## Tevele Bondi on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration

###### Tevele Bondi on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration 8:1
[Tevele Bondi on Pesach Haggadah, Magid, First Fruits Declaration 8:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tevele%20Bondi%20on%20Pesach%20Haggadah/s/Magid,_First%20Fruits%20Declaration/r/8:1)

**בסבלתם** וגו' ההד"כ וירא בסבלתם בוכה ואמר משה חבל לי עליכם מי יתן מותי עליכם שאין לך עבודה קשה מעבודת הטיט והיו נותן כתיפיו ומסייע לכל אחד ואחד מהן. עוד ראה משוי איש על אשה. משוי גדול על קטן. משוי בחור על זקן ויישב להם סבלתם ביניהם כל אחד כפי כחו ועשה כאלו מסייע לפרעה אמר לו הקב"ה אתה יישבת לבני את סבלתם חייך שאתה עתיד ליישב לבני נדריהן בין איש לאשה וכו' יותר עוד שכרך אתה הנחת עסקך והלכת לראות בצערן של ישראל לנהג בהן מנהג אחים אני מניח העליונים ותחתונים ואדבר עמך בסנה. לפיכך ויקרא אליו מתוך הסנה.

**Rabbi Mark Greenspan:**
**They oppressed them: as is written, "They placed task masters over them in order to oppress them with their labors:"** It is written: "He went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors." (Exodus 2:11) Moses said: "Woe is me! Would that I could give my life that you should not have to work so hard! For working with mortar is the hardest type of labor." He would then place the bricks on his own shoulders and help each and every one of them.
Further, Moses also saw that the Egyptians forced the men to do women's tasks, a big people to do labor appropriate to small people, and young men's labors was performed by old people. He then made sure that every person's labors were appropriate to the person's strengths and skills. He pretended that he did this to help Pharaoh. God said: "You gave freedom to My children from their (inappropriate) labors. By your life, in the future you will free My children from oaths between a husband and wife. Furthermore, you left your work to check on the suffering of the Israelites and to act in the fashion of a brother, so I will leave the Ones on high and speak to you out of a burning bush. And so we read later: "God spoke to him out of a bush…" Let me explain:
Rabbi Bondi appears to add to the Midrashic presentation found in the Haggadah here. In effect, this is a Midrash on a Midrash. In the Haggadah, we find the verse from Deuteronomy 26:6. The Haggadah comments on this by quoting a verse from Exodus 1:11. This verse uses the word bisivlotam, "Their labors." Rabbi Bondi now quotes a second verse that uses this word (Exodus 2:11) as a pretext to speak about Moses' compassion for the oppressed Israelites. In this way he explains the significance of the word "Their labor." Israel's oppression was not that they were worked hard but that they were forced to do jobs that were unnatural - men doing women's work, old people carrying a young man's burden, etc. One of the styles of Midrash in the Haggadah is that a verse from the beginning of Exodus is quoted as a way to illuminate the brief retelling of the story in Deuteronomy. Here the commentator carries this approach one step farther, quoting yet another verse from Exodus and then offering an explanation for it from the Midrash.