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Why did Moshe ask Pharaoh for only three days when Hashem (ה׳) promised to take the Jews out permanently? The shiur argues that the three-day request established a fundamental principle: the Jewish people are a religious entity, not a political one. The request for religious worship—not political freedom—defines our covenant with Hashem, worth dying for above survival itself.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a fundamental question: Moshe repeatedly asks Pharaoh for a three-day journey into the desert to worship Hashem (ה׳), yet Hashem already told Moshe at the burning bush that He would take the Jewish people out of Egypt permanently and bring them to Eretz Yisrael. Why present a request for three days when that's not the real plan? If Pharaoh had said yes, would Hashem have been "joking"? The request must be genuine—if Pharaoh could have agreed, the three days must mean something real. The shiur explores the Midrash on Parshas Pinchas where the nations mocked the Jewish claim to legitimate lineage, arguing that if Egyptians had control over Jewish bodies as slaves, surely they had access to their wives as well. Yet Hashem testifies to Jewish pedigree by adding the letters yud and hei (from His name) to each family name. The Gemara (גמרא) teaches that Hashem "resents" placing His image on a mamzer, a child born from an adulterous union. Rabbi Zweig asks: what's the answer to the nations' kal vachomer (logical inference)? Why didn't the Egyptians violate Jewish women if they had complete dominion over Jewish men?
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Shemos/Vaeira
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What is the primary purpose of the cities of refuge - protecting the accidental killer or something else? The shiur argues that creating respect for law takes precedence over providing sanctuary. True deterrence comes from recognizing the gravity of murder itself, not fear of punishment.
