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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From: Micha Berger <A href="mailto:micha@aishdas.org">micha@aishdas.org</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>>> Someone at the seder pointed out that this derashah, "'ve'es
amaleinu' --<BR>eilu habanim", seems tenuous. Isn't ameilus about toil? Why then
do we<BR>darshen it to refer to the infant boys being taken away and drowned?
<<<BR><BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>My thought: Mother had to labor to deliver the baby, and her labor
was for nothing.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But the standard answer to the question you asked is that the "amal"
referred to is the work that people put into raising their children.
That effort and toil is worthwhile when you finally get to see your
children grown up and get nachas from them, but when children die prematurely
there is only toil with no reward, only grief and agmas nefesh. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A question would be, how much work did the parents put into children
already when they were drowned at birth? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But an answer would be that "eilu habanim" doesn't only refer to the babies
who were drowned at birth -- since that draconian gezeirah was in effect for
only a limited time. Rather it refers to children who were raised for some
months or years, maybe even to adolescence or adulthood, and then were killed in
various ways, e.g., beaten to death, baked into the bricks the slaves made for
buildings, or killed so Par'oh could bathe in their blood to cure his tzara'as,
etc.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>================</FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR></B><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>