Bo 5771

Because I took you out of Mitzriam:

The Ramban at the end of this week's parsha tells us that Hashem did all of the miracles in Mitzriam to close the mouths of any future denier of God. That for all of history anyone who considers that there is no God in the world should look back at the events of Mitzriam and know that Hashem rules the world. There are many times throughout the Torah that a mitzvah is spoken about and then the Torah reminds us that Hashem took us out of Mitzriam. The reason for this is to enforce our faith in Hashem. When a person hangs a mezuzah on his door he is reminded of all of the miracles of Mitzriam, so too when one puts on tzitzit or tefillin, as these are mitzvot where the Torah tells us that Hashem took us out of Mitzriam. According to the Ramban, by acknowledging the miracles that Hashem performed in Mitzriam we are also acknowledging that every event in the world is a miracle (as we discussed last week.) This is why the Torah reminds us of Mitzriam whenever possible, to help us remember why we do it all.

Rav Brevda quoted a Sifri this week in his speech. This Sifri can really change the way one looks at Mitzriam. It is in Parshat Shelach on Parshat tzitzit (page 62 in the Vilna Goan version: 17) "Why does the Torah remind us about Mitzriam for every mitzvah? To what is it comparable? A king's best friend's son gets kidnapped. The king goes and frees the boy. He doesn't free him to for him to be a son rather he freed him to make him a slave. So if the king tells the boy to do something and he doesn't do it the king will answer that he must do it because he is a slave.When they arrived back in the country the king tells the boy to tie his shoe for him and bathe him. When the boy complained the king pulled out the document that the boy had signed when the king had freed him from his captures. The king said "You are my slave!" When Hashem freed the children of His friend (Avraham) He didn't free them to be children, rather to be slaves, and any time they would not accept it He would tell them "You are my slaves!" Once Hashem brought them to the Midbar He began to establish some easy mitzvot and some hard mitzvot like Shabbat, ariot, tzitzit, and tefillin. Bnei Yisrael began to complain so Hashem said "You are my slaves and this is the reason why I freed you, so that I can establish and you will fulfill."

Rav Brevda continued by saying that this Sifri teaches us that if the Jews ever stop following the mitzvot Hashem will bring them back to being slaves of Paro. Paro has helpers in every generation who can easily find ways to torture us and kill us. If we don't follow the mitzvot Hashem will just put us back in Mitzriam.

On the night of the seder each of us must imagine ourselves as if we had left Mitzriam. The reason for this is now clear. By knowing that at any moment we can be easily brought back we will know that we are truly slaves to Hashem.

On the night of seder we quote a pasuk that says that Esav got Har Seir and the children of Yaakov went down to Mitzriam. The fact that we went down and they didn't is what caused us to be the chosen people and not them. The reason for this is because the Jews got a training in Mitzriam on how to be slaves. Once, they had finished 116 years of slavery they were now ready to be slaves of Hashem. But Esav never went down to Mitzriam so his family never got the necessary training on how to be slaves to Hashem so they could never be the chosen people. (From Leil Shimurim)

If we combine these ideas we have a totally new perspective of Mitzriam. Hashem brought us down to Mitzriam so that we can properly become His people. Once we were His people we were commanded by Him to do mitzvot. By doing the mitzvot we remind ourselves, like the Ramban says, of the source of all emunah, that we know that Hashem runs the world.

Now if we know that Hashem is the one who runs the world and we know that we are His slaves why is that any better than being slaves to Paro? The very fact that Hashem runs the world means that He knows what will happen. So He gave us the mitzvot to help us fix ourselves in this world. So really being a slave to Hashem is actually the greatest freedom there is. By being a slave to Hashem we are now the best candidates to fulfill the purpose of the world.

Whenever we do a mitzvah we should know that this all comes from Yitziat Mitzriam, and this is exactly what the Torah is telling us!

Have a great Shabbat!