meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Sforno/Torah/Sforno on Exodus/English/Sefaria Community Translation.txt"}
text: Sforno on Exodus
  ספורנו על שמות
  Sefaria Community Translation
  
  
  Sforno on Exodus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  From here on, the months belong to you to do with them as you wish.  But during the days of slavery, your days were not your own but rather were for the work of others according to their will.   Therefore this [Nisan - the month of your freedom going out of Egypt] will be the first of the months of the year for you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  And how I bore you on eagles' wings - a novel way, that no one had gone through before, just like the eagle that takes care of its young in the height of the sky, where there is no other type of bird, and this is to distinguish you from all the other peoples and their pursuits, to be for Me.
  
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  And you will be a treasure among all peoples - even though all types of humans are important to me above all the lower beings, since He is represented only in them, as say Hazal (Avot): 'Humans are beloved because they were created in the Image' - still, you will be treasured among them
  ...Because Mine is all the earth - and the difference between you exists in smaller or bigger amounts, despite the fact that the whole earth is Mine, and the Righteous of the Nations are important to Me without a doubt.
  
  
  
  
  
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  2 el mot "robar també inclou el fet de "robar" éssers humans. Fins i tot enganyar a persones de forma deliberada s'anomena "robar" גנבת דעת הבריות, “robar les ments de la gent, confonent-los i fer-los creure que les mentides són veritat".
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  לא תטה משפט אביונך, an example of being lenient with one category of person and harsh with another. When litigants are facing you, you must not take account of any differences in their social standing. Not only this, if one of the litigants is standing during the proceedings whereas the other one is seated, this is already a form of inadmissible discrimination.
  
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  כי שמי בקרבו, "since my name is in him", and he doesn't have the power to wave My (God's) honor.
  
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  כי אם שמוע תשמע, My relationship to you then will not be protective, defensive, i.e. that I need to protect you, but aggressive, by treating your enemies as My enemies. This is the reverse of G’d’s attitude to Nineveh in Jonah 4,11 where G’d asked Jonah: “how can I not relate protectively to a city of over 120.000 people?”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה, tell the stewards of Israel that I desire that they should collect a contribution for Me. [the Torah had not specified “who” should take. Ed.] Moses also issued such instructions on his return from the mountain the third time as the Torah reports (Exodus 34,32) ואחרי כן נגשו כל בני ישראל, ויצום את כל אשר דבר ה' אתו בהר סיני, “after that all the people of Israel drew near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had talked about with him on Mount Sinai.” This was followed by ויאמר משה אל כל עדת בני ישראל קחו מאתכם תרומה in 35,4. The עדת בני ישראל who were to carry out this “taking (accepting) of the gifts were the Sanhedrin, the High Court. The Israelites were so anxious to contribute that they did not wait until the High Court organised all this, but they approached Moses personally bringing with them so many contributions that Moses was forced to call a halt to this (36,5). This was also the reason that there was nothing left for the princes of Israel (the tribal chiefs) to contribute other than the gemstones for Aaron’s breastplate and the various oils making up the “oil of anointing.”
  מאת כל איש, G’d commanded that the procedure should not be like the imposition of every man’s contribution for the public charity fund which was treated as a tax. Contributions were to be accepted only from volunteers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  1. "And I said to them, "Who has gold?" "I placed this before thing to prevent, because they would not have the gold ready.
  2. "Take it off and give it to me."  "And they volunteered the gold quickly."
  3. And I cast it into the fire. "I asked for this to delay the matter and I cast it into the fire as a ruse for the goldsmiths who were needed to melt the calf."