No community start suggestion yet.
Why did Moshe focus on Yosef's bones while everyone else borrowed gold from Egypt? The shiur develops the principle that true leadership means prioritizing communal needs over personal obligations. Moshe exemplified "chacham lev yikach mitzvos" by thinking beyond his own mitzvos to what the nation needed—a model for community involvement today.
This shiur explores the profound difference between personal and communal responsibility through the lens of Moshe Rabbeinu's actions on the night of the Exodus. The Torah (תורה) states that Moshe took the bones of Yosef while the rest of the Jewish people were borrowing gold and silver from the Egyptians. The Gemara (גמרא) in Sotah (13a) praises Moshe with the verse "chacham lev yikach mitzvos" (a wise-hearted person takes mitzvos), seemingly criticizing the rest of the nation. But this presents a problem: weren't they also fulfilling mitzvos by borrowing from the Egyptians, as God had commanded? Rashi (רש"י) notes that Yosef made his brothers—not his children—swear to take his bones out of Egypt, because his children wouldn't have been able to accomplish this. Yet this raises a question: all the other brothers obligated their descendants to take out their bones; why couldn't Yosef simply obligate his descendants in the same way, rather than placing the burden on his brothers' descendants? Additionally, the Book of Yehoshua states that "the Jewish people" took Yosef's bones out of Egypt, yet it was clearly Moshe who did so. The Gemara derives from this that when someone begins a mitzvah (מצוה) but doesn't finish it, the credit goes to the one who completes it. But this seems unjust—how can we attribute what Moshe did to someone else, even if he didn't finish the mitzvah?
Looking for the full summary?
Full access is available to members of the TUF Alumni Association or the Yam Hagadol Foundation.
Already a member? Let the admin know!
Dedicate a Shiur in Parsha
L'ilui nishmas a loved one. In honor of a simcha or yahrzeit. As a zechus for a refuah sheleimah. Your dedication helps carry Rabbi Zweig's Torah to learners around the world.
Up Next in this Series
Why does the Torah emphasize Rivka's Aramean ancestry when describing her marriage to Yitzchok? The shiur reveals that Arameans were master manipulators with extraordinary sensitivity to others' psychology. Rivka inherited this keen insight but channeled it into genuine chesed, which requires understanding what recipients actually need rather than what givers want to provide.
Why does the Midrash connect Pharaoh's expulsion of the Jews to the mitzvah of shiluach hakan? The shiur develops a chiddush that Pharaoh's sin wasn't only drowning the children, but the insensitivity of expelling the parents afterward. The deeper analysis reveals that Pharaoh may have valued the Jews greatly and wanted to control them—making his expulsion an act of tremendous cruelty, not liberation.
Why does Moshe respond to the splitting of the sea with shirah rather than praise or thanksgiving? Rashi's use of "al libo" reveals that shirah is an emotional expression—a response of love to love. When Hashem shows personal care, the only adequate response is "I love You too," not mere gratitude or praise, and this principle applies to all relationships.
Shemos 13:19
Looking for the full transcript?
Full access is available to members of the TUF Alumni Association or the Yam Hagadol Foundation.
Already a member? Let the admin know!
Why does the Torah separate Avrohom's eulogy for Sarah from his crying for her? The shiur shows that Sarah required a public eulogy focused on the communal loss of a leader, not Avrohom's private grief. This teaches that we must view Jewish tragedies through a national lens first, seeing attacks on Am Yisrael as collective losses that dwarf personal concerns.
