The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha last evening. [As we are BH visiting our daughter in Israel and the shiur aired at 4 AM Israel time, I am blogging this on Friday from Israel]. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R' Frand quoted a Gemara in Sotah which states that in the zechus of the righteous women who tried to get pregnant even though they knew that Egyptians wanted to have the babies killed, the Jews were zoche to acquire the wealth of Egypt. But what is the connection between the two concepts?
R' Frand also quoted Hashem's promise to Avraham that the Jews would be enslaved for 400 years and afterwards they would leave with great wealth. In Parshas Bo (11:2) the Torah states that Moshe was told דַּבֶּר־נָ֖א בְּאָזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וְיִשְׁאֲל֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ | מֵאֵ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְאִשָּׁה֙ מֵאֵ֣ת רְעוּתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֖סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָֽב . Rashi in Gemara Berachos states that Moshe said to the people "please" ask the Egyptians. But why would they need to be pleaded with to do this? The Gemara answers that Hashem did not want Avraham Avinu to have a claim that the Jews went down to Egypt and did not leave with the promised great wealth.
R' Elya Svei asked - why is it that Hashem needed to use this method to get the Jews their payment for the work in Egypt? Hashem delivered the manna to them and provided a well in the desert and had the clouds of glory protect them, couldn't He have found a different way to deliver the wealth?
R' Frand answered by first noting that there are three times that the Jews are asked to go to the Egyptians to ask for these items. The first time in Shemos 3:22, Moshe is told to ask the Jews to ask for gold and silver vessels and clothing. But when Moshe asks the Jews in Bo (11:2) he does not request that they ask for clothing. Why not?
R' Frand quoted R' Elya who in turn cites a Sforno which writes that Moshe used the word "please" because the Jews were putting themselves in danger by making these requests. And by taking all of the Egyptians possession including the clothing, the Jews recognized that this put them in danger. Therefore Moshe had to say please. But even with this, Moshe was concerned that the Jews would not want to take all of the possessions, so he left out the clothes. But the Jews had proper emunah and did ask for everything.
R' Frand explained that by asking for everything including the clothes and showing their emunah, the Jews were misaken Avraham's slight lack of emunah in asking in Bereishis (15:8) - בַּמָּ֥ה אֵדַ֖ע כִּ֥י אִֽירָשֶֽׁנָּה. They asked for the resources even though they might have thought - this could get us into trouble.
So what is the connection between the great reward and the women having children despite danger? The Jews said to themselves - if the women are doing this despite the danger to themselves and the babies, we can ask the Egyptians for all of these things.
This was the rechush gadol that was promised to Avraham - your children will leave Egypt with great emunah.
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