2021/5781
While Parashat Mishpatim contains many Mitzvot, there is also a significant narrative section at the end. The Torah records that Moshe, Aharon, and the seventy elders ascended toward Har Sinai, and astonishingly, the text describes that they were able to look directly at God. “VaYiru Eit Elohei Yisrael, VeTachat Raglav KeMa’asei Livnat HaSapir”, “They saw the God of Israel, and under His feet was the likeness of a sapphire brick” (Shemot, 24:10). Of all the possible detail from God’s heavenly abode, why did this sapphire brick merit particular mention? Why was it important for this group of Jews to encounter the divine presence in this way?
According to Rashi, this sapphire brick served a special purpose. During their years of slavery in Mitzrayim, the Jews were forced to manufacture bricks and build with them as part of their labor. In fact, Paroh devised a plan to increase their workload by withholding the straw they needed for production while demanding that they continue to meet each day’s quota of bricks (Shemot, 5:6-8). Says Rashi, their anguish did not go unnoticed. As Klal Yisrael toiled over their bricks, HaKadosh Baruch Hu kept one for Himself as a reminder of their pain. (Rashi, Shemot 24:10) When Moshe, Aharon, and the seventy elders saw this brick, perhaps it was a sign that they had not suffered alone.
It is curious, though, that Hashem used a sapphire brick to reflect the experience of slavery. A precious gem sparkling at the foot of the Kisei HaKavod seems rather far removed from forced labor with crude mortar bricks. Furthermore, Rabbeinu Bechayei cites the Midrash Tanchuma in identifying the seventy elders as the Jewish foremen appointed by the Egyptians to oversee their brethren during slavery. These men were intimately familiar with bricks, after having crafted them by hand and enduring harsh beatings on their account. Are we to believe they could gaze at a pristine sapphire glittering from above and recognize it as a fitting homage to their years of unbearable torment?
While Rashi spoke to the sapphire brick’s significance, Chizkuni shared Rebbi Akiva’s theory regarding its tragic origin story. Without exaggeration, Bnei Yisrael toiled over their bricks with blood, sweat, and tears. Scouring the fields for straw was a grueling task, and the Jews would often sustain cuts and bruises to the extent that their blood mixed into the mortar itself. Along these lines, Chizkuni maintains that the strain and physical exertion from such arduous work caused one pregnant Jewish mother to give birth prematurely. Sadly, the fetus tumbled into the mortar, and this mother cried bitterly over her loss. Her lament shook the heavens until the angel Micha’el came down to retrieve the batch of mortar, and upon his return to Shamayim he fashioned it into a brick for Hashem to keep as a reminder of the pain His children suffered. In Hebrew, the word “Sapir,” meaning sapphire, is similar to the word “Shefir,” meaning placenta. Thus, in a Midrashic play on words, Chizkuni suggests that Hashem’s special “Livnat HaSapir” refers to this brick fashioned from the very lifeblood of a Jewish mother. (Chizkuni, Shemot 24:10) Following this approach, it is indeed plausible that the Jews could relate their harrowing experience in Egypt with Hashem’s brick in Shamayim.
Of course, the Torah described a sapphire brick, not a placenta-brick, so Chizkuni’s theory might be hard to accept on a literal level. Yet, his insight is arguably worth consideration from a thematic standpoint because this narrative demonstrates how the Ribono Shel Olam shared a parallel experience with the seventy elders. Hashem did more than simply commemorate their experience of slavery, rather He chose to join in it Himself. The scene from the Midrash depicted a divine Foreman overseeing His servant collecting mortar to fashion a brick. Clearly it was more than a fancy keepsake, and maybe even deeper than a sobering memorial stone. The Torah introduced this brick as “KiMa’aseh,” “the likeness of,” yet another meaning for “Ma’aseh” is an “action” or “event”. A brick hewn from the blood of God’s children can certainly tell a story on its own, though perhaps Hashem intended for us to know that He played an active role in that story.
Furthermore, one could suggest that Hashem’s empathy can explain the Torah’s emphasis on a Sapir (sapphire) brick, as opposed to the alternative Shefir (placenta) brick. Chizkuni concluded his remarks with the line, “Peirush Liveinah SheNa’Aseit MeiShefir HaYoledet,” “Meaning, a brick that was fashioned from the Shefir of a mother giving birth.” While “Shefir” is the word for “placenta,” the root “Shin-Pey-Reish” also means “good,” “pleasing,” or “beauty.” A rather telling example would be how this Shoresh is employed as a term for beautifying Jewish infants in Egypt, when the midwife called “Shifra” earned her name by cleaning the Jewish babies at birth (Rashi, Shemot 1:15). So, another way to interpret the language of Rebbi Akiva’s Aggadah would be to say the Leveinah resulted from beautifying or cleansing the Yoledet. After all, Chazal do compare the suffering of Am Yisrael to the pain of a Yoledet, and here Hashem demonstrated that He shares in our suffering. In a way, His empathy may have cleansed the Jews from some of their pain. Joining with Am Yisrael in this experience could very well have been His way to beautify the Yoledet. When the elders saw Hashem’s brick and felt comforted by His message of empathy, it's possible that the Shefir gave way to the Sapir. In order to truly reflect the totality of their experience at that moment, the brick glowed like a sapphire.
We cannot claim to know for certain what the elders saw, though it is comforting to know that Hashem shares in our struggles. Indeed the elders suffered, but they did not suffer alone. This change in perspective can make a world of difference, turning a brick into sapphire.