As Jews, we seem obsessed with Yetziat Mitzraim. We are obligated to recall the day that we left Mitzraim, twice a day. Yetziat Mitzraim is a key element of the Shabbat and Yom Tov kiddush. On Seder night, we’ll take it to the next level, as we recount the story of the exodus from Egypt for an entire evening!
Ostensibly, the exodus is essential to building our emunah, our faith in Hashem: It was at this juncture in history that G-d convincingly demonstrated His mastery of nature to our people, to the Egyptians, and to the entire world. He is both a creator and an involved, caring parent.
But there’s another aspect to the centrality of Yetziat Mitzraim: It represents the need for a Jew to consistently focus on self-growth.
In Parashat Toldot, we read of how Yitzchak Avinu was harassed by the shepherds of Gerar. The first place that sparked a quarrel was known as Esek (contention), the second Sitna (enmity); the third was labeled Rechovot, “for now the Lord has made room for us…”
The Ramban is puzzled: Why does the Torah devote time to these seemingly irrelevant episodes? Says the Ramban: Yitzchak’s adventures foreshadow the destruction of the two Batei Mikdash… but not the third. Rechovot “is a reference to the ‘Future House,’ which will be speedily built in our days, and it will be done without quarrel and feud, and G-d will enlarge our borders…”
At first blush, the name Rechovot simply implies that the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael will ultimately expand. On a deeper level, the idea of “rochav” or “width” is symbolic of a spiritual, and not merely a physical, expansion.
Pirkei Avot notes numerous miracles that occurred in the Beit HaMikdash. One of them was, “When they stood, they were cramped, but when they prostrated themselves, they had room….”
The Sefat Emet explains: “When they bowed down they had plenty of room – through submitting and bowing (to Hashem) they merited a higher level of personal holiness.”
The Imrei Emet adds: “If those gathered in the Mikdash were ‘standing’ – with self-importance – then, they were ‘cramped,’ lacked space. For haughty people, any place that you give them isn’t satisfactory… When bowing down, when all are humbled, then there is space – anywhere they are is ‘spacious.’”
When a Jew humbles himself in tefillah, submits himself to a life of Torah and mitzvot, he makes room for Hashem and also paves the way for others to positively impact his life. He thereby broadens his spiritual horizons!
The Maharal connects this with the concept of Rechovot: By worshipping Hashem in the Mikdash, the Jewish people “thereby brought width from the place of Rechovot.”
Life in Mitzrayim was not only physically taxing – it was also spiritually limiting. Our sages teach that one aspect of Avodat Perach (literally “backbreaking labor”) is that women were given men’s work and men were given women’s work. It stands to reason that women, who are generally physically smaller than men, would be overwhelmed by traditionally male tasks. But the opposite – the assignment of women’s work to men – surely wasn’t Avodat Perach?!
Both Rashi and Maharal note that the central component of the Egyptian agenda was the suppression of a Jewish sense of self-worth. Assigned tasks that ran contrary to their nature, Jewish men and women were psychologically and spiritually oppressed as part of their Egyptian bondage. In a parallel observation, our sages teach that the storage cities of Pitom and Rameses were so named because they were located in a region of wet marshland unfit for construction. As Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf notes, “Pharaoh’s real aim was destruction, not construction. He… hoped that the futility of Jewish efforts would give rise to a sense of inescapable anguish… Each morning the Jews were once again saddled with the fate of fruitless labors. Brick after meaningless brick, their hollow feeling of agony intensified.”
Leaving Mitzrayim meant leaving a constricting lifestyle both individually and nationally. In fact, the word Mitzrayim has, at its root, the term metzar/constriction. The verse in Tehilim 118 says, “Min hameitzar karati Kah, aanani bamerchav Kah – Out of my straits I called upon the Lord; He answered me with great width.”
The Midrash explains, “Out of the straits – this is a reference to the exodus from Egypt. ‘He answered me with great width’ – this is a reference to the splitting of the Sea.”
In the course of our national prophecy at Yam Suf, we declared, “This is my G-d” and according to Onkelos, we added, “And I will build Him a Sanctuary.”
At the climax of the exodus, Am Yisrael understood that it would only come into its own once it translated the physical space between itself and the Egyptians into the “spiritual space” of submitting itself to Hashem and His Torah.
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Congregation Ezra Bessaroth is a Sephardic Congregation founded by immigrants from the Mediterranean Island of Rhodes and maintains its liturgy and customs. In recent years. Since the summer of 2013, Ezra Bessaroth has taken the lead in establishing an intensive women’s Torah learning program. Drawing on local educators and utilizing the latest technologies to create live videoconference shiurim with noted educators around the world, “The Midrasha of Seattle” is blazing new trails in education and outreach. Ezra Bessaroth, along with the other congregations of the Seattle community, is known for its warm and accepting approach to Jews of all backgrounds.
State Capital: Olympia
State Nickname: The Evergreen State
State Motto: AHG – Indian word meaning by and by
State Flower: Western Rhododendron
State Bird: Willow Goldfinch
First Shul: The state’s first synagogue was Temple Emamu-El (Spokane, September 12, 1892). The congregation later merged with Keneseth Israel to form the present-day Temple Beth Shalom.
Baseball Team: Seattle Mariners
Football Team: Seattle Seahawks