Shemos: Measure for Measure ‘Measure for measure’ is the way in which HaShem repays the righteous and punishes the iniquitous. Simply speaking, it means that the reward or punishment due comes in a form most appropriate for the deed. Take, for example, someone who double parked. If caught, they would most likely be fined of a certain amount of money, say seventy dollars. Now, what connection does the amount of seventy dollars have to the act of double parking? Indeed, what connection is there between double parking and monetary loss?! Of course, there is no connection, neither is any connection intended; it is simply a form of retribution. This is the complete opposite of the principle of measure for measure.
At the beginning of the second book of the Torah, we chance upon two midwives – Yocheved and Miriam – going under the names of Shifra and Puah, as Pharaoh’s devious plot to annihilate the Hebrews unravels. He commands them to kill all the baby boys even as they leave their mothers’ womb, and to let the girls live. Yocheved, the mother-to-be of Moshe Rabbeinu, and Miriam daughter, did no such thing. They defied Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and ruler of the world at great cost to their lives. This act, we are told, merited the houses of Priesthood, Kingship and that of the Levites to be instituted in Klal Yisrael. The question here is very simple: based on the principle of ‘measure for measure’, why would the refusal of Pharaoh’s evil decree merit these three ‘houses’ of greatness?
The answer lies in a very basic and fundamental point, mentioned by HaGaon Rebbi Yosef Dov Sollovechik, Rosh HaYeshivs Brisk. It is well known that if, Heaven forbid, a Jewish girl marries a non-Jewish boy, the child’s Jewishness follows the mother, that is to say, he is completely Jewish. However, lineage follows the father, that is to say, whether he has any priestly, royal or Levite blood in his veins.
With this, everything becomes clear. You see, even had Pharaoh’s plan come to fruition, G-d forbid, even if the girls, who were left alive, were to marry Egyptians, their children would still be Jews. But they would lose their lineage, their heritage, and in that Pharaoh would have succeeded. But the righteous midwives refused the order to kill the Jewish boys, and hence ensured the preservation of lineage in Klal Yisrael. Hence, that which they preserved was elevated into three glorious strands of lineage: Priesthood, Royalty and the tribe of Levi. This is pure measure for measure in motion.
Good Shabbos! |
