יחזקאל, פרק ט״ז, פסוק ד׳

The birth of the Israelite nation did not occur through a glorious revolution or a moment of elevated triumph. Instead, it emerged from conditions of severe neglect and profound lowliness, beginning as a group of destitute slaves living without a past or a future [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The primary approach among commentators is that this history is portrayed through the vivid metaphor of an abandoned baby girl cast into a field, unwashed from the blood of birth and entirely uncared for. This captures the grim reality of the Israelites during the Egyptian exile following the death of Joseph. The people were enslaved, betrayed, and utterly helpless, until God took pity on them. He redeemed them, ultimately bringing them to Mount Sinai to forge a covenant akin to a marriage [רש"י, רד"ק, מצודת דוד, אברבנאל].

To emphasize this state of vulnerability, the imagery highlights four routine actions normally performed on a newborn immediately after birth, none of which were done for the nation of Israel when it was first formed. The first action is the cutting of the umbilical cord [רד"ק, מצודת ציון]. Severing the cord, which sustains the child in the womb, symbolizes the necessary detachment of the nation from its former roots and the corrupting influence of Canaanite practices—a separation that the people failed to execute properly [מלבי"ם]. The second action is washing the infant in warm water to clean, smooth, and soften its skin [רש"י, רד"ק, אברבנאל, מלבי"ם באור המילות]. Metaphorically, this represents cleansing the corrupt traits of the people using the waters of wisdom and establishing just laws [מלבי"ם].

The third missing procedure is the practice of rubbing a newborn's skin with salt to harden, strengthen, and firm the soft flesh [רש"י, רד"ק, מצודת דוד]. In the life of the nation, the absence of this salt symbolizes a critical lack of personal bravery and courage among the individuals [מלבי"ם]. Finally, the fourth action is swaddling, which involves wrapping the baby tightly in strips of cloth to straighten limbs that were bent inside the womb [רש"י, רד"ק, מצודת ציון]. For a nation, being swaddled means establishing an organized social structure led by capable leaders and judges, which allows the people to stand upright, straight, and united [מלבי"ם].

Another unique layer of interpretation applies this imagery directly to the revelation at Mount Sinai, which is considered the day of the nation's spiritual birth. According to this approach, the neglected state of the infant describes the tragic consequences of the breaking of the first tablets and the spiritual forgetfulness that followed. Because the umbilical cord was not severed, the spiritual forces of the other nations were never completely detached from Israel, allowing them to continue ruling over the people in exile. Furthermore, the Torah, which is compared to cleansing water, was no longer learned smoothly and clearly. Instead, its study became fraught with difficulties, questions, and disputes. The absence of salt, an agent of preservation, symbolizes the loss of the absolute ability to remember the Torah perfectly. Lastly, the lack of swaddling—a concept that also implies binding or restricting—suggests that because forgetfulness entered the world, sages might err in their legal rulings, mistakenly forbidding things that the law actually permits [אדרת אליהו].