Chumash

Done. Please fill in the blanks (???) if you can. ~Mallika

Eric's Chumash notes Test 3 Parshat bishalach 13:17- 15:21 15:23- 27 16:1- 36 17:1-7 17: 8- 16
 * yam suf
 * marah
 * o bitter water. It was undrinkable
 * midbar sihn
 * o they want to go back to mitzrayim and food
 * o they got slav and mann
 * rifidim/ masah ormirivah
 * o why did you bring us out of mizrayim to die here?
 * o There is no water
 * rifidim/amalek
 * o amalek attacks the weak people

Yam suf A Marah B Sihn C Rifidim B Amalek A

marah and rifidim are parallel because they are water complaint amalek and yam suf are parallel because it is about fighting midbar sihn is the complaint about food

the middle is usually the climax. Why is midbar sihn the climax?

__Leibtag__- all the scenes in the parsha re to train Bnai Yisrael.

Yam suf is training for bnai Yisrael to break the slave mentality

In marah it says “sham nisahu” Hashem tested them. __Rashbam__- Hashem is saying if you fulfill my laws I will fulfill your basic needs. If we keep his chok omishpat Hashem will give u swater

__Rashi__- we started getting the laws at marah. We got shabbos, parah adumah, and dinim.

12/23/11 get notes from beginning

__ramban__- everything is a miracle __Rambam__- miracles are built into nature from the beginning

__Ibn ezra__ nat

__Mecilta__- the story is a metaphor. There was no drinking water for three days and it teaches us that we can’t survive without torah for three days because torah is water. That is why it says sham sam lo choke umishpat. That is alsso why ezra set up to have torah reading over three days.

Midbar sin Get there the 15th of iyar. Bnai Yisrael complain about no food. It is a similar complaint to the yam suf. They say that they would rather die in mitzrayim than the desert. They ate bread to the full extent and were full. Yitziat mitzrayim was a month ago.

Psychologically- __cassuto__- when you have new issues you forget your past troubles and you make it seem like the past was better than the present so Bnai Yisrael are doing that here.

What do they remmeber from mitzrayim? The flesh pots and the bread

So Hashem gives them meat and bread

__Ramban__- chazal tinks that Bnai Yisrael always had shlav but he thinks that they only had it one day.

The mann was like a fien flaky frost on the earth so Bnai Yisrael say “mann who?” Most commentators explain mann who as menaing what is it.

Bnai Yisrael get the laws of shabbos here in 24

Today is shabbos. Take doubel on Friday and don’t collect anything on shabbos.

What is Bnai Yisrael supposed to learn from this story?

Hashem says he is giving this as a test to see if they follow the laws or not. (pasuk 4)

12/27/11

how is the mann a test

__Rashi__- mitzvot that go along with it.

__Sforno__- shitpanus bilo tzaar. It required effortless work. They didn’t do anything. (it is removed from adam’s sin). Maybe the test is what they would do with their free time. They were provided with an easy lifestyle.

__Ramban__- mann was einuy (strange).

__Nechama lebowitz__- the rich Hashem tested to see if they would help others out. the poor were tested how they would deal with being poor.
 * Explaining deate between Ramban and sforno

__Rashbam__- the mann makes Bnai Yisrael dependent on Hashem. That is the test.

Two ways to change character
 * Major traumatic events
 * o Like yam suf
 * o marah
 * Slight change in daily routine
 * o Midbar sihn
 * § mann

12/30/11 rfidim complaint for water Moshe’s response is harsh for their response

He says why are you fighting with me and why are you testing Hashem?

Yam suf- vayirau and vayitzaku

Marah- vayilonu

Midbar sin- vayilonu

Rfidim- vayirav

The complaint of Bnai ysirael is alittle harsher because it says that they are fighting, but mose’s repsosne of way are you testing Hashem is weird. He says that they will stone him.

They change the name of the place to masah o mirivah which is the test and fight.

Bnai Yisrael ask if Hashem is here. 7- This is the test of Hashem and rejecting His miracles

__beno jacob__- this question isn’t ony tetsing god but it is rejecting him and all of yitziat mitzrayim.

This is a harder test for Bnai ysrael because it is total test of Hashem and they seem to fail

The rock that Moshe hits is on chorev (har sianai)

They ask if Hashem is with them in your midst but Hashem rovides to them not in their midst We see a connection of torah and water here

Rififdim is maeh omirivah and milchemet amalek

Why are these stories connected? __Rashi__- masahl: Hashem picks us up and then a dog bites us and we ask if Hashem is with us. so then he puts us down so they can be attakced

Who is amamlek?

They are people that live in the south of Israel

So it makes it seem as though they are like pirates. If they come from the south it seems like they purposely attakc and they are trying to avoid us from getting to Israel.

1/3/11 The chiastic structure shows that the tests don’t impact any change

__Shaya lebowitz__- all the nissim that try to amalek Bnai Yisrael believers don’t work.

We wil now focus on the mitzvot and not the nissim.

1/9/12

is yitro a hero or villian?


 * Hero (**second bullets are refutations)
 * hachnasat orchim towards Moshe (perek bet)
 * o Moshe saved his daughtes so it makes sense
 * yitro’s advice to appoint shoftoim (shmot 18)
 * o in divarim it is the same story without yitro’s name
 * Joins Bnai yisrael
 * o 2x leaves Bnai yisrael
 * § shmot 18
 * § bamdibar 6
 * o lets Moshe fulfill his mission
 * § rav hirsch says that he tried to maek Moshe assimilate and didn’t let him give his son a brit.
 * Moshe went out to greet yitro
 * o Moshe did it because it was his father in law
 * Zichot yitro is protected for his children
 * o His kids joined the keinim and they didn’t turn out good.
 * Yitro brings a korban (olot and zivachim)
 * o Elokim is not used for korbanot to Hashem
 * Names- he got a letter added and he has 7 names and a parsha was named after him
 * o This is midrash
 * o The different names can be different people
 * § Reuel is different than chovah and yitro
 * o You don’t have to be important to have a parsha named after you
 * § Balack, korach etc
 * He leaves to convert his family

__Rabbi samet__ In perek 18 there is a progression in the passukim (modified ger tzedek appraoch). 1-7 – it all revolved around Moshe (he comes for Moshe; it says choten Moshe) 8-12 – the passukim just call him yitro and it says he does stuff for Yisrael. Yitro isn’t a ger tzedek at the beginning. He came for his own reasons and Moshe made him into a ger tzedek. 1-7 8-12
 * it looks like yitro’s trip to reunite Moshe’s family
 * he is coming for personal reasons
 * he comes and cares only about moshe
 * Yitro is important even without Moshe.
 * Yitro is inspired by the national events
 * family reunion
 * ger

1/11/12 in pasuk 27 it is a negative pasuk that yitro is leaving.

Rashi says he is converting his family. So it is good. __Ramban__u- he goes back to convert people and Moshe is happy about it and brings back a following of people called the keinim.

In bamidbar yitro rejects Moshe andmoshe rebuts but we don’t know what happens Ramban says yitro stays with Bnai Yisrael Rashi says it is the same story so he leaves but he only leaves once.

Now we are actually fulfilling our mission to get other people to believe in one god.

There is an argument here of ein mukdam omiuchar batorah. __Ibn ezra__- there is a smichoot parshiah of milchemet alamlek and yitro coming. Amalek is for bad and yitro is good.

__Rashi__- it is smichoot parshiut because yitro came because of kriat yam suf.

__Medan__- yitro and amalek had a relationship 1/6/12 now the positive rashis may seem negative
 * Ulterior motives**
 * __Chizkuni__- there is smichoot parhiot and a refugee of amalek, who was his friends told yitro what happened and then he went to Bnai Yisrael.
 * o There is proof here in shmuel aleph with the story of the keinim.
 * Bamidbar the keinim and amallake are side by side in the bracha

__Rashi__ yishma yitro- he heard kriat yam suf and amalek because they defeated an outside enemy. Yitro’s advisors (egypt) and his friends (amalek) were defeated so he wanted to make a peace treaty.

Rashi- vayichad yitro- vayismach (happy) is the pshat, but the drash says that he has goosebumps (chadudim chadudim).

Another support is the pasukim that he leaves. He wanted the peace treaty and then he leaves, he doesn’t have to stay and isn’t a ger tzedek.

__samet-__ amalek comes from eretz Yisrael and trying toprevent Bnai Yisrael from inheriting the land. maybe amalek is attacking Bnai Yisrael in the midbar, not because they are nomadic barbarians, but because they want to stop Bnai Yisrael from going to Israel.

In bamidbar yitro says he wants to go back to his land and his people. This contrasts with avraham and ruth who left their homes to be Jewish. Yitro is the opposite.

__Lichtenstein__- Moshe liked yitro and ran to him because of that. Yitro is removed from historical events. He is in midyan in the middle of nowhere and he’d rather run away then stand up to unjest policies of yitro. (this is why Moshe ran away). yitro is a kohen midyan and is trying to seek the truth. Yitro will stay with Bnai Yisrael as long as they are by har Sinai. Chever hakaeni was yael’s wife and yael saw that oppposed to chever she can’t choose both sides. Yael chose the side of Bnai Yisrael. He took the middle appraoch that yitro was inspired but then he left

18:13-26 13- the situation 14- yitro questions the status quo and what is going on 15-16 – Moshe answers the questions 17-18 – problem as yitro sees it 19-23- yitros plan 24-26 – implementing yitro’s plans

what is the macharat? And what is Moshe judging

__Rashi­ –__ it is the day after yom kippur. (Moshe didn’t have time to teach Bnai Yisrael torah so that is hwy he is doing it now). this is a case of **ein mukdam omiuchar batorah** (there still is thematic, linguistic etc order_ yitro had to have left during the second year of the midbar. Yitro didn’t go home twice and when he goes home in the midbar it is during the secodn year. This isn’t a conceptual problem but it is a textual one. How can this be before matan torah if there are no chukei elokim yet? Was Moshe staying up all night learning the few laws they had? It had to take place after matan torah. Rashi says it is here to keep all the yitro stories together.
 * the text itself can say it is out of order
 * o like in bamidbar
 * o all mephorshim agree with this
 * conceptual problem
 * o in this case Moshe wasn’t able to judge the nation until now

1/30/12 pasukim 1-12 take place after milchemet amalek 13-26 take place after matan torah (in the second year of the midbar).

__Mechilta__- what did yitro hear that made him want to come?
 * Yam suf
 * Amalek
 * Matan torah (this was not quoted by Rashi)

This does not take place here. __Ibn ezra__- the perek takes place after the mishkan was built. The stories are here to show that not all non-Jews are bad (like amalek) some can be good.

Why does Rashi think the story is here? We don’t know he doesn’t tell us

__Rashbam 13__- even if one says yitro came before matan torah Moshe can be judging dinei mamanot because they had those laws. But Yitro still came after matan torah (like ibn ezra says). In 19 it makes it sound like they just got to har sinai while 18 says they were at har sinai so this story has to take palce afterwards. (yitro can’t come to Bnai Yisrael before har sinai if it didn’t happen yet so the whole story takes place after. We don’t want to separate and pause during perakim of giving mitzvot. So the story is said here instead.
 * We don’t really know if yitro was pre or post cheit haegel but we know it is after matan torah . rashbam in 32 say that anything from trumah untiland including ki tisa was given pre chet haegl. His timeline should be amalek à matan torah à giving of laws à yitro comes à cheit haegel à mishkan
 * This is problematic because msoeh didn’t have enough time to teach sicn ehe went back up
 * Trip #1 is first luchot from 6 sivan to 17 tamuz
 * Trip 2 was 1 ellul to 10 tishrei secodn luchot.
 * Divarim adds in trip 1.5 in divarim 9:25 Moshe says he davens for Bnai Yisrael for 40 days and 40 nights sicne Hashem wanted to destroy them.
 * This disproves rashbam to show that there was no opportunity to give the laws.

__Ramban 13__- this occurs the day after they gave korbanot and is the next story in the development. He does not believe in ein mukdam omiuchar batorah. Yitro came pre-matan torah as it says in the mechilta. It is in order. Maybe they were at har sinai beforehand.

The other two times of ein mukdam in shmot are if cheit haegel came before mishkan or after and when brit har siniar (naaseh vinishma) happened.

Moshe describes his job

He has 3 jobs It could also be 2 A) Lidrosh elokim (as a main idea) B) 1/31/12 Bani ysirael come to him to:.. || __cassuto__ || in smhmuel alpeh shaul goes to find lost donkeyin mechaim bet ben hadad melech aram asks elisha if he is going to get better in beraishit rivka goes to nai to pray for her to get better || __Ramban__ ||
 * Lidrosh elokim
 * Shafati bein ish lireiyhu
 * Hodati at torotav
 * o Shafati
 * o Hodati
 * o Lidrosh elokim is hodati
 * o Shafati
 * __Hotadi et torati__ || __vishafati__ || __Lidrosh elokim__ ||  ||
 * Teaches torah || judge || Teaches torah || __Ibn ezra__ ||
 * b) teach torah || a) judge || General term
 * 3) teach torah || 2) judge || 1) it appears in other places also. It means to pray for sick people and help them find lost items
 * ||  || To ask Hashem personal questions || __Rashbam__ ||

2/1/12 in 18:19 yitro says that Moshe will be dirosh elokim, in 20 he says he will teach the laws. The judges will only do the second job of judging, and Moshe will still judge but he will give over the easy cases. This goes very well with __ramban__. Moshe’s josb seem to be judiciial, executive, and legislative.

Perek yud tet It is confusing Ma’amad har sinai is perek 19-24 19- narrative preperation for matan torah 20:1-14- law- aseret dibrot end of 20- naaritve- Bnai Yisrael were scared 21-23- mitzvot, parshat mishpatim 24- narrative- brit sinai

the torah devotes more time to the preperations to the actual commandments

we might not have gotten torah on shavuot.

2/3/12 19 1-2: arriving at har sinai, first day of sivan (setting) 3-8 propositions
 * If you keep my brit then I will keep mine

But what is the brit __Ramban__- brit avot. Rabbi avraham (__ibn ezra)__ says it is brit har sinai.

What Bnai Yisrael are being described as Am segulah Am kadosh Mamlechet kohanim
 * __Rashi__- oser chaviv

We are chosen to be servants when it says mamlechet kodashim, but am segulah is the perks of being chosen.

What is the differnce between kohanim and kidusha? Kohanim has a specific job. It only says naaseh here and not naseh vinishma. Moshe has onlygone up for the proposal. The mishkan may replace har sinai (__ramban__) since Moshe only talsk to Hashem in both palces.

Get notes from 2/6-2/10 !Ran - Bnei Israel then only had been commanded to do פסח. The day and night !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! was already up, so there was no prohibition of anything - especially מצה !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! וחמץ. They were leaving in hurry but it was a coincidence that the bread !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!did not have time to rise so they had to eat .מצה !!!!!!!!!!Ramban - They made מצה on purpose because they did not want to violate the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!mitzvah of not having chametz. This implies that they got both Pesach !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and Chag Hamatzot at the same time.