Q&A: Extending a Hand
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Extending a Hand
Question
I have a difficulty, Rabbi: why is it that Pharaoh’s daughter sent out her hand to the Jewish child Moses and, according to the Sages, entered the Garden of Eden, whereas Haman merely thought to lay hands on the Jews and was punished severely? Now, granted, according to Beit Hillel, one who merely intends to lay hands on a deposit has done nothing, so Haman didn’t actually act and therefore did not merit reward. But what would Beit Shammai answer?
Answer
Obviously, extending a hand is not comparable to sending out her maidservant. As it was taught in the Babylonian Talmud (Bava Kamma 19b): “If it wagged with its forearm, what is the law?… Let it stand unresolved.”
I’m puzzled, because there the issue is “would it grasp it by its tail and go”—it touched it but did not go with it. But Haman took the horse and went with it through the city square, so if so, obviously her forearm is like goring and trampling, meaning like a hand, and this requires further examination.