Two Redemptions
Student Summaries of Sichot of the Roshei Yeshiva
Yeshivat
Har Etzion
Parashat
SHEMOT
SICHA
OF HARAV
Two
Redemptions
Adapted
by
Translated
by Kaeren Fish
Our
parasha opens: And these are the names of the children of
The
key to understanding this may lie in the words of the Ramban, at the beginning
of Sefer Shemot. Ramban describes the significance of the
Sefer, and comments:
Sefer
Shemot is devoted to the first exile, which had been explicitly decreed,
and the redemption from it
For the exile is not ended until the day of their
return to their place, until they return to the level of their ancestors. When
they left
The
Ramban teaches here that there are two aspects to exile and, correspondingly,
two aspects to redemption. Exile is, on the one hand, when Am
Yisrael is not in its natural physical state, living sovereign in
Eretz Yisrael; on the other hand, exile is also a situation where
Am Yisrael is not in its natural moral state, maintaining the ways
of their forefathers. Exile denotes not only physical distance from the land; it
also means estrangement from the deeds of the forefathers and their moral path.
For this reason, redemption is likewise not only a return to the land, but also
moral redemption, where Am Yisrael repents and takes up the ways of their
forefathers.
Based
on this Ramban, we may explain that the midrash in Sefer Shemot, which
says that the exile began after the death of all of Yaakovs sons, is discussing
the physical exile. So long as Yosefs generation was alive, they fought in the
Egyptian army and led soldiers into battle. The Egyptians saw their valor and
were unable to subjugate Bnei Yisrael. Only after the death of Yaakovs
sons could the Egyptians start the physical exile, with the subjugation of the
nation. The midrash in Sefer Bereishit, on the other hand, describes the
beginning of the spiritual exile.
This began already at the time of Yaakovs death, when his sons did not
follow his ways and began to assimilate into Egyptian culture to the point
where their descendants reached the 49th level of
impurity.
Rav
Kook speaks in many places of the State of Israel as the foundation of Gods
Throne in the world; he describes how the existence of this state expresses the
beginning of the redemption. He taught this many decades before the
establishment of the actual State of Israel, and Divine Providence guided things
in such a way that when the state was established, it was called the State of
Israel. (A different name could have been chosen; Yehuda was raised as a
possibility.) Because of the name, people think that Rav Kook was speaking about
our state. But in light of the Rambans teaching, we may posit that Rav Kook was
not speaking about the state in which we live today. Rav Kooks beginning of
the redemption would take place in a state in which people would not only be
living in
Today,
we find ourselves perhaps in a very early stage of redemption a return to
Eretz Yisrael; even this stage brings with it many problems, as we see
today, being forced to fight continually to remain in the land. However, it is
clear that we are not even approaching the second stage of redemption the
moral redemption. Only when we reach such a level will we be able to relate to
the State of Israel as the foundation of Gods Throne in the world. It is in
reference to that state that Rav Kook speaks.
May
we soon merit, with Gods help, to witness both the complete physical redemption
and the complete spiritual redemption of
[This
sicha was delivered on leil Shabbat parashat Shemot 5765
(2005).]