Our Personal Exodus

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parashas Bo, the makkos conclude with the death of the firstborn, and the Exodus from Egypt commences. In the Mishnah (Pesachim 10:5), the Sages express the centrality of the Exodus in Judaism: “A man is obligated to see himself as if he [personally] left Egypt.”

We have experienced many extraordinary events in our history, and yet we are never required to envision ourselves as having been present, except in this case. Clearly, we are expected to develop a profound personal connection to the Exodus. How can we do this? Is it even possible to relate to the Exodus in a real way over three thousand years later?

Rav Shach would often tell people that we have trouble relating to the Exodus because we lack clarity regarding the Exodus. If we picture the persecution of the Jews at the hands of the Mitzriyim and how our ancestors survived it, our view of the matter will change. We must try to picture the Egyptian bondage in our minds. Imagine the living conditions of slavery, the makkos, and the way the Yam Suf looked as the Jewish nation walked through it. Imagination is a powerful tool. Through it, we can see ourselves leaving Egypt as we were commanded to.

Rav Reuven Fine, rosh yeshivah of Torah Vodaas, writes that the mitzvos themselves guide us towards this goal. So many mitzvos have an element of recalling Yetzi’as Mitzrayim, such as mezuzah, tefillin, tzitzis, Kri’as Shema, and Pesach, of course. More than simply acting as reminders, these mitzvos possess an intrinsic spiritual power to infuse the one who properly fulfills them with emunah in the Exodus.

Rav Fine adds that the mitzvah of seeing ourselves as having left Mitzrayim doesn’t end there. Rather, we have an obligation to appreciate what leaving Egypt means in our own lives. Hashem’s plagues demonstrate that He completely controls the world. He and only He punishes the wicked, He watches over us constantly, and He redeems us from our troubles. When we do mitzvos that remind us of Yetzi’as Mitzrayim, we remember that Hashem is still with us now.

Rav Fine cites the Ramban (13:16), who comments on the unusual term the Torah uses for tefillin: “totafos.” The word “totafos” connotes “drops.” Rav Fine asks: what is Hashem dropping on us with the mitzvah of tefillin? He answers that tefillin have the ability to “drop,” or infuse a palpable sense of emunah into us. As otherworldly as it may sound, when a person dons tefillin and recalls the Exodus (as per the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:5), he is infusing himself with a fresh dose of emunah and the awareness that Hashem is with him at all times.

Once, apostate Jews succeeded in having the Vilna Gaon summoned to a non-Jewish court on trumped-up charges. When the Gaon entered the court room, he slowly shifted the tallis that had been covering his tefillin shel rosh. The judges acquitted the Gaon immediately and ran out of the room before the trial even began.

The Gaon’s students asked him how this miracle had happened. He explained that this was no miracle at all. The Gemara (Berachos 6a) states that when the nations see the tefillin shel rosh, they will be frightened. When one truly connects to the mitzvah of tefillin, his connection to Hashem is capable of achieving these results.

Another purpose of the Exodus was to teach us that Hashem redeemed us from slavery to transform us into His servants (see Rashi, Bamidbar 15:41). When we do these mitzvos, we need to connect to the idea that the whole purpose of our redemption was to subjugate ourselves to Hashem. “Freedom” does not mean that we now have time for ourselves. Our time belongs to Him. We must rest at times, of course, but only for the purpose of regaining our strength to serve.

Rav Moshe Mandel took this idea very seriously. Those close to him testify that he was unable to understand how people were able to skip a few minutes of their learning time. He even instructed his daughters, who did not have a constant mitzvah to study Torah, not to talk on the phone unnecessarily, as many mitzvos could be accomplished during that precious time. Rav Mandel exemplified what it means to be a servant of Hashem.

May we be zocheh to see ourselves as if we left Egypt, and become proper servants of Hashem!

May we be zocheh to make the choices Hashem wants us to make!

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