{"id":4936088,"date":"2025-04-07T11:25:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T08:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breslev.co.il\/?p=4936088"},"modified":"2026-04-05T09:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:09:06","slug":"taking-advantage-of-leaving-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/4936088\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Advantage of Leaving Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Translated from Rabbi Arush\u2019s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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Planting <\/b>Emuna<\/i><\/b> (Faith)<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a few hours we will all be sitting around the festive table, the house clean, everyone wearing new clothes, special food in front of us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But the main thing is what we wrote last week (When the Heart is Open<\/b><\/a><\/span>) in the name of the Ohev Yisrael<\/i> \u2013 that we must take full advantage of this night. Because on this night a great light comes down, and the children\u2019s hearts are open and ready to receive missives of emuna<\/i>, and this is our opportunity to instill in them the sweet messages of emuna<\/i> and bitachon<\/i> (trust).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In this essay we will deal with the simple missives of emuna<\/i> and bitachon<\/i> that are suitable for the Seder, so that every person will be able to take them into his or her heart, and from his or her heart \u2013 send them to the children\u2019s hearts, because what comes from the heart goes into the heart of the other, and the emuna<\/i> will be planted in our children\u2019s hearts for generations to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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How Did We Get to Egypt?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the Brit bein Habetarim<\/i> (the covenant made with Avraham Avinu<\/i>), Hashem told Avraham that the Jewish People will be migrants in a land not their own<\/b>. He didn\u2019t say where this would be. So why were they exiled to Egypt, of all places?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the surprising explanations of this can be found in the Ramban\u2019s commentary on the Torah, parashat <\/i>Lech Lecha.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Avraham Avinu<\/i> arrived in the Land of Israel, following the command of \u201cLech Lecha<\/i> \u2013 Go from your land\u2026\u201d1<\/b><\/sup><\/span> Right after he arrived in the land, famine struck. There was nothing to eat. So, Avraham Avinu<\/i> had no choice but to go down to Egypt with his family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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When he came to Egypt, he was afraid that the Egyptians would kidnap his wife, and therefore he hid her in a box and told her to lie and say she is not his wife. Avraham\u2019s fear was very reasonable, because the Egyptians were very promiscuous, so this effort on his part was to be expected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Was Avraham Avinu<\/i> right in what he did? Or did he make a mistake?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rabbeinu<\/i> Moshe ben Nachman, the Ramban, condemns Avraham for this act, saying that Avraham made a severe mistake and endangered his wife. Sarah was taken to Pharaoh\u2019s house precisely because Avraham sinned: He didn\u2019t have enough <\/b>bitachon<\/i><\/b>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If it weren\u2019t written in a holy book written by one of the greatest luminaries of the Rishonim<\/i>, it would be frightening even to consider this notion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Says the Ramban2<\/b><\/sup><\/span>: \u201cYou should know that Avraham Avinu<\/i> sinned greatly – unintentionally – by exposing his righteous wife to a possibility of sin due to his fear that he might be killed. He should have trusted in Hashem to save him and his wife and all that he owns, and it is within G-d\u2019s power to help and to save\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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He writes further that the very fact that Avraham Avinu<\/i> went down to Egypt during the famine \u2013 that too was a mistake and an expression of lack of bitachon<\/i>: \u201cAlso his leaving the country that he had been commanded about at first because of the famine \u2013 was a sin, because G-d can save him from death during famine\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But that\u2019s not all. The Ramban concludes by saying that the entire exile in Egypt was because of this: \u201cAnd due to this act, it was decreed that his descendants would be in exile in the land of Egypt, in the hands of Pharaoh. The evil and the sin are in the place where the trial was.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And so, part of the exile in Egypt was an atonement for the lack of bitachon<\/i> \u2013 to a very slightest degree \u2013 but for Avraham Avinu<\/i> it was considered a sin, due to his high spiritual level and his complete faith.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Not To Pray at a Time of Trouble?!<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

This explains the Splitting of the Sea, all of which was the complete tikkun<\/i> (rectification) of Avraham\u2019s sin: strengthening the trait of bitachon<\/i>, as opposed to Avraham\u2019s slight lack of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Jewish people who were leaving Egypt reached Yam Suf <\/i>(the Sea of Reeds) and were in great danger. They were then merely a nation of slaves who didn\u2019t know how to fight. The Egyptians were behind them with horses and chariots, and they outnumbered the Jews three to one. And the sea was in front of them, blocking their way. A death trap.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Jews, when they left Egypt, were still idol worshipers, which is why the angels said to Hashem: \u201cWhy are you saving Yisrael from the Egyptians \u2013 after all, those are idol worshipers and those are idol worshipers?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Jewish people, led by Moshe, made use of their forefathers\u2019 special skill and called out to Hashem with all their might.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And then Hashem said something surprising: \u201cHashem said to Moshe: \u2018Why are you crying out to me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael<\/i>; have them move forward.\u201d3<\/b><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What did He mean by saying, \u201cWhy are you crying out to me\u201d? What else can a Jew do when he\u2019s in trouble, besides calling out to Hashem?! Why did Hashem ask them, \u201cWhy are you praying?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Holy Rashi only increases the question: \u201cWe learn that Moshe was standing and praying. The Holy One, Blessed Be He said to him: \u2018This is not the time to pray at length, when Yisrael are in trouble.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And that is even more puzzling \u2013 when there is trouble, isn\u2019t that the time to pray at length? So, when should we pray \u2013 when there is no trouble?! It would seem that that is precisely the time to indeed pray at length!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This is what Rabbeinu<\/i> Chaim ben Attar, the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh<\/i>, asks: \u201cThis is difficult to understand \u2013 and to whom should he call out if not to Hashem, his G-d, and particularly at a time of trouble?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This is the Time for <\/b>Bitachon<\/i><\/b>!<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh<\/i> gives a wonderful explanation: Hashem yitbarach<\/i> said to Moshe Rabbeinu<\/i> that prayers wouldn\u2019t help here. Middat hadin<\/i> (measure of strict justice) was at work on the Jews, claiming, \u201cThese are idol worshipers and those are idol worshipers\u201d \u2013 so I can\u2019t save them. \u201cIt\u2019s not in My hands,\u201d says Hashem (so-to-speak).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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So what can one do in such a situation?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh<\/i> says something wonderful: In such a situation the Jewish people were supposed to strengthen their complete and absolute bitachon<\/i> in Hashem, and by doing so they would be able to do away with all the accusations and bring upon themselves all the miracles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This is what he says: \u201cIt is not in My hands, even though I would like to make a miracle for them, because they are not worthy\u2026. This is the way to empower the side of <\/b>chessed<\/i><\/b> and mercy<\/b>: Speak to Bnei Yisrael<\/i> that they should strengthen their <\/b>emuna<\/i><\/b> wholeheartedly and travel to the sea before it splits, based on the <\/b>bitachon<\/i><\/b> that I will make a miracle for them<\/b> and through that, the mercy will increase\u2026 because that <\/b>emuna<\/i><\/b> and <\/b>bitachon<\/i><\/b> have the power to determine their future for the good.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And to counter their weakening of emuna<\/i> upon seeing the Egyptians, the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh<\/i> explains, their rectification was \u201cto justify the emuna<\/i> with all their might\u201d. According to what we brought from the Ramban, that is indeed the tikkun<\/i> for the slight mistake of our forefather.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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When Everything is Blocked<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

We can take from all this a few sweet, useful and wonderful messages that can give us strength:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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First of all, Hashem does miracles for those who trust in Him even if they are not worthy, such as in this case, when the middat hadin<\/i> was criticizing them. Even so, thanks to their bitachon<\/i>, Hashem performed a miracle!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also, we see from this that in order to have a yeshua<\/i> (salvation) in the merit of one\u2019s bitachon<\/i>, the bitachon<\/i> has to be complete and absolute \u2013 to the point of jumping into the sea, like Nachshon ben Aminadav did when he jumped in to the sea, literally, until the water reached his neck. Can there be greater bitachon<\/i> than that?! According to the holy Ohr Hachaim<\/i>, that absolute bitachon <\/i>was what made the sea split.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We learn from here, also, that whoever trusts in Hashem, will never be disappointed. There are many psukim<\/i> that say so. And here too, even though the people were not worthy of a miracle, when they trusted in Hashem, Hashem yitbarach<\/i> (so-to-speak) had<\/b> to save them!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also, we see that bitachon<\/i> helps even when prayer does not. Even when there is justified criticism of the prayer, there is no such criticism of one\u2019s bitachon<\/i>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And so, every time that a person encounters troubles and dinim<\/i> (bad decrees) and he prays much but does not feel that he\u2019s getting results, and he still feels dinim<\/i> and severe inhibitors \u2013 he should know that in such cases the complete bitachon<\/i> in Hashem will help him, and he will be saved completely thanks to this trait of bitachon<\/i>, because bitachon<\/i> is greater and more powerful than prayer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dear Jews, on Leil Haseder<\/i> and during the entire holiday, there is a tremendous light illuminating the world. We just have to open the window and allow this wonderful light to penetrate our souls and the souls of our children, and load them up with emuna<\/i> and bitachon<\/i> for the entire year and for one\u2019s entire life. Chag same\u2019ach vechasher!<\/i> Have a happy and kosher Pesach!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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1 <\/b><\/sup><\/span>Bereishit (Genesis) 12:1\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2<\/b><\/sup><\/span> Ramban on Bereishit 12\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3<\/sup><\/span><\/strong> Shemot (Exodus) 14:15\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translated from Rabbi Arush\u2019s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. \u00a0 \u00a0 Planting Emuna (Faith)\u00a0 In a few hours we will all be sitting around the festive table, the house clean, everyone wearing new clothes, special food in front … Continue reading “Taking Advantage of Leaving Egypt”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62109,"featured_media":4936094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[15308],"tags":[16369,20230,16465,16534,24775],"author_post":[14273],"new_serie":[],"class_list":["post-4936088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-passover","tag-emuna","tag-passover","tag-redemption","tag-seder","tag-bitachon","author_post-rabbi-shalom-arush"],"acf":{"paragraph_first":"Hashem told Avraham that the Jewish People will be migrants in a land not their own. He didn\u2019t say where this would be. Why were they exiled to Egypt? ","paragraph_second":"Even though the people were not worthy of a miracle, when they trusted in Hashem, Hashem had to (so-to-speak) save them! ","meta_title":"Taking Advantage of Leaving Egypt","meta_description":"Dear Jews, there is a tremendous light illuminating the world on Leil Haseder and during the entire holiday. Open the window and allow this wonderful light to penetrate your souls and the souls of your children! This is an auspicious time to load up with emuna and bitachon for the entire year and for your entire life","special_content_in_the_post":"none","youtube":"","intro_text":"

Dear Jews, there is a tremendous light illuminating the world on Leil HaSeder<\/em> and during the entire holiday. Open the window and allow this wonderful light to penetrate your souls and the souls of your children for the entire year and for your entire life.<\/p>\n"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4936088"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5218771,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936088\/revisions\/5218771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4936094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4936088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4936088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4936088"},{"taxonomy":"author_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author_post?post=4936088"},{"taxonomy":"new_serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_serie?post=4936088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}