The Full Exodus – Parshas Va’ara 5769
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
הוא אהרן ומשה אשר אמר ה’ להם הוציאו את בני ישראל מארץ מצרים על צבאתם. הם המדברים אל פרעה מלך מצרים להוציא את בני ישראל ממצרים הוא משה ואהרן (ו:כו-ז).
“They are Aharon and Moshe whom Hashem commanded them to bring the Jews out of the land of Egypt… They are the speakers to Pharaoh the king of Egypt to take the Jews from Egypt, they are Moshe and Aharon” (6:26-7).
Why are the words “Aharon and Moshe” repeated twice and reversed, once putting Aharon first and the other time placing Moshe first? Also, in one instance it describes their locale as “the land of Egypt” and later simply “Egypt” omitting the word ‘land’, why?
Klal Yisrael were trapped in Egypt in two different ways. They were physically enslaved by the country, forced to perform backbreaking and torturous labor for them. Even more dangerously, they were spiritually subservient to the morals of Egypt. Although, they still kept many Jewish practices such as their names and dress, nevertheless, Chazal tell us that they had fallen to almost the lowest level of impurity. Thus, the redemption would had to be twofold, from the physical shackles of the land and from its’ spiritual decadence.
A lifeguard was sitting in his watch-post monitoring the pool when suddenly he heard a commotion. Spontaneously, he dove in to save the drowning child. First he pulled the kid out of the water and then he proceeded to pump his stomach to get the water out of his lungs and thereby allow him to administer CPR. Now the child would live! It was a two step process, first he had to get the kid out of the water and then he had to get the water out of the kid! The second part is much harder. So too, the Kotzker Rebbe explains the Exodus contained two phases. The first element was getting the Jews out of the land of Egypt and the second was getting Egypt (perversion) out of the Jews! Hence, a physical and spiritual redemption. The redeemers had both jobs at hand, to first remove the child from the water, and then to remove the water from the child!
Rashi explains based on Chazal that this verse states the names Moshe and Aharon twice and alternates whose name is first in order to signify that they were both equal in greatness in the field of putting in their full effort into bringing out their own potential. Now let’s put it all together!
The Daas Sofer explains based on the Kli Yakar that our verse talks of the two forms of Exodus which we have shown.
1 – “From the land of Egypt” refers to the leaving of the physical location.
2 – “From Egypt” refers to leaving the materialistic spiritual perversion of Egypt.
The job of liberating Klal Yisrael from these two forces was shared between Moshe and Aharon, with each one specifically in charge of one aspect. Aharon was the spokesman to Pharaoh and to the people, to help them leave physically. Moshe encouraged his people to spiritually want redemption from the perversion of Egypt, so that he could give them the Torah. He inspired their hearts to Avodas Hashem and served as their spiritual leader teaching them Torah and the way to serve Hashem.
Both jobs were vital for the redemption. Thus, the verse equates the greatness of Moshe and Aharon. When talking about their individual jobs respectively it puts the appropriate one’s name first, “Aharon and Moshe whom Hashem commanded them to take Klal Yisrael out of the land of Egypt” this was Aharon’s department, the physical redemption from the land. Next, “to take the Jews out of Egypt,” is the spiritual aspect, thus, the verse concludes by placing Moshe first!
