With Our Old and Young, We Will All Go

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 10:9 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 7, 2025

When Pharaoh asks who will be going to worship, Moses answers without hesitation.

"With our children and with our old men will we go; with our sons and with our daughters we will go; with our sheep and with our oxen we will go; for we have a solemn feast before the Lord" (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 10:9).

The Aramaic paraphrase, preserved in the Targum attributed to Yonatan ben Uzziel, lingers on the list. Children. Elders. Sons. Daughters. Sheep. Oxen. The Targumist wants us to hear the full household — no one is being left behind as collateral.

This matters. Pharaoh's earlier proposals had been partial: only the men, or perhaps the men and boys, while women and livestock would remain in Egypt as hostage against return. Moses's answer closes every one of those doors before Pharaoh can open them.

And the reason is profoundly Jewish: chag d'Hashem lana — we have a solemn feast before the Lord. The Targum uses the language of chag, the same word that will later describe Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Worship in Judaism is never a private adult affair. It is multigenerational. The four-year-old and the ninety-year-old stand at the same table.

The Maggid teaches: you cannot go free in pieces. Either the whole household walks out, or the slavery is only transferred. Moses insists on total liberation from the very first moment — because that is what God's service actually requires.

Themes

Community Holidays Parenting

Biblical References

Exodus 10:9

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