31 Jan PARSHAS BESHALACH: THE ORPHANS WERE NOT FORGOTTEN

The pasuk in the
beginning of the parsha
says that when the
Jewish people left
Egypt, they were
‘chamushim’ [Shemos
13:18]. Rashi cites two
interpretations of the word ‘chamushim’.
There are in fact at least 3 seemingly disparate
interpretations of this word found among the
commentaries.
According to one interpretation in Rashi,
‘chamushim’ comes from the word ‘chomesh’
(one-fifth) and indicates that only one fifth of
the Jewish population in Egypt merited to
leave, while the other eighty percent died
during the 3 days of Darkness (Plague #9).
The Targum Yerushalmi interprets the word
‘chamushim’ to mean they were armed. Rashi
alludes to this interpretation, but seems to
interpret it to mean that they were literally
armed with weapons. The Targum Yerushalmi,
on the other hand, interprets it figuratively –
they were ‘armed with good deeds’.
The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel gives a third
interpretation: ‘Chamushim’ means that
everyone went out with 5 children.

Superficially, these are three disparate
interpretations: (a) one-fifth of the population
left; (b) armed with good deeds; (c) bringing
along 5 children each.
The interpretation of the Targum Yonasan
ben Uziel is statistically mind- boggling. Shall
we presume that everyone had exactly 5
children? In addition, even if that was the
family size of each family unit, but the
implication is that they were all children, of
roughly the same age! What is the meaning of
this?
The Be’er Yosef by Rav Yosef Salant gives a
beautiful interpretation. He links all 3
seemingly independent interpretations of the
word ‘chamushim’ into a single narrative with
a single theme. He writes that if four-fifths of
the Jewish people died during the Plague of
Darkness, one can likely presume that
specifically the adults died. Granted, the adults
might have sinned and been unworthy of the
Exodus, but how can we speak of the “sins of
young children”?
Therefore, Rav Salant suggests that the
children of these ‘wicked Jews’ did not die,
which would imply that four-fifths of the
Jewish children at the time of the Exodus were

orphans. Imagine the scene – tens of
thousands of little Jewish orphans
wandering around. Who is going to take
care of them? What is going to be with
them? The answer is that every one of
the remaining Jewish families ‘chipped
in’ and said, “We’ll take these orphans
with us.” Thus, mathematically, every
remaining family adopted four families
worth of orphans.
Therefore, when the Targum Yonasan
ben Uziel says “five children”, he does not
mean that everyone went out with 5 children.
He means that everyone went out with 5
families worth of children – their own set and
the set of four other families worth of orphans
whose parents died during the Plague of
Darkness! This then fits in perfectly with the
interpretation of the Targum Yerushalmi – they
went out armed with good deeds! The good
deeds were the fact that they adopted the poor
orphans left over from the people killed during
the ninth plague.
The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel is suggesting
an amazing thing, which was a source of
extraordinary merit. Consider that after the
Holocaust, there were undoubtedly thousands
of orphans. What happened to these
kids? This is equivalent to everyone
who survived the Holocaust taking in X
number of orphans. Anyone who takes
in an orphan is doing an amazing act of
chessed. However, we must understand
that these people were refugees
themselves. They were not people who
were living a normal life who then
decided to “take in a few orphans”.
These were displaced people
themselves. These people did not know
where tomorrow’s bread was coming
from! When Klal Yisrael adopted the
attitude “We can’t leave these kids in
Egypt” and dismissed all the natural
concerns about their own welfare and
the welfare of their own families in a
time of great uncertainty, this was a
tremendous act of courage and
selflessness. This brought them great
merit. This “armed them” with the merit
of great acts of kindness.

Thus, all three interpretations: “one-
fifth”, “five children”, and “armed with

acts of kindness” dovetail together,
according to the insight of Rav Yosef
Salant.
Rav Matisyahu Solomon, the
Lakewood Mashgiach, adds a beautiful
appendage to this insight. The Medrash
Rabbah in Eicha on the pasuk, “We
were orphans who had no father” [Eicha
5:3] states that G-d tells the Jewish
people “Because you cried out to me
that you were like orphans who had no
father, I will send to you a redeemer

who has no father or mother.” This refers to
Esther in the time of Haman’s decree, about
whom it is written, “And he raised Hadassah
who is the same as Esther the daughter of his
uncle, for she had neither father nor mother…”
[Esther 2:7].
Rav Matisyahu Solomon interprets this
Medrash: There is a special ‘segulah’ [virtuous
Attribute] in the way the Almighty responds to
orphans. The Almighty testifies that He will
inevitably respond to the cry of the orphan: “If
you will persecute him such that he cries out to
Me, I will surely hear his cry.” [Shemos 22:22]
Hashem is the Father of Orphans. When people
inflict pain on orphans, G-d says, “This is My
Business!” Watch out for a father or mother
when someone dares to startup with his or her
children. So too, one must “watch out”, as it
were, for G-d’s punishment if he dares start up
with orphans and abuses or persecutes them.
The Rambam defines this as a “sealed
covenant” (Bris Kerusah) that the Almighty
will respond to the cries of help from an
orphan. [Matanos L’Aniyim 10:3]
When Klal Yisrael said (in the above quoted
pasuk in Eicha), “We are like orphans who
have no father” (referring to the Jews crying
out in the time of Haman’s decree), it
guaranteed a response from the Almighty.
Hashem agreed that a response had to be
forthcoming, but He said (as it were) “I need a
catalyst.” The catalyst was Mordechai. Since
Mordechai raised Hadassah (Esther), who was
an orphan and had no parents, this act of
kindness triggered the Divine Response that
brought about the salvation from Haman’s
decree. The Medrash says that Mordechai
could have escaped the decree and returned to
Eretz Yisrael, but he refused to leave Persia
because he was concerned about Esther’s
welfare. This was the ‘spark’ — the “arousal
from below” – that in turn set off the “arousal
from Above” which brought the redemption.
Rav Matisyahu Solomon says that with this
background, we can now understand why Klal
Yisrael in Egypt needed the merit of taking out
all these thousands of orphans. When Klal
Yisrael (despite all the reasons for not doing
so) acted like the “father of orphans” and each
took in four families worth of children with no
parents, this (as the Targum Yerushalmi
comments) was a tremendous merit, which
triggered the Divine Response of G-d, the
Father of all orphans.