Summary: The quote from Genesis here is crucial in telling the unfolding story of the Exodus. God decreed that Abraham’s offspring that they would be strangers in a foreign land, they would be enslaved and afflicted, but ultimately they would go forth, “With great wealth.” Drawing on the traditions of Lurianic Kabbalah, Chida takes the story of the Exodus back even farther. The reader is left to wonder why it was necessary for Israel to be enslaved and afflicted - and why for so long. Chida connects Israel’s suffering to the beginning of human history. Israel must undergo a process of purification for the sins that were committed by Adam, the first human being. This is not atonement as much as it is a tikkun, a rectification of humankind. Still, this is part of God’s plan. The subjugation of Israel was part of God’s plan of redemption. Because Joseph was responsible for Israel’s enslavement, there was still a possibility for their liberation. Blessed is the One who kept His promise to Israel. Blessed is He. The Holy One calculated the end as He said to our forefather Abram in the Covenant of the Pieces. As it is written, “And God said to Abram, ‘You shall certainly know that Your offspring shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs and they shall be afflicted for 400 years And the nation that enslaved them I shall judge, and afterwards they shall go forth with great wealth.”’ (Gen. 15:13 – 14) "Blessed is the one who kept His promise: This passage is a continuation of the Scriptural verses from the book of Joshua which were brought above. It can be interpreted in this way. “Your ancestors dwelled on the other side of the river,” (Josh. 24:2) hints that they dwelled far from the divine lights, in a place of husks.³⁹ literally “Peels”, “Shells” or “Husks” are the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in Kabbalah, the polar opposites of the holy Sefirot. It can be read, “On the other side of the light.”⁴⁰ Thus, it says, “For the sake of the light, I took your father, Abraham, from beyond the river,” from a place of husks. The Ari, our teacher of blessed memory, writes that the soul of Abraham, our Father, was in the depths of the husks and God brought him to the land of Canaan, to a higher domain, which God had chosen as his portion. “I increased וארבה, his offspring,” (Josh. 24:3) - It is written ארב (from the root riv) I caused trouble for his offspring, as Rashi explains.⁴¹ [from which we infer:] The root of ארב would be רִיב which means to quarrel. “How many troubles and tests Avrohom was tested a total of 10 times, the tenth being the binding of Yitchok on the altar I will bring upon him before I give him a descendant.” Chida interprets Rashi slightly differently than this. In other words, God caused troubles for his offspring by saying, ‘I decreed, “Your offspring shall be in a land not their own.” Afterwards, “I gave him Isaac… and Jacob and his offspring went down to Egypt,” (Josh. 24:3) to the iron furnace, in order to remove the dross from the silver. Based on this passage, the Maggid states, “Blessed is the One who keeps His promise,” God gave Israel the strength to clarify the holy sparks until Egypt became like a pond without fish.⁴² 9b Because of this the Isralites were prohibited from returning to Egypt⁴³ since there was nothing left for them to clarify there, as the Ari comments. “Afterwards they shall go forth with great wealth.” (Gen. 15:14) The Ari explains that “Great wealth” refers to holy sparks. The Maggid said la'asot, doing,⁴⁴ referring to the promise to Abraham, “And afterwards they shall go forth with great wealth.” This is how God kept His promise, for He is the One who gives strength with these sparks while the abominations of the land were vomited out. (Job 20:15) The statement, “And it is She…” (V’hee) that stood for our ancestors and for us,” refers to the Shechinah, as the Ari has stated; it is connected with the refining of the holy sparks. Now we understand better why it says V’hee,” And it is She…” It is the Shechinah that clarifies the sparks. This is the mystery of the Shechinah in exile…"

footnotes: ³⁹ Kelipot, ⁴⁰ In some texts it reads בעבר הנהר “On the other side of the river of light.” Nahar can mean river or it can mean light. In the Hebrew text above it says בעבור האור. This might mean, “For the sake of the light.” God brought them to the land of Canaan for the sake of the light. ⁴¹ I multiplied his descendants. The word אַרְבֶּ in the text lacks the letter ה The word should have been written אַרְבֶּה. ⁴² BT Brachot ⁴³ See Deuteronomy 17:16 ⁴⁴ The word appears to be superfluous here: שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא חִשַּׁב אֶת הַקֵּץ, לַעֲשׂוֹת The Holy one calculated the end doing...

Connected with this, let us analyze a statement of the sages on this verse (Gen. 15:13) which the Maggid brings: “know that I am the one who spread them out and I am the one who gathered them; I am the one who enslaved them and I am the one who redeemed them.”⁴⁵ We need a commentary for the commentary here! One might have said that, “A stranger shall your offspring be,” (Gen. 15:13) means an actual stranger. Actually, it was necessary so the dross could be removed from the holy sparks from the 130 years that Adam was separated from Eve. During that time he inadvertently discharged seed, (creating demons).⁴⁶ Thus he was made impure by the husks and needed purification. This took place through the years of subjugation “in a land not their own.” And if you say that things could have gone from bad to worse because he didn’t know where the place of clarification should occur, to this one might answer, know that I am the one who separated you;” “Since everything is under My providence, I separated you to an appropriate place of clarification and I would not send you to a place of misfortune, God forbid!” as it is written, “And you I will scatter among the nations.” (Lev. 26:33) The ancients suggest that this should have been written with an ‘open aleph; it was written with a chataf segol alluding to the Divine Presence. Thus we know that the Shechinah was with us. It means, I was with them when I scattered them and I clarified them. Our hope is that the Shechinah will be with us; know that I will also gather you since I was the one who scattered you while the Shechinah was with you. It is a sign that I will gather you as well, as the Zohar says. “And if you say, ‘Now they will be exiled to the nakedness of the land⁴⁷ so that the harsh and powerful Sitra Achra shall rule over them and nothing shall save them,” to this one may answer, “I am the one who enslaved you,” and not by Egypt. Rather it was I, God, who caused them to be enslaved. Joseph ruled over Egypt, acquiring Israel as slaves so that afterwards they would be subjugated. Whatever a slave acquires, his master acquires.”⁴⁸ It would appear that Israel was first enslaved to Joseph (as is alluded to with regard to the Sephirah of Yesod.) This is what allowed them to leave Egypt. If, God forbid, it had not been so (if they had been enslaved by Egypt) they never would not have been able to escape the might of Egypt, with its harsh and powerful husks. See what is written there at length. That which is written, “I am the one who subjugated them,” refers to the subjugating them to the realm of holiness; “And I am the one who will redeem them; for there is no reason to worry that they would become impure through the husks of Egypt since I am the one who subjugated them. When I was young I wrote at length on the verse, ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay,” (Gen 45:9). Some years later I came across the book, K’nei Chochma. I found a homily there (dr. 10, page 35) and I set my mind to record it as it was stated. The author brought the passage from Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer that the nights in Egypt were counted (as part of the period of slavery) since that Hebrew slaves cannot be forced to work day and night. Because the Israelites were sold to the Egyptians, they were able to force them to work day and night. Regarding an Israelite who is sold to a fellow Israelite, the Torah states, “Provide for them,” (Deut. 15:14) just as I provided in Egypt. The law of providing for a liberated slave only applies to Hebrew slaves. According to Rabbi Menachem Azaria MiFano⁴⁹ in his work Asarah Maamarot the reason for this is that the Covenant between the Pieces predicted that they would be sold into slavery. The slavery was established by Joseph. Since he ruled over his brothers, supported them and was master over all of Egypt it was forbidden to make them work day and night. Were it not for this, they would have had to remain in Egypt the full 430 years. As a result they would have entered the fiftieth gate of impurity and would have been trapped there forever.

footnotes: ⁴⁵ See Bereshit Rabba 44:18, though the version is slightly different there:ר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ (בר טו, יג), יָדֹעַ שֶׁאֲנִי מְפַזְּרָן, תֵּדַע שֶׁאֲנִי מְכַנְסָן. יָדֹעַ שֶׁאֲנִי מְמַשְׁכְּנָן, תֵּדַע שֶׁאֲנִי פּוֹרְקָן. יָדֹעַ שֶׁאֲנִי מְשַׁעְבְּוַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם יָדֹ תֵּדַע כִּי גֵדָן, תֵּדַע שֶׁאֲנִי גּוֹאֲלָן. כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם, מִשֶּׁיֵּרָאֶה לְךָ זָרַע. אָמַר רַבִּי יוּדָן גֵּרוּת בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם, עַבְדּוּת עִנּוּי לְאַסְפַּטְיָא שֶׁלָּהֶם. ⁴⁶ See BT Eruvin 18a ⁴⁷ Another term for the demonic realm. ⁴⁸ See BT Pesachim 88b ⁴⁹ Menahem Azariah da Fano (1548 – 1620) was an Italian rabbi, Talmudist, and Kabbalist.He was a disciple of Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero,

Based on this we can explain Gen. 15:13 -14. The Holy One hinted to our forefather, Abraham, “Know well…” You already know what the Ari of blessed memory alluded to when God said, “A land not their own.” They were slaves in a land that did not belong to their masters. Joseph moved the populations around and switched one group with another.⁵⁰ In this way the Egyptian also found themselves in a land not their own. That which is said, “Know well,” that I am the one who shall scatter the people and gather them. We might wonder - should they have been worried that the Israelites might have been mixed among the idolaters and they would then rule over them. (In this way) there would be no way to save them from entering into the fiftieth gate of impurity (The abbreviation of which is SATAN - ( ן' שערי טומאה). Then there would be no way for them to rise up. To this one could answer, “You shall be a stranger in a land not their own.” In other words, land of Egypt belonged to Joseph who exiled Egypt and moved them about from city to city - while they were under his authority. “They enslaved them” by day, and “Afflicted them,” by night. This was additional since according to Jewish law an enslaved Jew does not have to work at night. Since they were under the authority of the Holy One - as is hinted by the expression, “A land not their own, the nights were considered oppressive when the Egyptians made them work. In this way the days and nights added up to 400 years. For this reason, “The nation that enslaved you I shall judge,” because they oppressed them for 210 years with harshness since Israel had the status of Hebrew slaves. “Afterwards they shall leave with great wealth,” this refers to providing reparation (hanakah).

footnotes: ⁵⁰ See Genesis 47:20-21

One can interpret, “And the nation that enslaved them I shall judge,” as having another meaning. The sages explained, “I will judge them,” with the plague of the first born. The Ashkenazic sages comment that if God Himself had taken them out of Egypt, then all of the booty would have been considered sanctified and they would not have been able to benefit from it, as in the case of Jericho. God assigned Moses and Aaron to take them out so that they could benefit from the booty that they took from the Egyptians. This verse, “And the nation that enslaved them I shall judge,” means, with the plague of the first born and no more since the Exodus was not by my hand. This was not meant to call for the diminution of Israel but rather so that, “They went for with great wealth.” So that they could enjoy it; if I had personally taken them out all the booty would have been sanctified.

The author of Parshat Derachim⁵² explains that in regard to the laws of heaven a person can be flogged and also forced to pay a penalty.⁵³ That is why it is written, “I shall judge,” by the hand of heaven, and then, “They shall go forth with great wealth,” since with regard to the laws of heaven a person can be flogged and also made to pay. It is possible to add to this. The Tosafot at the end of Avodah Zara 71b states that we do not say regarding an idolater that he receives the worst punishment since we say that a Noahide is killed for stealing less than the value of a peruta. Rashi explains that he doesn’t have to pay back the amount to the victim since he receives the more severe punishment (death). But this is not clear; if so, a gentile would not be obligated to pay for the robbery! The language here implies that idolaters must receive the most severe punishment. This is also stated in Eruvin 62a, where it says that one is not excused from payment in the case of an idolater. This is problematic for the author of Parshat Derachim (page 13) wrote in the name of Tosafot that an idolater(in Egypt) also had to pay the fine. This is a controversy about what Rashi wrote in Avodah Zarah and in Yevamot 47b. It states the opinion that a Noahide is only given the more severe punishment (and does not have to pay a fine) while the Tosafot disagree. According to those who hold that we say that the idolater only has to pay the the more severe penalty, this verse applies: “And the nation” idolaters, “I shall judge,” in matters of heaven and and afterwards, “and they (Israel) shall go out with great wealth” - then make them pay the penalty.

footnotes: ⁵² Rabbi Yehuda Rosanes (1657-1727) ⁵³ In civil and criminal law, one can either be punished or fined - but not both. But if a person is guilty of breaking divine laws (such as idolatry) one can be made to pay both a fine and be punished. In the case of the Exodus the Egyptians were punished with the death of the first born and they also had to offer financial remunerations.