Parshat Shemos 5778
Rabbi Jablinowitz
This week's parsha begins with the counting of Bnei Yisrael who went down to Mitzrayim. The commentators ask on this counting since the Torah already mentioned and counted those who went down to Egypt in parshat Vayigash. The Ramban answers in his introduction to sefer Shemos that sefer Shemos recounts the events of the Galus and the eventual Geulah from the Galus. As a result, the Torah goes back to the event in parshat Vayigash when Bnei Yisrael went down to Mitzrayim since this was the beginning of the Galus.
Rashi answers and comments on the very first pasuk in the parsha that the counting of Bnei Yisrael is repeated to express Hashem's love for Bnei Yisrael by comparing them to stars. Rashi quotes a pasuk from sefer Yeshayahu that Hashem counts the stars when he takes them out. Similarly, Hashem counts Bnei Yisrael when he takes them out and brings them back in; while they were alive in parshat Vayigash and after they passed on in our parsha. This expresses His eternal love for Bnei Yisrael.
The Maharal asks why Rashi teaches here that Bnei Yisrael are compared to stars while in the beginning of parshat Bamidbar Rashi mentions they are compared to flock who are constantly being counted out of affection. He answers that here Bnei Yisrael are being counted after their demise. A shepherd doesn't count his flock after they die. Bnei Yisrael in our parsha are compared to stars which shine in the dark in order to emphasize the point that they are eternal and have life even beyond their death.
The Sfas Emes asks a different question. Rashi comments with the words, Lehodi'a Chibasan, to teach and inform of Hashem's love for them. To whom is the Torah informing that Hashem loves Bnei Yisrael? He answers that certainly this love is meant to be expressed to Bnei Yisrael themselves, i.e. the descendants of those who went down to Egypt. Everyone who reads these words of Rashi is meant to understand that it relates to him.
Rashi teaches that the day and the night when the stars are brought in and brought out refer to the lifetime and after death of Yaakov's children. But for his descendants the comparison to the stars being counted is a reference to Bnei Yisrael going down to the darkness of galus. The comparison of Bnei Yisrael to stars highlights the fact that even at night, during the darkness of exile, we are meant to shine like stars and produce great light. During the day, parshat Vayigash, and during the night in the beginning of our parsha, we are always compared to stars.
The Sfas Emes emphasizes the notion of Shemos, the names of Bnei Yisrael, and the distinction between us and angels. Angels also have names but their names change according to their task. The names of Bnei Yisrael are mentioned while they are in Eretz Yisrael in parshat Vayigash and those same names are repeated again in our parsha in Mitzrayim. The names don't change. Our names define us and inform of our mission in life. And unlike angels, our mission remains the same regardless of whether it is night or day. Our goal in life remains whether in Eretz Yisrael or whether in the darkness of the galus Mitzrayim. We constantly search for the light and bring out the light regardless of our situation in life. This is what it means to be counted as one of Bnei Yisrael.
Good Shabbos
Print this article