Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
It's finally happening. The Exodus begins. Our commentators remind us that the chapters we are now reading are less about history and more about our daily lives and present reality. If we overcame Pharaoh, we can certainly overcome our current predicaments. Here are two thoughts that encourage us to personally leave Egypt, as represented by whatever challenges we face today:
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook wrote: "Leaving Egypt will forever represent spring for the entire world." In other words, this is a story that will provide eternal inspiration to many nations and multitudes of people, not only us. It's a story for all those experiencing the first true spring, or complete sense of renewal, in their lives.
And in the book "Netivot Shalom," Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky wrote: "The entire mission for which a human being exists in this world is to take himself out of Egypt." Each person has his own particular form of enslavement, each person his own path to redemption.
Shavua tov.
