This week we reach the finale – the Jewish Nation leave Egypt after 210 years of slavery. But let us take a closer look at how our sources describe the redemption; in particular how the redemption compares to the subsequent salvation.
When Moshe delivers the warning for the fourth plague we read about the ultimate redemption, “And I shall bring about redemption (‘pedoos’ – פדת) that will separate between My people and your people”.
It has been noted that he word ‘pedoos’ appears – besides in our verse – only twice in the whole of TaNaCH. Yet in our verse the word is missing letter ‘vov’ – פדת not פדות. This is because the redemption from Egypt was incomplete since, “after it there was another slavery” – at the hands of the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans. The final redemption however – may it come speedily in our days – will be a פדות – in the full sense in that it will be the final and eternal redemption – one that will never revert back to exile.
The Medresh supports this idea: the verse says “fortunate are you, Israel: Who is like you! People delivered with Hashem”. Comments the Medresh; it does not say “a people that Hashem has redeemed” but “a people redeemed (delivered) WITH Hashem”. Says Hashem, “in this world you were redeemed by mere flesh and blood – in Egypt through Moshe and Aharon; during the times of Sisra through Barak And Devorah; at the hands of the Midinim it will be Shamgar who saved you … Babylonia…. Greeks…. but since the redemption was through the hands of man it was short lived and you became subjugated again! But in the future, I Myself will redeem you and then you will never be subjugated again as it says – “Israel is redeemed with Hashem an everlasting redemption”.
However I think there is a strong question that needs to be addressed. Do we not say on Seder-night, “And Hashem brought us out from Egypt” – not through the hands of an angel… a messenger, but The Holy One Blessed Be He – He Himself in His full glory…. I and no other”. How can this be consistent with the Medresh which describes the Exodus as being intrinsically flawed and incomplete due to the fact that Moshe and Aharon played a role – reducing the redemption from פדות to פדת?
Allow me to suggest the following. Let us take a very brief look at the two major events that caused the redemption from Egypt to be incomplete – the Sin of the Golden Calf and the Sin of the Spies.
The Sin of the Golden Calf was in essence a misunderstanding of the role of Moshe in leading the Jews out of Egypt. When he was gone the Jews panicked and tried – with disastrous results – to replace him. They could not imagine being without him, and in doing so showed that they had ascribed too much importance to his role in the Exodus. The use of Moshe in the redemption had in some way diminished the Jew’s perspective of “I (Hashem) and not a messenger”.
The second cog in ruining the redemption was the Sin of the Spies. Again, very briefly in the words of Rav Dessler, “RaMBaN tells us that the Jews made a seemingly reasonable request. It is normal and proper for an army contemplating invasion to send out reconnoitring parties to determine the best route to adopt and to estimate the strength and nature of the probable resistance. The mistake was that they failed to take their special circumstances into account. A nation which had seen the saving presence of Hashem constantly among them should have mustered enough faith to follow unquestioningly after the cloud….. to sum up: the basic sin here was an error of a very subtle kind in the balance between faith and endeavour”. Just like with the Sin of the Golden Calf we see that the very sin that caused the redemption from Egypt to be incomplete was the fact that they cut Hashem out of the equation to some extent. They failed to fully grasp that it was 100% – “I (Hashem) and not a messenger”.
Having understood this, perhaps the Medresh quoted above is describing the reality of the situation that unfolded once the Jews showed that they had not fully understood the concept. What we say in the Haggadah is the message that we were supposed to have got from Exodus. For this very reason the author of the Haggadah omitted the name of Moshe from the entire Haggadah.
Let us conclude with the words of the Zohar to explain a term we say when we daven, “Heal us, Hashem – then we will be healed”. Who else is going to heal us if not Hashem? Explains the Zohar: a person can be healed [via the doctor] through the angel Refoel or alternatively he can be healed directly from Hashem. What is the difference? When the healing is from the angel it is not a perfect healing, and the problem may well resurface. But when we are healed from Hashem then the salvation is eternal. This is why we daven to be healed specifically from Hashem. The choice is ours – as much as we ascribe any worldly endeavour to Hashem to that very extent it will be directly from Him – and will be eternal. May we merit the full redemption speedily in our days..
Good Shabbos, Yaakov