Someone showed me the following idea in the Be’er Yoseif by Rav Yoseif Tzevi Salant.
וַיַּסֵּ֨ב אֱ-לֹהִ֧ים ׀ אֶת־הָעָ֛ם דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר יַם־ס֑וּף וַֽחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים עָל֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
- שמות יג:יח
ואסחר ה’ ית עמא אורח מדברא לימא דסוף ומזרזין סליקו בני ישראל מארעא דמצרים:
- תרגום אונקלות, שם
… בעבדא טבא …
- תרגום ירושלמי, שם
ואחזר ה’ ית עמא אורח מדברא דימא דסוף וכל חד עם חמשא טפלין סליקו בני ישראל מארעא דמצרים:
- תרגום יונתן
Hashem brought the nation around, via the path of the desert, the Red Sea; and the Children of Israel arose chamushim (to be defined) from the Land of Egypt.
- Shemos 13:8
.. and the Jews departed prepared and with haste from the Land of Egypt.
- Targum Unqelus (ad loc)
… with good deeds…
- Jerusalem Targum (ad loc)
… and the Jews departed with five infants from the Land of Egypt.
- Targum Yonasan (ad loc)
Rashi defines “chamushim as “armed”, which underlies the Targumim of Unqelus and Yerushalmi. Armed in a spiritual sense, prepared with good deeds.
The medrash describing the Egypt experience told us that we had six children at a time. Here, how can the Targum Yonasan mean that every Jew left with five children, as though this is something that should impress us? The Be’er Yoseif therefore believes the naive read of the Targum Yonasan is correct. Instead, the Be’er Yoseif explains all these targumim in light of each other.
Four fifths of the Jewish people died in Egyptm during the plague of darkness. These were the people who didn’t merit redemption; those who believed in the Egyptian paganism and wanted to stay. But what about their children? The youth didn’t merit dying, even if they agreed with their parents — they aren’t accountable or punishable for their crimes. The Be’er Yoseif notes that this means that each of the 600,000 men left Egypt had to have left with five families of children — his own, and those of four families left orphaned by this punishment. And this could be the intent of the Targum Yonasan.
This is also the “good deeds” of the Jerusalem Targum, the “zerizus” of the Targum Unqelus. They were prepared and surrounded by the mitzvah of taking in these children in need. Today we think of adoption as something someone does when they r”l can’t have children of their own. However, in light of this devar Torah, we see that this mitzvah played a central role in defining us as a people.
According to the Be’er Yosef, it is the merit of adopting orphans that rendered us ready for the redemption from Egypt!
