Preparing For Redemption
As we sit on the precipice of this most unusual Erev Pesach Ha”l, the celebration of our cheirus, let us contemplate the purpose, and therefore the import, of Galus. Avraham Avinu was told by Hashem that his beloved children would be strangers in a foreign land, and they would suffer. Not only that, but they would endure this exile for four hundred years! On the surface it would definitely seem that Avraham was being punished, and indeed there are those who interpret the pesukim as such. But I believe that there is something much deeper here, and I would learn that there was no punishment here at all. Avraham had been alive to watch the previous fathers of religion fail, as their ideas and movements had died with them. Both Adam and Noach were not successful in creating a lasting movement that would carry Yiras Shamayim through the trials of time. For this reason, Avraham beseeched Hashem for his own children; he begged for Hashem to give him offspring, direct descendants that he could teach, and who continue his derech. Hashem responded with a promise that not only would Avraham have these children, but that they would grow in spirituality, and would flourish to inheret Eretz Yisrael! It was here that the narrative of bameh aidah began. Avraham wanted to know how he would know that his children would indeed continue and march on in the ways of Hashem. How could he be sure that their conviction would be strong; that their faith would remain intact? To this, Hashem replied that our offerings would be our strength. This alluded not only to actual korbanos, but also to the levels of Emunah and Bitachon that accompany Klal Yisroel, which could be “offered” at any time or place. Klal Yisroel would endure by utilizing Bitachon in the face of their trials, thus cementing their relationship with Hashem. Tefillah too, is an expression of the belief that Hashem can do everything, and that He has the power to change things in the blink of an eye. When a nation is living with Hashem, no amount of suffering can deter them. They will always seek through the darkness and find the light of Hashem’s smiling face. The decree of our suffering in Mitzrayim for four hundred years was not meant to punish us, but rather was intended to build our faith into something resilient and impenetrable, that would stand the rest of millennia. Avraham took this in stride, and it would indeed be counted among his ten tests; all of which, to one degree or another, were designed by Hashem to test Abraham’s commitment to Hashem’s mastery. Now, throughout our sometimes-bitter history, we have endured so many Mitzrayims. As we live through the latest chapter in our Galus, let us focus on what makes us strong, and allows us to beat all odds. It is the collective power of all of our Bitachon; when we raise our eyes to Heaven in desperate tefillah, when we manage to remain calm, when we remain besimchah, when we learn with ameilus in these trying times, and when we think and contemplate our relationship with Hashem through it all. These things are the strength of our nation and bind us together to Hashem. The entire point of Galus Mitzrayim was to change us into the great nation that could be Hashem’s people forever more. As we sit apart this Yom Tov, let us storm the heavens together with expressions of our Bitachon in Hashem, and may we be zoche to eat the Korban Pesach together very soon in Yerushalayim. A gut Yom Tov! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss