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Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky points out an astounding idea that highlights the greatness of Klal Yisroel in Mitzrayim and communicates to us a life-changing message.
Let us envision the Jewish people locked in Egypt for two hundred and ten years. Eighty-six of those years, they were enslaved miserably. They endured an unimaginable rule of horrific, sadistic terror. Their infants were cast into the Nile River to drown. Those children that were spared from this horrendous cruelty were cemented into the walls in the place of bricks. The adults were attacked by wild animals at the whim of Pharaoh. The survivors were subjected to back-breaking labor and appointed to do impossible tasks to accomplish. They were taunted and subjected to ridicule and contempt. Even when Hashem began the regimen of Makos to punish Pharaoh, he did not relent. Even when there was a pause in his obstinacy due to the severity of a particular makah, he immediately intensified his refusal to emancipate the Yidden. Even after the final, crushing blow of Makas Bechoros when he finally freed them, he was full of regret and pursued them until the Yam Suf where he finally met his ignoble end.
One would, logically, think that at the height of Makas Bechoros, at the stroke of midnight, when Pharaoh cried out “Get up and go from the midst of my nation”, they would have seized the rare opportunity to escape their misery and suffering. Who knows if this opportunity would ever be afforded again? Maybe this madman would change his mind as in the past! However, they remained confined to their houses; nary an attempt to exit. Why did they not heed Pharaoh’s cry to get up and go?
Rav Yaakov explains that Hashem, previously instructed the Yidden, “Viatem lo saitzu ish mipesach baiso ad boker”- “And no person should leave his house until the morning”. This command constituted a barrier. They viewed this prohibition as a cement wall that would not allow them to move from their houses. Even if it would cost them this opportune moment to extricate themselves from bondage, the word of Hashem stood in their way.
Reb Meir Simcha in Sefer Meshech Chachma adds another angle to the above perspective. The breaking point of Pharaoh to finally capitulate to Moshe Rabeinu’s incessant demands to free the Yidden was preceded by a massive internal revolt. Pharaoh was in great fear of being dethroned by an open rebellion. The Egyptian first-borns gathered en masse to protest Pharaoh’s refusal to set free the Yidden and fought valiantly to make it happen before the designated commencement of the most feared makka- Makas Bechoros. Many people were killed during this attempted coup. Pharaoh’s rule was faced with a sustained resistance movement and he was slowly losing his grip on power. When he finally conceded to allow the mass exodus, there was absolutely no opposition to this decision and there was nothing and nobody standing in their way to, simply, open their front house doors and stroll to freedom. Only the word of Hashem, forbidding them to overstep the thresholds of their houses, stood in their way, blocking their path to freedom.
This was a monumental lesson in stifling their raging desire and allowing their allegiance and obedience to Hashem to overcome their emotions. How often are we confronted with situations in which Torah laws or Rabbinic laws or even only minhagim stand in our way of perceived financial loss or uncomfortable situations that we hastily rationalize to override these obstructions. Perhaps, the mandate, ”Z’chor hayom haze asher yitzasem mimitzrayim”- “Remember this day that you left Mitzrayim”, includes to remember this intense training that the Yidden underwent to master control of ‘mind over desire’. Do not forget: this is not an annual mitzvah performance but, rather, a commandment for each and every day.
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