Who was Enslaved in Egypt/2

Who was Enslaved in Egypt?

Exegetical Approaches

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Everyone

The entire Israelite nation was enslaved.

Sources:RashiShemot 1:11-13Shemot 5:4About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, many

Rotation

The Israelites worked for Paroh in rotation.  Each labored at the palace for several weeks or months and then was free to go home until his next shift.

Sources:R. Yosef Bekhor ShorShemot 1:11-14About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RambanShemot 1:10-14Shemot 5:4About R. Moshe b. Nachman

וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלָיו שָׂרֵי מִסִּים – These commentators understand this to refer to a labor tax rather than a monetary one.¹

Biblical Parallels – R" Y Bekhor Shor compares this labor tax to that of Shelomo when building the Beit HaMikdash,² while Ramban compares it to Shelomo's taxing of the foreigners in his land (see Melakhim I 9:21).³  According to both, Paroh's actions were not all that different from that of other monarchs who forced certain segments of the population to work for them for set periods of time.

Were the Israelites the only ones taxed? R"Y Bekhor Shor asserts that the rest of the Egyptians also paid a tax to Paroh, giving a fifth of their crops to the king.⁴  Precisely because the Children of Israel were exempt from this, they were instead forced to build the storehouses for this wheat.⁵  R"Y Bekhor Shor does posit, however, that with time the labor demands intensified and extended to other types of work including sowing and irrigation.

Own homes and possessions – This position easily explains the fact that the Israelites had their own homes and possessions,⁶ as it assumes that any individual Israelite was not always working for Paroh, and had time to support his own family as well.⁷

Freedom of movement – This position could explain that Aharon had the freedom to meet Moshe in the desert because he was not working at the time.  Aharon would not have been unique; many others at any given time might also have been able to leave the country for a short period.

"לְכוּ לְסִבְלֹתֵיכֶם" – Ramban explains that when Moshe and Aharon had come to Paroh, they were accompanied by some of the laboring Israelites, and it was to these that Paroh said to return to work.

Did women work as well? Though neither exegete addresses the question, they would likely posit that the building labor was limited to the men as in other cases of conscripted labor.

Relationship to other Egyptians – This position allows for the possibility that some lay Egyptians and Israelites might have been on neighborly terms as the Israelites were not necessarily viewed as particularly degraded members of society.⁸  As such, this position might explain that the word "רֵעֵהוּ" in Hashem's command "יִשְׁאֲלוּ אִישׁ מֵאֵת רֵעֵהוּ וְאִשָּׁה מֵאֵת רְעוּתָהּ" refers to friends.⁹  Similarly, it might not view Paroh's daughter's offering of payment to Yocheved for her nursing of Moshe as unique, but rather a normal transaction made between free citizens.

Harshness of the enslavement – R"Y Bekhor Shor and Ramban learn from the phrase, "וַיַּעֲבִדוּ מִצְרַיִם אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּפָרֶךְ" that the conditions during the periods of forced labor were unusually harsh and that the slaves were given no time to rest.  Ramban also posits that in a second stage of the bondage, Paroh allowed individual Egyptians to enslave Israelites to work for them personally when desired.

How was this to accomplish Paroh's goal? R"Y Bekhor Shor claims that Paroh hoped to tire out the people so they would not have the energy at night to have relations and reproduce.¹⁰ This, however, is difficult, considering that they could do so during the months that they were free from work totally.  One might explain instead that Paroh was not mainly concerned about the size of the Israelite population, but about the potential that they would fight against him in periods of war.  Having a decent portion of the nation enslaved at any one time reduced this concern.

Purpose of Punishment – This depiction of the slavery raises the possibility that Paroh was not being punished for extremely cruel treatment of the Israelites but rather for not recognizing Hashem and granting the Israelites leave to worship Him.  Ramban might suggest that it was not the State sponsored slavery that was so problematic but the expanding of the bondage to individuals.

Needy

The Israelites were expected to pay a monetary tax to Paroh; only those who could not afford it worked instead.

Sources:RalbagShemot Beur HaMilot 1:11-14Shemot Beur HaParashah 1:11-22About R. Levi b. Gershom, HaKetav VeHaKabbalah

וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלָיו שָׂרֵי מִסִּים – Ralbag understands "מִסִּים" to refer to a monetary tax.¹¹

וַיִּבֶן עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת לְפַרְעֹה – Those who did not have the finances substituted a labor tax, building store houses for Paroh.  Ralbag implies that much of the nation fell into this category, as it was possible that Paroh fined the people even daily.

Biblical parallels

• The concept that a foreign minority might have to pay a tribute to the controlling majority is seen often when one country subdues another, though in Egypt the Israelites had not been conquered by Egypt but rather come to live.
• The idea that one without monetary means might be enslaved instead finds its parallel in the laws of slaves, where a person can sell himself if he finds himself in debt.  In Egypt, however, the Israelites had no real control over being in "debt".

Freedom of movement – According to this position, those who could afford the monetary tax had no responsibilities to Paroh and were free to go where they pleased.  This could explain Aharon's ability to meet Moshe out of Egypt.

Own homes and possessions – Ralbag implies that after finishing their daily labor quotas the Israelites would return to their personal homes, so even those who worked did not live on site.

Relationship to other Egyptians – This position might assert that not all of the Israelites were looked down upon by the neighboring Egyptians,

How was this to accomplish Paroh's goal? According to Ralbag, Paroh allowed his officers to force the people to work beyond the limits of the law and gave them back-breaking types of labor which required much effort because this would ruin the people's health, lessening their seed.  Thus, even though some Israelites were exempt and did not physically suffer, Paroh knew that the significant portion of Israelites who worked would be weakened.

Harshness of the slavery – While Ralbag focuses on the physical burdens the Israelites were forced to bear, HaKetav VeHaKabbalah points to emotional pain as well. He understand the word "פרך" to mean"stop" and explains that the Egyptians would constantly stop the Israelites mid-project to work on another one.  This moving from job to job without ever seeing their labor come to fruition was just as painful to the soul and the hard toil was to their bodies.

"רָאֹה רָאִיתִי אֶת עֳנִי עַמִּי אֲשֶׁר בְּמִצְרָיִם וְאֶת צַעֲקָתָם " – Ralbag would explain that the verse speaks of the nation as a whole, even if some were not enslaved, since the majority were worked beyond their endurance daily.

¹ This seems to be the way the word is used throughout Tanakh.  In several places a labor force is explicitly mentioned as part of the "מס", as in Yehoshua 16:10, Melakhim I 5:27, and Melakhim I 9:21. Elsewhere, people are taken as "מס" suggesting that there too labor is referred to.  See, for example, Shofetim 1:28-35 or Yeshayahu 31:8.

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⁴ See Bereshit 47:13-26.

⁵ R"Y Bekhor Shor implies that the labor tax stemmed from the Egyptian people who were upset about the Israelite's exemption.  This suggests that Yosef's nepotism to his family unwittingly later led to the enslavement.  See Yosef's Economic Policies for more.

⁶ See Shemot 2:1-2, 9:6, 10:9 and Shemot 12 which speak of Isarelite residences and cattle.

⁷ R"Y Bekhor Shor actually points to this as proof that they must have only worked shifts, writing, "והא ליכא למימר שהיו תדיר בעבודה, דאם כן, מתי יעשו לביתם ומי יפרנסם. "

⁸ Nonetheless, as some apparently heeded Paroh's decree to throw Israelite babies into the Nile, there must have been a significant number who felt negatively.  Ramban presents this a the result of Paroh's process of progressively harsh decrees, but also suggests that the decree of genocide only lasted for a short time

⁹ See Josephus in Reparations and Despoiling Egypt who explains that the Egyptians did in fact willingly give gifts to the Egyptians out of friendship.

¹⁰ In his comments to verse 11 he implies that during the periods of forced labor they did not return home at all, let alone come home tired at night.

¹¹ There is not much evidence for this usage in Tanakh, except perhaps by Achashevorsh in Esther 10:1.  See Hoil Moshe who points out that in Tanakh a tribute or monetary fine is referred to as a מנחה or מכס.