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Chamushim
 
Posted: 09 Feb 2009 05:28 PM CST
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/536000399/chamushim.shtml


Someone showed me the following idea in the Beer Yoseif by Rav Yoseif Tzevi Salant.

וַיַּסֵּ֨ב אֱ-לֹהִ֧ים ׀ אֶת־הָעָ֛ם דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר יַם־ס֑וּף וַֽחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים עָל֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
- שמות יג:יח
Hashem brought the nation around, via the path of the desert, the Red Sea; and the Children of Israel arose chamushim (to be defined) from the Land of Egypt.

ואסחר ה ית עמא אורח מדברא לימא דסוף ומזרזין סליקו בני ישראל מארעא דמצרים:
- תרגום אונקלות
.. and the Jews departed prepared and with haste from the Land of Egypt.

 בעבדא טבא 
- תרגום ירושלמי
 with good deeds
ואחזר ה ית עמא אורח מדברא דימא דסוף וכל חד עם חמשא טפלין סליקו בני ישראל מארעא דמצרים:
- תרגום יונתן
.. and the Jews departed with five infants from the Land of Egypt.


Rashi defines chamushim as armed, which underlies the Targumim of Unqelus and Yerushalmi. Armed, prepared, in a spiritual sense, with good deeds.

The Beer Yoseif combines these Targumim. First, it couldnt be a compliment if the Targum Yonasan simply meant that every Jew left with five children, as the medrash already told us that in Egypt, we were reproducing six at a time. So what does that refer to?

Four fifths of the Jewish people died in Egypt. These were the people who didnt merit redemption; those who believed in the Egyptian paganism and wanted to stay. What about their children? The youth didnt merit dying, even if they agreed with their parents  they arent accountable or punishable for their crimes.

The Beer Yoseif explains that this meant that each of the 600,000 men left Egypt with five families of children  his own, and those of four families left orphaned by this punishment.

This is the zerizus of the Targum Unqelus. They were prepared and surrounded by the mitzvah of taking in these children in need. Today we think of adoption as something someone does when they rl cant have children of their own. However, in light of this devar Torah, we see that this mitzvah played a central role in defining us as a people.

According to the Beer Yosef, it is the merit of adopting orphans that rendered us ready for the redemption from Egypt!
 


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