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Why did the Egyptians pursue the Jews—to reclaim slaves or to recover borrowed wealth? Rashi (רש"י) reveals that the Torah (תורה)'s phrase "we sent away our slaves" actually refers to the silver and gold the Egyptians voluntarily gave in abundance. The Egyptians' devastating self-recognition of their own foolishness—not the economic loss—drove them to risk everything, teaching that wounded pride fuels self-destructive behavior far more powerfully than rational calculation.
Rabbi Zweig analyzes Parshas Beshalach, focusing on the puzzling motivation behind the Egyptian pursuit of the Jews at the Red Sea. The Torah (תורה) states that Pharaoh and his servants had a dramatic change of heart, regretting that "we sent away our slaves." Yet Rashi (רש"י) offers a seemingly contradictory explanation: they pursued the Jews because of the property—the silver and gold—that the Egyptians had lent them. This raises three fundamental questions: First, why does Rashi change the plain meaning of the text, which explicitly mentions regret over losing slave labor? Second, economically speaking, wouldn't the loss of three million slaves (an asset with perpetual value for generations) far outweigh any monetary loss? Third, why would Pharaoh personally risk his entire military and national wealth when the borrowed items came from the citizens' private coffers, not the royal treasury? The shiur notes that the Jews actually acquired far more wealth at the Red Sea from the Egyptian military's decorations than they had received as loans in Egypt, suggesting the government coffers remained intact.
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Parshas Beshalach (Shemos 14:5-7), Parshas Bo (Shemos 12:35-36)
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