Making Sense of Exile
Shemos
After receiving his mission at the Burning Bush, Moshe returns to Mitzrayim to announce the impending redemption of the Jewish people. He tells Pharaoh that he has been sent to take Bnei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim.
But instead of being redeemed, the intensity of the Golus gets even stronger. Pharaoh decrees that the Jewish people will no longer given straw to make bricks and must still maintain their regular quota.
When the Jewish foremen were beaten as a result, they turned to Moshe in anger, saying that he is the cause of their new suffering.
Moshe turns to Hashem and cries out “Why have you done evil do this people?... From the time that I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, it has become worse ... and You have not saved Your people.”
The Midrash details Moshe’s challenge to Hashem; “When I took Sefer Bereishis and read from it, I saw the sin of the generation of the Flood and how they were punished. This was Midas Hadin, an expression of justice. I saw the deeds of the generation of the Tower of Bavel and the sins of Sodom and how they were punished. This too was Midas Hadin. But what have the Jewish people done to deserve their suffering in slavery in Egypt?”
Moshe was challenging the very Golus itself, that it was unfounded and unwarranted. The Jewish people did nothing to deserve it.
The famed Chossid Reb Hillel Paritcher, explains that this was Moshe’s first question. His second question was that even if there was some form of sin that warranted the punishment of slavery in Egypt and that the Midas Hadin was active, the pattern of the Golus did not make sense.
When a person is angered and has to issue a punishment, the anger is more intense at the beginning. But as time passes, the anger becomes less and less.
If Golus Mitzrayim was indeed a punishment, it should have begun with greater intensity and slowly weakened over time. Yet the opposite has occurred.
The Jewish people came down to Mitzrayim under the protection of Yosef. They settled in the choicest land. Only after the Shevatim passed away did the suffering begin. And its intensity grew, culminating in the order that they no longer be given straw.
Hashem responded to both of Moshe’s questions at the end of Parshas Shemos with the opening words of Parshas Vaeira. “And Elokim spoke to Moshe and He said to him ‘I am Havayah (Y-H-V-H)”.
The name Elokim represents Midas Hadin, the attribute of justice. The name Havayah is the name of Rachamim - love and compassion.
“Elokim spoke to Moshe” - Hashem said to Moshe that you understood this exile to be an expression of judgement and punishment, leading to your questions as to why the Jewish people were in Golus and why the Golus intensified.
“He said to him to I am Havayah” - This Golus is not an expression of Elokim, of judgement and retribution. Rather it is an expression of Havayah, of love.
Golus Mitzrayim is likened to the smelter’s crucible. It was not a punishment for any wrong doing. Rather, it was the preparation and purification of the Jewish people to refine them, so that they would be able to receive the great gift that Hashem wanted to share with them - the Giving of the Torah.
In this system, the purification needs to increase its intensity as times goes on, like the night which is darkest just before the dawn. Hashem tells Moshe “Now you will see”. Now that the Golus has reached its pinnacle, the Geulah is ready to come and the deep hidden love is ready to be revealed.
But instead of being redeemed, the intensity of the Golus gets even stronger. Pharaoh decrees that the Jewish people will no longer given straw to make bricks and must still maintain their regular quota.
When the Jewish foremen were beaten as a result, they turned to Moshe in anger, saying that he is the cause of their new suffering.
Moshe turns to Hashem and cries out “Why have you done evil do this people?... From the time that I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, it has become worse ... and You have not saved Your people.”
The Midrash details Moshe’s challenge to Hashem; “When I took Sefer Bereishis and read from it, I saw the sin of the generation of the Flood and how they were punished. This was Midas Hadin, an expression of justice. I saw the deeds of the generation of the Tower of Bavel and the sins of Sodom and how they were punished. This too was Midas Hadin. But what have the Jewish people done to deserve their suffering in slavery in Egypt?”
Moshe was challenging the very Golus itself, that it was unfounded and unwarranted. The Jewish people did nothing to deserve it.
The famed Chossid Reb Hillel Paritcher, explains that this was Moshe’s first question. His second question was that even if there was some form of sin that warranted the punishment of slavery in Egypt and that the Midas Hadin was active, the pattern of the Golus did not make sense.
When a person is angered and has to issue a punishment, the anger is more intense at the beginning. But as time passes, the anger becomes less and less.
If Golus Mitzrayim was indeed a punishment, it should have begun with greater intensity and slowly weakened over time. Yet the opposite has occurred.
The Jewish people came down to Mitzrayim under the protection of Yosef. They settled in the choicest land. Only after the Shevatim passed away did the suffering begin. And its intensity grew, culminating in the order that they no longer be given straw.
Hashem responded to both of Moshe’s questions at the end of Parshas Shemos with the opening words of Parshas Vaeira. “And Elokim spoke to Moshe and He said to him ‘I am Havayah (Y-H-V-H)”.
The name Elokim represents Midas Hadin, the attribute of justice. The name Havayah is the name of Rachamim - love and compassion.
“Elokim spoke to Moshe” - Hashem said to Moshe that you understood this exile to be an expression of judgement and punishment, leading to your questions as to why the Jewish people were in Golus and why the Golus intensified.
“He said to him to I am Havayah” - This Golus is not an expression of Elokim, of judgement and retribution. Rather it is an expression of Havayah, of love.
Golus Mitzrayim is likened to the smelter’s crucible. It was not a punishment for any wrong doing. Rather, it was the preparation and purification of the Jewish people to refine them, so that they would be able to receive the great gift that Hashem wanted to share with them - the Giving of the Torah.
In this system, the purification needs to increase its intensity as times goes on, like the night which is darkest just before the dawn. Hashem tells Moshe “Now you will see”. Now that the Golus has reached its pinnacle, the Geulah is ready to come and the deep hidden love is ready to be revealed.