Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
So how do people go free? How are they motivated to change?
Moshe Rabbeinu would have been justified to castigate the people since they had degenerated spiritually, albeit under the yoke of slavery. The Jews had been seduced by Egyptian culture and many worshiped idols. Yet despite this, God does not tell Moshe to rebuke or threaten the enslaved and suffering people, but just the opposite. Notice the inspiring words God tells Moshe to say to them:
"Thus you will say to the children of Israel: 'The Lord God of your forefathers appeared to me, the God of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov, saying: I have surely remembered you'... and I said: 'I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt... to a land flowing with milk and honey."
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that this way of speaking is appropriate for our own times: "In our generation too, the best way to educate and bring others closer is to remind them of the beauty of our heritage and to elevate their spirits with words of optimism."
