Three Stages of Oppression “Egyptians imputed evil.” The Haggadahexplains vayarei’u,“they imputed evil” to mean that the Egyptians opposed the Israelites and thought that they would harm Egypt just as they would oppose anyone who they thought would harm them. “They oppressed them.” This means that the Egyptians imposed slavery on the Israelites, as the proof text states: “They placed taskmasters upon them in order to oppress them.” (Ex 1:11) “And they placed hard labor upon us.” This suggests that they didn’t just enslave the Israelites but did something more. They also increased the amount of imposed labor to more then was reasonable. The proof text for this is: “They ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites the various labors…” (Ex.1:13-14) This refers to labor that is beyond the ability of a person. These three stages in Israel’s oppression are related to the three characteristics of Israel (we saw earlier): gadol(great), atzum(mighty), and rav(many). In response the Egyptians said, “Let us deal wisely with them…” This opposition was meant to decrease the number of the Israelites, thereby addressing their population. In response to the fact that they were a great nation (am gadol), they decided to oppress them. Oppression is meant to cause the Israelites to be humiliated which is the opposite of “great.” In response to the fact that they were “mighty” (atzum), they placed hard labor upon them in order to break their strength and their spirit. ¹

footnotes: ¹ The three characteristics of the Israelites were a product of their ancestors: great, mighty and many. The Maharal now suggests that there were a three stage process of breaking down the Israelites. Destroy their greatness by imputing evil to them, demean their might by enslaving them, and ultimately destroying them by oppressing them.