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midrash session 3.2
(1) "And he called to him from the midst of the bush" -- (2) the Holy One blessed be he said (to him) [a] to Moshe: (3) do you feel that I (sharui?) in distress [b] just as Israel (sharu'im?) in distress? (4) Know this, from a place that I speak with you, from the midst of the [another word for bush?] -- as if it were, I am a partner in their distress, therefore he said: (5) "in all their distresses to him [is] distress".
[a] This is redundant; it says both "lo" (to him) and "l'Moshe" (to Moshe). I understand that rabbinic Hebrew sometimes does that.
[b] b'tza'ar; tza'ar is where we get "tsuris".
New paragraph: (6) "And Moshe was a shepherd... in a blazing fire from
the midst of the thornbush" -- (7) Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said: why [c]
did the Holy One blessed be He reveal his name [marom?] and he was
speaking with Moshe from the midst of the thornbush? [d] (8) How (because?)
this bush was harder than [e] all the trees that are in the world and
[loosely:] always a bird that congregates to [tokhi?] does not go out
from it in wholeness, for [it] is cut up limb from limb, thus as
Egyptian slavery is hard before (loosely:) the One who is everywhere in
the world. (9) From (all) the world no servant or maidservant went out
free from Egypt, except Hagar unscathed.
[c] Idiom: "mifnei mah" = "why".
[d] Awk. Got the gist; can't get the words to line up quite right.
[e] Lit. "hard from all the trees"; "hard from" -> "harder". (This is not an uncommon construct, I understand.)
New paragraph: (10) Another word: "from the midst of a thornbush" --
R. Yosei said: why from the midst of a thornbush? (11) Because
the way of a thornbush, a man puts his hand in it he has no damage,
because the sharp parts are bent down, and if he tries (?) to bring out
his hand -- the thorns attach (to) it; so when Israel went down to
Egypt -- they were welcomed, as it is written: "the land of Egypt is
before you, in the best of the land settle your father and your brother",
but when they wanted to go out -- they attached to them, as it is written:
"and also Israel I will not send out".
(12) One gentile [f] asked R. Yehoshua ben Karchah: why did the Holy One blessed be He see [g] to speak with Moshe from the midst of a thornbush and not from another tree? (13) He said to him: if he said to him from the midst of a carob or from the midst of a sycamore also you would have asked; but to send you out [halak?] is not possible, why from the midst of a thornbush? (14) To teach that there is not a place available on the earth without the Shekhina, even a thornbush.
[f] Or maybe "once a gentile asked"? That would make more sense, but it says "one".
[g] I think this is something like "see fit to speak"; otherwise the non-infinitive verb ("he saw") is superflous.
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In English I'm used to the "a certain somebody" construct being used in a way that implies an identity. This seems devoid of that; we have no particular clue about who the gentile is. Is that usually the case in Hebrew (it's just a way of saying "some guy" with no more nuance)?
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