The Blessing of Exile

In last week's parasha Vayechi, Yaakov blessed each of his sons individually. He didn't request new fortune for them; rather he articulated what was already there. Each boy has a unique quality that distinguishes him from his brothers and indicates the nature of his struggle and, in it, his role in Klal Yisrael.
In this week's parasha, the community established by the sons proves an explosively fertile combination. "And the children of Yisrael were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." However, when the Klal reaches a critical mass, its physical expansion is accompanied by increasing misery. "Therefore did they set over them taskmasters…and they made their lives bitter in hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick…" Moreover, "…if…a son [should be born], then you shall kill him."
In Parasha Shemot, the Torah provides a window into a dynamic that continually recurs on every level from the interstellar to the subatomic: exile, and with it, the seeds of redemption.
An infant is born into the world, coddled and nurtured that he may grow physically, encouraged and challenged to mature emotionally, and taught and exposed to new things as he advances intellectually. His talents and capacities express themselves. When he is calm and alert, he already sees glimpses of his unique destiny through which he will enhance the world while actualizing his potential. Ideally, this will be his guiding light.
At the beginning, there is mutual advantage. The host benefits from the guest (in the joy of raising a child) and the guest benefits from the host (by receiving nurturing and nourishment). The child learns how to win approval, and performs for reward and acceptance. If, in the course of time, he becomes habituated to this situation, he neglects his evolving responsibilities and obscures his evolving identity. As his performance grows inappropriate, he exceeds the capacity of his host to tolerate him. Home becomes exile
Personal exile happens when our desire/fixation or yetzer hara, overcomes our better inclination, or yetzer hatov, and obscures our evolving selfhood. It may be that extra slice of cake, or living with parents too long, or marrying out, but it always involves temptation and ditching personal responsibility. No one always gets it right the first time. "Learning the hard way," recognizing our exile, turns it into a blessing. This process which we each face daily is encoded withing thour story of national exile.
"A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know of Yosef. He said to his people, 'Behold! the people, the Children of Israe, are more numerous and stronger than we. Come, let us outsmart it lest it become numerous and it may be that if a war will occur, it, too, may join our enemies, and wage war against us and go up from the land."
Besides serving as a prototype for the transformation from host to oppressor of the various empires of Israel's numerous exiles, the passage is also dense in symbolism. "A new king," which arises as a result of a temptation, is a product of the yetzer hara, the necessary (but often overactive) part of us that desires status and materiality for its own sake. This product, or impulse, "arose over Egypt," which represents our body, and "did not know Yosef"-didn't know, or didn't want to know, our unique potential and essence as an individual. This impulse sends messages to the mind ("He said to his people") and creates anxiety ("Behold!") that spiritual pursuits ("the Children of Israel") are limiting the mind's worldly involvement ("are more numerous and stronger than we").
This impulse, born of a specific opportunity for honor, comfort, or material gain, entreats the mind to "Come, let us outsmart it lest it become numerous…"-the yetzer hara entreats the mind to use logic to put into question the wisdom of increasing spiritual pursuits. "…and it may be that if a war will occur," i.e., it may be that if our comfort or belongings are challenged, "it, too, may join our enemies…"-the yetzer hatov may cause the individual to be humble and generous, "…and wage war against us," meaning the yetzer hatov, the part of us that wants to grow spiritually and connect to Hashem, may enlist the mind to cancel the desire of the yetzer hara, causing the mind to ignore or decide against the impulse/opportunity "…and go up from the land." Here the yetzer hara uses its most dramatic tactic, the trump card of danger to the body or loss of life that would ensue if the yetzer hatov were to be successful.
If the yetzer hara is successful, we enter exile and temporarily impair our connection to Hashem. In find our way back, we grow. Our soul's yetzer hatov, or "good inclination," actually maintains a constant connection to Hashem. She advises us when to stay, and when to go. If we would only listen to her!
Josh has a good job, but feels his evolving values press him to move on. When a similar-paying opportunity arises, he finds himself faced with a choice between his current, more glamorous position in the big city, which is familiar and close to home; the other, though interesting in its own way, is a bit of a career shift, and is located in unfamiliar suburbs. There are few Jews there, and it would require waking up at 6 A.M. to catch a train.
Although the new position is a bit of a mystery (and he never rose that early before), something within him convinces him to go for it. He is not disappointed as he is given exciting new projects and his salary rises. But in the efficient, WASPy subculture, he feels incompetent and weird, and practically isolates himself in the office. Outside job offers come up, and he struggles, yet he stays. He advances in his teshuva, since there, amongst the goyim, he is faced with asserting his Jewish identity by leaving early on erev Shabbos and avoiding Saturday social gatherings and treif restaurants.
In time, disparities between his values and those of management become more difficult to ignore. He encounters managerial suspicion on account of his Friday scheduling. Curious coworkers begin to ask him about his Judaism and, in embarrassment, he realizes how little he knows. In the meantime, as he becomes familiar with this "progressive" company and the industry it is part of, he begins to question its effectiveness in helping bring about the better world he dreams of.
After much soul-searching, facilitated by the isolation from his familiar surroundings, he decides to enroll in a baal tschuva yeshiva to learn Torah. Learning full time, a series of small insights come to him, revealing his previous phase as preparation for what came later. His commuting experience turned out to be training to make the daily 6 A.M. minyan. He is humble enough to be a beginner, learning in chevruta with younger men of different backgrounds; his job experience prepared him with similar challenges. He can perform mitzvot without too much self-consciousness, as an office full of goyim served as his training ground.
Israel was destined for exile in Egypt. There, she could grow from "70 souls" to 600,000. Even the slavery was necessary, that the proud and willful tribes learn what it means to be subservient, in order to later become ovdot Hashem: servants of Hashem.
May we each be blessed to find our days a redemption from the exiles of yesterday, and may we each identify our current exile, that we may discern within it the seeds of tomorrow's redemption.