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Why did Moshe kill the Egyptian, risking his life, when he could have simply ordered him to stop? The shiur develops a yesod that the moment Jews perceived themselves as a separate nation—not as Jewish Egyptians but as Egyptian Jews—they became a people. Moshe's act validated this emerging Jewish identity and established that attacking a Jew is attacking God Himself.
Rabbi Zweig opens with four fundamental questions on Moshe killing the Egyptian (Shemos 2:11-15). First, why does the Torah (תורה) highlight this story as Moshe's primary credential for leadership? Second, why did Moshe jeopardize his own life by killing the Egyptian when, as Pharaoh's adopted son and minister over the household, he could have simply ordered the beating to stop? Third, why did Rashi (רש"י) state that Moshe killed the Egyptian using God's ineffable name rather than physically? Fourth, why does the Torah emphasize that Moshe was promoted to minister over Pharaoh's household immediately before this incident? The shiur addresses these questions by examining when the Jewish people actually became a nation. The Gemara (גמרא) in Sanhedrin 58b derives from Moshe's act that under Noahide law, a gentile who strikes a Jew commits a capital offense, though a gentile striking another gentile does not. This raises a critical question: what defined someone as a "Jew" before Sinai, before the Exodus, before the covenant of 613 mitzvos?
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Shemos 2:11-15
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