Parshas Shemos
It's Good To Cry
By Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden
At the close of 210 years of Jewish enslavement and backbreaking work by the
Egyptians, Hashem (G-d) gave ear to their cries. He remembered the covenant
with their Patriarchs to take them out of Egypt. "The children of Israel
groaned because of the work and they cried out; their outcry because of
their work went up to Hashem" (Shemos/Exodus 2:23).
One of the tenets of the Torah's text is its brevity. It contains not so
much as an extra letter; any words that would appear to be extraneous is an
indication of a message explained by the Oral Torah, as contained in the
Talmud and Midrash. The verse above mentions "because of their work" twice.
Why?
The Or HaChaim (commentary on the Pentateuch of the Kabbalist and Talmudist
Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, 1696-1743, Rabbi in Leghorn, Italy and Jerusalem)
elucidates that this offers an insight into the nature of Divine mercy. The
enslaved Jews groaned and cried out simply because of the burden of their
work, the physical pain they were forced to endure, not in prayer with the
hope of redemption. But Hashem does not always require a direct prayer for
salvation. The anguished cry of a suffering Jew is not ignored. Although
intended as an expression of pain, to Hashem it is heard as prayer.
After almost two millennia of golus (exile) and the bloodshed that has
accompanied it, the Torah sages of recent generations have told us that the
challenges of recent decades are the "birth pains of the Mashiach
(Messiah)", indications that our ultimate redemption is near. The Shabbos
Mussaf (Sabbath Additional Service) liturgy contains the promise that our
final deliverance will resemble our earlier exodus. We look at the
suffering the Jewish nation faces on every corner of the globe and in our
anguish we cry, we wail, we moan. And we pray - for the redemption we know
is immanent and for the end of our nation's suffering. And our tested faith
is reinvigorated knowing that in addition to hearing our prayers, Hashem, in
His infinite mercy, heeds every Jewish tear and considers each one another
prayer that helps bring our salvation ever closer.
Have a Good Shabbos!
Please forward your questions for Rabbi Gilden to
RabbiGilden@MilwaukeeKollel.org
Copyright © 2002 by Rabbi Pinchas Avruch and Project Genesis, Inc.
Kol HaKollel is a publication of the Milwaukee Kollel Center for Jewish
Studies 5007 West Keefe Avenue; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 414-447-7999
