*And SHE IS THE ONE ⁸¹and it is that which has stood…” Many of the commentators have speculated on what the word V’heerefers to: Is it the covenant of Israel, God’s promise, or is it something else. Ginzburg takes the expression literally here as I have translated it in the commentary. who has stood by our ancestors and us:* What does the word V’hee, “And She” refer to here? In the Talmud Ketubot the question of a woman who is taken captive by gentiles is raised: Is she allowed to remain married to her husband or must they divorce (since she made have had illicit relations with another man? The Talmud suggests if the purpose of the kidnapping was ransom then she is permitted to remain with her husband, but if the purpose was physical force than she cannot remain with her husband. This rule applies specifically in times when the nations of the world have ascendancy over Israel.⁸² The nations of the world might use this as an argument against Israel. They could argue that the time of the subjugation in Egypt was a time when the nations had ascendancy over Israel and if the Egyptians held the Israelite men captive, how much more so could they hold their wives captive and do as they wished with them! Therefore Israelite women should have been forbidden to their husbands after they left Egypt. In order to silence the nations, God tells them: “My name testifies to the purity of Israel!” In Ketubot, we learn that while a man cannot ransom a woman and then marry her, one who ransoms her and then testifies that she was not abused is allowed to marry the woman since men do not throw their money away unless they are sure they can marry. Similarly, God redeemed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and placed Hhis name upon them as testimony for the purpose of marrying them. In each exile, the Shechinah, the divine presence, was exiled with the people Israel for the purpose of being able to testify to Israel’s purity at a time when Israel was under the domination of others. It is to the Shechinah that we are referring in the word V’hee, “and she.” The Shechinahwas there when the Israelites were persecuted and their wives were subject to the abuse of the nations. Malchut, the seventh Sephirah is called Shechinahbecause she dwells with Israel wherever she is found in the exile. She was there for Israel in Egypt and she is there for the people Israel throughout the ages while Israel was in exile. That is why the Haggadah says: “She is the one who is there for our ancestors AND for us.” The Haggadahsays, “IN EVERY generation they rose up against us.” God saved us by testifying for us of our purity. We can now understand the comment in Talmud Berachot on the verse: “Tell the people, PLEASE,⁸³ – Please - surprised the commentators. Why didn’t God simply command the people to take gold and silver from their neighbors – why did He phrase it in the form of a request? to borrow, each man from his neighbor and each woman from hers, objects of silver and gold.”⁸⁴ The nations might have construed the reason for the booty one of two ways: it could have been a fine for the defamation of character (if a man accuses his new wife of having relations with another and it was not true, he was fined 100 zuz) or it might have been payment for sexually abusing her (in which case there would be a fine of 50 zuz). In taking silver and gold from the Egyptians there was reason to construe this as a fine one way or the other. The Israelites were not sure what to do. If Israel took the booty, the nations might have seen this as proof that in fact the women of Israel were sexually abused by the Egyptians. And when God told Abraham about the taking of booty, Abraham refused to mention it for fear that Israel’s actions would make them look guilty. That is why God requested but did not demand that Israel ask for silver and gold. Like the case of Sarah and Avimelech, it would become apparent that this was a fine meant to appease the people of Israel for having defamed their reputation during the years of slavery. By asking it would become clear to others that they didn’t simply take the possessions of the Egyptians as a fine but rather asked for it as an appeasement for having humiliated the Israelite women.

footnotes: ⁸¹ In Hebrew the text says V’hee sh’amda, “ ⁸² Actually the law is much more lenient in this case since a woman is under duress. Rabbi Ginzburg chooses the more stringent argument here in order to make his case for interpreting this passage. ⁸³ The Hebrew word Na ⁸⁴ See Exodus 11:2.