meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Sforno/Torah/Sforno on Exodus/English/Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009.txt"}
text: Sforno on Exodus
  ספורנו על שמות
  Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009
  
  
  Sforno on Exodus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  And he arrived at the Mountain of God. He came alone to pray in seclusion, as we find regarding Caleb (Bamidbar 13:22): “And he arrived at Hebron”.
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  Behold they will not believe me. After the people see that Pharaoh does not allow them to go, they will say, “Ad-noy has not appeared to you,” for they will reason that whatever Hashem says should come to be.
  
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  Please send the one You usually send. Through one who is better prepared to accomplish Your mission. Not a man such as myself, who will need Your constant support and guidance, so that [in reality] You will be the one who speaks.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Moshe was eighty years old. In spite of the fact they were of very advanced age they rose early in the morning and quickened themselves to do the Creator’s Will. Indeed, someone who reaches the age of eighty has passed old age and begun the years when he needs to use all his strength, as will find in Tehillim: “The days of our years because of them are seventy years, and if with increase, eighty years”.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Now send word and gather. He warned to send word to enable the slaves that were shepherding the flocks to escape, as the Sages said: “Man is beloved for he was created in the Image of Hashem”.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  High handedly (<i>yad ramah</i>). This is akin to the phrase, “Our arms have prevailed” (<i>Yadeinu ramah</i>; <i>Devarim</i> 32:27) and it indicates that B’nei Yisrael intended on engaging the much smaller Egyptian force in battle. This shows how little they understood of warfare, for in fact they had more to fear from these few elite troops than all the masses of Egyptians that came later.
  
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  The Egyptians will know. That is, the Egyptians who remained behind will hear of this and repent, for Hashem does not desire the death of the wicked.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Ad-noy is the master of war, Ad-noy is His name. Even though as the master of war He executes strict judgment against the wicked, His name remains “Ad-noy,” signifying the attribute of mercy. Moreover, the eradication of those who cause the world to be destroyed is in itself a form of mercy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Moshe went out. Moshe did not consider it beneath his dignity to go out to meet the man who had given him refuge in his time of trouble. Similarly, Ester behaved respectfully towards Mordechai and Yoseif towards his brothers even after they attained positions of royalty. This is in contrast with the chief butler who forgot Yoseif as soon as he was restored to his position.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  But I do loving kindness for thousands. Sometimes Hashem lovingly grants a reprieve to a sinner in the merit of a pious ancestor.
  
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  Verse 8
  
  Remember the Shabbos day. <i>Zachor</i> is an infinitive form indicating that the action is to be performed continually. Thus one must remember the Shabbos at all times, even while engaged in mundane activities during the week.  
  To sanctify it. The purpose of recalling Shabbos during the week is to be able to sanctify it when it arrives; i.e. one must arrange his affairs in such a way that they can be put out of mind completely once the Shabbos begins.
  
  
  
  
  
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  [The death] must be avenged. The slave must be avenged because the master had no right to strike him so viciously.
  
  Verse 21
  
  For he is his property. Since he is his property the master is responsible for disciplining him. Therefore it will sometimes occur, when the slave has behaved in a particularly evil manner, that the master will accidentally give him a blow too many.
  
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  And the owner shall also die. He incurs death at the hands of heaven when there are no witnesses to impose upon him the atonement fine.
  
  
  
  
  
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  He shall be sold for his theft. This penalty is necessary lest the poor, who lack the means to pay the ordinary penalty, take to stealing for lack of a deterrent.
  
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  Do not curse judges. A litigant must not curse the judge even if he believes that his ruling was unfair because it is impossible for him to be objective about his own case.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Do not join hands with a wicked man. One should not even sign a document together with him. Thus the Talmud relates that the men of Jerusalem would not sign on anything unless they knew who the other signatories were to be.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  And so should you make [it]. Hashem’s presence would dwell among them only by means of the Tabernacle. This was a step down from what He had promised them before the sin of the Calf, “In <i>every</i> place that I permit My Name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you” (20:21).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  As a constant remembrance before Ad-noy. By means of the breastplate God would recall the merits of the progenitors of the tribes and grant their descendants peace on their account.
  
  
  
  
  
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  I will dwell among the B’nei Yisrael. To accept their service and prayers.
  And I will be their God. I will supervise their affairs personally.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Make a copper wash basin. This vessel is not mentioned in <i>Parashas Terumah</i> along with the others because its function was not to cause the <i>Shechinah</i> to dwell among them but only to prepare the <i>kohanim</i> for their service.
  
  
  
  
  
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  You must still preserve My Shabbos. That is, the building the <i>mishkon</i> does not override Shabbos.  
  For it is a sign. If they desecrated this sign there would be no point in making the <i>mishkon</i> because in any event God’s <i>Shechinah</i> would not dwell among them.
  
  
  
  
  
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  With the Two Tablets. Moshe brought the Tablets with him because he though that the people would repent the moment they saw him. And if they did not, he would arouse them to repent by breaking the Tablets before their eyes.
  
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  For Aharon allowed them to be exposed. Aharon revealed that there were no truly righteous people among them, for if there had been they would have come to his aid when the people clamored for the calf and then he would have had the strength to resist them.  
  And now they would be disgraced. Their adversaries would observe that they had broken their covenant with God and gathered against their prophet and leader, Aharon. Even though those who demanded the making of the calf were a minority, all would share in the disgrace for failing to protest.
  
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  Those who have sinned against Me. Alternatively this is a question, “<i>Who</i> has ever sinned against Me so that I have blotted him from My book?” A person’s merits are never erased even to atone for his own transgressions. Certainly, then, they cannot be erased on behalf of someone <i>else</i>.
  
  
  
  
  
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  [You will then] enter a land. In the desert they had to be sustained through open miracles of which they were no longer worthy. Therefore they were commanded to enter the Holy Land where miracles would no longer be required.
  For I will not go up. God informed them that He would not even accompany them to tell them when to camp and when to move onת
  because if He went with them the punishment for every infraction would be much greater and they might be destroyed.
  
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  Face to face. Unlike other prophets, Moshe was able to remain standing and retained the use of his faculties while he was receiving prophecy.  
  Just as a man speaks to his friend. Moshe’s prophecies were clear rather than shrouded in riddles like those of other prophets.
  
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  My Presence will go. That is, it would go before them but it would not dwell in their midst. 
  
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  To this Moshe protested, “If your Presence does not go with us”—i.e. if it does not dwell in our midst—
  “do not make us leave this place.” We would rather remain in the desert than enter the Holy Land unaccompanied by Your <i>Shechinah</i>, for without it we would undoubtedly incur exile in just a short while.
  
  
  
  
  
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  When Moshe finished speaking. All the while that he spoke he left his face uncovered, in keeping with the verse, “Your eyes shall behold your teacher” (Yeshayahu 30:20), and in the spirit of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi’s dictum, “Had I beheld [Rabbi Meir] from the front I would have been even sharper”.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Take from among yourselves. Appoint officials to accept your offerings.
  Every man whose heart impels him. The officials were not allowed to take anything by force.
  Shall bring a <i>terumah</i>-offering to Ad-noy. Alternatively, the word <i>es</i> (<i>es terumas Ad-noy</i>) means, “along with,” in this context, so that the sense of the verse is, “Every man shall bring what his heart impels him to, <i>along with</i> his compulsory <i>terumah</i>-offering.
  
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  Both men and women. The men came <i>with</i> their wives because it is forbidden to accept a major donation from a married woman unless one knows that she has her husband’s consent.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  The <i>mishkon</i> of Testimony. The Torah enumerates here the distinctions that made the Tabernacle worthy of Hashem’s special protection: 1) It housed the Tablets of Testimony; 2) it was made at Moshe’s order; 3) it was in the charge of the Levites, headed by Isamar; and 4) it was fashioned by a team of artisans headed by Betzalel and Oholiav, the <i>tzaddikim</i> of the generation. For all these reasons it was a worthy dwelling place for the <i>Shechinah</i> and never fell into enemy hands. The First Holy Temple, by contrast, was made at King Shelomo’s order and still housed the Tablets, but it was built with the help of non-Israelites from Tyre. Therefore even though the <i>Shechinah</i> dwelt there, it was in need of constant upkeep and was ultimately destroyed. Afterwards the Second Holy Temple was built at the order of the Persian Emperor and did not contain the Tablets. Moreover, it was not even in the charge of the Levites (see <i>Ezra</i> 8:15). Consequently the <i>Shechinah</i> never settled upon it and it, too, was destroyed in the end.
  
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  All the gold. The amount of gold, silver and copper mentioned here is far less than the amount mentioned in the book of Melachim in connection with the First Holy Temple, which still does not compare with the amount used in Herod’s Temple. Nevertheless, Hashem’s glory appeared on a more constant basis in the Tabernacle than in the First Temple and it did not appear at all in the Second Temple. This demonstrates that it is not wealth and grandeur that cause the <i>Shechinah</i> to dwell on earth but righteous deeds.
  
  
  
  
  
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  B’nei Yisrael did everything. The entire nation was involved in completing the Tabernacle, some through donations and some through labor.
  So they did. They did exactly as instructed, no more, no less.