Re-Thinking the Erev Rav: On The Exodus and The

Economic Challenges of Freedom

Shaul Magid

Passover Rabbinic Webinar

April 3, 2019

1. Exodus 12:37-38 p. 1

2. Midrash Tanhuma, Parshat Ki Tisa, 21:2 p. 1

3. Zohar 2.45b p. 1

4. Zohar 1.28b p. 2

5. Hayyim Vital, Etz Ha-Dat Tov, 77 p. 2

6. Sifrei, Parshat Derakhim Derekh Mizrayim p. 3

7. Exodus 3:21 p. 3

8. Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar Divrei Yoel, 3.323. p. 4

Shaul Magid is a faculty member and Kogod senior research fellow at Shalom Hartman Institute

of North America. He is the Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College where

he teaches Jewish Studies and Religion, rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue in Sea View, NY,

contributing editor to Tablet Magazine and editor of Jewish Thought and Culture at Tikkun

Magazine. He is also a member of the American Academy for Jewish Research. Shaul received

his rabbinical ordination in Jerusalem and his PhD from Brandeis University.

Shaul’s academic work focuses on Jewish mysticism, Hasidism, and modern Jewish thought with

specific emphasis on American Judaism, Jewishness, and collective identity.

He has published several books, including American Post-Judaism (Indiana University Press,

2013), which investigates questions of ethnicity in a post-ethnic society, From Metaphysics to

Midrash: Myth, History, and the Interpretation of Scripture in Lurianic Kabbalah which won the

2008 American Academy of Religion Best Book Award and Hasidism Incarnate: Hasidism,

Christianity, and the Construction of Modern Judaism (Stanford University Press, 2014), which

explores the deep engagement of Hasidism and invites us to reconsider the differences

between Judaism and Christianity in a world not burdened by the Christian persecution of Jews.

His forthcoming books are: The Bible, the Talmud and the New Testament: Elijah Zvi

Soloveitchik’s Commentary to the Gospels, and Piety and Rebellion: Studies in Hasidism both to

be published in 2019.

The Shalom Hartman Institute is a pluralistic center of research and education deepening and

elevating the quality of Jewish life in Israel and North America. Through our work we are

redefining the conversation about Judaism in modernity, religious pluralism, Israeli democracy,

Israel and world Jewry, and the relationship with other faith communities.

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1. Exodus 12:37-38The Israelites journeyed from Raamses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot,

aside from children. Moreover a mixed multitude (erev rav) went up with them, with very much

livestock, both flocks and herds.

תה כשש־מאות א ס סכ ל מרעמס שרא סעו בני־י ף׃וי ט ד מ ים לב י הגבר ף רגל ל

ד׃ ד מא ה כב קנ ר מ אן ובק ם וצ ת ה א ב על ב ר ר וגם־ע

2. Midrash Tanhuma, Parshat Ki Tisa, 21:2Hurry down, for your people have transgressed. (Exodus 32:7) It doesn’t say “people” but “your

people.” God said to Moses, “Your people (i.e., the erev rav not Israel, who are described as My

people) made the calf. I already told you When Pharaoh does not heed you, I will lay my hand

upon Egypt and deliver My ranks, My people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with

extraordinary chastisements. (Exodus 7:4). You were the one who caused me to accept the erev

rav by saying “it will be good to receive penitents.” I responded “but see what they will do in

the future, they will make the calf, they will be idolaters, and cause the nation to sin with

them…(Midrash Tanhuma, 21)

ה: עמך עשו א לא עמך. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למ ש אמר א חת עמך. העם ל א נ י ש ך רד כ ת ל י אנ ל. ש ית גורם העג שראל )שמות ז, ד(. ואתה הי י בני י ת עמ בא תי א ת צ י א י לך, והוצאת אמרת

ים לעשות, יד ה מה הם עת י רוא ית י הי ים. ואנ ת השב ב רב ואמרת מוטב לקבל א בלת הער וקת העג עשו א םוהם ש מה י לחט א ע היו עובדי עבודה זרה וגרמו לעמ ל, ש .

3. Zohar 2.45bIf the erev rav had not bound themselves to Israel they would not have done that deed [the

golden calf] and all those Israelites who died [as a result] would not have perished, and all that

happened to Israel would not have happened…that deed was the cause of everything; it caused

death, it caused the subjection to other nations, it caused the destruction of the first tablets, its

caused the death of many thousands of Israelites. All of this was due to the existence of the

erev rav (Zohar 2.45b)

יתו יד ההוא עובדא, ולא מ תעב שראל, לא א תחברו בהון י ב רב דא ינון ער י לא הוו א תא חזי, אים יתו, ולא גר ינון דמ שראל, כל א י ים מ שראל כל מה דגר לון לי ….

ימו דא עבוד מלכוון, גר ימו ש ימו מותא, גר ימו כ לא. גר יד ההוא עובדא, גר תעב תברו כיון דאין מ שראל, כמה אלפ י יתו מ ימו דמ ינון לוחי קדמאי, גר ינון א תחברותא דא ין א נייהו. וכל דא, בג

תחברו בהו ב רב, דא .ער

1

4. Zohar 1.28bThe son of David (i.e., the Messiah) will not come until all the souls will be born [in bodies].”1 At

that time renewal (hithadshut) will come to the world. Then the erev rav will be erased

(mitavrin) from the world. Then it will be said to Israel and Moses that all will have their proper

soul-mates and both Adam and Eve will be naked (‘arumim), they will not be ashamed since

licentiousness (‘ervah) will be erased from the world. Ervah (ERVA) is the erev rav (ERV-RV) who

brought exile into the world, the erev rav in particular (vaday)! It is said about the erev rav, and

the serpent was the shrewdest (‘arum) of all the wild beasts God had made (Genesis 3:1). He

was shrewd for evil purposes more than all the wild beasts, who are the idolatrous nations of

the world. The erev rav are the children of the serpent in the garden, they are surely the poison

that the serpent placed inside Eve.2 Cain, who came from this poison, killed his brother Abel

(b’sh’gam hu basar).3 This refers to Abel. And this also refers to Moses, and they (the erev rav)

also killed Moses. This was Cain, who was the first born of Adam. (Zohar 1.28b)

ד באא ן דו בגוף ואז החדשות יבואו ין ב כלו כל נשמות ש י עד ש .

היו ה כל חד בבת זוגייהו וי שראל ובמש תמר בי ב רב מעלמא, וא ין ער תעבר מנא מ בההוא זשתו ול א ים האדם וא ם ערומ רוהשניה תעבר ע תבוששו. דא נון דגרמו גלותא, י לין א מעלמא דא

ב רב ודאי .ער

ין דעלמ כל חיון דאומ ה וגו' ערום לרע מ כל חית השד תמר. והנחש היו ערום מ א עובדי ועלייהו אים ו נון הוו זוהמא דאט כוכב ב רב ודאי א י דפתי לחוה. וער נון בנוי דנחש הקדמונ יל מזלות. וא

תמר ביה בשגם הוא בשר בש ל רועה צ אן דא ב ן וקטל לה יא זוהמא נפק קי ם ג נחש בחוה. ומההיהו הוה ברא בוכרא דאדם יל ליה וא ''ה וקט יהו מש ל. בשג''ם ודאי א ב ה ה .ז

5. Hayyim Vital, Etz Ha-Dat Tov, 77And all the people saw the voices (Exodus 20:15)…Know that God took Israel out of Egypt. This

is not the case with the erev rav, who were taken out by Moses, as it says, who you took out of

the Land of Egypt (Exodus 32:7). It does not say “I [God] took them [the erev rav] out.”

Therefore the erev rav are called “Moses’ people” (‘am shel Moshe)…They are no worse than

the other nations, in fact, they are better since they came [out] in order to convert, as we will

explain. On the third day God descended and all the people saw (Exodus 19:11), the word “all”

includes the erev rav as they also saw God’s decent with their eyes…This is not the case with

the rest of the world who only heard voices but did not know where they were coming from

until the time of Balaam son of Beor. (Hayyim Vital, Etz Ha-Da’at Tov, 77 b).

1 b.T Sanhedrin 97a. 2 b.T. Shabbat 146a. 3 See b.T Hulin fol. 139a and Tikkunei Zohar, tikun 69.

2

6. Sifrei, Parshat Derakhim Derekh MizrayimMoreover a mixed multitude (erev rav) went up with them…here the [earlier verse regarding

Abraham] is fulfilled And they went out with great wealth. (Genesis 15:14)

7. Exodus 3:21ם׃ ו ריק א תלכ ון ל לכ י ת ם והיה כ י צר ה בעיני מ עם־הז ן ה ת־ח י א ונתת

And I will dispose the Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you will not go away empty-handed. (Exodus 3:21)

3

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שכג יואל בא דברי

8. Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar Divrei Yoel, 3.323.

4