And numerous: “I have caused them to multiply like the growth of the field” (Ezekiel 16:7). The language of the verse is very difficult. Is a human being a growth of the field? My grandfather, Rabbi Abraham Naftali Sheier, of blessed memory, offered the following explanation. This is a response to what the author of the Haggadah is about to write: “The Egyptians ill-treated us, as it says: “Come let us deal wisely with them, lest (pen) they should multiply…” (Exodus 1)This means that the Egyptians sought legal strategies primarily by which to decrease the Israelites’ numbers and to keep them from increasing. This is similar to the strategies of the other wicked haters of Israel. They came up with a series of decrees, one after another that would cause a deterioration of the Israelites. At first they decreed hard labor on the Israelites in order to break their bodies and decrease their virility, so that the flesh would fall from their bones. If they could not have children they would decrease and not increase. What did the Holy One do? He said: “I promised Abraham that I would make his offspring like the stars in the heaven and you plan to cause them not to increase in number? We will see whose decree comes about, Mine or yours!” Egypt says, “Lest (pen) they increase.” Through the divine spirit I will make a decree: “So (ken) they shall increase!” Immediately the Torah says, the more they oppressed them, so (ken) they increased and so (ken) they spread forth.” (Exodus 1) At first the Israelite women gave birth six at a time; soon, they began giving birth twelve and even sixty at a time. The difference between the words ken, so, and pen, lest, is minute – a small mark in the middle of the letter. As a reminder of this we find that amount that differentiates hametz from matzah is the smallest amount. Even the letters that differentiate these two words have only the smallest difference between them. All of this is a reminder that the redemption of the Israelites happened in the passing of a minute moment. פן כן חמץ מצה Had Israel tarried any longer in Egypt than midnight on Passover eve, they would have been unable to rise up and escape. For this was the moment when Israel would have descended into the fiftieth level of impurity. That is why even the tiniest amount of hametz on Passover is strictly forbidden. This is a fine interpretation; the words of my grandfather speak from the grave! When the Egyptians saw that the oppression of the Israelites caused them to increase, they made a second decree: “Every male child who is born shall be killed.” It was also decreed that the Israelite men could not cohabit with their wives. Thus, the taskmasters said to the Israelites: “If you sleep at home you will get up late and you will not have time to complete the designated number of bricks. Therefore, sleep out in the field.” The Israelite women, however, were righteous. They were afraid to be home alone because of the Egyptian sexual immorality. Rabbi Akiva expounded that when the women went to fill their pitchers with water, the Holy One filled half the pitcher with water and the other half with fish. They would bring it to their husbands. They would feed them the fish and help wash their husbands. In this way, the Israelite women became desirable to their husbands. They would have relations and become pregnant. When the Egyptians saw that the Israelites were still increasing in number they made a third decree – cast every Israelite boy into the Nile. Afterwards they then made a fourth decree: the slaughtering of the Israelite babies for the Egyptians said: "The Israelite men are compassionate. Maybe they will separate themselves from their wives because of this decree so that they won’t want to cause the death of their own sons." But the Israelite women continued to try cohabit with their husbands even when they knew the suffering it would cause while they were pregnant and when they gave birth. The Egyptians saw that the Israelite women would hide their newborn babies in a hidden room in their homes. The Egyptians would then bring an Egyptian newborn into the Israelite houses and cause them to cry so that when the Israelite baby heard the crying they would begin crying as well. They would then take the Israelite child out and kill the baby with great cruelty or by throwing the baby into the river. As a result of all this, the months of pregnancy for Israelite women was extremely painful for they knew what would happen to the child they were carrying within themselves. Still the women did not deny themselves to their husbands. They were righteous and did not want their husbands to stop fulfilling the commandment of “Be fruitful and multiply.” They trusted that their father in heaven would not abandon them, What happened as a result? When it was time to give birth, the women would go out in the field and give birth beneath an apple tree. As soon as they gave birth they would leave the child in the field and would say: “Master of the Universe: I have done my part and You must now do Yours.” God would come down in all his glory, cut off the umbilical cord, wash the children, put oil on their skin, and feed them two measures of oil and honey. The Egyptians came out to the fields to find the infants but God performed a miracle and placed the children beneath the ground. The Egyptians brought oxen to plow up the ground so that they could kill the children with the plow but God caused them to go even deeper into the ground. When the Egyptians left, God caused the Israelite child to sprout up from the ground like a plant. When they were old enough they would return to their homes in groups like herds. When their parents asked them, who took care of you, they would answer "A nice young man came down and provided all of our needs." Another miracle happened: every child recognized his own father and mother. When God revealed himself to the nation at the Sea of Reeds, the children pointed their fingers and said: “This is the one who took care of us, as it says, “This is my God; I will extol Him.” We can now understand the meaning of the verse: “I have caused them to multiply like the growth of the field… you were naked and bare.” When their mothers left them in the field at the time they were born they were naked and bare. But then God caused them to grow. Let me explain There is a lot to talk about here. This Midrash is quoted quoted in many commentaries on the Haggadah. However, there is one significant difference. Usually the verse from Ezekiel is taken as a criticism of Israel. The people of Israel were unworthy of redemption because they were naked and bare of commandments until the moment of redemption. Rabbi Bondi understands this verse as a reference to the state of the Israelite infants who were left in the field when they entered the world. Whenever possible, Rabbi Bondi looks for a positive perspective on the Midrashim, instead of seeing these statements as critical. In the end he returns to the beginning of this lengthy statement and answers the question: Why quote a verse which describes the Israelites as “plants?”