The Weekly Shtikle - Va'eira

The first aliyah of this week's parsha contains the famous 4 terms of redemption that are a prominent theme on the seder night. There is an intriguing nuance between the first and last of the four terms, discussed by R' Yoseif Salant in Be'er Yoseif. We are told (6:6) "vehotzeisi eschem mitachas sivlos Mitzrayim," I will extricate you from the hardships of Egypt. In the very next pasuk, we are told following the fourth term, "velakachti," that we will know that it is HaShem who took us out "mitachas sivlos Mitzrayim." The repetition of this phrase in the adjacent pasuk is odd enough on its own. But it is made even more curious by the fact that the first sivlos is written without a vuv, while the second is with a vuv.

R' Yoseif explains that there are two types of hardships. The unending back-breaking toil was a very clear and present physical strain. At the same time, we as a nation suffered significant spiritual damage by the centuries spent in the loathsome empire of Mitzrayim. These are much more difficult to feel and identify and may not be immediately apparent. When HaShem facilitated our exodus – the first of the four steps – only one form of hardship was clearly removed. Therefore, sivlos is written without a vuv, as if it were singular – sivlas. Velakachti refers to the giving of the Torah after the 49-day cleansing process leading up to that monumental event. Only after that would we truly appreciate and understand the duality of the hardships from which we were rescued. So the phrase is repeated and with the vuv in sivlos, to indicate this new realization.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

 

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

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