Taking Mitzvos
The beginning of our parsha relates how, upon leaving Egypt, Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him for burial in the Land of Israel.[1] Indeed, retrieving the remains of Yosef was what he occupied himself with on the night before the Jewish people were to leave. Commenting on this, the Gemara[2] states:
Come and see how beloved mitzvos are to Moshe; for all of the Jewish people were occupied [on that night] with gathering spoils, and he was occupied with mitzvos, as the verse says:[3] “A man of wise heart will take mitzvos.”
Many commentators have a simple question on this Gemara. The “spoils” that the Jewish people occupied themselves gathering that night refer to the gold and silver that Hashem had commanded Moshe to tell them to collect.[4] This being the case, how can they be criticized for doing so? It is not their fault that gathering gold was a mitzvah! If one passes by a Jewish home on Shabbos morning and hears the sounds of zemiros coming from people who are enjoying their Shabbos meal, one cannot condemn those people for being indulgent and materialistic, involving themselves in eating, drinking and singing when they could be doing mitzvos — today that is a mitzvah!
A Favor to Avraham?
In order to understand this matter, let us consult the verse where Hashem spoke to Moshe regarding collecting gold and silver:
Speak, please [נא], in the ears of the people, let each man request of his fellow and each woman of her fellow silver vessels and gold vessels.
The word “please” in the above verse is quite striking. Why would Hashem need to phrase this directive as a request?
The Gemara[5] comments on the above verse as follows:
The word נא is an expression of a request. Said the Holy One, Blessed is He, to Moshe, I request from you to exhort them regarding this matter, so that the righteous Avraham will not say that I fulfilled the aspect of “they will enslave and persecute them,” but did not fulfill the aspect of “and afterwards they will leave with great possessions.”
What is the meaning of these words? If Hashem has promised that the Jewish people will leave Egypt with great wealth, why explain that the reason for His request is so that Avraham will not complain that He didn’t keep His promise? The fact that He promised should be reason enough!
Defining “Great Treasure”
In order to answer this question, we need to ask a more basic one. What is the meaning behind leaving Egypt with great possessions? In what way does this represent the culmination of our time in Egypt? How does it make it all worthwhile?
In truth, the גדול רכוש, the great possessions with which the Jewish people were to leave Egypt, were not gold and silver at all. They were the qualities which they had acquired there.[6] These are the aspects of Jewish identity which had been fused into their national being through the Egypt experience — both the redemption, and the subjugation. It is with these great qualities that they would be able to go on to receive the Torah and take their place as Hashem’s treasured nation.
This, then, is the “great wealth” which represents the dividends of the Egypt experience. When Hashem tells Moshe to exhort the Jewish people to collect vessels of gold and silver, it is as a request solely out of deference to Avraham. In reality, the “great possessions” are not gold and silver at all. However, the Jewish people are not yet at a stage where they view their Jewishness as the ultimate treasure. Therefore, Avraham’s compassion for his children will demand that they receive wealth in terms to which they can relate at their present level.
One person, however, did not need to pursue gold and silver in order to feel that he was leaving Egypt with great possessions. That person, of course, was Moshe. When he heard the time had come to leave Egypt with treasure, he went off in pursuit of a rare mitzvah. It turns out that the Gemara’s comparison between Moshe and the Jewish people is in how they related to the exact same term — “great possessions” — in two very different ways. This is not a criticism of the Jewish people, who had not yet received the Torah, but it is a lesson for us in terms of what to treasure.
This is the meaning of the verse from Mishlei which is brought to support this idea: “A man wise of heart will take mitzvos.” What is the meaning of the phrase “to take mitzvos”? Mitzvos are things which are “done” or “kept,” but how are they “taken”? Moreover, is it only a “man wise of heart” who does mitzvos? All good Jews – both wise and unwise – perform mitzvos!
The key here is the term “wise of heart” (לב חכם), as opposed to the term “wise man” (חכם) used elsewhere in Torah. A חכם is one who has acquired wisdom. A חכם לב is one whose wisdom has permeated his essence to the extent that he relates in his heart emotionally to that which he knows to be true in his head cerebrally. Everyone knows that mitzvos are more valuable than material possessions, but only a chacham lev feels it, and will respond to a call for treasure by pursuing a mitzvah. Everyone “does” mitzvos, but a chacham lev “takes” mitzvos, i.e., he collects them, prizes and treasures them.
This is what the Gemara is highlighting regarding the pure and exalted level of Moshe. May our portion be among those who aspire to emulate it.
[5] Berachos 9a, quoted in Rashi to Shemos, ibid.
[6] Dubno Maggid, commentary Ohel Yaakov to Parshas Bo (compare the words רכוש גדול, “great possessions,” in our verse with the words רכוש רב, “vast possessions,” [Bereishis 13:6] used to describe Avraham and Lot’s material assets).