Kings Not Slaves, Va’ayra
In the opening of the parsha, we are reintroduced to the source of why we drink four cups at our Pesach Seder. These are the four expressions of redemption which Hashem instructed Moshe to share with the Bnei Yisrael. One of these expressions says that we will be taken “Mi’tachas Sivlos Mitzrayim,” from under the burdens of Egypt. While this can be taken, of course, quite literally, there is a much deeper and more fundamental freedom indicated by this promise that is applicable to all of us.
SIVLOS, burdens, can also be related to the word, “savlanus” which means patience or tolerance. Being in servitude to the Egyptians for 210 years resulted in our growing accepting of our fate. We became utterly tolerant of our life as slaves and accepted it, forgetting that we are descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, with a special kingly stature and a unique relationship with Hashem. We were overly patient as we bent our backs to the lashes of our taskmasters, totally tolerant in the mud pits making bricks for a ruthless monarch. We developed a slave mentality, limiting our self-perception and viewing ourselves as a miniscule fraction of who we were meant to be. We see this clearly at the conclusion of last parsha, after Moshe’s failed attempt to free the people results in their now having to gather their own straw for the daily brick making. The Bnai Yisrael appeal to Pharoh. They do not demand their freedom, they do not refuse the humiliation, nor do they insist on retaining their dignity. Instead they beg Pharoh to please provide them straw so they can continue their daily toil of making bricks.
To this, Hashem promises to provide the structure which would “take us out from the tolerance,” to transform our self-perception from lowly slaves to a nation of priests and kings.
This is indeed a malaise which continues to infect our self-perception, partly due to the many years we have endured in exile. This was the cause, according to some, which negatively impacted the meraglim when they spied the land of Canaan. They saw giants in the land but these leaders within Bnai Yisrael related that they seemed like lowly grasshoppers in their own eyes. Because they saw themselves as weak grasshoppers they indeed appeared that way to the others as well.
This continues till today when we lose sight of our glorious past, the limitless potential of our neshama to achieve greatness, the power within the words of Torah, and the unbreakable bond we enjoy with our Creator. Despite these treasures, we live our lives with a reduced view of our potential, with self-talk that says, “you can’t, you won’t, there is no way.”
This gift from Hashem, to unshackle us from the Sivlos of Mitzrayim, the intolerable tolerance of the slave mentality, is one with which we need to recognize, accept, and inspire our lives.
We are truly limited only by ourselves.
