YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Bo
On the other hand, popularity is not always reliable. A community can look for a leader who is society’s lowest common denominator, in which case they may spiral downward morally. A leader who always consults the polls before acting is not a leader but one who is led. He will be unable to elevate the nation, and there will almost always be a leadership crisis.
On the eve of the Exodus from Egypt, the Torah relates to Moshe’s stature. "Hashem placed the grace of the nation in the eyes of Egypt; also the man Moshe was very great in the Land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants and in the eyes of the nation" (Shemot 11:3).
Ibn Ezra posits that the issue discussed is only the status of the Jews and their leader in the eyes of the Egyptians. Their positive impression explains the matter at hand, that the Egyptians lent them expensive wares. Moshe’s status was noteworthy, as some Egyptians gave to Jews because of Moshe’s stature. The Ramban rejects the Ibn Ezra’s approach on linguistic grounds. He interprets that the Egyptians respected and miraculously did not harbor ill feelings toward the Israelites despite the plagues. However, he says that the final words, "in the eyes of the nation," refer to the Israelites’ outlook on Moshe. The reason this was noteworthy (at the stage that Moshe was riding a wave of success) is that it stresses that Moshe was consistent in his approach, acting as needed both at times that it made him popular and unpopular. The pasuk teaches us that his consistency paid off, as it showed the people that he was a trustworthy leader and prophet.
We conclude with the Meshech Chochma’s idea on this pasuk, which assumes, like the Ibn Ezra, that the pasuk focuses on the Egyptians’ outlook. One can impress a nation by impressing the intelligentsia with one’s consistency and reliability and allow that to trickle down over time to the nation. The other way is to obtain popularity by using public relations "spins" to reach the masses and the powerful at once. The former method is the longer but truer method. With this in mind, the pasuk stresses the order of events, that Moshe first became respected among the servants of Pharaoh, among whom he represented Hashem’s word and only later did it spread to the general Egyptian populace.
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
