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Va'era- True freedom
For this year’s Parsha Lesson I will be focusing on a chinuch (parenting/ educational) lesson that can be derived from the Dvar Torah.
Background
At the beginning of this week’s Parsha we have the famous four (according to some opinions- five) languages of redemption that Hashem told Moshe that He is going to do for the enslaved Jewish nation. The four languages are found in pesukim (verses) 6 and 7 in perek (chapter) 6. They are:
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והוצאתי- And I will take them out
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והצלתי- And I will save them
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וגאלתי- And I will free them
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ולקחתי- And I will take them
The Seforno explains that these 4 languages each refer to a different part of the process of the emancipation of the Jewish nation, our people, from slavery. The first one, ‘I will take them out’, refers to, according to the Seforno, when the plagues began against the Egyptians. At that time the active enslavement, the Egyptians forcing the Jewish people to work, ceased.
‘I will save them’ refers to when the Jewish people were actually taken out of the confines of the Land of Mitzrayim (Egypt). ‘I will free them’ refers to when the Jewish people saw that the dead Egyptian soldiers wash up onto the shore after the splitting of the sea and the subsequent drowning of the Egyptian army. ‘And I will take them’ refers to when Hashem took us as His chosen nation, when He gave us the Torah on Mt. Sinai.
Question
The 3rd of the languages, ‘and I will free them’, is the one which is most clearly the freeing and emancipating of the Jewish nation as slaves. ‘Geulah’ is the word which is referred to throughout Tanach as the ‘freeing’ of something from another’s rulership and control. Therefore, it would seem, according to the Seforno, that this 3rd level of the emancipation process, the Jewish people seeing the Egyptian army dead on the shore, was the most significant level of the freeing of the Jewish people from slavery.
The question is- why? Why were the Jewish people not considered to be ‘freed’ without seeing the Egyptian army dead on the shore? Their work for their owners had ceased almost a full year beforehand! With the beginning of the plagues, the Egyptians no longer forced the Jewish people to work. And certainly, with the Jewish people being out of the actual land of Egypt- that should certainly be considered to be ‘freedom’!
Why are those two very significant steps towards freedom not considered by Hashem to be the ‘freeing’ of the Jewish people, and only seeing the Egyptian army dead on the shores were they now considered to be free?
Answer
So long as the Egyptians were alive and had an army to chase the Jewish people and bring them back to their positions as slaves, the Jewish people were not free. Yes, they may have no longer been working for the Egyptians and they may have no longer even been within the confines of the land of Mitzrayim, but there was still the possibility of them being pulled back into their slavery and the overlordship of their masters being re-established, and therefore the Egyptians were still at the forefront of their thinking and they were not emotionally and mentally free of them.
It was not until they saw the threat of their masters being completely destroyed, it was not until there was no possibility of the Egyptians ever re-assuming authority over the Jewish nation, were they able to be fully free. To not just be practically ‘freed’ but to be ‘geulim’, free men.
Chinuch Lesson
There are many things in life which ‘trap’ us and have a hold over us and do not allow us to realize our potential. Be it a fear, a limiting mindset, our own character defects and shortcomings, etc. For someone to not allow this ‘trap’ to control their life and dictate their behavior is a tremendous step, and an important first step, towards being a ‘free man’ capable of acting and thinking without that hold over them. For one to further free themselves and no longer be in the confines of whatever it is that traps them, to be further removed from falling into the clutches of that which has a hold over them, is another important step towards becoming ‘free’ and living and acting as a ‘free man’.
But this person is not ‘free’ or one of the ‘geulim’ until they can face down that which ‘trapped’ them and see that it has no effect on them. So long as a person is avoiding that which limits them, so long as a person is consumed with worrying about that which held them down, they are not really free. A person needs to build up the courage to look their ‘master’ in the eyes and see that it does not hold any power over them.
A ‘free’ person is able to take responsibility for their own actions and is able to grapple, rationally, with life and the various scenarios that come up. Someone who is not free is constantly consumed and fixated on that which has a hold over them and is not able to function properly. When someone sees that that which limits them is powerless and incapable of getting in the way of their acting in the way that they know they should, that is a person who is fully ‘free’ and on track for great success in life.
If we can encourage our children, and those we lead, to not just avoid problems and challenges, and be held captive by them, but to rather face their challenges and see their ability to grapple with them- in order to be fully free of them- we will be showing them how to live as free people.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Shabbos!
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
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