Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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Moshe and Aaron's Lineage

The chumash now takes a short deviation from the story to trace to lineage of Moshe and Aaron to demonstrate how they were befitting to be leaders.

Moshe and Aaron were descendants of the tribe of Levi, but the chumash first delineates the families of Reuven and Shimon, the two brothers who were older than Levi, as they were part of the lead up to Levi.

Another explanation as to why Reuven and Shimon's lineages are outlined here is to compensate for Yaakov rebuking them on his deathbed, and thus demonstrating that they were nonetheless indeed worthy of leadership.

So the immediate genealogy of the three sons (Reuven, Shimon and Levi) were as follows (I've marked in bold the people from whom Aaron and Moshe came. I have not always listed everyone in the same order as is listed in the text but rather listed it in a way that felt more organized to me):

Reuven (Yaakov's firstborn) sons were: Chanoch, Pallu, Chezron and Carmi

Shimon's sons were: Yemuel, Yamin, Ohad, Yachin, Zohar, Shaul (son of Dina, AKA "The Canaanite woman" - see earlier in chumash for more info on this).

Levi's sons were: Gershon, Kehath, Merari

Levi outlived all of his brothers, dying at 137 years old. It was only then, after all of the sons of Yaakov died, that the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt began.

Side note, in the Brit Bein HaBetarim (Lit. "the Covenant between the Parts", see Breishis 15:13), G-d prophesied that the Israelites would be enslaved for 400 years. According to this count, the enslavement began with the birth of Yitzchok and ended with the exodus from Egypt. This comes out to 400 years total as such:

Yitzchok was 60 when Yaakov was born.

Yaakov was 130 years old when he descended to Egypt, at which time Yosef was 39 (see earlier in Chumash for more detailed calculation of this) and Levi was 43. Since Levi died at the age of 137, this means that he spent 94 years living in Egypt.

60 +130 + 94 = 284 years.

400 total years -284 years up until Levi died = 116. Which means that while the enslavement "officially" began with the birth of Yitzchok, it didn't really begin in an overt way until the last son, i.e. Levi died, meaning the real enslavement lasted for 116 years.

The chumash now goes on to further detail Levi's family tree:

Again, Levi's sons were: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. He also had a daughter named Yocheved.

* Gershon

* Gershon's sons were: Livnei and Shimei

* Kohath

* Kohath (who lived till 133)'s sons were: Amram, Yitzhar, Hevron and Uzziel. Amram lived till 137.

* Yitzhar's sons were: Korach, Nefeg and Zichri

* Korach's sons were: Assir, Elkahan and Abiasaph

* Uzziel's sons were:

* Mishael, Elzaphan and Sitri

* Merari

* Merari's sons were: Mahli and Mushi.

* Yocheved.

* Amram (Kohath's son) married Yocheved (Kohath's sister and thus Amram's aunt). Yocheved and Amram begot:

* Aaron

* Aaron marries Elisheva (daughter of Aminadav, sister of Nachshon*)

* They have 4 sons: Nadav, Avihu, Elazar and Itamar.

* Elazar marries one of the "daughters of Putiel"(she was from both Yitro's family as well as Yosef's family. Yitro is sometimes called "Putiel" (translated as a contraction of the words "fatten" and "to G-d") alluding to his earlier idolatrous days when he would fatten up calves for idolatrous worship). Elazar and this "daughter of Putiel" beget Pinchas. In regards to her descent from Yosef's family, Putiel can also be understood to mean "to oppose", alluding to how Yosef opposed and overcame his evil inclination with the incident with Potiphar's wife).

* *The fact that scripture lists not only who Elisheva's father was but also her brother teaches us that a man should investigate a woman's brothers when deciding if he should marry her.

* Moshe.

The scripture wraps up this genealogical tangent by stating that this is the Aaron and Moshe of which is being spoken of and alludes to their righteousness in not deviating from fulfilling G-d's mission for them. Aaron is here listed before Moshe (and throughout scripture the order of their names fluctuates) to signify that they were equal in greatness.

The text reiterates what G-d told them to do, namely to take the Israelites out of Egypt, to speak to Pharaoh and ask him to release the Israelites and states how G-d spoke to Moshe on that day in Egypt.

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