There appears to be a great paradox regarding the generation
which left Egypt. On the one hand we are told by Chazal of
their degenerate moral state, that they were on the forty-
ninth level of impurity and immersed in idolatry. At the same
time we read in parshas Bo of their remarkable trust
in Hashem, leaving Egypt on His command without supplies for
the journey.
Moreover, it was this very group of people that was slated to
be the recipients of the Torah at Sinai after seven short
weeks, the most elevated level any generation could reach.
How could it be that almost from one moment to the next, they
underwent the most profound change imaginable?
Sfas Emes (Bo 5637) answers this paradox with the
following gem: ". . . essentially they were in fact great
people, for they were close to the Ovos. And only because of
the exile that subjected them to the sitra achra —
the negative spiritual force in the world — [did
they appear to be on a low level]. Consequently, the moment
that they left [and were free of the effects of the sitra
achra] they immediately changed completely."
The Sfas Emes maintains that they had to have been great
people, living in such close proximity to the Ovos on the
spiritual timeline. Thus the apparent moral degeneracy that
we know of was a consequence of the overwhelming negative
environment in which they found themselves.
He adds that with this understanding we can gain new insight
into the reason why Hashem hardened the heart of Pharaoh:
"With this one can explain the hardening that Hashem needed
to impose on Pharaoh's heart, because from the perspective of
Yisroel's [high] spiritual level there was no way Mitzrayim
could dominate them and extinguish their spiritual energy. It
was only through the power that Hashem gave them [that they
were able to]. And it was all for our benefit . . . "
In the last few words of the above extract, the Sfas Emes
teaches a fundamental principle in his perspective on the
Exile of Mitzrayim, namely that it was for our sake and that
Hashem gave the Egyptians an unnatural ability to hold onto
us so that we should live through the experience of that
difficult exile.
Before we read the next words in the Sfas Emes to understand
how Mitzrayim was good for us, it will pay dividends to
briefly examine the events that transpired at the founding
moments of the Jewish nation, at the Bris Bein
Habesorim.
"And behold a terror, dark, great, overwhelming him. And
Hashem said: `Know for certain that your children will be
strangers in a land which is not theirs, and they will
enslave them, and afflict them, for four hundred years"
(Lech Lecho 15:12).
As Avrohom Ovinu prepared himself for the founding ceremony
of the nation he was about to create, he was overcome by
terrible emotions. Ramban explains that these were not simply
psychological disturbances but were in fact premonitions of
the terrible exiles his children would experience through
their passage of nationhood. Ramban teaches that each of the
four descriptions of emotion relate to one of the exiles
suffered by the Jews from the period of the destruction of
the temple through to the coming of the Moshiach. "Terror"
refers to the exile to Babylonia, "dark" refers to the exile
of Media, "great" refers to the Greeks, and "overwhelming
him" — which the Ramban describes as "like a heavy
load, too heavy for him" — refers to the difficult
exile of Edom which we find ourselves in today.
After such painful and frightening premonitions, one would
expect Avrohom to be comforted by Hashem. Yet the next verse
seems to do nothing of the sort. Hashem goes on to tell him
of a fifth exile, Golus Mitzrayim, which his
descendants would live through long before the other four,
beginning with the birth of his son Yitzchok. How do we
understand the succession of pesukim in this
fundamental passage?
Kli Yokor (Vo'ero 6:6) writes that in Hashem's
description to Avrohom of the experience of Egypt, we find
four levels of hardship. " . . . your children will be
strangers, in a land which is not theirs, and they will
enslave them, and afflict them."
Moreover, we find that when the time arrived for Hashem to
redeem us, He used four processes of redemption, namely:
VeHotzeisi, veHitzalti, veGo'alti and
veLokachti, which the Kli Yokor maintains were the
reversing out of the four levels of suffering.
*
With this background we can begin to understand the assertion
of the Sfas Emes that Mitzrayim was for our own good. He
writes: "It was clear and known to the Him that we would not
be able to survive [future] exiles without this initiation,
the exile of Mitzrayim, when the Bnei Yisroel were on a high
level, close to the Ovos."
Mitzrayim was like the vaccination shots given to a baby at
the beginning of its life.
Elsewhere he writes (Vo'ero 5638): "It was the will of
Hashem that there be in Mitzrayim all types of the forces of
sitra achra, so that there should be the keys to all
the future exiles, as it is written that the four expressions
of redemption correspond to the four exiles."
The way a vaccine works is that a small amount of the disease
is applied to a body with a healthy immune system, so that
the body can develop the antibodies for a future full-scale
exposure to the sickness.
Mitzrayim was the vaccine shot of the infant Jewish nation.
Vaccinations hurt but they are for the child's future
survival. It is out of love for the child that the parent
subjects it to pain. The four levels of suffering were small
tastes of the exiles to come after our banishment from the
land of Israel, so that we should be able to pull through
them.
We can also now understand the flow of the pesukim
describing the Bris Bein Habesorim. After his
terrifying premonitions about the exiles his children would
suffer, Avrohom is reassured by Hashem: "You should know for
certain that your children will be strangers in a land which
is not theirs, and they will enslave them, and afflict them,
for four hundred years." Four levels of hardship, four
processes of redemption, four keys to our exiles.
Sfas Emes uses this idea to explain a dialogue between Hashem
and Moshe at the end of Parshas Shemos. The posuk
reads; "And Moshe returned to Hashem and said, `Hashem,
why have you done bad to this nation, why did You send me?
From the moment I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name he
has done bad to this nation, and You have not saved Your
nation.' "
Sfas Emes is disturbed by the word "this" which implies that
Moshe could not understand why this specific group of people
were experiencing what they did. With what we have learned,
we can understand that he was disturbed that the level of
suffering was four times stronger than expected. He did not
know that it was the "vaccine shot" that this generation was
receiving.
The Medrash tells us of Hashem's reply: "Tov
acharis dovor meireishiso," meaning that since at the
time of Yetzias Mitzrayim there was a microcosmic version of
all the future redemptions. Consequently, even though they
would return to exile, they were guaranteed to have
ultimately a good ending.
Moshe's complaint and challenge to Hashem regarding his
mission to redeem the Jewish people is viewed as a grave sin
on his part, and Chazal tell us that it cost him the
opportunity to enter the land of Israel. The Medrash relates
that as Moshe stood at the splitting of the sea, he chose to
remedy this sin on some level by beginning his song of praise
to Hashem with the very same word on which his complaint
hinged. In his complaint he said "umei'oz" meaning
"from the moment," and to remedy it he began the Shiroh
with the word, "Oz."
Beis Halevi explains that at the Yam Suf, Moshe was able to
see on some level how he had erred, and came to understand
that Hashem had a very clear plan for the Geulah and felt
huge gratitude for being able to be part of the Kiddush
Hashem which came from it.
With all that we have discussed we can perhaps understand a
difficult Chazal. At the beginning of the Shiroh,
Rashi deals with the unusual form of the word
"yoshir," apparently troubled by its implication of a
future event in the context of a past-tense narrative. After
presenting the simple pshat understanding, Rashi then
cites the Medrash which sees in these words an
allusion to the concept of the resurrection of the dead:
"Mikan remez letechiyas hameisim min haTorah."
Chazal understood that the future-tense form of the word is
referring to a future event, and that Moshe will sing again
after returning to life at the end of history as we know it.
What is the relevance of the resurrection at this point in
the story of the Exodus, and why did the Torah choose to
plant one of its hints here? Why will Moshe sing again?
With the principal of the Sfas Emes we can understand. Moshe
complained to Hashem for he could not understand why "this"
specific generation was suffering so greatly. He did not
understand that it was in fact the preparation, the
"vaccination shot," for all generations of the Jewish entity.
At the splitting of the sea, Moshe saw the huge Kiddush
Hashem which came from the exile in Mitzrayim, and sang
Shiroh with the word "Oz" to remedy his complaint.
Nevertheless Moshe still had not seen the explanation as to
why it was so hard for that specific generation.
When will he have the full picture? When will Moshe really
understand the answer to his question of, "Lomoh
Harei'osoh lo'om hazeh?" The answer is: At the time of
Techiyas Hameisim. At the end of days when Moshe will
see how Klal Yisroel came through all the difficult
exiles as a result of that original vaccine shot, then truly:
"Oz Yoshir Moshe," he will sing praise to Hashem and
fully erase his question.
It should be Hashem's will that it be speedily in our
days.
