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Why were the Jews "naked and bare" of mitzvos before the Exodus, and why specifically did Hashem (ה׳) give them bris milah and Korban Pesach (פסח)? The shiur develops a fundamental distinction: arum (nakedness) is shame from how others perceive us, while erom (bareness) is the absence of self-respect. Bris milah restores internal dignity; Korban Pesach earns external respect through mesirus nefesh.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a Rashi (רש"י) on Parshas Bo (page 109, sentence 6) quoting Rabbi Mosi ben Horas: Hashem (ה׳) redeemed the Jews from Egypt though they were "naked and bare" of mitzvos, giving them the blood of the Korban Pesach (פסח) and the blood of circumcision to make them worthy. The shiur addresses a fundamental linguistic puzzle: if you are already naked (arum), what does it mean to be additionally bare (erom)? Why the apparent redundancy? The key to unlocking this lies in Bereishis 2:25 and 3:1, where the Torah (תורה) uses the identical Hebrew root in two consecutive sentences: "Adam and Chavah were both arum (naked)… and the snake was arum (cunning)." This cannot be coincidence. The connection is that both nakedness and cunningness reflect acute awareness of how others perceive you. Shame (bushah) is the feeling of being negatively perceived by others. An animal's cunning is likewise its awareness of how other animals view it—as threat or opportunity. The snake was the most arum of all creatures because it had the sharpest ability to perceive what others were thinking and to manipulate that awareness.
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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.
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Parshas Bo (Shemos 12:13, Rashi)
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