return to live in Egypt? Till when was this valid? At some point later in history Jewish people did live there
The prohibition of living in Egypt has never changed. The question is to who did it apply to in the first place?
There are various opinions among the Rishonim Among them are that it only applies to
(...
- 4,688
5
votes
Why is the return to Egypt on boats?
R. Yosef Kara there writes (there) that this was a particular punishment since it included those unable to walk:
אינה דומה שבייה שהשבויים מוליכים ברגל למוליכים אותה באניות, שהשבייה שמוליכים ברגל ...
- 35.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Source for the boundaries of Egypt
His source would appear to be a beraita quoted in Pesachim 94a:
Egypt was four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs
- 41.7k
5
votes
טט בכתפי שתים - is Katfi Coptic?
Jastrow does, with a question mark:
כַּתְּפִי m. (sub לשון) Coptic language (?). Snh. 4ᵇ; Zeb. 37ᵇ; Men. 34ᵇ (Ar. s. v. טט, some ed. גדפי, cmp. גִּיפְטִי).
No word resembling either טט or פת meaning ...
- 24k
4
votes
Accepted
Where is "Nachal Mitzrayim"?
According to Rav Sadya Gaon (a native of Egypt) in his Tafsir to Numbers (34:5) this refers to Wadi al-Arish.
According to Rashi, (a native of France), in his commentary to Joshua (13:3), nahal ...
- 35.4k
4
votes
Nebuchadnezzar II failure to conquer Egypt
Babylon defeated Egypt shortly after laying waste to Jerusalem. That is, the Babylonians first routed the Egyptian army at the Battle of Carchemish, and within 35 years, defeated Egypt proper.
Writing ...
- 1,580
4
votes
Accepted
Why would Pharaoh's heart be made כבד by G-D?
Rav Ovadiah Seforno (on Shemos 9:35) suggests that Hashem "made his heart heavy" (heavy objects are hard to move) and "made his heart strong" (more literal translations of "הכבדתי" and "חזקתי" then "...
- 9,368
4
votes
Egyptian enslavement of the Jews - Antisemitism?
Rav Hirsch explains that the new king carefully and gradually stirred up anti-Semitism in order to drive down the Israelites because they were a single group or caste within the society. All the other ...
- 42.9k
4
votes
Why is the Pasuk for Vayareiu Osanu Hamitzrim a Pasuk where nothing happens?
Rabbi Yochanan Zweig asks this very question. He gives a beautiful and simple answer: the worst thing you can do for a person is to label them as a problem. Once they have a negative label placed on ...
- 34.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is the Pasuk for Vayareiu Osanu Hamitzrim a Pasuk where nothing happens?
According to Perush Kadmon (printed in Mossaf HaRav Kook's Torat Hayyim Haggada), וירעו means calculated evil. Therefore the citation about deliberation and planning is appropriate. This is quoted by ...
- 35.4k
4
votes
What were the scrolls that the Jews had in Egypt fortelling of the forthcoming redemption?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky in “Emes LeYaakov” on Shemos 8 (9) quotes the medrash and suggests that Tehillim 92 (מִזְמ֥וֹר שִׁ֜֗יר לְי֣וֹם הַשַּׁבָּֽת) was one of the megillos. He quotes from Bovo Basro 14b ...
- 47.1k
4
votes
Was Moshe punished for converting the Erev Rav?
This seems to come from Rashi's midrashic explanation of Exodus 32:7 (quoted from Sefaria):
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה לֶךְ־רֵ֕ד כִּ֚י שִׁחֵ֣ת עַמְּךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶעֱלֵ֖יתָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
...
- 24k
4
votes
Moshe's missing years
See the Midrash Quoted here. (Yalkut Shimoni, 1:168; Sefer HaYashar, Parshat Shemot). Moshe became the king of Kush for many years after running away from Egypt, and before he went to Midyan.
- 43.8k
4
votes
Population of Jews at exodus seems unrealistically large
I am surprised by the question, because the answer is explicate in the Torah text (Exodus 1:9):
וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֶל־עַמּ֑וֹ הִנֵּ֗ה עַ֚ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל רַ֥ב וְעָצ֖וּם מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃
And he said to his ...
- 3,463
4
votes
Accepted
What does the name Phinehas mean?
In Rav Aryeh Kaplan's Purple Tanakh, the etymology of the name is an Egyptian one (as common among Levi'im), from the words Pi-Neches..
Pinchas. Or Phinehas. The name Pinchas may be from the Egyptian ...
- 319
4
votes
Is There Extra Biblical Evidence Of Jews Having Communities In Egypt In The 8th Century BCE?
Isaiah 11 is discussing the messianic age and the return of the Jewish exiles in those times.
Although at the time Isaiah lived, the Judeans had not yet been exiled, Isaiah knew that a destruction was ...
3
votes
Why would Pharaoh's heart be made כבד by G-D?
Related question Did hardening Paro's heart mean he wasn't really responsible?
There are a number of answers based on the different usages. For example, the Rambam brings up the point that ...
- 42.9k
3
votes
Name of Pharaoh that we were enslaved to in Mitzrayim
According to this article by Mitchell First, if one accepts the chronology presented by I Kings (6:1), then combining that with other historical sources would lead to the conclusion that the Pharaoh ...
- 35.4k
3
votes
Accepted
Were the tribes allowed to intermarry
I just noticed that you asked about before the Exodus. The rules then were the same. A child of two people was a member of his father's tribe. The inheritance at the entry into the land was based on ...
- 42.9k
3
votes
What can we learn from the Jews being commanded to put blood on the doorposts of their homes in Egypt?
(No sources; this is my own thinking.)
We learn that we must take positive action to affirm our relationship with God and k'lal Yisrael. Yisraelites who merited being spared from this affliction ...
- 56.4k
3
votes
Pharaoh or King of Egypt?
excerpted from here
The Zohar (Shemot 17a; 19b) explains that in most of the opening story of the Book of Exodus, the Bible mentions Melech Mitzrayim. This refers to the angelic minister who ...
- 13.6k
3
votes
Yaakov's sons kvarim
The Sefer Hayashar (anonymous) on Sefer Yehoshua brings down where the Shevatim were buried:
שנים עשר בני יעקב אשר העלו בני ישראל ממצרים : ויקברו את ראובן ואת גד בעבר הירדן ברומיא אשר נתן להם משה ...
- 41k
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