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<font size=3>Another myth bites the dust<br><br>
Torn asunder?<br><br>
Unmasked?<br><br>
Unclothed?<br><br>
Laid bare?<br><br>
Exposed?<br><br>
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Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 2:28 AM<br>
To: Discuss list<br>
Subject: General: The Three Zechusim<br><br>
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<br><br>
General: The Three Zechusim<br><br>
Barry Robinson asked:<br><br>
Dear Kollel,<br><br>
I have been asked to find the mekor for the well-known statement that
Klal<br>
Yisroel were saved from Mitzrayim B'Zechus of the three things they kept
-<br>
they did not change their names, their language and their
clothing.<br><br>
I have found several variants on this maamar in various Midrashic
sources.<br>
Almost all of the variants list four Zechusim - for example, many of
the<br>
variant versions remove mention of clothing and add that Klal Yisroel
did<br>
not speak Lashon Hara and were careful about Arayos.<br><br>
But everyone I talk to seems to remember learning the first version
in<br>
school. Were we misled by our teachers or does this form of the
Midrash<br>
really exist?<br><br>
Thank You.<br>
Barry Robinson<br>
Cong. Or Torah, Skokie, Illinois, USA<br><br>
-----------------------------<br>
The Kollel replies:<br><br>
The earliest source seems to be Eliyahu Bachur (c. 1500), who quotes it
the<br>
way we often hear it in the introduction to his Sefer Meturgeman.
Shlomo<br>
Buber, in his notes to Pesikta d'Rav Kahana (Parshas Vayehi Beshalch
fn.<br>
#66) makes your point and says Eliyahu Bachur has absolutely no source
in<br>
Midrash. (It is not clear to me how the quote became so popular, perhaps
it<br>
was used to defend Chasidic garb.)<br><br>
There is one Midrash (Lekach Tov to Shmos 6:6) which counts among the
four<br>
Zechusim that they didn't change their names or their "Salmos"
(clothes).<br>
However, almost certainly the Lamed is a scribe's mistake. In either case
it<br>
doesn't use the word "Levushan."<br><br>
To me it would seem that the truth is Eliyahu Bachur's source is
Bamidbar<br>
Rabah 13:20 where 3 (not 4) Zechuyos are counted and the third is that
they<br>
were Gedurim Min ha'Ervah (and not that they were not Parutz b'Arayos -
as<br>
it appears in every other Midrash). Gedurim means they took measures
to<br>
prevent Arayos and it might refer to adopting the immodest Egyptian mode
of<br>
dress. We find such Gedurim m'Ervah in practice in Chazal, such as in
Rashi,<br>
Sanhedrin top of 74b.<br><br>
May we be Zocheh to fulfill all these Midrashim ourselves!<br><br>
Best wishes for a Chag Kasher v'Same'ach!<br><br>
Mordecai Kornfeld<br>
Kollel Iyun Hadaf<br><br>
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