EXOD136 See [[DEUT41]] Deuteronomy 2:30 hardened SPERO 245-6

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EXOD137 See [[EXOD133]] Exodus 10:12 arm AHAVCH 96

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EXOD138 See [[EXOD926]] Exodus 24:12 commandment SPERO 29

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EXOD139 See [[DEUT41]] Deuteronomy 2:30 hardened SPERO 245-6

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EXOD140 The Hebrew term for friend is re-a. The root meaning of this word is "a person in whose company one delights" or "a very desired friend." By its very definition, re-a originally designated an intimate friend. The word re-a appears for the first time in the Bible in the description of the relationship between Judah and Hirah the Adullamite (Genesis 38:20). Hirah was obviously an intimate friend of Judah. He was privy to Judah's amorous adventure with Tamar. Hirah was also the man whom Judah entrusted with the delicate mission of retrieving the pledge which he had left with Tamar and suppressing news of an incident which might prove embarrassing. Hirah was described as a re-a of Judah. The term re-a appears next in [this verse]. The slaves were instructed to accept "every man from his [Egyptian] friend" silver and gold jewels. Here the word re-a is no longer used in its original etymological sense of an intimate friend but rather in its broader connotation of a neighbor or any friendly person. It is in this sense that re-a is used thereafter in the Bible. Thus the text of the Golden Rule, "Love thy neighbor [re-a] as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18), mandates love of all people. The broadening of the term "friend" to include every human being reflects a generous and civilized impulse. However, it did not erase the distinction between various grades of friendship. When one finds it important to underline that a particular person is a very close friend, a descriptive phrase is added. Thus in the biblical admonition against undesirable influences of an intimate friend, the text reads: "thy friend who is as thy own soul" (Deuteronomy 13:7). (Continued at [[GEN295]] Genesis 2:18 friend BLOCH 140-1.

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EXOD141 See [[DEUT41]] Deuteronomy 2:30 hardened SPERO 245-6

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EXOD142 According to Rabbi Soloveitchik (Reflections of the Rav, ed. Abraham Besdin, Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization, 1979, pp. 198-99), the reason that a slave cannot testify in a Jewish court (Maimonides, Hilchut Edut 9:7) is that a slave has no real sense of time, an essential aspect of testimony. Since each day for the slave is precisely the same and there is little hope anticipation for the future, time is not dynamic and special for this person. A free individual is uniquely conscious of the concept of time. That is why, in transforming the Jewish people from the slave mentality in Egypt into a free nation, God had to make the Jews keenly aware of time in the commandments He gave them prior to leaving Egypt. The first mitzvah given to the people in Egypt, as noted earlier, was the setting up of the Jewish calendar (this verse). The lamb taken for the Paschal sacrifice had to be selected on a specific date, the 10th of the month of Nisan, (Exodus 12:3) sensitizing the Jews to that specific time. The people were also commanded to sacrifice a lamb at a specific time during the day, in the afternoon (Exodus 12:6). Even the actual eating of the sacrifice was related to time, as God commanded the people to eat the Pascal lamb in a state of haste and in readiness--loins girded, shoes on the feet, and staff in hand.(Exodus 12:11) Only a free person could have this sense of anticipation to leave, expectation related to time. Finally, the Jew had be to be sensitive to complete the eating before morning (Exodus 12:10) Thus, the entire preparation and eating of the Pascal sacrifice sensitized to the Jewish people to time and help them attain a sense of freedom.

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EXOD143 (Continued from [[EXOD132]] Exodus 10:11 No AMJV 194). In order to insure that the Jewish family was truly unified, God commanded the Jewish people to take the Egyptian god, the lamb, and eat it as a united family, on what became the night of the Seder in Egypt. And if there were too few people in the nuclear family to finish the lamb, then they had to invite their neighbors-usually the extended family of grand parents and siblings-to join them and eat the lamb together. God also commanded the Jewish people to perform another ritual act to symbolize the unity of the Jewish family. In each Jewish home (which is the symbol of family), they were to replace the blood of that lamb on the door posts as a sign that this was a unified Jewish family. (Exodus 12:7) only then, after each Jewish family came together, could did Jews leave Egypt.

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EXOD144 See [[EXOD142]] Exodus 12:2 month AMEMEI 283

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EXOD145 See [[EXOD165]] Exodus 12:43 apostate CHINUCH 14

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