Parshas Shemot
“These are the names of the sons of Yisrael who came to Egypt with Yaakov” and the Torah enumerates the names of Yaakov’s 11 sons who came down to Egypt, plus Yosef who was already there (Shemos 1:1-5). Why is the Torah repeating the names of Yaakov’s children? We already know not only their names but also the names of all of their progeny which the Torah has just mentioned in great detail (Bereishis 46:8-28). The point is that the 11 sons came down to Egypt “es Yaakov,” with Yaakov’s values as their guideposts. And Yosef, who was already there, shared the same values.
When they had been asked by Pharaoh to state their profession, they made very little of themselves. “We are shepherds,” they replied. “We have come to stay a while in your land, because there is no grazing for our flocks, so severe is the famine in Canaan. If you allow us, we will settle in the Goshen district.” And when Pharaoh asked Yaakov how old he was, he understated his life’s achievements and said, “The days of my life have been few and hard.”
Moreover, the 12 sons of Yaakov did not assimilate into the Egyptian culture. They did not change their Jewish names, shemam, they did not abandon their Hebrew language, leshonam and they did not discard their traditional attire, malbusham – which three Hebrew words form the acronym shalom, peace. These sons of Yaakov understood that to maintain the peace with the country that welcomed them in and not incite the jealousy of their hosts, and to be allowed the freedom to preserve their identity as Jews, they had to lead a life of simple tradesmen in the ghetto of Goshen. Their ticket to survival was their inconspicuousness.
Furthermore, even though by this time they had been living in Egypt for already 80 years, they were still “ba’im Mitzraimai”; they were still, so to speak, just arriving. They had no designs to settle down permanently. They were still living out of their suitcases in transit to their eventual return to the land of Israel.
But Yosef and his brothers and that whole generation died, and with them this low-key way of life.
And the children of Israel grew exceedingly mighty and the land was filled with them (Shemos1:6). They graduated from simple tradesmen to wealthy businessmen and professionals. They left Goshen for the center of Cairo where they hung up their shingles of international trade. Yes, they kept their Jewish identity in their back pockets, but outwardly they were just like the Egyptians.
The reaction was swift to come. “The Israelites are more and mightier than us” (Shemos 1:9). Where did Pharoah’s sudden shift in attitude and lack of gratitude to Yosef, who had just saved the country, come from? It came mimenu, from G-d.
We are warned not to feel too secure in the Diaspora. “Among those nations, lo sargia,” you will not settle down” (Devarim 28:65). The words “lo sargia” have a double meaning. They mean “we should not settle down.” But they also mean “we will not settle down.” It is up to us. If we constantly remind ourselves that we are not at home, we will have a home, albeit a temporary one. But if we forget where we really belong and fool ourselves that Cairo is Jerusalem, we will not rest and we will lose even our temporary home.
So the King changed the laws on them (Targum Shemos 1:8).
First Pharaoh went after their wealth. He levied a foreigners tax to make life more difficult for them (Shemos 1:11). Then he conscripted them into futile labor, designed to break their spirit. He had them erect buildings on Pitom, which stands for Pi tehom boleo, swamps into which the structures would sink no sooner were they built.
Then he went for the size of the Jewish population and decreed that all males should be eliminated prior to birth. The decree targeted males, not females, because Pharaoh took the view that the Israelites at that time were part of the descendants of Noach whose identity is determined by the family of father, not by the family of the mother. Doing away with the males before birth would give Pharaoh the alibi that he did not kill them, but that they died in childbirth.
But the midwives, Yocheved and Miriam refused to go along with the plan. Not only did they not abort the babies before childbirth, but Vatechyenah, they went out of their way to save those children whose birth caused complications from which they would have naturally died. As a reward, Yocheved was given Batei Kehuna, houses of priesthood, and Miriam was given Batei Malchus, houses of royalty (Rashi to Shemos 1:22). As we know, Yocheved was the mother of the Kohanim Moshe and Aharon (Bamidbar 26:59), and Miriam, who was from the family of Efrat, was the ancestor of David who was a descendant of the Efrat family (Shmuel 17:12). Batim (houses) are built with levainim (bricks), and the word levainim comes from le’banim, which means they are meant to last. The priesthood and royalty were to be passed down from one generation to the next.
Moshe, one of the children destined by Pharaoh to die, was hidden in a basket somewhere in the Nile. The daughter of Pharaoh, who dipped in the Nile as part of her own plan to convert to Judaism, came across Moshe, saved him and named him Moshe because she had pulled him out of the water (Shemos 2:10). Although Moshe was named Tuvia by his mother Yocheved (Sotah 12a), he was forever after known by the name Moshe, given to him by the daughter of Pharaoh, because one who saves the life of another is entitled to name him.
After Moshe escaped Pharaoh’s death sentence for slaying the Egyptian who was threatening the Jew, he spent 50 years out of Egypt as the king of Cush and then ended up in Midyan. He was tending His father in law’s sheep when G-d appeared to him in the burning bush. Moshe understood that this apparition symbolized the people of Israel who will always be under fire yet will always survive. He was appointed G-d’s emissary to go back to Egypt and shepherd G-d’s flock, the people of Israel, out of slavery. Like David after him who was picked out by Shmuel while tending to his father’s sheep in the sheepfolds (Tehillim 70:78), Moshe too was picked because he was a shepherd who would never leave any of his flock behind. Indeed, the word “Moshe” comes from the word “Mi’seh,” which means “from the sheep.” He belonged to his flock, to his people, whom he would ultimately lead to receive the Torah on the mountain of G-d called Chorev (Shemos 3:1).