Parashas Shemos 5775

“And these are the names of the children of Israel, those coming to Egypt, with Yaakov, each man came with his household” (Sh’mos 1:1). The Baal HaTurim points out that the first and last Hebrew letters of the words “Israel, those coming” spell out the Hebrew word for “circumcision,” and that the last letters of the words “with Yaakov, each man” spell out the word “Shabbos,” explaining the significance to be that because they kept these two commandments in Egypt, they were worthy of (eventually) being redeemed. However, the Baal HaTurim also tells us (12:13) that the Torah uses the word “for you” when it quotes G-d’s instructions to put blood from the Passover offering on the doorposts because it has the same numerical value (90) as the word “the (mitzvah of) circumcision” to teach us that they fulfilled the mitzvah of circumcision on that very night, alluding to the Midrash (Sh’mos Rabbah 19:5) that tells us that the nation didn’t fulfill the mitzvah of circumcision in Egypt; they only did so the night before they left so that they could eat the Passover offering (which is off-limits to the uncircumcised). How could the Baal HaTurim tell us that they were worthy of being redeemed because they fulfilled the mitzvah of circumcision in Egypt if they didn’t fulfill it until the very last minute, when they were already in the process of being redeemed?

Rashi (12:6), quoting the Mechilta, tells us that even though the time had come for G-d to fulfill His promise to Avraham to redeem his descendants, they had no mitzvos to be involved in to be worthy of being redeemed. Therefore, G-d gave them two mitzvos, the Passover offering and circumcision, so that they could be redeemed. It could be suggested that the redemption and the fulfillment of the mitzvos that made them worthy of being redeemed occurred simultaneously, with the process of redemption starting because of the promise made to Avraham, and the mitzvos being commanded towards the end of the process so that this generation could be worthy of having the promise fulfilled through them. However, the Baal HaTurim mentions two mitzvos, circumcision and Shabbos, and there is no indication that the nation first started keeping Shabbos as the redemption was occurring. [Even though Moshe was able to convince Pharaoh to give the Children of Israel one day off every week, with that day being Shabbos (see Sh’mos Rabbah 1:28), that doesn’t mean they kept it as a “mitzvah,” just that they were able to rest from working. If anything, the need to give them two mitzvos (the Passover offering and circumcision) to get them to be worthy of redemption indicates that they hadn’t been keeping any other mitzvos, including Shabbos.] Since there were two mitzvos (Shabbos and circumcision) whose fulfillment in Egypt the Baal HaTurim says allowed them to be redeemed, and Shabbos wasn’t commanded right before the redemption, it is difficult to say that he meant that this was when they fulfilled the mitzvah of circumcision either. Besides, why would the reference to these mitzvos occur when reintroducing the initial move to Egypt from Canaan if they weren’t fulfilled until a couple of hundred years later, right before they left? Which brings us back to our original question; how could the Baal HaTurim say that they were redeemed because they kept Shabbos and circumcision in Egypt, if, except for the Tribe of Levi (see Sh’mos Rabbah 19:5) they didn’t keep these mitzvos throughout their stay in Egypt?

Previously (www.aishdas.org/ta/5765/eikev.pdf), I discussed why we only receive the blessings promised to our forefathers if we fulfill the Torah’s mitzvos (see D’varim 7:12-16). The promise was made to the forefathers because of their special and unique accomplishments, but we need to be part of the mission they started in order to be the recipients of that promise. By keeping the mitzvos, we become connected to the nation the promise was made about, and by extension to our forefathers themselves, thereby becoming worthy of benefiting from that promise. But how did we become a nation? Egypt is referred to as an “iron crucible” (D’varim 4:20, M’lachim I 8:51 and Yirmiyahu11:4) because it is where we were forged into a nation. What was it about the Egyptian experience that transformed the family of 70 “children of Israel/Yaakov” into the nation of “The Children of Israel”?

For decades people have tried to define what being “Jewish” means. Is it being part of a (specific) religious group? A shared culture? An extended family? There are strong arguments against each of these. Since one can be Jewish without being religious, being “Jewish” can’t just mean being connected to our religion. Since there are people who share much of our culture who are not Jewish, and some who share little, if any, of our culture who are Jewish, culture alone can’t be the defining aspect. And since we accept converts, and do not consider some relatives (such as cousins whose mother is not Jewish) as being “Jewish”, being part of the same family can’t be it either. Rather, it was a family, which shared a unique religious perspective, whose experiences based on their uniqueness became a shared culture. Much of our culture has developed based on the religion called “Judaism,” some of it developed based on the shared experiences of this family (such as “losing” a brother and then rediscovering him as the Egyptian Viceroy), and some has developed based on the shared experiences that resulted from how others have reacted to us (such as our slavery in Egypt and the extreme amount of anti-Semitism we have suffered throughout history, including the Crusades, pogroms, the holocaust, and extreme anti-Israel sentiment).

Egypt was our “iron crucible” because it was where the shared experience of slavery transformed us from being the “children of Israel” (with a small “c”) into “The Children of Israel.” There may have been other experiences that added to our culture, such as the public revelation at Sinai, the 40 years of wandering in the desert, the conquering and then settling of the Land of Israel (although this also brought about a more pronounced Tribalism), exile and anti-Semitism, but the transformation from a family into a nation occurred through our shared experiences in Egypt.

Nevertheless, acquiring a national identity alone did not guarantee that the promises made to our forefathers would come to fruition through this nation; several times (e.g. Sh’mos 32:10) G-d threatened to wipe us out and start again, with this new entity becoming the nation through which G-d’s promises would be fulfilled. Just as we, as individuals, need to be connected to our forefathers by keeping the Torah in order to be worthy of receiving the blessings our forefathers were promised, so too must the nation that qualifies as the one G-d’s promises will be fulfilled through be built upon the foundation the forefathers set up.

“These are the names of the children (small “c”) of Israel who came to Egypt.” It is specifically in the words “Israel who came” that the Torah hints to us that they kept the mitzvah of circumcision, because the shared experience that would transform us into a nation had to be based on our relationship with the Creator. Similarly, it is specifically in the words “with Yaakov, every man,” that their Shabbos observance was hinted to, as the founding members of this nascent nation had to be committed to continuing the mission started by our forefathers, testifying that G-d created the world (by keeping Shabbos) and committing to our relationship with Him (through the covenant of circumcision).

It was only because the founding members, those who “came to Egypt,” kept these mitzvos when they moved to Egypt, that the nation they became was worthy of being redeemed. Even though the nation (as a whole) no longer kept those mitzvos, once it qualified as being able to have the promises fulfilled through them (and having at least one Tribe, Levi, keep the mitzvos throughout the years so that the rest of the nation could eventually become reacquainted with them, and remaining a distinct nation by not changing their names, dress or language, was necessary as well), and the time for the promise to be fulfilled arrived, G-d started the redemption process. The members of the nation who were being redeemed had to be worthy too, which is why G-d gave them two mitzvos to fulfill before the redemption could take place, but the nation itself had to have been built on its shared commitment to G-d for the process to start in the first place.