Shemot | The Roots of Subjugation, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

The opening chapter of Shemot details the oppression, mandated infanticide and overall enslavement of Bnei Yisrael under the thumb of Egyptian rule. After a brief introduction in which we discuss the nature and causality and its inherent multi-layered reality, we observe several linguistic nuances in this opening chapter which seem to point to a connection between these horrors and the narratives of Yoseph as a brother as well as Yoseph as an Egyptian viceroy. The literary structure of the passage (1:15-22) is then presented, as an argument towards seeing an overt as well as covert cause behind the servitude and related decrees.

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