“Please speak in the ears of the people, and let every man ask of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.” (Shemos 11:2)

There is a joke told about a man who met Eliyahu Hanavi. Eliyahu asked him, “When should I bring Mashiach?” The man said, let me go home and ask my wife. He asked his wife, and she said that right now is good. As he was walking out the door, his wife called out, “Wait! Tell him to bring Mashiach after Pesach since I already finished cleaning for Pesach”.

The Torah tells us that Hashem asked the Jews to go to the Egyptians and ask them to give them presents. What stands out in this commandment is that Hashem addressed the Jews using the word “na” – “please”. It seems that the Jews did not want to ask for the gifts and Moshe had to persuade them to do it.

Chazal tell us that Hashem used the word “na”, “please ask for gifts”, in order to keep his promise to Avraham that the Jews would leave with riches: This reason seems a bit odd, as Hashem could fulfill this promise in many different ways, which wouldn’t have involved resorting to asking anything of the Egyptians. So why did Hashem use this method?

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (1808 –1888) explains that for three days (Nissan 11 through 13) the Egyptians were cast into a thick darkness during the plague of choshech. During this plague any Jew could have gone into an Egyptian’s house and taken whatever they wanted without any worry about being reprimanded. Yet they didn’t do so. Therefore, when the Egyptians were released from darkness and found all their possessions intact, their esteem for the Jews soared. At that precise moment, for the Jews to ask for gifts would lower the Jews from this esteemed position. Therefore, Hashem had to coax them by using the word, “please”.

In pondering this thought the realization came clear to me that the Jews accepting the presents gave them no personal benefit, but it was rather their doing the will of Hashem. In other words, they left as kings, but they didn’t feel that they were better off by attaining this wealth because in their own eyes it caused them to lose their good standing with the Egyptians.

From Hashem’s perspective, this showed that the Jews were 100% moral and would not take anything that wasn’t theirs. And if asked by Hashem, they would do something even if it seemed to be to their detriment. It was in this context that we left Egypt. This is what it means to be a true servant of Hashem: One does what Hashem wants, even if one has to leave their comfort zone.

As we gear ourselves up for Pesach night and we pray to Hashem that we should have our full redemption soon, let us ponder: Are we willing to forego all our personal benefits in order that the redemption will be for Hashem’s sake only?