It is noteworthy that the Torah does not tell us exactly when we became slaves in Egypt. I believe this is because the Torah wants us to be very careful: we don't notice the creeping servitude in our lives. The beginning of slavery is to think that you are free.
The Sages attribute the beginning of the slavery to different moments in the lives of the Forefathers. When Avraham responded to G-d's promises for the future by saying, "How will I know that You will fulfill Your promises to me?", G-d replies, "Know that your children will be slaves in a foreign land….". The death of Yitzchak begins another counting of the Egyptian exile, and the sale of Yosef by his brothers is another obvious turning point. But it is the death of Yaakov which is brought in the Midrash as the true beginning of slavery. Why is this? Because until Yaakov died, his children knew very well where they were. They knew what Egypt is about, and they harbored no illusions about their eventual place in its society. They were simply carrying out G-d's promise: if G-d tells me to be a slave in Egypt, fine. If he tells me to go home to Canaan, fine. And just as when Yaakov had left Lavan years before he took all the blessings with him, so now, with his death, the clarity of Am Yisrael's place in the world disappears.
Even though there were great Tzaddikim at the time - Yehuda, Yosef, and all the Shevatim - each one received only a certain aspect of Yaakov's wholeness with his receipt of the blessings. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, whose yahrzeit was this week, also gave spiritual gifts to his successors: to the Apter Rav he gave his wisdom, to the Chozeh his eyes, etc. These were great and powerful Rebbes in their own right, but none of them had all of the qualities of their Rebbe. The truth is, Yaakov is a hard act to follow. His face is engraved on the Throne of Glory, and, according to the Gemara, his face was a direct reflection of Adam haRishon, whose own face in turn was the image of G-d.
Where did Yaakov get his clarity of vision? When Yaakov left Canaan and dreamt of a ladder, what he saw was this: himself, on the ground, asleep, then, a ladder; and, above the ladder, the Throne of Glory. And there, on G-d's own Throne, Yaakov saw his own face. This is the challenge he walked with his entire life: to send messengers between the lower Yaakov and the higher Yaakov. This is how he arrived at his clarity, which was so powerful that anyone who lived while he was alive benefited from it.
Reb Simcha Bunim says that when you learn Gemara, you have to invest as much in the hava amina, in the tentative possibility, as in the maskana, the final resolution. Because, he says, this entire world is only a hava amina, the final resolution being the Redemption and the perfection of the world. The Yaakov asleep in the dust is only a possibility. You-as-you-are-now are only a hava amina. To forget the higher you, to give up on the highest vision of what you can be, that is the beginning of slavery.
But Chazal say that Yaakov didn't really die; his consciousness continued to act in the world. Yaakov gave Yosef a sign, and Yosef gave it to his brothers, and they gave it to their children: when someone comes and says the words "pakod yifkod" G-d will remember you; that will be the sign that the Exodus is approaching. It is as if Yaakov told his children: "G-d will remember you. You also- remember yourselves." And this is what the Besht said: "Forgetfulness is the beginning of Exile; the beginning of Redemption is remembering". Let us remember.
Rav Ariel Burger
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Rav Ariel Burger received his ordination from Yeshivat Bat Ayin in 2003. He is currently completing his doctoral work at Boston University, where he studies under Professor Elie Weisel. Ariel lives in Sharon, Massachusetts with his wife and four children. |