Recognizing Our True Selves

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah

In Parshas Va’era, Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Jews that Hashem will soon redeem them from slavery, but they did not believe him because they were so mired in their backbreaking labor.

Afterwards, Hashem commands Moshe to go to Pharaoh and tell him to release the Jews. Moshe counters that if the Jews did not listen to him, why should Pharaoh?

What follows is puzzling. Hashem commands Moshe and Aharon “concerning the Bnei Yisrael and concerning Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to bring the Jews out of Egypt” (see Shemos 6:9-13).

What exactly is this command, and why did it apply to both the Jews and to Pharaoh?

While many meforshim try to address this question, in the Yerushalmi (Rosh Hashana 3:5) we find an opinion that Hashem gave one command to both Pharaoh and the Jews—to free slaves. For Pharaoh, it meant freeing his Jewish slaves now. For the Jews, it meant the mitzvah of shiluach avadim. Meaning, when the Jews would later become free men and could be slave-owners, they would have their own mitzvah to free Jewish slaves after 6 years of service.

The prophet Yirmiyahu (34:13-14) recalls this incident, stating that when the Jews left Egypt, at that time (i.e., not at Sinai but much earlier), Hashem sealed a covenant with them that they free their slaves.

Why, from all the 613 mitzvos, was shiluach avadim given now? No Jew owned slaves at this time, and the mitzvah of shiluach avadim only applies in Eretz Yisrael when the mitzvah of Yovel is in effect.

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz answers that this was the most propitious time to give the mitzvah of freeing slaves. In the midst of their bondage, they felt in the fullest sense the pain of being a slave. It was easier now than ever for them to empathize with the slave’s plight. In the future, in Eretz Yisrael they could purchase slaves, and after 6 years of service it might be hard for them to free the slaves they had grown used to seeing as their own possessions. Now was an opportunity to internalize the proper attitude towards this mitzvah.

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz’s answer only explains why shiluach avadim was needed for the future, but Rav Chaim Yaakov Goldvicht explains that this mitzvah was necessary for the Jews right now. After 210 years of slavery, the Jews had developed a slave mentality. They could not view themselves as anything other than slaves. Therefore, when Moshe told them that they would be redeemed, they did not believe him, because all of their lives and the lives of their parents and grandparents, had been spent only as slaves.

The mitzvah of shiluach avadim was designed to take them out of their own slave mentality. Know that you are free men! You mustn’t think of yourselves as slaves. Even in the future, when you will be free and exceptional circumstances may cause a Jew to be sold as a slave, his Jewish master must free him after 6 years. There is a mitzvah of shiluach avadim, because Jews are Hashem’s servants and not servants of other servants (Bava Metzia 10a). If a Jewish slave chooses to remain a slave after these 6 years, he goes through a painful procedure whereby his ear is pierced near a doorpost, to rebuke him: You were not supposed to do this. Why didn’t you hear the message that you are not a slave? (see Kiddushin 22b).

The same way that the Jews incorrectly viewed themselves as slaves, we too can view ourselves incorrectly. Often, when I suggest to people to improve their level of mitzvah observance, daven with more kavana, or at least not to rush through davening, they seem surprised by the very suggestion. “Me? That’s for big people. I’m not on that level.” Other people find my suggestion amusing, explaining: “That’s not me.”

When I encourage people to add on an hour or two of Torah study each day, responses can be: “Me? I’m not a masmid,” or, “I’m not cut out for it.”

These people are viewing themselves incorrectly. The Mesilas Yesharim (1) states that every Jew has a soul that is on a level higher than that of the angels. This soul has no connection to the material world, and is even revolted by it. Its only will is to do mitzvos, cling to Hashem and reach olam haba. We may not feel this, but if we make use of this soul and try to develop it, we will. This soul is our true essence; it is the real you and me. We should be careful not to fall into the trap of misperceiving ourselves as little people, not cut out to scales the heights of spiritual perfection.

Rav Dessler notes that the Sages teach us (Nidda 34b) that a fetus is taught the entire Torah, and before birth an angel taps the baby to make it forget. Why do the sages teach us this? Why cry over spilled milk? Rather, the Torah we learned before birth is still within us. It may be dim but we can illuminate it through exerting ourselves in its study. The message of this teaching is that every Jew has all it takes to become great in Torah. How dare we call ourselves “little” or say we’re “not cut out for it?”

Rav Shmuel Silverman grew up in a shomer Shabbos home in Cleveland, where he attended public school. In his teens, he came to Eretz Yisrael as part of a one-year program, divided into working on a kibbutz, touring the country, and learning in a limudei kodesh program for American bachurim. The young Shmuel had no plans to remain in Eretz Yisrael, and had never imagined himself being drawn to Torah study, but after a month, he realized that all he wanted was the limudei kodesh part of the program, not the travel or kibbutz.

He wanted to pursue more Torah study, but did not know where to turn. Once, when in Yerushalayim, he met Rav Yisrael Meir Weiss, who referred him to a program in Yerushalayim for American bachurim. Although his entrance examination did not go well, when the young Shmuel asked the one testing him: “I have some questions on the Gemara. Maybe you could help me with them?” his sincere desire to learn got him in.

Six months later, R’ Shmuel went back to Rav Weiss, saying that he was very happy with his progress, but was still looking for more. He was growing in Talmud study, but wanted to develop in tefilla and the perfecting of his character. He had heard of Harav Shlomo Wolbe, mashgiach of Yeshivas Be’er Yaakov, and thought that perhaps he would be able to grow even more there. Rav Weiss brought him to Be’er Yaakov, where he grew tremendously in all aspects of avodas Hashem. He went on to study for 12 years in the Mir Yeshiva, and merited to be close to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and other gedolim.

May we reveal the greatness of our souls and develop it!