Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

“Only 75 more days until Passover,” says the man who has just found out that temperatures will plunge to 9 degrees Fahrenheit next week. But the days are getting longer, and the sun is rising earlier in the morning, making his 6:30 am commute to morning prayers easier to navigate. Yes, Spring is in the air!

In our Torah reading for this Shabbat we are also given an inkling of our Festival of Spring. God appoints Moses to speak to Pharoah to begin the process that will culminate in the Exodus. God promises Moses, “I will bring you out of the suffering in Egypt and rescue you from your oppression.” The author of Tiferet Uzziel, R. Uzziel ben Zevi Hirsch Meisels (1743-1785 Poland) notes that the phrase “rescue you from oppression” should come before the phrase “I will bring you out….from Egypt.” In other words, the verse ought to read, “I will rescue you from your oppression and bring you out of Egypt.” First things first – first God needs to rescue from oppression, then one can have the Exodus from Egypt. So why does the Torah verse read as it does? Poor editing?

Rabbi Uzziel writes that the verse as it is written teaches us that before one can have a physical liberation one needs to undergo an emotional and spiritual transformation. Something has to change inside. The internal exile from one’s true self and destiny needs to end. Only when the Israelites feel empowered and entitled to freedom, only when they remember and believe in the promise made to their ancestors, can God then rescue them from oppression by bringing them out of Egypt.