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Why did Hashem (ה׳) command Amram in the mitzvah (מצוה) of kiddushin specifically before the redemption from Egypt? The shiur develops the yesod that kiddushin with kesubah creates hashraas hashechinah in each Jewish family, not just two people living together. Women sensed God's presence orchestrating the geulah more acutely than men, which is why they were used as His instruments throughout the Egyptian redemption narrative.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a profound question from the Rambam (רמב"ם) in Hilchos Melachim, who traces the development of the 613 mitzvos through the Avos and states that Amram was commanded in "mitzvos yeseiros" (additional mitzvos) before Moshe received the complete Torah (תורה). The gedolei acharonim identify this as the mitzvah (מצוה) of kiddushin. But why was this particular mitzvah so critical that it couldn't wait until Matan Torah? Unlike bris milah, which is foundational to the covenant, kiddushin seems less urgent—people had been marrying until then. What necessitated giving this mitzvah specifically before the redemption? The shiur also addresses the Ibn Ezra's difficulty: Chazal tell us Yocheved was 130 years old when she gave birth to Moshe, yet the Torah makes no fanfare about this miracle, unlike Sarah's birth at 100. Additionally, the entire narrative of Moshe's birth lacks names—"a man from the house of Levi," "the woman," "his sister," "the daughter of Pharaoh." Why this anonymity? And most strikingly, why does the Torah describe Yocheved—not Amram—pitching the basket, carrying it to the Nile, and placing Moshe among the reeds? Where was Amram in all this? In traditional Jewish society, such physical labor would be done by men.
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Shemos 2:1-10
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