"And Moses said: With our young and with our old we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord." (Shmot 10.9)
"As we were in our service for you, so shall we be in the service of our Lord." (Midrash Lekach Tov)
After a series of agonizing plagues, the powerful Pharaoh finally agrees to free only part of the nation: "Go and serve the Lord your God; but who are all that shall go?" Moses settles for nothing but the release of all the people and replies: "With our young and with our old we will go."
Moses does not simply say, "We will all go." He is careful to specify in detail that young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds will all go together. And if we look carefully, we see that the first group Moses specifies is the young. The young generation is at the top of Moses' list of, those, who will witness the power of God's hand.
At first glance, Pharaoh's rebuttal makes sense: "... let only the men go and serve the Lord." Why must everyone go to worship? Is it not enough for the men to go alone. In response, Moses makes a cutting point: "As we were in our service for you, so shall we be in the service of our Lord." You, Pharaoh, enslaved us all, young and old, sons and daughters. Now we demand that the service of our Lord be considered no less important. Our service to the King of Kings is no less significant than our service to you, a king of flesh and blood.
The message Moses conveys here to Pharaoh should be a guiding light to us all. A father takes his son into business, and takes pride in seeing him become successful in the material world. Service in the world of flesh and blood takes high priority. However, we must never compromise our children in the spiritual realm. We must devote at least as much effort to see that they achieve their position in the world of the King of Kings. We must devote at least as much to their religious education as we do to their worldly education, for the character of the latter is shaped by the former. As we strive for social and economic advancement, we must also aim for new spiritual heights. And we must begin with our young.
"Go and serve the Lord your God; but who are all that shall go?" Moses settles for nothing but the release of all the people and replies: "With our young and with our old we will go."
