Weekly Parsha

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This week's Torah commentary for Parshat Shmot is My own with the help of Aishdat and virtual bet Medrash.
Last week, we completed Sefer Bereshit (the Book of Genesis) and this week we begin Sefer Sh’mot (the Book of Exodus). The second book of the torah is called “sh’mot” which means “names.” The first parsha has nothing to do with the story that will be related further on about B’nei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) leaving Mitzrayim (Egypt). Rather, it has to do with the names of those who came to Mitzrayim. In the psukim (verses) that will be quoted this week, you will see the number “70” as in “all the souls that descended from Yaakov (Jacob) were seventy souls.” Parashat Sh’mot begins with the first word of Sefer Sh’mot and continues through and includes Perek Vav (Chapter Six), pasuk aleph (verse 1).
This week, our focus is on the very beginning of this Parashah. The The following translation and comments are from The Pentateuch, Translation and Commentary by Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch :
1. And these are the names of the sons of Yisrael (Israel) which came to Mitzrayim (Egypt), every man and his household with Yaakov (Jacob).
2. Reuven, Shimon, Levi, and Yehudah.
3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Binyahim.
4. Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5. And all the souls that descended from Yaakov were seventy souls, and Yosef (Joseph) was already in Egypt.
6. And Yosef died and all his brethren and all that generation.
7. And the children of Yisrael were fruitful by multiple births, they increased abundantly and were exceedingly strong; and the land was filled with them.
8. Now a new King raised himself over Egypt which knew not Yosef.
9. And he said unto his people: Behold, the children of Yisrael are a nation, too numerous and too mighty for us.
10. Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and then when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves to our enemies or fight against us, and get them up out of their land.
11. They set over them fiscal officers in order to afflict them with their burdens, and so they built store cities for Paro (Pharaoh), Pithom, and Raamses.
Rav Hirsch says the following:
The first causes of the oldest anti-Semitism can unfortunately not be definitely established from these first sentences. “Now a new King raised himself over . . .” by no means designates an ordinary lawful change of dynasty. The Hebrew language used always represents an overthrow by force. So it seems that the old dynasty was overthrown and Egypt fell under the power of an invading dynasty from outside, hence also “which knew not Yosef.” To a fresh native dynasty Yosef would not be unknown. It is quite characteristic that the motive given for the whole subsequent enmity against the Jews is that the new King did not know about Yosef. The people did know of him and did not look askance at the Jewish province and at the Jewish people growing in it. They considered the Jews as benefactors and not as intruders, and did not feel their own security threatened by their growth.