Sponsored by Barbara BEISS Muskin
in memory of, zecher nismat
SARAH BEISS, SARAH BAT YITZHAK
EISIK
If Pharaoh was the one who had the idea to enslave B’nai
Yisrael, then why did the plagues affect all of the Egyptians? Did the
Egyptians deserve a collective punishment?
Shadal (Rabbi Shmuel David Luzatto) explains that the entire
Egyptian nation was responsible for the enslavement of B’nai Yisrael.
When reading Shmot 1:9 we read: “He (Pharaoh) said to his
people: ‘Behold, the people of B’nai Yisrael are becoming too numerous and
strong for us.’” If the Egyptians weren’t evil, they would have tried to calm
Pharaoh down and convince him not to hurt B’nai Yisrael. Instead, they kept
quiet and in sentence 11 they went along with Pharaoh’s plan: “They (the
Egyptians) appointed taskmasters over them (B’nai Yisrael) to afflict them with
their burdens.”
It doesn’t say that Pharaoh himself appointed taskmasters
rather it says that “they”, meaning the Egyptians appointed taskmasters.
In contrast, when the midwives (who according to Josephus
and Abravanel were Egyptian women) were asked to kill the baby boys, they did
not comply. The midwives let the baby boys live yet Pharaoh didn’t punish them.
If the whole nation wouldn’t have gone along with Pharaoh’s plan to afflict
B’nai Yisrael, what could he have done to them?
Shadal concludes that since the Egyptians did not protest
the harsh decrees placed on B’nai Yisrael, they were punished along with
Pharaoh and that is why the plagues affected the entire Egyptian population.
When we see that something wrong is happening, we must
follow in the footsteps of the midwives and stand up for justice. According to
Rabbi Saadya Gaon, the reward that God gave the midwives was that He protected
them. May we too merit God’s protection.
