Rabbi Levin's Blog

This week we read the Torah’s account of the Exodus from Egypt.  After Pharaoh’s refusal to “let My people go,” he finally succumbs and begs Moshe and Aharon to get them out as soon as possible.  The Jews were now free.  What does “free” mean? Free from slavery, yes.  Free from Egyptian captivity, yes. Free to do whatever they wanted?  Not exactly.  Everyone knows the phrase “let My people go,” but how many of us know the conclusion of that verse, “and they shall serve Me?” As a matter of fact, one way to put it could be that Hashem switched one kind of servitude for another.  From the very beginning of the Exodus process, when Hashem appeared to Moshe in the Burning Bush on what would later be the site of the Giving of the Torah, Hashem said:  When you take the nation out of Egypt you will serve Me on this mountain (Sinai).   There are a few words in Hebrew for “Free.”  “Chofshi” is generally translated as free from anything, witho...

  Hashem struck the Egyptians with ten plagues.  I think we are all familiar with them, especially since this is a primary feature of the Seder. Why did Hashem, who is omnipotent,  have to bring plagues on the Egyptians?  Why not just get the Jews out and not let the Egyptians stop them?  Chassidus explains that the ten plagues were intended to break ten levels of impurity.   Let me explain,  The world is made up of ten parts, described in Kabbalah as “Sefirot.”  The human soul and body mirror these Sefirot, with ten faculties that express our spiritual and physical makeup.  (To explain what they all are is beyond the scope of this essay.)  Each of the ten plagues broke down one of the evil attributes of Egypt. Hashem did not want to just subdue the Egyptians and force them to let the Jews go.  He wanted to remove the “hard shell” of the evil that Pharaoh and his people represented.  Because when the evil transforms itself...

At the end of Parshat Shemot, we learn about Moshe’s complaint to Hashem. After all the excitement of the Burning Bush and the miracles that Moshe had performed for the Jewish people and Pharaoh, instead of the promised liberation, Pharaoh ratcheted up the hard labor. In addition to making bricks for the buildings, the Jews now had to find their own straw, and produce the same quota of bricks. They were beaten and whipped and it was a dire situation.  “Moses returned to God and said, “God, why have You mistreated this people? Why have You sent me? For ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has made things worse for this people, and still You have not delivered Your people!” (Shemot 5:22,23)  Hashem answered him (23:1): “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: that because of a strong hand he will send them forth, and indeed, with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” Rashi comments on the double term “with a strong hand”: The first “with a stro...