Usually, the Torah refers to B'nai Yisrael (the children of Israel) in the plural. But in this week's portion, Pharaoh speaks about the Jewish people in the singular, as if the entire nation were one person. In Exodus 1:11, we read, "They (the Egyptians) placed taskmasters upon him...and he built garrison cities for Pharaoh, Pitom and Raamses." We would normally expect the verse to say "The Egyptians imposed taskmasters upon them...and they built garrison cities..."
What accounts for this unusual usage of the singular declension? The Talmud (B. Sotah 11a) explains it with a midrash: "Rabbi Elazar taught in the name of Rabbi Shimon that they (Pharaoh's advisers) hung a brick around Pharaoh's neck. Whenever a Jew would claim that he was too refined to do the work assigned him, they would say, "Surely you are not more refined than our Pharaoh!" That is, they would say to the complaining Jew, "If our royal king can have a brick hung around his neck, then you, a miserable slave, can do manual labor."
The midrash justifies this interpretation with the "Vayasimu alav" in the verse 1:11. Those words mean literally, "They placed on him." In the p'shat (literal) reading of the verse, the word him refers to Israel. But in the drash (interpreted) reading, the word him refers to Pharaoh.
There is a lesson for our times in this midrash. Politicians should be willing to make the sacrifices that they ask of the people. Pharaoh, of course, was faking his sacrifice. But today's leaders should be subject to the same laws that they place upon us. In some cases, they write laws that specifically don't include members of Congress. In other cases, the laws do apply to them, but our representatives and senators act as though they are above the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment