English translation — שמות ב

Talk 2<pg>8</pg>

A.

On the verse<sup>1</sup>

"And Moses feared and said, 'Indeed the matter is known'" it is stated in Tanchuma<sup>2</sup>

that Moses said "There is among you slander and how are you worthy of redemption."

And we need to understand: we find in the midrashim of our sages, of blessed memory,³

that in the Egyptian exile there were among the children of Israel idol worshipers,

and nevertheless they were redeemed from Egypt⁴,

and if so — what is the simplicity by Moses,

that since "there is among you slanderous speech

(and)

how are you worthy of redemption",

that because of the sin of slanderous speech alone they are already not worthy of redemption?

Our sages, of blessed memory, greatly emphasized the severity of the prohibition of slanderous speech,

and said "whoever speaks slanderous speech is as if he denied the fundamental principle"⁵,

and even that "whoever⁶

speaks slanderous speech increases sins against three sins: idolatry, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed"⁷,

but nevertheless the matter is puzzling,

that the sin of idolatry in practice did not prevent their redemption,

whereas the sin of slanderous speech is a hindrance to the redemption of the children of Israel!

We further find in our Rabbis, of blessed memory, that there is severity in the matter of evil speech even regarding idolatry in the matter of victory in war — as it is brought in the Yerushalmi<sup>8</sup>

"The generation of David were all righteous, and because they had informers they would go out to war and would fall..

The generation of Ahab were idolaters, and because they had no informers they would go down to war and would be victorious" — but at first glance from this we learn only that there is a unique virtue in peace<sup>9</sup>

(And consequently — a lack in evil speech and dispute)

In the matter of victory in war; but what is the connection to the redemption of Israel,

And to such an extent that their redemption from the subjugation of the nations will be dependent on this?

B.

More than this:

In Shemot Rabbah<sup>10</sup>

On this verse he emphasizes even more the sin of lashon hara as a thing that delays the redemption,

And his language: "Moshe was pondering in his heart and saying, 'What sin did Israel commit<pg>9</pg>

that they were enslaved more than all the nations,

When he heard their words he said, 'Lashon hara is among them; how can they be worthy of redemption?' Therefore he said, 'Indeed the matter is known'; now I know by what thing they are enslaved."

And it is more explicit in Rashi's commentary on the Torah<sup>11</sup>,

That at first he brings "And its midrash — he was concerned<sup>12</sup>

that he saw among Israel wicked people<sup>13</sup>

informers; he said, 'From now on perhaps they are not worthy of being redeemed',"

And then

(in the entry "Indeed the matter is known")

he brings "And its midrash: The matter became known to me that which I was perplexed about: what sin did Israel have more than all seventy nations that they should be oppressed with hard labor? But I see that they are worthy of this."

And according to this — this that there are among Israel "wicked informers" is a cause that

(only)

to this that they are not worthy to be redeemed except

(also)

for them to be "worthy of slavery",

"to be oppressed with hard labor" more than all the seventy nations.

And it is perplexing: In what is the severity of the sin of evil speech regarding this matter — more than the other sins?

And furthermore, and this is also essential: How can it be said that evil speech was among Israel more than among the seventy nations,

that therefore specifically the children of Israel were enslaved and not the seventy nations?

And all this is also in Rashi —

(in our matter the midrash that settles it)

the plain meaning of the verse¹⁴.

And also in the body of the commentary of Shemot Rabbah and Rashi there is to examine: if the sin of lashon hara is a cause to be worthy of slavery and to be oppressed with hard labor — what is the novelty in that "he said now perhaps they are not worthy to be redeemed" — after all, it is included in the general principle of two hundred zuz to a maneh¹⁵?

It is still not understood: In the words of Dasan and Aviram, there was not only the sin of lashon hara,

but also the sin of informing

(that they informed against Moshe to Pharaoh<sup>16</sup>)

— and the sin of informing is more severe than the sin of lashon hara

(and includes it)

; why do Chazal emphasize that Moshe's fear was

(only)

because of the sin of lashon hara,

and not because of the main severity in their words — the sin of informing<sup>17</sup>?

<pg>10</pg>

3.

And behold, elsewhere<sup>18</sup>

it is stated "Said Rav Huna etc. 'For four things were Israel redeemed from Egypt: that they did not change their name and their language, and they did not speak lashon hara, and there was not found among them one who was promiscuous in illicit relations.'"

That lashon hara is not specified as a cause in itself,

but is included within the four things,

And yet according to the words of the Tanchuma cited above it implies¹⁹

that the sin of lashon hara alone is in his hand to prevent them from the redemption.

And one must understand on what they disagree.

[And superficially it is forced to say that they disagree about the severity of the sin of lashon hara — that according to the Tanchuma the sin of lashon hara "magnifies sins against three transgressions"

(and therefore this sin alone is enough to prevent the redemption)

; and Rav Huna who says that for four things they were redeemed

(and lashon hara is only one of them)

holds according to the opinion that whoever speaks lashon hara is

(only)

as if he denied the fundamental principle].

4.

And one can say the point of explanation in this:

It is known that at the time of the Exodus from Egypt was the birth of the Jewish people²⁰,

for until then the children of Israel were not in the category of a nation

(also in the simple meaning of the verse²¹)

And in and of themselves,

and only at the Exodus from Egypt did they become a nation in and of themselves,

and as it is said²²

"to take for Him a nation from within a nation."

And this matter,

their being a nation in and of themselves,

effected in them unity,

that they became one nation,

that is to say,

that they should be one entity of a nation,

and not just a collection of seventy souls or twelve tribes and the like

(from one stock etc.).

And therefore in order that they be worthy of redemption,

namely that they be one nation in and of themselves,

it is impossible that their conduct be in a manner of division and dispute,

the opposite of one nation.

And even though the matter of the unity of the nation is not unique,

apparently,

specifically to the people of Israel — for it is also so among all the nations,

that their being a nation depends on their uniting together,

and without this it is impossible to be a nation — nevertheless,

among the people of Israel,

the definition of unity and its necessity is in a completely different manner

(therefore,

the impediment to redemption because of informers applies specifically to the redemption of Israel).

5.

And this can be explained by first prefacing what the Rambam wrote<sup>23</sup>

at the beginning of the Laws of Idolatry<sup>24</sup>,

after the description of the manner in which the name became known through Abraham and afterwards through Isaac and Jacob — "And the matter continued and grew stronger among the children of Jacob and those who joined them, and there came into being in the world a nation that knows the Lord,

until the days of Israel in Egypt were prolonged, etc."

And it is difficult: if when they were in Egypt

(before the enslavement)

the children of Israel were already a "nation" — what was new afterwards in the Exodus from Egypt regarding this matter,

that there was then "the birth of the people of Israel"

(as explained in many places,

as above)?

And it can be said that this is understood based on the continuation of the words<pg>11</pg>

The Rambam there "until the time that Israel spent in Egypt became long and they returned to learn their deeds and to worship stars as they did, except for the tribe of Levi who stood in the mitzvah of the forefathers etc.,

And almost the planting that Abraham planted was uprooted and the children of Jacob return to the error of the world and their errors, and from the love of Hashem for us and His keeping the oath to Abraham our father, He made Moshe Rabbeinu the teacher of all the prophets and sent him,

Since Moshe Rabbeinu prophesied and Hashem chose Israel as His inheritance, He crowned them with mitzvot etc."²⁵,

From this we learn the advantage of their being a nation after the Exodus from Egypt compared to that they were a "nation" also before the Exodus from Egypt:

The definition of the "nation" before the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah is that "a nation came into being in the world that knows G-d",

That is to say:

(a)

The nation "came into being" — by itself,

through the activity of the people of the nation,

Jacob and his sons etc.

(b)

Its formation and definition of this nation — "that it knows G-d",

that this knowledge is what unites the people of the nation to be called a nation by itself.

And therefore from this aspect it is possible, heaven forbid, the nullification of the nation through this "that the days lengthened for Israel in Egypt and they returned to learn their deeds and to worship stars like them etc. and almost completely the planting that Abraham planted was uprooted and the sons of Jacob returned to the error of the world and their errors".

But in the Exodus from Egypt it was renewed that "Hashem chose Israel as an inheritance"²⁶,

that is —

(a)

their being a people and nation came from the side of the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He,

and not from the side of the action of the people,

(b)

the quality of their existence as a people is in a manner of inheritance,

that the children of Israel are the inheritance of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And therefore the matter of nullification and cessation, heaven forbid, does not apply to this,

for the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He, is an eternal matter in which there is no change or cessation; and this is the matter of "inheritance",

for an inheritance has no cessation²⁷.

And now the reason is understood that they were redeemed from Egypt despite being in a state of "they returned to learn their deeds and to worship stars like them":

It is known²⁸

that the true essence of the matter of choice is when the thing is chosen only by the will of the chooser and not because of some virtue in the chosen thing.

Because when one desires a thing because of the virtue of that thing,

it cannot be called choice

(free),

since then the decision is not from the side of the choice of the chooser,

but from the side of the virtue of the chosen thing.

And since the Exodus from Egypt "Hashem chose Israel as an inheritance" — therefore it did not affect this

(so much)

their spiritual standing and condition

(i.e., their level)

of Bnei Yisrael²⁹,

because everything was from the side of His choice.

However,

all this is only in relation to other transgressions and sins,

but not so regarding the sin of lashon hara,

as follows.

<pg>12</pg>

6.

The explanation in this:

In lashon hara — three matters,

in general³⁰

:

a)

damage to one's fellow through lashon hara,

as understood simply,

and "the Sages said: three [things] lashon hara kills, etc."³¹.

b)

the existence and revelation of the evil in a person,

therefore he speaks disparagingly of his fellow, etc.

3)

The speech of lashon hara

(that one speaks about another),

even if he does not intend to harm him,

even when his intention is not to tell of his fault and he does not speak with hatred³²,

rather the very speech about the bad in another,

the non-good deed of another

(and the like)

— indicates and emphasizes the separation and division between one and another.

And behold,

in the two first details of lashon hara it is similar to other sins: just as other sins

(in opinions,

in character traits or in deed)

do not harm the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He, in Israel,

since the choice is from the side of the chooser and not from the side of the merit of the chosen one,

so it is with lashon hara,

that it does not harm the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He;

But this that lashon hara causes division and strife,

this is a contradiction to this choice.

The choice is in the reality of the Jewish people,

one nation.

That is: even though the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not because of the virtues

(the spiritual)

that are in the children of Israel,

but only from the aspect of His free choice — nevertheless,

there must be an "object" of the Jewish people in which the choice resides&lt;sup&gt;33&lt;/sup&gt;

; and when there is division between one and his fellow

(in external conduct at least)

there is lacking in the reality of the object of "

(a)

one nation".

And this is the explanation of the precision of the words of our Sages that Moses' concern was from this that "there is lashon hara among you"

(namely their saying to Moses "Who made you a man, a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?")

—

(and they did not emphasize the detail of informing to Pharaoh)

— because this is the main hindrance to the redemption: the very thing that a Jew is not restrained from speaking lashon hara about another person from the children of Israel indicates the division that exists among the children of Israel; and therefore specifically this

(even if he had not informed about him before Pharaoh)

aroused Moses' concern and "he said now perhaps they are not worthy of being redeemed".

7.

And based on this, one can say,

that also the content of the words of R. H.

(the above sec. 3)

"For the sake of four things were Israel redeemed from Egypt etc.'",

is for the reason above,

namely that this pertains to the general choice of the Holy One, blessed be He, of the people of Israel — except that there the intention is from the aspect of the difference of the children of Israel from the Egyptians,

whereas here the main point is from the aspect of the unity of the children of Israel in themselves.

And the explanation:

All these four things "that they did not change their name and their language and did not speak lashon hara&lt;pg&gt;13&lt;/pg&gt;

And there was not found among them even one of them who was promiscuous in sexual immorality" — their content and essence,

that in being united in these virtues, Bnei Yisrael were distinguished as a distinct nation by themselves — from the Egyptians.

And although the emphasis in this statement of our Sages, may their memory be for blessing, is not only on the negation of the flaw that mars their unity as one nation

(that they did not...

speak lashon hara, etc.),

but also on the virtues

(the positive ones)³⁴

in the action and conduct of each and every individual in particular — that each one did not change his name, etc.,

nevertheless, the main point in this is — that they were distinct from the Egyptians as above,

and therefore lashon hara is also included in the four things because that "one did not inform against another"³⁵

means to the Egyptians who were able to harm the children of Israel;

But not so in the exposition on the verse here,

that Moses was concerned that perhaps they were not worthy of being redeemed,

the intention is from the aspect of a general flaw in the "nation" in that there are among them "informers"

(and not a flaw of lashon hara as one of the four matters)

— because the concern here is not that they might inform against him to Pharaoh,

but rather about this: that they are in a state of division among themselves

(i.e., the third matter mentioned above in section 6)³⁶.

8.

According to the above, we can explain

(in the inner dimension),

why Rashi divides the words of the Shemot Rabbah here "Moshe was pondering etc." —

(in the second explanation, beginning with "And")

into two matters³⁷

(as above, section 2)

:

"And its midrash: He was worried etc. He said: From now on, perhaps they are not worthy of being redeemed"; "And its midrash: The matter became known to me, which I had wondered about: what sin did Israel commit...

to be subjugated with hard labor? But I see that they deserve it."

And with an introduction:

The reason

(the inner)

for this that "lashon hara and delatorin" harms only "the people of Israel" and not the other nations³⁸,

is understood based on the known³⁹

(and also in its simple sense that "m"⁴⁰)

that holiness its matter is unity

[therefore it was said about Yaakov "nefesh" in singular — even though there were seventy⁴¹],

but not so in kelipah it is in <pg>14</pg>

a manner of division and separation

[therefore about Esav — even though there were only six souls it was said "nefashot" in plural⁴¹].

And the root of the matter

(in inwardness)

is: separation and division come as a result of selfhood and pride,

who feels himself as a something and an important thing,

and therefore he cannot be in unity and integration with his fellow — because the other diminishes his existence;

but not so the children of Israel, about whom it is said⁴²

"For you are the smallest of all the peoples — who make yourselves small"⁴³,

that is, they are in self-nullification

(the opposite of selfhood),

and therefore each one gives place to his fellow,

until they are in unity and integration⁴⁴.

And behold, it is seen empirically,

that even one who has the force of selfhood and pride,

behold, when he is in a state of slavery and particularly in a manner of crushing labor,

behold, this causes the breaking and lowering of his spirit and the nullification of his selfhood and pride

(opposite of what is stated⁴⁵

And Jeshurun grew fat and kicked)⁴⁶.

And this is the intention of Rashi in this that he divides them into two matters — "He was concerned..

lest they are not worthy of being redeemed"; "It became known to me..

with crushing labor..

they are worthy of this":

a)

Since there are informers among them — perhaps they are not worthy of being redeemed;

But since ultimately the redemption is destined to come,

therefore —

b)

"And he said, 'Indeed the matter is known'" — that they are fit for hard labor,

that his intention in this — not that they are fit for this as a punishment

(for their sin of lashon hara),

but rather,

they are fit to be "subjugated with hard labor",

"hard work that exhausts the body and breaks it"⁴⁷,

in order to prepare them to be worthy of the redemption;

And as explained previously,

that through the breaking of their spirit and the subduing of their pride and their selfhood

(the cause),

is automatically nullified

(the effect —)

the division among them — lashon hara⁴⁸

and slander,

that then they are fit to be redeemed,

for the completeness of the matter of the redemption is not only that they be one nation from the aspect of their virtue and their essence

(namely that "they did not change ... lashon hara ..."),

but rather

(also)

from the aspect of the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And then they became an eternal nation,

that it is impossible for them to be nullified anymore as a nation — "God chose Israel as His inheritance",

an eternal people.

(From the talk of Shabbat Parshat Tzav 5726)