15
votes
How long was the period of Oppression
Brief Summary:
The commentators almost all agree that the four hundred years was not the time spent in Egypt. Rather, the four hundred years is from an earlier time (with some disagreements as to ...
- 49.1k
12
votes
Accepted
Is there a source that says only 1/5th of the Jews will make it past the messiah?
Sanhedrin 111a
תניא רבי סימאי אומר נאמר ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם ונאמר והבאתי אתכם מקיש יציאתן ממצרים לביאתן לארץ מה ביאתן לארץ שנים מס' ריבוא אף יציאתן ממצרים שנים מס' ריבוא אמר רבא וכן לימות המשיח שנא' ...
- 49.1k
11
votes
Question about Shemot, locusts
Rabbi Yosef Deutsch in Let My Nation Go, page 259, writes:
The wind carried every single locust east to the sea so that not one locust remained in Egypt. The locusts would await the Egyptians by ...
- 34.1k
10
votes
Why are the 10 plagues in this specific order?
Tanchuma Parshas Bo 4 explains the sequence (from Sefaria.org) by comparing the plagues to a siege upon an enemy City:
נטה (את) ידך על השמים (שמות י כא). בטכסיס [מלך] בשר ודם הביא הקדוש ב"ה עליהם ...
- 11.4k
9
votes
Accepted
How is Rosh Hashanah a remembrance of leaving Mitzraim?
The Shibbolei HaLeket (286) quotes his brother R. Binyamin as asking this question about Rosh HaShana and Yom HaKippurim. He quotes his brother's answer that the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 11a) states that ...
- 35.4k
9
votes
Accepted
What day of the week was Yeziyat Mizrayim?
According to Seder Olam Rabbah 5, it was on a Friday:
ממחרת הפסח, ערב שבת היה, נסעו מרעמסס, שנאמר ויסעו בני ישראל מרעמסס סכתה, וכתיב ויסעו מרעמסס בחדש הראשון בחמשה עשר יום לחדש
The day after [...
- 41.8k
8
votes
Many Jews died in Plague of Darkness, why not Dathan and Abiram?
I collected a few links that discuss this question, with several different suggestions for an answer.
For example: The Rosh says that only those who did not believe in the Exodus died in the plague ...
- 3,835
8
votes
What did the Jews do all day in the desert for 40 years?
They were learning Torah. As it says in Shemot 34:32
Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he instructed them
concerning all that the Lord had imparted to him on Mount Sinai.
Rashi ...
- 48.1k
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 ...
- 30.3k
7
votes
Accepted
"ויחזק" Vs "ויכבד"
My favorite commentator when it comes to understanding the differences of meanings between words (that may seem like synonyms) is the Malbim. He has some wonderful and minute distinctions between such ...
- 3,835
7
votes
Jews were on 49th level of Tumah. Says who?
Here is a picture of the Zohar with the perush masok midvash on bottom. It is zohar charash yisro on daf lamed tes amud aleph in the original Zohar print.
- 71
7
votes
Did Israelites who stayed in Egypt become halachically Jewish?
Rashi on Shemot 10:22 writes regarding the plague of darkness
And why did He bring darkness upon them? Because there were wicked
people amongst the Israelites of that generation who had no desire ...
- 48.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Did the people of Israel know they would get the Torah?
Yes there is evidence that the people of Israel knew they were going to get the Torah prior to Kabalat HaTorah.
Ray's answer cites Shemot 6:7. Even before that, in Shemot 3:12, God says to Moshe
...
- 48.1k
6
votes
How long was the period of Oppression
Before I actually answer your question, I'd just like to make one note. Jochebed, our Sages tell us, was 130 years old when Moses was born (Numbers Rabbah 13:21). She was born as the Israelites ...
- 34.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Children of the Exodus (families, names, ages)
Jochebed: I don't remember ever seeing a source whether she was alive or not. Based on the Midrash she would have been 210; even following the Ibn Ezra and others she had to be at least 100. But ...
- 9,116
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 ...
- 49.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Uses of the word Etzem
The intuitive etymological connection is made by Radak. I'm sure that there are others who make the same point as well...
I did manage to find a source for this connection here, although it still ...
- 20.9k
5
votes
If only 1/5th of the Jews left Mitzrayim, how could they be happy?
Beautiful question! The Belzer Rebbe asks it as well and says,
"As lofty and climactic a moment as Shiras HaYam (Song of the Sea) may have appeared to the naked eye, for those who were actually ...
- 13.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Why do we quote the story of Rav Elazar Ben Azaryah in the Haggadah?
In the Rambam's version of the Haggadah (found at the end of his הלכות חמץ ומצה) this passage begins אמר להם רבי אלעזר בן עזריה, R' Elazar ben Azariah said to them. According to this version this ...
- 6,392
5
votes
The Orchos Tzaddikim in Shaar HaSimcha: What does Purim have to do with remembering the Exodus?
In the commentary of Alei Orach on Orchos Tzadikim, he suggests:
1 - "כולם" is referring to all but Purim.
2 - On Purim we accepted the Torah voluntarily, "קימו וקיבלו היהודים" which was the ultimate ...
- 6,123
5
votes
Why did Batya get tzaraat?
The original text is in Pirkei d'Rebbi Eliezer 48:
והחביאוהו בבית שלשה חדשים, ולאחר שלשה נתנו אותו בתיבת גומא והשליכוהו על שפת היאור, והכל צפוי לפני הב"ה, והיתה בת פרעה מונגעת בנגעים קשים ולא היתה ...
- 34.1k
5
votes
Does Torah mention actual living in Sukkot?
No, the Torah does not mention explicitly that the Jews built actual Succot. (If it had, there wouldn’t be an argument as to whether the Jews had real Sukkot or Sukkot made from the Ananei Hakavod). ...
- 3,745
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
5
votes
Who was first to show that the first nine of the ten plagues could be grouped into three groups of three?
According to many commentators (esp. Maharal), this was the intent of Rabbi Yehudah when he broke the plagues into three groups in his mnemonic:
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה הָיָה נוֹתֵן בָּהֶם סִמָּנִים: דְּצַ&...
- 8,054
5
votes
Did Pharaoh do teshuvah?
Yes. Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer 43:
ר' נחוניא בן הקנה אומר, תדע לך כח התשובה בא וראה מפרעה מלך מצרים שמרד
בצור עליון
Rabbi Nehunia ben HaKana says: Know the power of teshuva! Come and
see it from Pharaoh,...
- 7,221
4
votes
Midrashic sources regarding the Sea splitting into twelve paths
See Avot Derav Nattan 33:2 that cites the verse that you did. It also mentions other miracles that occurred at the sea.
- 70.1k
4
votes
How old was Moshe at the splitting of the sea?
Moshe Rabbeinu turned 80 on 7 Adar before the Exodus and the splitting of the Sea was 22 Nisan (The next month)
Shmos Va'eira 7:7
וּמשֶׁה בֶּן שְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה וְאַהֲרֹן בֶּן שָׁלשׁ וּשְׁמֹנִים ...
- 42.9k
4
votes
How did the Bnai Efraim manage to get out of Egypt
The Shach on the Torah says that since they were the sons of royalty, the Eframites lived in peace and security in Egypt, and were not enslaved.
One of Efrayim's descendants (Gozan? - not sure who ...
- 43.9k
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 "...
- 9,438
4
votes
Watching the movie "The Ten Commandments"
Wikipedia states
many of the supposed inaccuracies were actually adopted by DeMille
from extra-biblical ancient sources, such as Josephus, the Sepher
ha-Yashar, and the Chronicle of Moses. ...
- 70.1k
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