Welcome back to our special Shovavim series on humility. Yesterday
we mentioned that the purpose of Galut Mitzrayim was to bring us to humility.
The Rambam, in the laws of Teshuva,
chapter 2, tells us that the Gemara says
one way to do Teshuva for Rosh Hashana is
to exile yourself because שגלות
מכפרת עון/ Galut is an atonement for sins. The Rambam adds a few words:
מפני שגורמת לו להכנע ולהיות עניו ושפל רוח: /because it causes one to become humble and low of spirits.
So Galut is defined as the humblizer. This is an important
concept to remember, especially considering a very fundamental piece of our
history. In the Torah, in Bereshit 15,13, Hashem tells Abraham at the Brit Ben
Habetarim, You should know,יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע
כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ/Your children will be
sojourners
בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם in a land that isn't theirs.
וַעֲבָדוּם And they're
going to work them
וְעִנּוּ
אֹתָם / and they're going to pain them
אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה:/for 400 years.
But we only spent 210 years in Egypt, not 400. So how does it add up?
As we may know, Hashem חישב את הקץ /calculated the end. Interestingly,
the numerical value of קץketz/end
is 190. Subtract that from 400, and we are left with 210 years- the amount of years spent
in Mitzrayim.
How does that work out? We go back to Yizhak Avinu, who was born in
Eretz Yisrael. His birth somehow started the count of Galut. Why? Because
he was a Sojourner. Just because he lived in Eretz Ysrael that didn't mean he
felt like a citizen. He considered himself a temporary resident,
as
If he was there on a 'travel visa.' He felt like an immigrant,
and therefore it counted as Galut, as the pasuk says, says, כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ/your children will be
sojourners.
But if that counted as Galut, why couldn't we have spent all 400 years in Eretz Yisrael like Yitzhak Avinu did, in relative
calm? Why did we need the next three stages of the pasuk?
Thr next stage, בְּאֶרֶץ
לֹא להם-in a land that's not
theirs started when the Shevatim
came down with Yaakov to Mitzrayim. They were in a land that wasn't
theirs.
When even that wasn't enough, the third stage started- ועבדם they started to work them
And finally, וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם/they pained them (the word ענו is the same word as ענוה)
They gave them really torturous work, they inflicted them.
All of these four stages happened over 400 years. So one
explanation is that Hashem didn't say we'd be in Mitzrayim for 400 years, rather, it
would be a process, a four stage process that would last 400 years.
But again, why couldn't we had
have the same level of seeming serenity like Yitzhak's Galut, for the
whole 400 years?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky gives
a very powerful answer at the beginning of sefer Shemot. He says, Galut is in the eye of the beholder. If the
purpose of Galut is to humble yourself, then it's up to you to
become humbled by the situation.
Yitzhak Avinu was humbled just by being in Eretz Yisrael. He was a
lone man. There was no, so to say, Jewish people. He was a stranger, and
he was humbled. That was it.
Then, as time went on, Yaakov Avinu's family grew, and Yaakov with his 12 tribes around him was like the Mishkan. There was a
certain sense of belonging. They no longer felt like strangers, so they had to
go to Mitzrayim. בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא להם- They were in Goshen, and initially that was enough for them to feel Galut. Goshen was a ghetto and they felt they were strangers that didn't belong. Then, as time went
on, that was no longer enough. They got too comfortable. They were feeling like citizens.
They were born there, their grandparents were born here. So the hard work started וַעֲבָדוּם They had have
slave labor camps.
And when that was not enough
וענו אֹתָם they started getting
tortured, because they needed more to be humble. The goal of Galut is humility.
What you need to feel humble is up
to you. There's a mashal that illustrates this beautifully:
A young teenage girl, who misbehaved and was sent to her room. She
has her device so after a few hours when she gets hungry, she orders Uber Eats
and has them deliver through the window. She's talking to her friends, eating…
life is good. Another day goes by, and she's doing okay. Her parents wonder, What
happened to Sarah? Where's Sarah? Sarah is still in the room?!
She was sent to her room and never came out. So they go knock on her door but
she doesn't andwer. She's fine.
Next, they turn off the credit card. No problem. She gets
her friend to get her some Amazon gift cards and she's fine.
Then they turn off the phone. Okay, her friend gives her a sim
card, and she's doing fine.
Now they off the electricity and the heat. Life gets a
little tough in the room so she finally decides to go back to her parents.
What's the nimshal?What do you need in order to become
humbled? Everybody needs something else. That's why Galut is in the eye of
the beholder.
