Rabbi Roodyn

With the start of the book of Shemos , we enter into a new episode of the Jewish story, we start a cycle of exile and redemption that we still live with today.  These weekly sedras are actually the ideal time to prepare new material and ideas for Pesach, because in the lead up to Yom Tov, there is never enough time.

Yosef dies, there is a change of regime and the Bnei Yisrael find themselves slipping further and further away from the traditions of their forefathers. At the same time they are lured into national service that quickly becomes slave labour. The lush pastures of Goshen become a ghetto and they become an expendable resource to enrich their host country.

Their situation becomes increasingly desperate, with decrees of ever increasing harshness being  promulgated against them. With no one to protect them, with no power, influence or wealth, they are at the bottom of the pile with no apparent way out. Their sons are taken away from them and cast into the river and their leadership capitulates as Amram separates from his wife. The message is very clear, the children of Israel have no future.

Just as things seem like they can’t get any worse, they get even worse. ‘During those many days, it happened that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned because of their work and they cried out. Their outcry because of their work went up to Hashem, Hashem heard their moaning and remembered His covenant…’

The turning point comes when the children of Israel remember that there is an address. The moment they direct their pain to Hashem rather than just moaning about their fate, they turn their cries into an act of prayer. Their raw, inarticulate prayer reaches the highest place and sets the wheels of redemption in motion.  The Jewish people take that first, baby step towards Hashem and He responds by starting a process that in time redeemed them and given more time will redeem the entire world.

The process of geulah is a long arduous one, the birth of our nation is in many ways similar to the birth of a child. There is pain, there is agony, and it takes time. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, once the mother holds that baby, the pain pales into insignificance compared to the pleasure that she now feels.

May we develop a similar sense of awareness, remember Whom to turn to, and may we too be the beneficiaries of His benevolence and see the final geulah very soon.