In his introduction to Sefer Shemos, the Ramban tells us that the entire sefer of Shemos is related to the redemption from Mitzraim because the Jewish people experienced both a physical redemption and a spiritual redemption from Mitzraim. The Jewish people suffered a significant spiritual decline during their stay in Mitzraim and their recovery from that decline wasn’t completed until the end of the building of the mishkan. Through the entire experience of the redemption, the Jewish people were developing themselves to become free from their spiritual impurities, and at the end of Sefer Shemos, they had reached that level.

The Alter of Slobodka (in his sefer Ohr Hatzafon) tells us that when we learn about the story of the Jews leaving Mitzraim we should use it as an opportunity to learn about the spiritual growth of the Jewish people throughout their story, and we should use the lessons that we had learned and apply them to our own lives as well.

The story of “Leaving Egypt” is a story about “והוצאתי, והצלתי, וגאלתי, that Hashem saved us from the slavery, took us out of the land of our oppressors, and He ensured our safety from our oppressors in the future by drowning them in the sea. The story highlights Hashem’s power over nature and Hashem’s love for the Jewish people.

Another significant part of the story of “Leaving Egypt” is ולקחתתי,והבאתי",“ which further highlights Hashem’s love for us as He chose us for the exalted mission of being His nation and He promised to bring us into the land of Isreal and to have a unique relationship with us.

However, there is another crucial part of the story that we need to focus on as well, which is the story of the spiritual development of the Jewish people throughout their stay in Egypt.

In the Haggada, we refer to the message that Hashem tells us that for the Jewish people to be we needed to be worthy for that redemption. We are told in the Haggada that we need to know this message and we need to share it with others. We say בעבור זה עשה ה לי בצאתי ממצרים-לי ולא לו, אלו היה שם, לא היה נגאל. Throughout the years that we were in Egypt, we develoed ourselves to the extent that we became worthy of being redeemed and we became properly prepared for our ultimate mission of receiving the Torah and being the role models for the world for moral and spiritual perfection.

As a result, when we study the story of “Leaving Egypt”, we can use it as a guide for our personal and our national moral and spiritual development. This can assist us to fulfill the exalted mission that Hashem has given to us, it can assist us in our goal of becoming worthy of our own redemption from our exile, and it can assist us in being worthy and prepared for Hashem to dwell among us when He returns us to Isreal and He rebuilds the Beis Hamikdash.

The Chofetz Chaim tells us in the introduction to his sefer that Hashem created the world, gave us the Torah and mitzvos, brought us into Isreal, and swelled among us for our best interest. This was done for us to be able to achieve the greatest benefits in the world and the next.

However, for us to receive those benefits we need to be worthy of them. We need to be on the spiritual level where it is appropriate and possible for us to receive them. The fact that Hashem hasn’t rebuilt the Beis Hamikdash yet and He hasn’t rested His presence among us yet is indicative of the distance that Unfortunately exists between us and where we need to be.

It is helpful for us to learn from the process of how we had prepared ourselves to be worthy of redemption and being worthy of receiving the Torah. And to apply it to our lives as well. To do so, we need to understand a few things about their story.

We need to know the following:

1)What were the areas that they needed to improve on.?

2)How did they improve?

3)Why was it that Hashem determined that the experience of slavery in Egypt was the best suited for the growth that they needed.

4)How can we learn from their challenges and their process of growth to apply to ourselves as well?

These questions are food for thought and they can give us a direction for what to analyze about the story as we talk about the story over Pesach.
To be continued…