Parashat Shemot: The Purpose of the Exodus

1/7/2021

By: Rabbi Menashe Sasson
Reporting from Jerusalem, Israel

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Parashat Shemot introduces us to Moshe Rabbeinu, who was born in Misrayim at a time when a government decree that, if followed, would have required all male Hebrew babies to be killed shortly after birth. Moshe Rabbeinu, however, survived the infanticide decree, grew to adulthood, married, and started a family.

Then, one day when he was at work, shepherding sheep for his father-in-law Yitro, Moshe Rabbeinu had an encounter with Hashem, at what is known as the Burning Bush. “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” Shemot 3:2. “G-d called out to him out of the midst of the bush. . . .” Shemot 3:4.

During the subsequent conversation that occurred between HaShem and Moshe Rabbeinu, HaShem told Moshe “I am the G-d of thy father, the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Yizhaq, and the G-d of Ya’aqov.” Shemot 3:6.

HaShem continued: “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Misrayim and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I [have] come down to deliver them out of the hand of Misrayim and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of [Eretz Israel]. . . . Shemot 3:7-8.

One obvious question is why did HaShem take the Hebrews out of Misrayim, rather than simply solving their difficulties with the government and thus making life in Misrayim tolerable. Another obvious question is why did HaShem promise to take the Hebrews to Eretz Israel, rather than, for example, to Brooklyn, London, Paris, Madrid, Baghdad, Tehran, or some other place.

The answer, of course, is because Eretz Israel is holy; it is The Holy Land; The Promised Land. The Torah is singularly focused on this point.

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Now, the Lord said to Avram, get out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, [and] go to the land that I will show thee [Eretz Israel], and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curses thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Bereshit 12:1-3.

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“And the land which I gave to Abraham and Yizhaq, to thee [Ya’aqov] I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.” Bereshit 35:12.

The Torah explicitly states the reason for the Exodus. “I am the Lord your G-d, Who brought you out of the land of Misrayim, to give you the land of Kena’an [Eretz Israel], and to be your G-d.” Vayyiqra 25:38. This pasuk is often misquoted as “I am the Lord your G-d, who took you our of Egypt to be your G-d,” omitting the all-important phrase “to give you the land of Eretz Israel.”

The Talmud states:

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[T]he Sages taught: A person should always reside in Eretz Israel, even in a city that is mostly populated by idolaters [gentiles], and he should not reside outside of Eretz Israel, even in a city that is mostly populated by Jews. The reason is that anyone who resides in Eretz Israel is considered as one who has a G-d, and anyone who resides outside of Eretz Israel is considered as one who does not have a G-d. As it is stated: “To give to you the land of Canaan, to be your G-d.”

Maseket Ketuvot, 110b.

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Halakha, that is, Jewish Law, states that the misva of living in Eretz Israel is timeless; it is still the Halakha today. The Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 75:4, states that: “If [a husband] proposes to ascend to Eretz Yisrael and [the wife] does not want to [go], [the husband] must divorce her. . . . [And if the wife] proposes ascending [to Eretz Yisrael] and [the husband] does not want to [go], he must divorce her.”

Instead of singing “Next year in Yerushalayim,” let us make it “This year in Yerushalayim.”

Shabbat Shalom!

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Parashat Shemot: The Purpose of the Exodus

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