## Da'at Zekenim on Exodus Chapter 12

###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:2:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:2:1)

**החודש הזה.**כזה ראה וקדש והכל תלוי בקדוש ב"ד כדא' ר' אושעיא כשישראל מגיעין לר"ה הקב"ה אומר למלאכי השרת העמידו בימה והוציאו ספרים כי למחר אני בא ודן עולמי בין כך ובין כך נמלכין ב"ד שלמטה ועברו ודחו ר"ה עד יום של אחריו למחר אין הקב"ה דן את עולמו באין מלאכי השרת לפני הקב"ה ואומרים לפניו רבה"ע לא כך אמרת לנו למחר אני דן את עולמי ונשמוט הדין באפס אומר להם הרי בני דוחין את הדין עד למחר והדבר מסור בידם שאתם צריכין לילך אחר קביעותם וכל מה שהם עושין נעשה עמהם וע"ז אמר משה ע"ה כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו וגו' בכל קראנו אליו קרי ביה קריאתנו אליו כלו' קריאת החדשים והמועדות שלנו אליו נמי הם נקראים ונעשים. ואחז"ל שזה אחד מן הג' דברים שנתקשה משה ע"ה. וקשיא שהרי קטנה היה בסוף החדש כמו בתחלת המולד ואיך יוכל להבחין אם היא מן הישנה או מן החדשה וי"ל דמ"מ יוכל להבחין מתוך הפגימה כי הישנה פגימתה לצד המערב והחדשה לצד מזרח. ד"א כי בסופה עומדת בקרן דרומית מזרחית ובחדושה בקרן דרומית מערבית:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
החודש הזה, “this month. [Seeing that the word “month” is an abstract term that cannot be described as visible, ”the meaning of G–d’s words are; “when you observe the position of the moon in which you see it at this time, this is when the lunar cycle enters a new phase, i.e. when the month in the Jewish calendar begins.” This event is to be sanctified by you on each occasion. The members of the Jewish High Court will have to officially proclaim this event. The word לכם, ”for you,” is G–d’s authority to appoint the High Court as competent to declare when the moon has renewed itself. If the members of the High Court deem it in the national interest, they have the authority to postpone the new moon for an extra day. [They do not have the authority to advance it for a day. Ed.] When Rosh Hashanbah approaches, G–d informs the angels that He will sit in judgment of mankind, and He gave them a preview similar to what He did with Avraham when He was about to destroy Sodom and its satellites. According to Rabbi Aushiyah, after He had told the angels that He was afraid He would have to destroy mankind, it happened once that when the day came and He had not sat in judgment, the angels approached G–d asking Him if He did not say to them: “Tomorrow I’ll sit in judgment over all of mankind and the judgment will result in our allowing mankind to disintegrate”? G–d replied: “My children have forced Me to delay this for a day when I authorised them to decide on making adjustments to the calendar.” [The editor of my edition of this edition of the Daat Z’keynim, points to a similar, but not identical statement in Sh’mot Rabbah 15,2, the prediction of mankind being destroyed being missing. Ed.] [If I understand the point of the Midrash correctly, if G–d had sat in judgment on the day on which Rosh Hashanah should have been according to His calendar, on that day the balance of good and evil on earth would have resulted in mankind having forfeited the right to exist. Due to the Rabbis having decided to observe Rosh Hashanah one day later, the pendulum by then will have swung to a positive balance allowing G–d a chance to continue to give mankind another chance. Ed.] Being aware of this, Moses said in Deuteronomy 4,7:כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוקים קרובים אליו כה' אלוקינו בכל קראנו אליו, “for what great nation is there that has G–d so close to them, as the Lord our G–d whenever we call upon Him?" The word קראנו in that verse is to be understood as if it had been spelled קריאתנו, “our calling,” i.e. proclaiming the times of the new moon, or an additional calendar month making leap years.” According to our sages in the Talmud, tractate Menachot folio 29, this subject was one of three that Moses had had difficulty in comprehending without Divine assistance. [He had to be shown what the moon looked like at time of its monthly renewal. Ed.] Our author does not follow this, saying that anyone of us can see that at the end of the month it almost disappears completely, and at the beginning of the month it reappears gaining is visibility until full moon. Moses’ difficulty was that on the last day of the month the moon is just as invisible as on the first day of the month. How are we then to know if today is the last day of last month or the first day of the month just commencing? The answer is that the difference is that when approaching the end of the month, the hollow area of the semicircle points in the opposite direction from what it does at the beginning of the month. The hollow area faces west when the moon is in its second half, while it faces east when in its first half. Another way of determining this is that near the end of its monthly orbit it is visible in the south-eastern corner of the sky, whereas at the beginning of its monthly orbit it faces south-west.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:3:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:3:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:3:1)

**בעשור לחדש.**פסח מצרים מקחו בעשור הי' וכאשר ראו בכורי מצרים כך א"ל לישר' מה זאת לכם א"ל פסח הוא שיפסח המקום על בתי בני ישראל במצרים ויהרוג במצרים הבכורו' אצל המצריים ואמרו להם שלחו ישראל כי אתם גורמים לנו למות ולא רצו והם הרגו בהם כמה וכמה והיינו דכתיב למכה מצרים בבכוריהם בכורי מצרים לא נאמר אלא מצרים בבכוריהם שהבכורות הכו עצמן. ועוד אתמר במדרש כי כשלקחו הפסח בעשור לחדש שבת היה שהרי קי"ל דפסח מצרים בחמישי בשבת כדכתיב במס' שבת פ' ר"ע א"כ עשור שלו בשבת שלפניו וכשראו המצרים כשלוקחין הפסחים לשחוט נתקבצו עליהם להרגן כי יראתן של מצרים הי' בהמות ועשה להם הקב"ה נס וניצולו ולכך קרוי שבת הגדול מפני גדול הנס. ומיהו צריך ליתן טעם למה מקחו מבעשור. ואו' רש"י שיתעסקו בברית מילה ובדם פסח ד' ימים. ומקשים ד' ימים למה ואומר הרב יצחק מאיבר"א כדי שימולו וישהו ג' ימים אחר המילה קודם שיצאו לדרך:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
בעשור לחודש, “on the tenth day of the month;” the acquisition of the Paschal lamb in Egypt had to be made on the tenth of the month. There was a special reason for this. When the firstborn Egyptians saw what the Israelites were doing, they asked them for the reason of this. The Israelites explained that it was an offering to be offered when G–d would skip over the homes of the Israelites when He would slay the Egyptian firstborns as a punishment for their refusing to let the Israelites go. Upon hearing this, the firstborn Egyptians immediately went to the other Egyptians telling them to release the Israelites forthwith, accusing them of responsibility for their death in case they refused. Nonetheless, the other Egyptians refused. In fact, they themselves slew some of the firstborns in an altercation. This is what is meant when we read in Psalms 136,10: למכה מצרים בבכוריהם כי לעולם חסדו, i.e. the psalmist does not write: that G–d smote the Egyptian firstborns, but that the Egyptians killed their firstborn. (Compare Midrash Tehillim 136, as well as Yalkut Shimoni on that verse.) We read also in that Midrash that the tenth of the month of Nissan of that year occurred on a Sabbath so that Passover occurred on the Thursday following, as stated in the Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 87. When the Egyptians saw how the Jews made ready to cut the throats of their lambs they attacked them, as they were afraid of these animals, which were deities for them, and feared punishment for allowing their deities to be slain. G–d performed a miracle for the Israelites thus attacked and they were saved. This is the reason why the Sabbath prior to the Exodus is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath.” Still we need to explore the reason why the tenth day in Nissan was chosen for the command to the Israelites to purchase, or if they had animals to set aside the respective animal for that sacrifice. According to Rashi, the Israelites were required to perform circumcision on themselves prior to being able to slaughter and to partake of the Paschal lamb. It would take them four days to recover from the wounds inflicted through their having circumcised themselves. (Attributed to Rabbi Yitzchok from Ibro.)


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:8:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:8:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:8:1)

**ואכלו את הבשר.**לכך נהגו העם לעשות בליל פסח שלש מצות זכר לשלש סאין שאמר מהרי שלש סאים ופסח היה. ויש אומר זכר לשלשה אבות ובציעתה זכר לקריעת ים סוף וירדן שנבקע בפסח ונברך על הפרוסה אכילת מצה כדאי' בפסחים מה דרכו של עני בפרוסה ושני טיבולין על ב' טבילות שטבלו יליד בית ומקנת כסף. ד"א כנגד שתי הזאות אחת על המשקוף ואחת על המזוזות. ד"א כנגד דם ברית ודם פסח שנאמר מתבוססת בדמיך. ובערבי פסחים מוכח שהן להיכרא דתינוקות שהיו רגילין לאכול ירקות לאחר אכילה לקנוח. והשתא קא אכלי קודם סעודה. ישאלו מה נשתנה ועוד היכר אחריתי כי כשיראו בשאר ימים טובים שלא ישתו קודם רק כוס א' ועכשיו מוזגין כוס ב' אז ישאלו וכן מסיק התם וכאן הבן שואל. וחרוסת זכר לטיט ונותנין בו תפוחים זכר לתפוח כדכתיב לעיל תחת התפוח עוררתיך ומיני תבלין דומין לתבן זכר לתבן ואגוזים ושקדים שמלבנין החרוסת זכר לטיט שעושין מסיד שהוא לבן. וכן הביא בערבי פסחים תבלין זכר לתבן חרוסת זכר לטיט ב' תבשילין זכר למשה ואהרן. ד"א דג כנגד לויתן. ביצה כנגד זיז שדי. ובערבי פסחים מסיק אחד זכר לפסח וא' זכר לחגיגה. ד' כוסות כנגד ד' גאולות והוצאתי והצלתי וגאלתי ולקחתי וכוס חמישי דהיינו למאן דצריך למשתיה הוא כנגד והבאתי שגם הוא גאולה כדא' אינשי מאן דמליה שחרריה ומסר כל דידיה בידיה אי לא אייתיה לבי דריה מאי אהני ליה פי' עבד ששחררו רבו ומסר לו גביעו בידו אם לא הביאו לבית דירתו מה מועיל לו כל הטובה ה"נ אם לא הביא הקב"ה אותן לארץ ישראל מה היה מועיל להם היציאה של מצרים. ד"א ד' כוסות כנגד ד' ישועות ה' מנת חלקי וכוסי. כוסי רויה כוס ישועות אשא ישועה לא נאמר אלא ישועות א' לימות המשיח וא' לעוה"ב. ד"א כנגד ד' כוסות שאמר שר המשקים ליוסף. ד"א כנגד ד' כוסות התרעלה שעתיד הקב"ה להשקות לעכו"ם שנא' קח את כוס החמה ונאמר כי כוס ביד ה'. וכן כוס חמה ביד ה' דכתיב גבי בבל. ונאמר ורוח זלעפות מנת כוסם:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ואכלו את הבשר, “they are to eat the meat;” this is the reason why the people established the custom to take three unleavened loaves of bread on the evening when the meat of the Passover would be consumed. It was a reminder of the three measures of flour Avraham told Sarah to use when baking cakes for what turned out to be the three angels, one of whom predicted when she would give birth to Yitzchok. (Genesis 18,6) The date happened to be that of the first day of Passover, (in the future) as we know from the fact that on the same evening Lot welcomed two of these angels and served them unleavened bread. An alternate version of the significance of the three matzot on our seder dish is that they are to remind us of the three patriarchs. The reason why we break the middle one of these three matzot in half is that it symbolises G–d having split the sea of reeds in half to enable the Jewish people to cross it and escape the pursuit of Pharaoh and his army. We pronounce the special blessing over one half of this middle matzah, as related in the Talmud tractate Pessachim folio 115, as a reminder that it is called the “bread of the poor,” meaning that a poor man does not have a whole loaf of bread at his disposal. The reason why we perform two “dippings” on that night is to serve as a reminder that when becoming officially Jewish after performing the circumcision, both the people themselves and their slaves immersed themselves in a ritual bath. An alternate interpretation is that we had to dip the blood of the Paschal lamb and sprinkle it on the lintel and upright posts, mezuzot, of our homes, to insure that the firstborn Jews would not be killed on that night, as were those of the Egyptians. We recite a further reminder of this by quoting from the Book of Ezekiel, that our redemption was linked to our being kept alive by offering that blood (Ezekiel 16,6). One of the reasons why this ritual is performed on that night is to encourage the children at the table to ask why we perform so many strange acts during that evening instead of proceeding from kiddush to Motzi, breaking bread, directly. Normally, vegetables used to be eaten as a kind of dessert, whereas on this evening we commence with them. We never drink two cups of wine before eating bread, whereas on this evening we make a point of drinking two cups of wine before eating any bread (matzah). As soon as the child sees us pouring the second cup of wine he begins asking questions. The concoction known as charosset that we dip the bitter herbs in, is a reminder of the mortar that was used in the bricks, i.e. its colour. It is composed of ground apples, commemorating an apple in Song of Songs 8,5, in which G–d is described allegorically as having overturned an apple tree at Mount Sinai, at the time when the Jewish people accepted the Torah, having thus aroused the Jewish people to respond with their famous נעשה ונשמע, “we will perform the laws of the Torah as soon as we will hear what they are.” It also contains different spices, resembling in appearance the straw that the Egyptians had withheld from them after Moses had asked Pharaoh for a short vacation to celebrate a religious festival. Our author cites different interpretations of the various items on the seder plate nowadays when we cannot celebrate the real thing, one being the egg the other a roasted bone, the one symbolising the chagigah offering, offered by each pilgrim who came to Jerusalem on that festival, the other symbolising the Paschal lamb, unfortunately also not available while we are in exile. The four cups of wine drank on that night are in commemoration of the four stages of the redemption. The respective words on the Torah are:והוצאתי, והצלתי, וגאלתי, ולקחתי אתכם לי, “I will take you out, I will save you, I will redeem you, and I will acquire you as My people.” (Exodus 6, 6-7.) The fifth expression there, i.e. והבאתי אתכם אל הארץ “I shall bring you to the land, etc.” is actually the purpose of the whole redemption. As per the proverb “when a master releases his slave into freedom, and he gives him a cup of wine to drink, unless he also brings him to a house where he can enjoy that wine as a free man, the whole exercise was in vain.” While we have been deprived of our land being in exile, we do not drink the fifth cup indicating that we look forward, to doing so, the sooner the better. Another way of looking at the ritual of drinking the four cups: They symbolise four different redemptions. Each “cup” has been mentioned in our Scriptures as such, in Psalms 16,5: ה' מנת חלקי וכוסי, “the Lord is my allotted share and portion;” also in Psalms 23,5:כוסי רויה, “my cup is abundant.” The third time we find this reference to our “cup” in Psalms 116,13: כוס ישועות אשא, “I raise my cup of deliverance.” In that verse the reference is not to a single deliverance, but to multiple deliverances. Both refer to the deliverance in the days of the messiah and the world to come respectively. (Compare Jerusalem Talmud, tractate Pessachim, chapter 10, halachah 1. Yet another interpretation about why we drink four cups of wine on the night of the seder. It is a reminder of the four cups that Pharaoh’s chief of the butlers told Joseph about that he had seen in his dream (Genesis 40, 11-13). Still another interpretation sees in the four cups a reference to the four cups of poison that G–d will force the gentile nations to drink in the future, which the prophet Jeremiah has spoken about in Jeremiah 25,15-18. These cups are also referred to in Psalms 75,9 as well as in Jeremiah 51,7 and in Psalms 11,6 as pointed out in the section of the Jerusalem Talmud we quoted earlier.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:9:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:9:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:9:1)

**אל תאכלו ממנו נא.**פי' ראב"ע דלפי שתועבת מצרים תזבחו שמא תאמרו לא נצלהו כל צרכו פן ירגישו בו המצרים ת"ל אל תאכלו ממנו נא ושמא תאמרו נבשלנו ונכסנו בקדרה ת"ל ובשל מבושל ושמא תאמרו לחתוך הראש והכרעים ואל יכירו מה זאת ת"ל ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
אל תאכלו ממנו נא, “do not eat any of it while it is still raw;” according to Ibn Ezra, the reason for this prohibition is that seeing that we had slaughtered an animal that was an abomination for the Egyptians the Israelites would not dare to roast or cook it for a long time in order that the Egyptians would not become aware of what they were doing; the Torah insists that everything they were doing should be performed in such a way that the Egyptians would be completely aware of it, hence the line: ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, “its head with its legs with its entrails.” It must not be boiled in a pot as then it would not be seen by the Egyptians, as the pots had lids.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:11:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:11:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:11:1)

**ואכלתם אותו בחפזון.**תקנו חכמים שיהא נאכל על השבע והטעם מפרש בירושלמי משום דכתיב ועצם לא תשברו בו וכשאדם רעב יש לו לחוש לשבירת עצם ופרק כיצד צולין מסיק שאין חיוב שבירת עצם נוהג אלא בשעת אכילת הפסח:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ואכלתם אותו בחפזון, “you are to eat it in a rush;” the sages decreed that it must be eaten so that it is the completion of the meal, the item that satiates the person eating it. The Jerusalem Talmud, tractate Pessachim chapter 15, halachah 4 explains that this is why the Torah ordered us not to break any of its bones (verse 46) seeing that when a person is overly hungry he is afraid of breaking a bone in his haste and as a result would harm himself. The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Pessachim, folio 84 states that this is a prohibition that applies only to the consumption of the Paschal lamb. Throughout the year, when we eat meat there is no prohibition to break bones and eat the marrow.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:15:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:15:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:15:1)

**אך ביום הראשון.**פי' הזהרו שיהא השאור מושבת מבתיכם כבר. ביום הראשון כלומר שתשביתו מכבר ביום י"ד ודומה לו ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי כדפרי' בפרש' בראשית:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
אך ביום הראשון, but on the first day, etc.: [the Torah now speaks of observances of the Passover in the future, as stated in verse 14 Ed.] The Torah warns that all leavened products must have been removed already on the “first” day, i.e. on the 14th of the month when the Paschal lamb has been slaughtered. Compare what our author has explained on Genesis 2,2: ויכל אלוקים ביום השביעי, “the Lord had completed on the seventh day.” He had completed on the sixth day, as the Torah described G–d as having “rested” on the seventh day.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:16:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:16:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:16:1)

**כל מלאכה.**פרש"י אפי' ע"י אחרים וקשה להר' משה דבשבת אמרי' דאמירה לעכו"ם שבות מדרבנן והכא משמע דמן התורה. וי"ל דאסמכתא בעלמא היא אי נמי על ידי אחרים דפרש"י ר"ל ע"י בנו ובתו הקטנים ואע"ג דנפק מלא תעשה כל מלאכה אתה ובנך ובתך ה"מ שבת דחמירא איסוריה אבל י"ט לא קמ"ל:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
כל מלאכה, “all manner of work;” Rashi explains the word כל, “all,” as including work performed for the Israelite in question on his behalf by others. Rabbi Moshe had difficulty with Rashi’s commentary here seeing that the Talmud in tractate Shabbat folio 150 states that the prohibition to ask gentiles to perform work for us on the Sabbath is of rabbinic origin, so how could it have been described from a verse in the Torah? We must therefore assume that what Rashi meant is that he understood the word כל as only what is known as an assmachta, a “support” from a word in the text, not a direct command. Alternately, what Rashi meant when he wrote: על ידי אחרים, “by others,” referred to other members of his household such as sons or daughters who are still minors. Although this prohibition has been spelled out in Exodus 20,10 in the Ten Commandments, this might have been understood as referring only to work performed on the Sabbath, the penalty for which is far more severe. The word כל, here therefore includes days of a festival.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:16:2
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:16:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:16:2)

**הוא לבדו יעשה לכם.**סימן לא בד"ו פסח כלו' בד"ו יעשה לכם:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
הוא לבדו יעשה לכם, “only it may be performed for you.” The apparently extraneous word ל-בדו is meant to remind us that the first day of Passover must not occur (i.e. The rabbis arranging the calendar must see to this) on either the second, the fourth, or the sixth day of the week. [The reason is connected to the inconvenience caused the people then with the days on which Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur would occur. Ed.]


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:23:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:23:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:23:1)

**ולא יתן המשחית.**קשה להרב משה דהא בהגדה כתיב ועברתי בארץ מצרים אני ולא מלאך וי"ל דה"פ אני בכבודי וגם המלאך ולא המלאך לבדו כי לא (יתרץ) [יתכן] כן שיהיה הקב"ה בלא מלאך:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ולא יתן המשחית לבא, “and will not suffer the destroyer to come;” Rabbi Moshe finds this phrase difficult, as in the Haggadah shel Pessach, the author quoting verse 12 in our chapter, we are told expressly that G–d Himself carried out the plague of killing the firstborn, so that the angel of death was not involved in any way on that night. We must therefore understand the verses to mean that what is meant is that the angel of death by himself was not authorised to perform his duties on that night, only in conjunction with the Lord Himself. The Lord never acts alone, but is always accompanied by an angel or angels.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:30:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:30:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:30:1)

**כי אין בית.**אמרי' בספרי וכי תעלה על דעתך שלא היה שם בית שאין שם בכור אלא כך היה מנהגם של מצרים כשהיה בכור שלהם מת היו עושין איקונין שלו בבתיהם ובאותה שעה הי' נשבר ונתך ארצה והי' קשה בעיניהם כיום המות. ועוד אמרינן התם שבמקום שהיו שם בכוריהם קבורים היו באים עכברים וחוטטי' אחריהם ומוציאין אותם ומגררין אותו והיה קשה להם מיום המיתה:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
כי אין בית, “for there was not a single house, etc.;” the question is raised how it was possible that there were no houses which did not contain a firstborn? (Mechilta section Pessach chapter 13) The fact is that the Egyptians, whenever a firstborn died, displayed a likeness of the deceased in the house he used to live in. At the time when this occurred, each such likeness of a firstborn even if he had died earlier, fell down and broke into pieces, and the inhabitants of the house mourned him as if he had died now. It has also been reported that the place where firstborn had died became infested with mice which dug up the earth where he had been interred. All this caused the survivors to feel the loss of that person as if it had occurred just then.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:37:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:37:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:37:1)

**ויסעו בני ישראל.**ק"כ מיל היו ובאו שם לפי שעה זש"ה ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים שלשה ממי"ן יש באותו פסוק בסופי תיבות הם ק"כ וזכר לדבר ע"ל כנפ"י בגי' ק"כ מילין מהרב משה:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ויסעו בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel journeyed;” they covered 120 miles in a single hour. This is what was meant when we read in Exodus 19,4: ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים, “I carried you on the wings of eagles.” That particular verse contains the letter ם three times at the end of a word. This is a hint at the number 120. If we needed a further reminder, the numerical value of the words על כנפי also amounts to 120. (Attributed to הרב משה).


###### Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:39:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Exodus 12:39:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Exodus/r/12:39:1)

**כי לא חמץ.**למ"ד פסח מצרים לא נהגו אלא יום אחד ניחא כפשטי' כי לפי שגורשו ממצרים לא נתחמצו אלא למ"ד פסח מצרים נמי נצטרכו לאכול מצה כל שבעה א"כ מאי כי גורשו. וי"ל דה"ק ויאפו את הבצק מפני חיוב מצה ולפי שגורשו ממצרים לא יכלו להתמהמה לבקש צדה לדרך. אכן קשה קצת הווי"ן וכן וגם אמנה מצינו וי"ו יתירה נרדם ורכב וסוס וכן בהרבה מקומות:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
כי לא חמץ, “for it had not become leavened.” According to the view expressed by one sage in the Talmud, tractate Peaachim folio 28, that the Israelites observed Passover in Egypt only for a single day, this makes perfect sense; however, according to the opinion that Israelites had been commanded to eat unleavened bread at that time for seven days, what is the meaning of the words: כי גורשו, “for they had been expelled?” We must explain what is written as follows: when the Torah writes that they baked the dough, that they did so immediately because these loaves were not to be allowed to become leavened. On top of that they had been unable to equip themselves with provisions because they had been expelled, i.e. had been under great pressure and could not tarry any longer. Nonetheless, the word וגם is a little difficult, although we find unnecessary letters וalso in Psalms 76,7, and many other places.