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The following is from the new translation of RSRH's commentary on Chumash
Shemos.<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>6: 7
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>I will take you to Myself
as a people and I will be a God to you; you will come to know that I am
</b>Hashem<b>, your God, Who brings you out from under the burdens of
Egypt.<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>7
<i>v'lakachti</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. Once
you are standing tall, when you will be free and aware of<br>
your human rights, I will take you to be My people. As soon as you<br>
are free, you will become My people! You will become My people,
without<br>
a land, without territory of your own, solely through Me!<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b><i>li
l'ahm</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. These two
short words are the first statement of Israel’s<br>
destiny. They express the quality that makes Judaism so unique. It
is<br>
entirely inappropriate to refer to Judaism as “the Jewish religion”; it
is<br>
thoughtless to define Judaism as a religion, to classify it with the
other<br>
religions, and then to be amazed that this “religion” includes so
many<br>
elements that transcend the conventional bounds of “religion.”
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>li
l'ahm</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>:<br>
Israel is to be a people unto God.<br><br>
This statement alone already makes it clear that Judaism, as
established<br>
by God, is not a religion at all. True, Judaism also embraces<br>
elements generally characterized as “religion,” but the term
“Judaism”<br>
is completely different and infinitely broader. In “religion,” God
has<br>
only temples, churches, priestly orders, congregations, etc. Nations,
peoples,<br>
are subject only to kings and governments; they are founded on<br>
the concept of statehood, not on religion and God. In Judaism,
however,<br>
God founded not a church, but a nation; a whole national life is to
be<br>
fashioned by Him. Israel will be His people, not just a congregation
of<br>
believers.<br><br>
How different are the ways of the “holy tongue” in its choice of<br>
fitting expressions for the concepts “people” and its correlate,
“king”!<br><br>
<snip><br><br>
Only through their experience in the wilderness will they come to<br>
realize that <i>Hashem </i>did not just redeem them once from Egypt, but,
rather,<br>
would always be their God; at present and at all times in the future
He<br>
would protect them, so that they not succumb under the “burdens of<br>
Egypt,” and would lead them out from under such burdens.<br><br>
I have placed the entire commentary of Rav Hirsch on this pasuk at
<br><br>
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/shemos_6_7.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/shemos_6_7.pdf</a><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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