Parsha questions

[zevabe]

In the course of attempting to go through the parsha twice, and read a commentary or translation once, I often find things which leave me with open questions.  When I can, I'd love to put them here to provoke thought in others

Comments

[zevabe]

I meant that 11:4 seems to have been the 14th, because Moses tells Pharaoh (he hadn't left Pharoah until 11:8, and he never went back, so this was still in front of Pharaoh) that at about midnight there will be a plague. "About midnight" seems more likely to mean tonight than in 2-3 weeks from now.

People tend to read "HaChodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim" as occuring on Rosh Chodesh b/c it is the source for declaring the new moon by beit din and so on (from prior to the calendar of Hillel II).

they didn't have time for their bread to rise when they finally left?

I am unsuere of the source of this widespread (mis)conception. I noticed this year that Rashi repeatedly says the reason they brought matza w/ them is because they loved the mitzva. Even those who mention the "chipazon" (hurriedness) must account for the command to leave at night, and actual leaving by day. Bread certainly has time to rise over half a night.

Timing Avraham: So the 400/430 years have to start some time of signifigance. They cannot have been in Egypt that long because Kehat (grandfather of Moses) was among those who descended to Egypt. His lifetime, plus Amram's, plus 80 years of Moses (120-40 in desert, and it says explicitly that he was 80 when he stood before Pharaoh) does not add up to 400 (133+137+80=350), and surely some overlap occured, plus Kehat lived some time before descent to Egypt. So choices include birth of Jacob, birth of Isaac or Brit bein hab'tarim (Covenant b/w pieces). Unsure why birth of Isaac is chosen. The prophecy that "your offspring will be strangers in a foreign land" can't begin before the offspring are born, presumably. Ramban (in Genesis) seems greatly troubled by the implications of this timeline. Rashi seems entirely unbothered by it.