## Marbeh Lesaper on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration

###### Marbeh Lesaper on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration 9:1
[Marbeh Lesaper on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration 9:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Marbeh%20Lesaper%20on%20Pesach%20Haggadah/s/Magid,_First%20Fruits%20Declaration/r/9:1)

**ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה שנ' ויעבידו וכו'** הא דלא מייתי קרא היות' חמור וימררו את חייה'. כי הכוונה בתחיל' העבודה מיד הי' בעלילה לתת עלינו עבודה קשה כדאי' במדרש ילקוט שהי' פרעה קרא לכל ישראל מי שיעשה עמו טובה לסייע עמו במלאכה ולזה דרשו בגמ' דסוטה בפרך בפה רך משכום בדברים ובשכר עד שהרגילם בעבודה:

**Rabbi Mark Greenspan:**
**They imposed heavy labor upon us – as it is written, “The Egyptians made the Israelites serve with rigor (*bifarekh*).”** We don’t use the following and more harsh verse as a proof text, “And they embittered their lives,”¹⁵³ because initially Pharaoh invited the Israelites to assist in his building projects as a personal favor, and only later did he force them to work with ruthlessness and oppression. This is the meaning of the verse, “The Egyptians made the Israelites serve *bifarekh*.”¹⁵⁴ The word can be read *b’pheh rakh*, with a smooth (or a soft) tongue.

footnotes:
¹⁵³ Exodus 1:14
¹⁵⁴ Exodus 1:13


###### Marbeh Lesaper on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration 9:2
[Marbeh Lesaper on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration 9:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Marbeh%20Lesaper%20on%20Pesach%20Haggadah/s/Magid,_First%20Fruits%20Declaration/r/9:2)

**ויעבידו בני ישראל בפרך** אי' במדרש חד אמר מגזרה שוה וחד אמר מקל וחומר והוא תמוה. ונלע"ד בגמ' דנדרים דף ל"ב אי' אר"א מפני מה נענש אברהם אבינו ונשתעבדו בניו למצרים רד"ו שנים מפני שעשה אנגרי' בתלמידי חכמים דכתי' וירק את חניכיו והקשה הרא"ש הלא עבירו' העונש על אומרו במה אדע. ונ"ל דאי משו' מה אדע הי' די בגלות קל כמו מלידת יצחק אבל קושי' ר"א הוא על קושי' השיעבוד למה נשתעבדו רד"ו שנים במצרים שוב ראי' בתוס' דשבת דף י' ע"ב בגמ' אמר רבאל ישנה אדם בנו בין הבנים שבשביל משקל שני סלעים מילת שנתן יעקב ליוסף נתגלגל הדבר וירדו אבותינו למצרים וכ' תוס' אע"ג דבלא"ה נגזר ועבדום ועינוי ושמא לא נגזר קושי' השיעבו' בשביל כך דהרי התחילו משנול' יצחק ע"ש באורך והנה לפ"ז יש ב' טעמי' על קושי' השיעבוד אחד מפני שיוו הבנים ואחד שעשה אנגרי' בתלמידי חכמים וזה ארז"ל דמשתמש בחגא חלף ואמרינן במכות דכבוד ת"ח עדיף מתורה מקל וחומר מפניה עומדים מפני לומדיה לא כל שכן מדכתי' מ' יכנו ואתי רבנן ובצרי חדא ע"ש. וזה כוונ' המדר' ויעבידו בני ישראל בפרך למה קושי' השיעבוד חד אמר מגזרה שוה ר"ל הגזרה הי' מפני השוה שראוי שיוו בנים. וחד אמר מקל וחומר שאסור לעשות אנגרי' בת"ח דיליף מק"ו וק"ל:

**Rabbi Mark Greenspan:**
**The Egyptians made the Israelites serve with rigor:**The reason for Israel’s oppression can be deduced from two hermeneutic rules of Torah interpretation: a *Gezerah Shavah* and a *Kal vaChomer*.¹⁵⁵ is a verbal analogy, a fundamental principle of biblical interpretation. If the same word or phrase appears in two places in the Scriptures, and a particular law is explicitly stated in one of these places, then one may infer on the basis of "verbal analogy" that the same law applies in the other case as well. A Kal vaChomer, an *a fortiori* inference, is a fundamental principle of rabbinic exegesis. This is a rule of logical argumentation by means of which two cases are compared, one lenient and the other more stringent. The *Kal Vachomer* principle asserts that if the law is stringent in a case where we are usually lenient, then it will certainly be stringent in a more serious case. Rabbi Weil now argues that each of the two explanations for the oppression of the Israelites is based on one of these principles. Two reasons that are given in the *Midrash* to explain why Israel was enslaved and treated so severely in Egypt. One explanation, attributed to Rabbi Elazar, is that the Israelites were punished with 210 years of slavery because Abraham subjected his students to forced service when he took them in his posse along to rescue the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.¹⁵⁶ A second reason is found elsewhere for the severity of the slavery: “Rav said: ‘A person should not treat his children differently from one another for we see that it was because of some material worth a couple of coins which Jacob gave Joseph that his children went down to Egypt.”¹⁵⁷10b The *Tosafot* write that were it not for Jacob’s favoritism, it would not have been decreed, “They enslaved them and oppressed them.”¹⁵⁸ and argues that Israel was enslaved in Egypt for 210 years because Abraham questioned God’s promise, when he said, “God how am I to know if I shall possess the land?” (Genesis 15:8) The Rosh’s explanation is appropriate for why the Israelites had to live in exile but not why they were afflicted so severely. 
We see, then, that there are two explanations for the severity of slavery in Egypt: one is the lack of equality in the way Jacob treated his sons and the other had to do with the forced service that Abraham imposed on his students. Why the severity of punishment for these two sins? Pressing scholars of God’s law into service is wrong! The sages taught: “One who uses the Torah for personal gain should perish,”¹⁵⁹ 4:7 and elsewhere, “We learn that the dignity of the Torah scholar is greater than a *Sefer Torah* from a *Kal Vachomer*: if we must stand before the Torah scroll, how much more so should we stand in the presence of those who study it.¹⁶⁰ 22b The other point of view – that Israel was oppressed because Jacob’s favoritism is based on a *gezerah shavah*. Here, however, the term is understood literally: ‘a decree of equality.’ Because Jacob did not treat his sons equally, his family was punished.

footnotes:
¹⁵⁵ Hermeneutic rules of interpretation are rules the sages used to deduce teachings from Torah verses. A gezerah shavah
¹⁵⁶ Nedarim 32a, See Genesis 14:14
¹⁵⁷ BT Shabbat
¹⁵⁸ Weil offers a third explanation but rejects it. The Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel, a 13th century scholar) questions the opinion in Nedarim
¹⁵⁹ Pirke Avot
¹⁶⁰ BT Makkot