There’s a beautiful thought that relates to our daily prayers as we know, twice every day we say Kriyat Shema. And although it’s a time bound Mitzvah, Maran in Shulchan Aruch says that women should say Kriyat Shema as well, because everyone needs that lesson of Hashem Elokenu- Hashem is our G-d (meaning He supervises us) Hashem Echad- He is the One and Only. It’s a principle of our faith. We have to believe this, always. It’s one of the six constant mitzvot. And we have to say it twice a day.
Besides the first two parshiyot in Kriyat Shema that we say, in their proper time (as it says, בשבבך- when you go to sleep, ובקומךand when you get up) there’s a third Parasha that talks about Tsisit and ends with a discussion of Yetziat Mitzrayim. We say it with Kriyat Shema, because as the Mishnah in Masechet Berachot tells us, we have to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim by day and by night- but it doesn’t have to necessarily connect to the time of Kriyat Shema. Technically that third Parasha can be said at any time- at night or in the afternoon. So why are they connected?
The simple answer is that we talk about Yetziat Mitzrayim before our prayers because in order to pray properly, we need to mention Yetziat Mitzrayim. As the Gemara say, סומך גאולה לתפלה
- we have to connect Yetziat Mitzrayim to our prayers. As Rashi, in Masechet Berachot (quoting the Yerushalmi) says, it’s like a servant going to the king, knocking on his door, and the king opens the door. How do we knock? By mentioning the power of the king. That’s what happens when we mention Yetziat Mitzrayim. Therefore, Yetziat Mitzrayim is the introduction to our Amidah, and it must be connected to our Amidah. When starting Yetziat Mitzrayim in Kriyat Shema, we say
אני ה׳ אלקיכם אשר הוצאתי מארץ מצרים
I am Hashem your G-d that took you out of Egypt to be your G-d, then from there we go straight to Yetziat Mitzrayim, the splitting of the sea, and G-d’s power. We say, if He could do it then, He can do it now. With that strength and belief, we go on to ask G-d for our needs, and our personal redemption.
But is there really a connection between the first two sections of Kriyat Shema and the third one about Tzizit? Or is it just a seeming coincidence that we have to say Shema in the morning, we have to pray, and we have to mention Yetziat Mitzrayim, so they’re all lumped together? The Sfat Emet offers a deeper explanation, based on a Mishnah in Pirkei Avot that tells us
כָּל הַמְקַבֵּל עָלָיו עֹל תּוֹרָה, מַעֲבִירִין מִמֶּנּוּ עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ.
whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, that removes from him that yoke of kingdom and the yoke of worldly matters.
This means that,
אדם לעמל יולד Everyone in this world was born to toil. That’s what we are here for;
But,
אשרי מי שעמלו בתורה -Fortunate is the man who toils in Torah.
So, we all have to toil. The question is, what are we going to toil in? We have to have a yoke on our neck, but what yoke will it be?
We have to accept the yoke of Torah and mitzvot, otherwise, it will be the yoke of kingdoms and of taxes on our necks.
The Sfat Emet says that if we accept upon ourselves the yoke of Kriyat Shema every day, (the first Parasha is the yoke is G-d’s kingdom, the second is the yoke of the Mitzvot), insomuch as we accept the yoke upon ourselves, we are removing others yokes. When we take one yoke on, we remove another. That’s the system. There is only room for one yoke. So, the acceptance of G-d’s kingdom in Kriyat Shema will remove the other yoke. That’s how Yetziat Mitzrayim came about in those times, and that’s how it happens in our personal lives. In those times, we didn’t just get out of Mitzrayim; Moshe told them that they were going to accept the Torah at Har Sinai. Why did they have to know that? The Sfat Emet says that it’s because if they had waited to accept it upon themselves later, they never would have gotten out of Mitzrayim. It’s not a coincidence that we countdown from Pesach to Shavuot with Sefirat HaOmer, it’s because the whole Yetziat Mitzrayim came about because we accepted the yoke of Torah and Mitzvot upon ourselves. This goes for our own personal lives as well. Every day, we accept the yoke of Torah in our Kriyat Shema and it creates our own personal Yetziat Mitzrayim, which enables us to ask G-d for what we need.
This is as important today as it ever was. When I learned that Mishna that G-d takes the time of kingdoms off you - עול מלכות it always meant if you were being drafted into the Russian or Turkish army, as in those stories we’ve heard of people who went to the Gedolim (in Russia to the Chafetz Chaim, in Israel to the Saba Kadisha- Rav Alfandri). They all got the same advice - accept the yoke of Torah and you won’t get drafted or put on the front lines. And it worked.
But now we have a different kind of yoke.
A letter from Agudat Yisrael indicates that they are troubled by the use of executive authority by Governor Cuomo.
Governmental power has also been used as a sword against religion, instead of the shield the Founding Fathers intended it to be.
For example, all religious services in New York City are still strictly limited to 10 individuals per building. This cap is irrespective of the size of the building, number of floors in the building, and the wearing of PPE or implementation of social distancing. Nor is there any additional latitude afforded for outdoor services.
In contrast, horse racing has no fixed upper limit on the number allowed to participate, up to 50% of maximum room capacity. Similarly, professional sports training is allowed statewide where occupancy is below 50% of maximum occupancy, with no arbitrary numerical ceiling. As of June, 26th, outdoor graduations are allowed for up to 150 people. And it is no secret that mass protests of far greater than 150 people have been implicitly allowed. Yet Orthodox Jews cannot pray outside (legally) in numbers greater than 10.
There are many examples of how the government is forcing their opinions on us. Politics aside, there are questions about whether what has been and is being done is really necessary or not. People wonder how they can get their stores or businesses opened or how can they get things going.
They need advice.
The Agudah’s letter ends off with a discussion of the issue of opening/closing of sleep away camps, and in not so many words, says that after all other avenues have been exhausted, they and the camp directors will consider whatever remaining options are available to them- which sounds like a lawsuit. That’s their hishtadlut. We always have to put forth effort. But we know that if we want to do something to remove any unnecessary or interfering yokes from upon us, the best way to do so is to be מקבל עליו על תורה
The yoke of Hashem’s Torah and Mitzvot, will remove all other outside yokes. Have a wonderful day.