After Bnei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) left Mitzrayim, the pasuk says, “V’amar Paro L‘bnei Yisrael” (And Pharaoh said to Bnei Yisrael) ‘They are confined in the land, the wilderness has locked them in.'” (Shemos 14:3) The obvious question – which Rashi and Targum Onkelos address – is what does it mean “And Pharoah said to Bnei Yisrael?” Bnei Yisrael had already left Mitzrayim. To whom could Pharaoh be speaking? The people who deserved to leave Mitzrayim had already left. Those who were undeserving, died during Makas Choshech (the Plague of Darkness). There were no Jews left in Mitzrayim! Therefore, Rashi and Targum Onkelos do not translate the words “el Bnei Yisrael” to mean “to Bnei Yisrael” but rather “concerning Bnei Yisrael.”
However, the Targum Yonosan ben Uziel has an incredible interpretation: “And Pharoah spoke to Dasan and Aviram, who were of Bnei Yisrael and who had remained in Mitzrayim.” Dasan and Aviram were thorns in the side of Moshe Rabbeinu and Bnei Yisrael from the early days of Egyptian slavery all the way until the incident with Korach in Sefer Bamidbar. According to the Targum Yonosan ben Uziel, Dasan and Aviram stayed in Mitzrayim when the rest of the Jews left.
The Maharil Diskin famously asks a simple question: Chazal say that four fifths of the Jews in Mitzrayim died during Makas Choshech. They were deemed wicked and not worthy of experiencing Yetzias Mitzrayim (the Exodus). We would think that if anyone amongst Bnei Yisrael would qualify as wicked and undeserving of Yetzias Mitzrayim, it would be Dasan and Aviram. If they were such wicked people that they did not want to leave Mitzrayim, why were they still alive? Why did they not die during Makas Choshech? How is it that they lived to tell the tale and survived all the way into the midbar, up until the rebellion of Korach, more than a year later? What was their zechus (merit) that granted them this ‘longevity’?
The Maharil Diskin gives an amazing answer to his question: Dasan and Aviram had a special zechus. What was their zechus? Dasan and Aviram were employed by the Egyptians as shotrim (taskmasters). Their job was to ensure that the Jews met their daily quota of brick production. Chazal say that even though they had this terrible job of being the taskmasters and the enforcers, they allowed themselves to be beaten by the Egyptians rather than doing their job of whipping the Jews who were not able to produce the required number of bricks. Dasan and Aviram took the punishment of their brethren on their own backs.
In the Nazi concentration camps, in addition to the German officers, there were Jewish kapos, who were given the job of enforcing the labor upon their fellow Jews. They had the same system in Mitzrayim. There were Egyptians who were the overseers, but the people who actually dealt with the Jewish slaves were these shotrim.
In the zechus of the empathy that Dasan and Aviram had for their fellow Jews, they merited survival during Makas Choshech and they were still around after Yetzias Mitzrayim, such that Pharaoh could speak to them and comment that the Jews who left were lost in the wilderness.
The Maharil Diskin even adds that Bnei Yisrael complained to Moshe Rabbeinu earlier, “hiv’ashtem es rucheinu” (You made us smell) (Shemos 5:21). We usually consider this to be a figure of speech. The Maharil Diskin interprets it literally: Because of their wounds from the whippings that did not heal, their bodies reeked.
The Maharil Diskin says that the Ribono shel Olam, as it were, has a soft spot in His heart for a Jew who suffers on behalf of other Jews. Dasan and Aviram were wicked. They reported Moshe Rabbeinu to Pharaoh for killing the Egyptian. They were horrible people. But they had one incredible zechus. They literally took it on the chin – if not the back – for other Jews. This is such an enormous zechus that it protected them from dying during Makas Choshech and it allowed them to live to tell the tale even though they did not want to leave Mitzrayim.
I once related this Maharil Diskin to an incident involving Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, that was mentioned by his son, Rav Shmuel Auerbach, in his hesped (eulogy) for his father.
There was agadolin Europe known by the name of hissefer, Baruch Taam (Rav Baruch Frankel-Te’omim (1760-1828)). Baruch Taam’s son became engaged to a girl from a very wealthy and prominent family. At the tenaim, the mechutanim came over and they noticed that Baruch Taam was not really into it. He did not look happy. He looked preoccupied with other matters. The kallah’s mother came over to him and asked why he did not look happy on this joyous occasion. “Are you not pleased with this shidduch?”
Baruch Taam responded that he had no problem with the shidduch. “But the water carrier of the town is very sick and I am worried about him.” (In Europe, in the shtetl, before indoor plumbing and running water, there was someone whose job it was to be the water carrier. A water carrier would go down to the river and fill up buckets and then carry the buckets on his shoulders to deliver the water to the town’s residences.) In European Jewish society, the water carrier was the low-man on the totem pole. The only requirement for the job was a strong back. Brains were not needed. The mother of thekallahwas shocked: “Because the water carrier is sick, you allow that to dampen your simcha? You let the water carrier effect your mood? I can’t understand that!”
Baruch Taam stood up and announced “The shidduch is off! I will not let my son marry into a family that has such a cavalier attitude, which shows no empathy for the misfortune of another Jew.”
This was one of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s favorite stories because throughout his life, Rav Shlomo Zalman – among all of his other prodigious character attributes – exemplified the midah of feeling the pain of his fellow Jews.
To return to our topic – the Maharil Diskin says that this was the zechus of Dasan and Aviram.
I want to add an incredible observation to the Maharil Diskin’s vort. The Be’er Mayim Chaim (a very famous Chassidishesefer, written by Rav Chaim Tyrer (1760-1816), the Rav of Czernowitz) asks as follows: If in fact Dasan and Aviram stayed in Mitzrayim and had a conversation with Pharaoh following Yetzias Mitzrayim, when and how did they leave Mitzrayim? We know that they certainly wound up with the rest of the Jews by the time of Korach’s rebellion and according to the Medrash, they were also the people who left over their portion of mann until the next morning, in violation of Moshe’s instructions (Shemos 16:20). This is the question of the Beer Mayim Chayim.
The Be’er Mayim Chaim answers with a very novel idea. The pasuk in Shiras Az Yashir writes: “When Pharaoh’s horse came with his chariots and horsemen into the sea and Hashem turned back the waters of the sea upon them, the Children of Israel walked on the dry land amid the sea.” (Shemos 15:19) The Beer Mayim Chaim writes that this pasuk is chronologically incorrect. The pasuk should first state that Bnei Yisrael went through the Yam Suf and then then Pharoah came into the midst of the Yam….” The pasuk records the events backwards!
Because of this observation, the Be’er Mayim Chaim explains as follows: WhenKlal Yisraelleft Mitzrayim, Dasan and Aviram stayed behind. Dasan and Aviram then realized that they “bet on the wrong horse” because Pharaoh and Mitzrayim were destroyed. So, then they also left. However, when they reached the Yam Suf (Red Sea) to rejoin Bnei Yisrael, they saw that it was impassable.
The Beer Mayim Chaim says that there was actually a second Krias Yam Suf (splitting of the Red Sea)! Not only does “And Pharaoh said to Bnei Yisrael” refer to Dasan and Aviram, but also “And Bnei Yisrael walked on the dry land in the midst of the sea” refers to Dasan and Aviram.
These two perennial trouble makers were zoche to their own personal Krias Yam Suf. I wish the Be’er Mayim Chaim would buttress this explanation with a Medrash or a teaching of Chazal, but he seems to present it as his own inference. This, however, only magnifies the question: We asked why Dasan and Aviram didn’t die during Makas Choshech. The answer was that they had a zechus. But the way it comes out now, not only did they have a zechus that spared them the fate of the wicked during Makas Choshech, but their zechus even allowed them to merit their own Krias Yam Suf!!
With this insight, the Beer Mayim Chaim explains another idea in Parshas Korach. Korach challenged Moshe Rabbeinu. Who else took on Moshe Rabbeinu? Ohn ben Peles and Dasan and Aviram. Why would anyone start up with Moshe Rabbeinu? Isn’t it obvious that they are going to lose their battle? The answer is that Dasan and Aviram were overconfident in their personal merit. They felt that they were gedolei yisrael. They even merited their own Krias Yam Suf! That previous personal miracle gave them the impetus and the courage to start up with Moshe Rabbeinu. They felt that they were taking on an equal of theirs and that they could win the battle!
