Va’eira: The Purpose of Shibud Mitzrayim, Avdus Hashem, and the Meaning of Freedom

Transcript

We speak about Mitzrayim and Yetzias Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim, why we had to go through it, what impact, imprint did it leave on Klal Yisrael, the doros, and Yetzias Mitzrayim also, the lessons and imprint that Yetzias Mitzrayim left on Klal Yisrael. Understand that one of the focal, the center of Yadus is about Yetzias Mitzrayim. Everything revolves around Yetzias Mitzrayim. Everything is zecher liYetzias Mitzrayim. The Chinuch already tells us many, many mitzvahs revolve around Yetzias Mitzrayim: Kiddush, Kriyas Shema, zecher liYetzias Mitzrayim, v'chaheinah v'chaheinah rabos. Yetzias Mitzrayim is one of the yesodos, one of the yesodos of Yadus. That's why we have many mitzvahs that revolve around it. That's how the Chinuch explains to me the yesod of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Al titma, says the Chinuch. Don't wonder. It shouldn't be a strange thing to you that there's so many mitzvahs around Yetzias Mitzrayim, because that's the yesod hakol. So we're going to have to explain: what is the yesod hakol? What is Yetzias Mitzrayim that is to us yesod hakol? So I always learned emunah. I spoke about this in the past. HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world. That's Hashem, that bara et haolam, that He created the world. Klal Yisrael doesn't only believe in Hashem shebara es haolam. Klal Yisrael believes in asher otzisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim, hashgacha pratit. Hashem runs the world, manhig et haolam. Vehashiur b'manhigo olam ze ad hashgacha pratit, to every step, every detail. Ze nitchadesh, ze nigaleh, ze lomdim v'ro'im, and this we see from Yetzias Mitzrayim. And that is why it says, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha me'eretz Mitzrayim. It doesn't say, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher barati shamayim va'aretz, because that's Hashem, that He created the world. Many goyim, many nations believe God created the world. That doesn't mean that Hashem is manhig et haolam, that He runs the world, that He's still around, that He's still... The way the goyim, chas v'shalom, their kefirah, the way they say it: God went to sleep. Hashem went... Hashem left the world to be. Asherotzei Sicha teaches us that Hashem didn't go to sleep. Hashem is manhig the olam, but not רק manhig; manhig b'ofen shel hashgacha pratis, every detail, every step of the way. And that's why it says, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. This, rabosai, I have spoken to you many times in the past. That's how I learned. And מסתמא you're saying, Yeah, it's pashut like that. I'm going to teach you today a chiddush that I saw from Reb Yerucham, mashgiach, Reb Yerucham zecher tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah, that he writes that if you think that that's what Yetzias Mitzrayim is all about, you have nothing from Yetzias Mitzrayim. You're completely, completely off. You missed the boat. Chiddush. Many years of sichot just went down the tubes, because for years I've been teaching this to you, and then all of a sudden I saw on Shabbat, I saw this Shabbos, that Reb Yerucham says not like that. Chiddush nifla, chiddush nifla. So before I tell you the chiddush of Reb Yerucham...

And it's not just a pshat that he says. He talks very strongly. We are said yesod that if you learn anything about this, and he even speaks out the way I learned, that even if you learn that Yetzias Mitzrayim is for emunah, you make it a big mistake. So before I tell you what he says Yetzias Mitzrayim is all about, I'd like to explain to you two nekudos, two points that I'd like to bring out today as well. The first nekudah is: does the shibud Yetzias Mitzrayim and the Yetzias—I'm sorry—the shibud of Mitzrayim and the Yetzias Mitzrayim, is it hainu hach? Is it the same point, the same lesson, or is the shibud one thing, the Yetzias Mitzrayim was a different thing? Was the tachlis, was the importance of shibud, the years of galus of Mitzrayim, as well as the years of Yetzias Mitzrayim, were they all one? Or maybe they were two separate things? No. The pasuk in Devarim tells us, Mitzrayim was kur habarzel. Kur habarzel means that when you want to straighten out iron, you have to weld it with hot temperature. You got to mamish work it out, burn it out. Mitzrayim maybe was kur habarzel. It was to what? To work, to work out Klal Yisrael, to clean them, mitzaref. Pirufim, cleansing. Yetzias Mitzrayim was teaching lessons. What's the connection? Maybe the connection is that you can't have the lessons unless the person is muchshar, unless he's prepared, unless he's fit, unless he's ra'ui to learn these lessons. We could say that that's the connection of shibud Yetzias Mitzrayim and Yetzias Mitzrayim, right? Nachon? Does everybody understand what I'm saying? I'm trying to learn with you pashut pshat in yesodei ha-dat. There's not a Yid that doesn't know that one of the main arteries of Yiddishkeit is Yetzias Mitzrayim. Anybody who doesn't identify with that yesod, right? We all understand, oh, we left Egypt, Egypt, we left, and Yetzias Mitzrayim and Pesach and emunah, everybody knows that, right? What's maybe a little less known is the shibud Mitzrayim. What was the galus that we had to go through? You know, I'll even bring this point in now just to show you the misunderstanding of the shibud Mitzrayim that we have. You know, Avraham Avinu questioned Hashem, Bameh eda? How do I know that I will get Eretz Yisrael, my children? So Hashem right away told him, Yadoa teida ki ger yihyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem. So one could say it's an inyan, the whole... Yetzias Mitzrayim was an onesh. It's the first thing. You read the psukim, the implication is, you said this, you had safek in emunah, you have an onesh. Right? That's what you learn. So the first thing I have to ask you is, oh, we have a rule, lo yumsu avos al banim, banim al avosam. Since when fathers sin and children pay for it? Since when could you come and say you did this and therefore your children? Now there's two simple answers to that question. One is, k'sheochzin maaseh avoseihem b'yadeihem. Maybe Klal Yisrael also had weakness in emunah. And kulei d'pshatzi taka came from Avraham Avinu. That weakness was cause and effect, meaning Avraham had a weakness in emunah, and that went into the children, b'yerushah, in the genes, so to speak. Meileh, it's possible that children should get punished for the sins of the father. This is a Gemara. K'sheochzin maaseh avoseihem b'yadeihem. Maybe this is called ochzin maaseh avoseihem b'yadeihem. On our level was the safek on Avraham's level. Or we could come and say...

Vinus different. Avraham Avinu's, the Avot, founding fathers, any little pegam in the founding fathers of Klal Yisrael has to be fixed in Klal Yisrael. In essence, it's actually the same teretz. Both terutzim, if you listen carefully and you pay close attention, is actually the same teretz. That since Avraham Avinu was the founding father, so whatever he did became part of the mahut of Klal Yisrael. So therefore, if it became Klal Yisrael's problem, and therefore to fix it they had to go and make a tikkun, Mitzrayim, Kur HaBarzel, cleansing, so on and so forth. So actually it is the same teretz, but in a different language. Or you could come and say it's two separate terutzim. To me it sounds like one teretz, but it's all good, right? According to my understanding, Yetzias Mitzrayim had nothing to do with an onesh. Yetzias Mitzrayim is not about punishment. I'm sorry, Yeshiva Mitzrayim, excuse me. Yeshiva Mitzrayim is not about a punishment. Even though the implication and the mashmaut hapshutah of the pesukim is that Avraham Avinu was mistapek, and right away Hashem told him, Oh, ger yehyeh zaracha, I'm not so clear, and I'm not so convinced that that's what it is. And just to give you a little bit more now, which we'll get back to later in greater detail, if that's what it was, then how could it be that Shevet Levi was not in the shibud of Mitzrayim? It's an onesh of ki ger yehyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem, and that there's a rule of what? Of bneihem, the children have to get the tikkun for the father, like we're explaining. So how do we understand that Levi was mufka, shevet Levi was exempt from the ger yehyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem, exempt from the kur habarzel, exempt from the shibud Mitzrayim, like we soon will see clearly, but that we all know anyway that Levi didn't work in Mitzrayim. This question actually the Maharal asks in Gur Aryeh on the pesukim over there in the Bris Bein HaBesarim. How could it be that Levi was mufka, was exempt from the gezeirah of ki ger yehyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem? It is because of this, I see that it's not just as simple to say, Ah, Avram did this and therefore it went into the children, and therefore Levi—I'm sorry—therefore the Klal Yisrael had kur habarzel. It's not that simple. It needs a little more clarification, a little more hesber, and we'll soon get to that hesber. But al kol panim, we now understand that it's not simply an onesh of ki ger yehyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem. The shibud Mitzrayim is not just a punishment. And what is it? It's kur habarzel. It's a cleansing process. Okay, cleansing. So we could come and say that there the shibud Mitzrayim was one thing, cleansing; the yetzias Mitzrayim was another thing, that was emunah, and one has nothing to do with the other. Possibly one is an introduction to the other, which means is that one is the preparation. When you cleanse yourself, you'll be able to have the... Once spoke that Moshe Rabbeinu's children were not by Matan Torah. It's a machlokes, different shitos, brakel panim. It's clear in the Medrash that Moshe worried about his children not being by Matan Torah, and that's why he wanted to bring them to Mitzrayim. So he spoke, a question, so bring them, which you notice he didn't do. After Mitzrayim, he didn't go back to get his children; Yisro had to bring them. So we said over from the Medrash, u'vanai lo yishmu k'mohem, that Moshe Rabbeinu feared if he doesn't bring his children to Mitzrayim, they won't hear Matan Torah, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, like the rest of Klal Yisrael. Peirush? It can't mean literally they won't hear; to bring them and they'll hear it. We explained many times in the shmuzen and the sichos of this many past years, it means that they won't be able to comprehend the Anochi Hashem Elokecha if they...

You go through the kur habarzel, the cleansing process, the preparation of Mitzrayim. That's the pshat. Moshe wanted to bring his children to Mitzrayim. It's machlokes in the medrash. Some medrashim say, Pola, Aharon. Aharon told him, Why are you bringing your children to Mitzrayim? Other medrashs say Yisro asked him, Why is he bringing his children to Mitzrayim? And the answer was, because if I don't bring my children to Mitzrayim, at Meirat Hashem one day there'll be matan Torah, and u'vonai, my children, lo yishmu. They won't hear Anochi Hashem like the rest of Klal Yisrael. So bring them. And the answer is, we said, because even if he brought them, it wouldn't help. If the preparation, the chanot, the kur habarzel, the cleansing is not there, you won't be able to hear Anochi Hashem Elokecha. We said this. We explained this, okay? And that's why Moshe Rabbeinu taka didn't go to pick up his children. Why would he have to wait for Yisro to bring his children? So that's how we could explain yeshivut Mitzrayim, the preparation, yetzias Mitzrayim, the lesson. And the preparation maybe is attached to the lesson, because without the preparation you can't have the lesson. Let me ask you a question. If the Ribono Shel Olam wants to prepare Klal Yisrael, it has to be through hard work, shibud, hard work. Vaya'avidu es Mitzrayim. They made them work. I'm sorry. Avodas Yisrael, avodah kashah, chomer u'leveinim u'vchol avodah basadeh, hard work. If the Ribono Shel Olam wants to teach a person a lesson, there's many ways how to do it. Yisurim is a start. I mean, we find that many people have tremendous yisurim. Why does it have to be with work, in slavery? You know, I was thinking, even in the Holocaust, they wanted to annihilate the, right? Why was there hakdamah of the slave camps, the work camps? So what was it about? I mean, you wanted to get rid of them, so what's the point? They didn't need them. Believe me, there wasn't work that they needed. The Nazi didn't need the work that the Jews did. Mitzrayim didn't need the work that the Jews did either. So either you can come and say it was to demoralize the people. In Mitzrayim, I hear it, because Mitzrayim actually didn't want to annihilate the Jew. What they wanted it to do is to subdue him. Pen yirbeh, maybe he'll get strong and he'll overtake us. So maybe a good form of ruining the person's self-esteem, that he can't stand up against, is to make avdus. And that we find, Eben Ezra writes an interesting question: How come Klal Yisrael didn't turn around on Kriyas Yam Suf and fight the Mitzriim? The numbers were unbelievable. Klal Yisrael was outnumbered, was outnumbering the Egyptians. The Rishonim ask this: why don't you just turn around? For every soldier, three would attack him, he'd be finished. Could be. That's what the Rishonim explain, that the idea of avdus demoralizes the person to such an extent that he can't fight back. It's possible that in the Holocaust it was the same thing, that Jews didn't even bother fighting back. Very little. Close to nothing. They just went katzon latevach. So maybe the goyim's way of doing it is by making avdus, slavery. When you enslave somebody, you demoralize him to the extent that he doesn't have the koach to stand up against you. This is all good on explaining Mitzad the Mitzriim what their kavanah was. But why did the Eibishter want it that way? Ki ger yihyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem, va'avadum, ve'inu osam. So the ve'inu osam could have been without the va'avadum. Why did HaKadosh Baruch Hu make the va'avadum? This kasha bothered me a whole Shabbos, whole Shabbos.

It was a beautiful question, a lifelike question. Bishloima, you say that the Mitzriim, they did va'avadum, so I explained to you, I understand this because this was to demoralize them. And like the Rishonim explain, that's why on Kriyas Yam Suf they couldn't even fight back. Why is it that in the Holocaust did they make slave camps? What was the point of that? If they want to kill them, they should have just went and killed them. Unless maybe they wanted, l'chatchila, to do it this way, and then the rishus grew and they decided to kill them. You have to know the history properly. I think they already planned the murder of the Jews way in advance, and I don't think it was in stages, yes. That's what I'm saying. So it could be, that's what I just said, could be the plan was gradual only because tachnit was that way. I don't know. I believe that a Yid has to view Holocaust and tzarot of Klal Yisrael, that it's not the oppressors that are doing to us, but that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is doing it to us and teaching us lessons. If you take the events of history and say, Ah, the Mitzri thought this and the German thought that, then you know what you are? You're a historian. You're a historian. You should go to college, Brooklyn College, and teach history. But if you're a ben Yehudi, a ben Torah, you have to view it not in the light of understanding the oppressors' actions. But understanding the Melech Malchei HaMelachim, who sent the shliach, the oppressor, who sent the shliach, the oppressor, to understand the actions through those mishkafayim, through those glasses, take the lessons that are supposed to be imprinted in Klal Yisrael. So let's understand the lesson, v'avadu. So bishloima, you say Kura Barzel, to prepare you, okay, so then v'einu osam. I understand why yisurim. Why v'avadu? Why whenever Klal Yisrael is being oppressed, it's through avdus, through being slave, enslaving somebody. Now, the emes is, we find that the shechorim also were enslaved, but that was for personal usage. That was more for personal gain. They wanted the work. Mitzrayim, you can't say that they wanted the work, because they used to make them work, and it used to sink back into the ground. It wasn't for work. The Nazis didn't want the work either. So that's why I'm saying the v'avadu is HaKadosh Baruch Hu's ultimate plan in the yisurim, in the galus. Why? Lama yesh nechidah? Inyan shel v'avadu. This is why I believe Reb Yerucham's words are so eloquent, emet la'amito. Says Reb Yerucham, Yetzias Mitzrayim is not about emunah. Let me read you the words. They're very, very strong. If I may even say shocking words. Hachoshev, if somebody thinks, שתכליתי האמונה, וזה אצלו המטרה והעיקר, וסולו מידי. Yeah? Someone asks you, what's Yetzias Mitzrayim? You'd say emunah. You know what Rabbi Yerucham tells you if you say that? אין לו חלק באלוקי ישראל. Shocked? Should I read you again? החושב שהתכלית היא האמונה, וזה אצלו המטרה והעיקר, וסולו מידי, that that's all, it's about emunah, אין לו חלק באלוקי ישראל. So then what is it? שבאמת תכלית הכל היא עבדות. Yetzias Mitzrayim was to teach us avdus, slavery to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's not enough to just to believe in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. אנכי ה' אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך...

Mitzrayim, mi'beis avadim. Special hadgasha, special emphasis that Hashem took us out, lihyos lo la'avadim. You were avadim to Paro; now you'll be My eved. And that's the tachlis: sheyis'ametz v'yisbarer eitzel ha'adam ha'emunah ba'nisim ha'moftim, ella shetachlis kol zehu avdus. Slavery, tachlis. Wow. Unbelievable. Now I'll understand that the shibud Mitzrayim and the yetzias Mitzrayim was not two separate things. It was teaching Klal Yisrael avdus. It's not just plain yisurim, v'inui oysam. This is what I understood according to the words of Rabbi Yerucham, in light of the words of Rabbi Yerucham. It's not enough just to give a person yisurim. You're right, give you yisurim, it'll teach you a good lesson. But that's a lesson sheyishma ha'ozen, that the ear should listen; give him a good patch, give him a good smack across the face, and now he'll listen. It's more than this. This is teaching shibud, avdus. And then Hashem said, now I taught you avdus for a few hundred years: Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim, mi'beis avadim. Rabbi Yerucham speaks the entire sicha, the entire sicha on this yesod, that yadus is not just plain emunah. It's not enough. Emunah, there are plenty goyim that have emunah. Concept, obvious. You know, I was thinking to myself something very interesting. I understand that there's a whole shaila in the poskim, a shaila about a shach, how to learn up a certain shach, if Christianity is kefirah. It's a whole question of how to learn up a shach in Yoreh Deah. Are they metzuvah al ha-shituf? Do they have an issur to believe in a god together with God, shituf, that there's more than one, or not? It's a big shaila in the poskim. It's not for now. And מצד נגיד שאין הם מצווים, they're not mitzuvah on shituf. Let's say. What's the chiluk, the יסודistic chiluk, between Yiddish and Christianity? And the answer is, one is emunah, and the other one is avodah. They decided to take away, to disengage the avdus from the emunah. The whole religion is based on taking away, ani ma'amin, me'lo ani meshubad lo, ani lo meshubad. There's no shibud, it's easy. I don't have to do anything. There's no halachos. No, really. What? I dance, I celebrate, I make Christmas, make parties, make flowers, make trees, make presents. It's all very nice. Everything till the shibud. Everything till the shibud. Yadus, Yadus is shibud. Avdus, slavery. This, rabosai, is yetzias Mitzrayim, u'lanias daiti, shibud Mitzrayim and the connection between the two. It's not two separate lessons. It's all one big lesson of what? Enslaved. On the other hand, we discussed Pesach, Chag HaGeulah. It's very strange. If the whole yesod, the whole yesod, the whole concept, the whole ideal of Mitzrayim and yetzias Mitzrayim was to teach shibud, so why is it called Chag HaGeulah, Chag HaCheirus? All the halachos are about cheirus. So this we spoke in past years, so I won't elaborate on it, but I'll just quote a Rambam in Iggeres HaMusar, which he writes to his son, and I quote the lashon: Sheha'avdut hachomer laseichel, b'meshubad.

Slave the chomer, the gashmiyus, to the seichel — your body to your mind and heart. K'loimar, haguf lanefesh. Why? Ki shibudoi, the shibud of the guf to the nefesh, the chomer to the seichel, hi cheiruschem. This is your freedom. B'zeh uvaba, in this world and in the next world. Freedom. Freedom, you hear? You want freedom? Freedom is the separation of chomer from seichel, to be meshabed, to enslave your body and its needs to what the seichel and the heart longs for and needs. What does he mean, b'zeh uvaba, in this world and in the next world? The Rambam writes in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, what is Gan Eden? What is it? Tzadikim yoshvim v'atroseihem b'rosheihem v'nehenin miziv haShechinah, right? What is it? What is it? And the answer is that the body in this world is an ikuv. It's a hindrance for the neshama. It's a hindrance for the nefesh. So if you're meshabed the guf, or l'asid lavo, when the guf goes away in the next world, the guf departs from the nefesh. So what is the nefesh now meshubed? It's not meshubed at all. The nefesh is freed. The neshama is freed from the guf, which hinders, which is me'akev it from getting what it needs. That's cheirus. Huh? It's true. A person is meshubed. His body wants this, and he has to have good breakfast. Okay, the body needs a car and this and a red and a vacation, and the body needs so many things. Once a person dies, he needs nothing. I spoke to you many times. You ever notice that people who are extremely rich and have many houses, they seem to be very comfortable, and they lay very, very restful and peaceful in a four-by-four in the ground. You ever notice that? No, you ever notice that? V'sanuach b'shalom al mishkavo. Very peaceful. V'shalom al mishkavo. What is he referring to? Why are they so peaceful? I thought they needed to conquer the world, houses and cars, and you know what the answer is? That's the guf needs that. But once the guf is gone, it's very peaceful. Shalom. Peace. It's peaceful. There's no needs. Everything is cheirus. Freedom. You're finally free. You're finally free. You don't have work, and you don't have problems, and you're nothing. What happens if a person takes his nefesh and he floods it with chomer, he floods it with chomer. His whole nefesh, neshama, it's all—the arteries of his nefesh, neshama are clogged with chomer. You know what happens? He doesn't have that much freedom. You know who tells me that? Who told me that? Reb Chaim Volozhin. That's how Reb Chaim Volozhin explains Gehenom. You know, everybody here likes to talk about Gehenom. You notice that? To talk about Gehenom, I would have a full beis medrash full of people every Sunday, right? Reb Chaim Volozhin explains that what is the biggest Gehenom? The biggest Gehenom is that it's like fat deposits in the arteries of the heart, chomer deposits, taavos. And if a person is healthy, he doesn't have all these chomer deposits, then when he comes la'asid lavo, he's breathing fresh air. He feels good. Reb Chaim Volozhin says, like, it chokes him. All the chomer chokes him. It chokes him and his neshama can't breathe. This is what the Rambam means: hi cheiruschem. This is your freedom. Zeh u'baba, in the next world too. It says the...

Rashi again here. Sha'abdu hachomer l'seichel. Write it to his son. This isn't mussar for a baal mussar, for a mashgiach. He's writing his son, giving him an eitzah tovah. I want to give you a good tip in life. You want to be free? You want to be happy? Sha'abdu hachomer l'seichel. Learn to enslave the chomer to the seichel. Kelomar, ha'guf lanefesh k'khibudah, because it's shibud. It's enslavement. Hi cheiruschem bazeh uvabo. You're free. A person could die and his guf leaves him, but if he still has chunks of fatty deposits of guf, of chomer, of taivos in his heart from a whole life of taivos, then again he's not free. He has the disease. It's choking him. It's stuck with him. You know, Chazal say a very interesting lashon. Chazal say that the inyan of kekelev, a person does with an aveirah, with a zonah, she's stuck, nishkal. It's stuck to him, kekelev, like a dog. Remember the Gemara? Like a dog. You never know if a dog runs behind you. Can't get rid of it. You can't get patur from the dog, right? Gemara says that. What's the pshat? It gets stuck to you. There's a glue that sticks to you. You know, all the internet junk that you watch, don't think that goes away. Don't go away. It gets stuck to you. You need a kura barzel to get rid of all that. You need a tziruf. You need a cleansing process to clean you out good. Otherwise it gets stuck to your neshama, and there's really no way to get it. What? You're not maskim? You don't agree? Okay. Now. So this is cheirus. So meila, we have a tremendous thing that the Rambam talks about a shibud of chomer laguf laseichel, and this is called cheirus. So we have to understand: shibud, cheirus, make up your mind. Is it shibud or is it cheirus? And the answer is Pesach. Pesach is teaching us that the shibud ruchnius, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, is the cheirus. It's the biggest freedom, biggest freedom possible. Then we've spoken about this at great length in the past. Everybody knows this Torah: chametz, right? Just bread and water, that's cheirus. Taavos, yetzer hara, al ta'maisis. I'm not going to go into; we all know this, okay? I want to go a little bit further. So now we've established that Yetzias Mitzrayim is about avdus. Shibud Mitzrayim is to teach us avdus. And just the Rabbeinu Shalom said, we'll switch it. We'll take the avdus that you were trained all these years for, and we'll shift it from Paro to what? Anochi Hashem Elokecha, that it's I am Hashem, I took you out, meila now you're meshubad to Me. Do you know what are the two yesodei of yahadus? Torah and avodah, Torah and tefillah. Do you know what Torah is called? Do you know how Torah is identified? It's Torah avodah, Torah is enslavement. You know. Moshe Rabbeinu was told, V'zeh lecha ha'os. This is the sign that I'm telling you to take with you when you leave Mitzrayim and redeem Klal Yisrael. V'zeh lecha ha'os: ta'avdun es haElokim al hahar hazeh. Ta'avdun. Tell me, what avodah was on Har Sinai? You know about—you know which avodah we're referring to? Which avodah are we referring to? I guess, no? Now, the truth is there is a little bit korbanos. They were makriv korbanos over there. You had the parshas mishpatim. You see there was korbanos. But I never saw it being made a big deal out of it. I never saw anybody explain that the ta'avdun is referring to the korbanos that they were makriv on Har Sinai. What's the simple pshat, ta'avdun? What's referring to Kabbalas HaTorah? No? You disagree with me? I don't know, maybe, maybe not. That's the way I learned all the years. Ta'avdun es haElokim al Kabbalas HaTorah. Now what's it called? Ta'avdun, shibud. Tell me, tefillah—what's tefillah called?

Tefillah is called a zehu avodah shebalev. Prayer in tefillah is about avodah. It's about slavery. Maybe we don't have the right understanding what slavery is. We think slavery means to sit there with a whip. Ein lecha ben chorin ela mi she'osek baTorah. You know, the Germans said something very true, just they didn't apply it properly. Arbeit macht frei. You know what that means? Work. Slavery makes free. You know who says that? Chazal. Chazal tell us, Ein lecha ben chorin... The most free person is a person who what? Who learns Torah. You mind the Chazal, if you look at the Rambam in Hilchos Talmud Torah, it doesn't sound very free to me. Why do you call it P.S., I.S.? What is it called when you want to send somebody to a different... P.S. Look at the Rambam, Hilchos Talmud Torah. Pas bamelach tochal, mayim b'mesurah tishteh, v'al ha'aretz tishan, v'chayei tza'ar tichyeh. Ein lecha ben chorin ela mi she'osek baTorah. Huh? What are you talking about? What are you saying? Maybe the Gemara doesn't hold it's a machlokes, the Gemara and the Rambam, and the Torah says there's no machlokes, the Gemara. Pshat is, rabosai, gevaldig, gevaldig. Chai tzar and ben chorin is not a contradiction. Not a contradiction. When you meshabed, when you meshabed the chomer to the seichel, the guf to the nefesh, hi cheiruschem. That's freedom. That's free. You know, a guy on Shabbos was telling me he wishes he could be in kolel. Why? Because he works hard. He wakes up in the morning and if he doesn't do a good deal, the boss is there to scream at him. And if it's not good, he loses money, and then his wife screams at him. He comes to kolel, what's the big deal? He comes in the morning, he goes at night. If you learn good, if you don't learn, no one knows the difference. He was telling me, he says, and if you don't do good, there's no accountability. I'm listening, I'm letting him talk and talk. You're not that guy, even though I've heard that from you also. Just kidding. Huh? Yeah, no headache. Okay. So let me explain to you where your mistake is. You ready? The freedom is not about time. The freedom is not about money. You know, who would you call the freest person in the world? The movie stars. They make a movie, yeah, make a movie. They work a few hours a week. What is a movie? A few hours a week, millions of dollars. Rockstar makes up a niggun. Let me tell you, I make up nigunim also. I ... mamash, yeah, made up a niggun. Shai was dancing around over there. Okay, so let's say, I don't know how much work goes into it. I can tell you that it's zecha enough that he has plenty of time to travel the world and go on jets and planes and having fun and weekends, right? Tell me, did you find any of them that are ever happy? I'm just trying to figure out, do you find any of them that, wow, successful, we feel good? They're all depressed, manic-depressed, suicidal. They break up every other day with every other zayin in the street. And all the shows, the talk shows about problems, about all the—what do they call those talk shows when they have the one talks to the... They're all talking about how horrible and how terrible and how they're suffering. Suffering? Suffering? What's there to suffer for? What are you suffering about? And the answer is, that's not happiness. That's not cheirus. Because the guf is doirish, the taiva, the yetzer hara is doirish so much from you that you can't take it. You have no idea how much the yetzer hara asks from a person on a constant basis.

There's no end. You think they don't have to answer? They have to answer every five seconds to a different yetzer hara. The yetzer hara drives them insane, insane. Drives them insane. Then you have people who are not meshubad, not to the yetzer hara, but when they're meshubad to the Torah. So when you're meshubad to the Torah, it doesn't drive you insane. It doesn't drive you insane. So if a person sits in the kollel, okay, and he's not learning, you think he has it easy? He don't have it easy. Get very, very depressed very, very fast. See, because bishleima if you're working, at least you can keep yourself busy. You don't even have time to think. But here you don't have time. You have time to think, and you're meshubad to the yetzer hara because you didn't take care of your yetzer hara, because you're not learning. You go out of your mind. You have to learn. If you learn, then you're happy. You're right. All these balabatim look at the yeshiva guys and they're saying, Ah, they don't understand. You got to constantly fight the yetzer hara. That's a big avodah. And once you have that avodah, then they're happy. If they're not learning, believe me, they're not going to survive the kollel. You can't. Because then the free time becomes, what, the worst thing for you. The worst thing for you when you're not learning and you're not davening and you're not fighting the yetzer hara is free time. The worst thing. Fight the yetzer hara, that's freedom. Shibud haguf. Don't think it's not a shit. It's a fight. It's a shipus. Anybody who looks at the Kail guy and says, Eh, I'm telling you that he doesn't know what it's all about. It's not easy. Not easy at all. Ta'avdun es Elokim al hahar hazeh — yeah? Avodah. It's about avdus. Tefillah. Eizehu avodah shebalev? How is tefillah avodah shebalev? Bishloima Torah, I can hear it's an avodah. It's a whole lifestyle. How is tefillah avodah shebalev? Coming up to avodah shebalev. You know what cheimer is? Cheimer is I want. You know what tefillah is? Not me. It's not I want. It's Ribono Shel Olam, You want. If a person is busy with I want, and he goes out and he gets it, and he makes his efforts to get it, when a person davens, he has to be koveish et yetzero. He has to come and say, It's not what I want. It's not about I, because I'm not in the driver's seat. It's about You. That's avdus. Let me repeat what I just said. Did you understand what I just said? Do you like what I just said? Okay, let me repeat it, and then you'll see the classical beauty of what I just told you. I've established the eizeh Hashem yisbarach. In the derech of Rebbi Ruchim, in the words of Rebbi Ruchim that he was me'ir eineinu to understand that Yetzias Mitzrayim is not about emunah. Yetzias Mitzrayim is about avdus. And with this we explained, now I understand how shibud Mitzrayim and Yetzias Mitzrayim is all one big issue: avdus. We're teaching avadim, the inyan of avdus. Avdus, avdus. So I explained to you, Torah is about avdus. Ta'avdun es Elokim al hahar hazeh. It's an inyan of avodah, avdus. What's the avdus? Bitul haratzonos means it's not about me. I'm not living for myself. I'm not living for my ratzonos. I'm living for something which is sechel, which is ruchani. I'm not living cars and fun and falafels and pizzas and chrezvas. I'm living Torah. That's bitul haguf lasechel, laruchniyus, which the Rambam tells me is shibud, but it's cheirus. Ein lecha ben chorin ela mi she'osek baTorah. And that's why the kolel guy, don't think, don't think that his cheirus is because he has not—

He's not working. Bakeret, his cheirus is because he is working. And if he wasn't working, he wouldn't have cheirus. The drisha, the stress that the yetzer hara puts on a person to be mema'et the taivos is unbearable. It's unbearable for a human being to take. And that's why the people who have free time and their taivos are growing miyom l'yom like the movie stars, they can't take it. They can't, they can't. Either you got to be a simple guy and keep yourself busy, or you can't have such big taivos. It doesn't work. Because if you let in the yetzer hara to be your moshel, to be your ruler, he will rule you to the extent of tyranny, tyranny, that you won't be able to take it. If you let your yetzer hara be your moshel, remember I told this to you, you will not survive. You will be abused to the extent that you'll have to just either jump off a cliff or something or just give up. There's nothing you can do. When you fight back through Torah, or you keep yourself busy, keep yourself busy, you don't have time, which is the chesed of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The chesed of HaKadosh Baruch Hu is either you sit and learn or you got to work. If you don't work and you're not learning, you're not going to be able to survive it. Tefillah, tefillah is about bittul ha'anochiyus. It's not about me, because I have to realize that it's not in my hands. And it's not about what I want. I could go out to the store and get it. I'm relying on the Ribono Shel Olam. I'm not in the driver's seat. There's a different moshel in my life. Who is the moshel in my life? HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So either you have a moshel, the yetzer hara, or you switch the yetzer hara to what? That the moshel of your life is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's one of the two. And then we avodah shebalev. Avodah in the lev is people. Avdus. Avdus. Subordination. Subordination. You understand what the word in English means, subordination? ביטול. ביטול. I'm mevatel myself. Mevatel the anochi. I'm mevatel it. Either the pshat is my yetzer hara is my moshel, or who is my moshel? HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The person, if he didn't have the training of Mitzrayim, he wouldn't know what bitul is. He wouldn't know what it means to be subordinate under something. We're going to learn about this. Pari's koach was, Bilti l'harim ish es yado. No one was allowed to even blink an eye without Pari. It says clearly, Ani Pari, u'bilti... No one was allowed to move an arm without Pari. Total subordination was Mitzrayim. And there was a lesson for the Yid when he left Mitzrayim to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That I don't move. Ein adam loikev etzbai milmata ela im kein machrizin alav milmaalah. This was shibud Mitzrayim. With this, rabosai, I want to explain to you the connection between Shabbos and Yetzias Mitzrayim. You know, a lot of Kiddush, Mitzrayim, Yetzias Mitzrayim, zecher l'Yetzias Mitzrayim. I don't have to prove it to you from Kiddush; I can prove it from the pasuk itself. Why do we keep Shabbos? Anybody know why we keep Shabbos? Ki sheishes yamim asah Hashem es hashamayim v'es haaretz, uvayom hashvii Shavas vayinafash. Do you know where this pasuk is? Which Aseres HaDibros? There were two of them: Shemos. Do you remember what it says in the second Aseres HaDibros, why we keep Shabbos? Dvarim. Because Hashem what? Created. Avdus. Vezacharta ki eved hayisa b'eretz Mitzrayim. It's not only zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim. I always had this problem. I don't understand why we speak in the Kiddush, zecher...

Yetzias Mitzrayim, and we don't say zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim. V'zacharta ki eved hayisa b'eretz Mitzrayim, vayifdecha Hashem Elokecha mi'beis avadim. I don't have an answer to that question. Why in the Kiddush do we stress yetziah, and we don't stress ki eved hayisa? What? Why say things which are ...? Because the pasuk says not like that. The pasuk says clearly that the yesod of Shabbat is v'zacharta ki eved hayisa. You have to remember you were an eved. Now, where did I get this from? The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, Chelek Rambam Moreh Nevuchim, Chelek Beis, perek lamed aleph. Just for you to remember, that's how I always remember it: peh, perek lamed aleph. It's a pehled'ike Rambam, you hear? The Rambam writes as follows: U'kvar bo'u b'zos hamitzvah shtei ilos. There's two reasons why we keep Shabbos. Okay. That's okay? No, I'm saying you're not doing ... Huh? Okay. It's all ... Bifnei sheheim l'shnei alulim mischalfim. Two separate reasons. You ready? Two separate reasons. Come on, I'll let you read it because you're on topic. Come in. V'zeh she'amar b'ilaas higdil haShabbos ba'aseres haDibros harishonos. In the first Aseres HaDibros, what does it say? Ki sheishes yamim asah Hashem. But then the Mishnah Torah, it says, Vezacharta ki eved hayisa b'Mitzrayim, al kein tzivcha. V'zeh emes, says the Rambam, it's both true. Ki, pe'al b'maamar rishon hu kibud hayom. The first thing is to bring out how great the day is, al kein beirach Hashem es yom haShabbos vayekadshehu, and that's all Ki sheishes yamim. Omnam, titen lanu Toras haShabbos, tziva osanu l'shamrah. Shabbos is great, but why do we get the Shabbos? And the answer is, Vezacharta ki eved hayisa b'eretz Mitzrayim. Guess what? You know what the Rambam's teaching me? That why we keep Shabbos has nothing to do with Ki sheishes yamim asah Hashem es hashamayim v'es haaretz. That's what he says. He says, You want to know why Shabbos? Shabbos is great. Shabbos is Ki sheishes yamim asah Hashem es hashamayim v'es haaretz. Give us up to us. What is called Yisrael have to do? And the answer is, Vezacharta ki eved hayisa b'eretz Mitzrayim, vayiftach Hashem Elokecha mi'beis avadim. What's the shaychus? I'll tell you what I think the pashut pshat is. A person who puts a Shabbos into his weekly routine, and that Shabbos is not meant to sleep and to play golf and whatever people do on a rest day, whatever, I don't know the yetzer haras of today. In my days, those were the big yetzer haras: to sleep, to wash the car and play golf. Stam a today, it'll be other ones. Nice. Now, so l'choira... Shabbos is not just a day of rest, because the Mishnah Berurah says clearly, poskim tell us that if a guy spends his entire Shabbos sleeping and there, it's very possible he wasn't mechalel Shabbos, but he wasn't shomer Shabbos. Kadosh mechalel lo meivi, but he wasn't a shomer Shabbos zachor v'shamor. He wasn't mekayem the Shabbos. What's the mekayem? The Shabbos is to learn and to daven. So in his weekly routine, he puts a Shabbos in. And not only that, all the days of the week is focal to what? To the Shabbos. It's focal to the Shabbos. Let me ask you a question. What's the ikar in a person's life? Is the ikar in a person's life the days of work, or the ikar in life is the Shabbos and the days of work are a hachanah to get to the Shabbos? Which is the main thing? A Yid is different than a guy. A guy works, then he has a day of rest because he can't work so much. A Yid is the opposite. The ikar is the day of Shabbos, and I work a whole week to get to the Shabbos. That's what Shabbos is. The Gemara tells us that Beis Shammai, Beis Hillel, right, every day that they would find something for Shabbos, right?

This is for Shabbos. That's for Shabbos. And like this, you mekayem the Shabbos all week. The focal point is the Shabbos, and the week is to get to the Shabbos. It's all hachanos. Mi shetarach b'Erev Shabbos, yochal b'Shabbos. Ikar is the Shabbos, and the tircha b'Erev Shabbos is just hachanah, right? This, rabosai, is avdus. That's what avdus is. Avdus is where a person is meshubad to ruchniyus HaKadosh Baruch Hu. His day, his weeks of work, it's not about for him that he should get nothing. It's all hachanah. It's all hachanah to be with the Melech, to be with the Master. That's Shabbos. V'zacharta ki eved hayisa. You have to remember ki eved hayisa b'Mitzrayim. Vayift'cha Hashem Elokecha mi'beis avadim. Hashem took you out of the beis avadim. You know what the week is if it's just about work? That's avadim. That's avdus. You want to know what slavery is? Go to Manhattan at one o'clock in the morning and see how many people are still working at one o'clock in the morning. Look how many people are working nonstop around the clock to get the next deal and to get to... That's avadim. But vayift'cha Hashem mi'beis avadim. Hashem took you out of that. Hashem took you out from the beis avadim. Why did Hashem take you out from the beis avadim? This is Shabbos. You hear it? You like it? You want to see what I just said? Beautiful. Yeah. You want to know what slavery is? Go see the people who work nonstop. That's slavery. That's called avdus. Hashem took you out of that. Hashem took you out of that. That's pshat in Shabbos. Vezacharta, remember. Remember Shabbos. Shabbos is to teach you that you're not in this world to slave. You're in this world to be what? An eved of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This is the yesod of Shabbos and yetzias Mitzrayim. Let me show you further. I asked you a question. The Bnei Yisrael once, that Klal Yisrael should be enslaved, Holocaust, also slavery, Tzraim, slavery. This was a lesson. It's a lesson what it means to be an eved. Klal Yisrael has to learn avdus. So sometimes they lack that lesson. What was the bris bein habesarim? What did Avram say that was so not right? Bamah eida, how do I know? Did he really be mistapek if HaKadosh Baruch Hu—did he really not believe that HaKadosh Baruch Hu would do it? Tell me, I want to know. You really think for one minute Avraham Avinu had shayches to Ribono Shel Olam, and not only had shayches to Ribono Shel Olam, his whole life was to bring emunah in the world. So what happened? The baal emunah didn't have emunah? Is that the pshat? Is the pshat, did the baal emunah didn't have emunah? Tell me, is that what it means? There was a moment, a lapse of emunah by Avraham Avinu? I don't believe that. You know what I believe? I believe there was a lapse in avdus. Moshe עבדי, בכל ביתי נאמן הוא. Know the difference between an eved and ne'eman. It's not about me. Bamah eida, how do I know? It's not I. You know, a slave never knows anything. He just does what he's told. Avraham didn't believe for a minute that it's not going to happen, but he wanted to feel, Bamah eida, how do I know? He wanted to feel comfortable. He lacked in avdus.

Lacked in avdus, the bitul. It's not about, How do I? It's not about I. You should have been on a darga, neman beisai, avdi. You don't ask questions. You don't have to know anything. We're still going to learn this. Kol ma shekan eved, kan rabo. The whole das of the eved is the das rabo. There's nothing. The eved has no yad. There's nothing him. There's no him there. Bama? Ei, da, haru? I know? I? Hashem made a safek that it's not going to happen. But he wanted to feel, give me that I should feel. There's nothing you should feel. There's nothing you should feel. You should be an eved. Therefore, for 200 years, ki ger yihyeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem va'avadum. They had to learn avdus. I ask you a question. What happened to shevet Levi? What happened to shevet Levi? They weren't part of this va'avadum v'inu osam. The Maharal asks this for a question, and you know what the answer is, rabosai? They had it anyway. They had the va'avadum. Taam dones Elokim al hahar hazeh, Torah is avdus. Torah is avdus. Does anybody know why Levi was not nishtabed? Does anybody know why? So they're going to come and say that it started off by convincing them to work, and Levi said, No, we don't want to work, and therefore they couldn't. Everybody knows the kids' medrash, right? What? In the beginning they were able to say no. That was the whole yesod. The whole yesod of the medrash was that it was the Klal Yisroel who put themselves... Into the story, because they came and said, Let's work, and they said, Okay, and once they started to get them to work, then they were able to make a patim from it. This is a medrash. Levi said, No, it's deeper than that. I'll tell you how I know this. Ready? Does anybody know why Levi did not carry the aron of Yaakov? There's a medrash about it. Does anybody know why? Levi was the only one that did not carry the aron of Yaakov. So the medrash says a lashon like this: Yaakov Avinu said, Levi is going to carry the aron of Hashem. Levi is going to carry the aron of Hashem, yeah? And since it's going to carry the aron, Levi, right, kahas, the meileh they're not going to carry the aron of Yaakov Avinu. Tell me, it's not a kavod for them to carry Yaakov's coffin because they're carrying the aron? Why can they carry their father's coffin because they're going to carry the aron? But it's too much work for them? You can't give them so many jobs? What is the medrash talking? I don't understand the medrash. To me it was a davar shel פלא. I read the medrash, I don't know what it's talking about. They don't carry their father's aron, says the medrash. Why not? Remember such a medrash? Hey, yisu es aron Hashem. They're going to carry the aron of Hashem, therefore lo yisu es haroini, they shouldn't carry my aron. So I understood, maybe Yaakov said it's not a kavod, maybe it's not a kavod, since they're carrying the aron of Hashem, so it's like a nechais dargah. It's yeridah b'kedushah going down by carrying my aron. Is that true, that if a guy does avodas hakodesh, he can't carry his father's aron? I don't understand what's going on. You like the question? Should I perplex you even more? I found the Chizkuni brings this medrash: why Levi didn't carry the aron, and he ties into it, and that's why Levi was not nishtabed b'Mitzrayim, because they used to carry the aron. Unbelievable Chizkuni. He uses the medrash where the medrash says that they're going to carry the aron of Hashem, so they can't carry Yaakov's aron. And with this, we understand why they were not nishtabed; they weren't enslaved in Mitzrayim. What does one have to do with the other? Rabosai, let me tell you what I think the pshat is. Nosei es ha'aron — they carry. Ohel. They can have an ohel, a different burden. Shibud is about burden.

Levi had a different burden in Mitzrayim. Ka'avdu nes ha'Elokim al hahar hazeh. They were the nosei ha'aron. Shibud. Everything is shibud. There's no free rides. Ohel haTorah. They're going to carry the ohel of Torah. They didn't need, or maybe we could even say better, they were mekayem the va'avadu v'einu osam in a different method. The Gemara says, Kol hamekayem ohel Torah, ma'avirin mimenu ohel derech eretz. It's interesting, huh? If you hold up the ohel haTorah — what's Chazal, right? — ma'avirin mimenu ohel derech eretz. Levi, nosei es ha'aron. It doesn't mean physically nosei es ha'aron. What does it mean? They're nosei the ohel. Tell me, Yaakov's carrying of the aron — you think it was plain and simple carrying of the aron? Well, there was a symbol in the carrying of the aron of Yaakov. Nosei es ha'aron. Do you know that the levayah of Yaakov Avinu was an extravagant — it was something, what do we call that, a whole chavayah. The malachim came, the kings of the world, they put their crowns. It was like a whole thing. Keser Torah. Yaakov's aron was keser, was Torah. The idea of the nesi'as ha'aron was to be nosei b'ohel, or the ohel of Torah. You know, they put the crowns. You know about that? Chazal tell us they put the crowns on the aron of Yaakov. They all realized what Torah is and what keser, the royalty of Torah. And the nesius ha'aron was nesius ha'aron of Torah. Levi didn't need that. Levi had nosa the actual aron. They carried the aron Torah on their own. That's what he said. Yaakov Avinu said that Levi wasn't shayach to the whole galus. If you notice, and this is something very interesting, the whole bringing Yaakov to Mitzrayim, v'gam alcha oli, I'll take you up, right? It was all about the va'avodim v'inu osam. It was the journey of Yaakov into the kur habarzel. Levi didn't need it. Or al kol panim, Levi was mekayem it through the fact that they were nosei ohel haTorah, that they were carrying the ohel haTorah anyway. And now I'm going to prove it to you. You ready? Listen carefully. When did shibud Mitzrayim start? Does anybody know when it started? What event triggered shibud Mitzrayim? What, the death of Yosef? No. The death of Levi. It's mefurash Rashi. If you take a look at Rashi, perek vav, pasuk tezayin, Rashi says that the shibud started, vayamas Levi. It says when the pasuk tells when Levi died. It says, Rashi, why is it important to tell us when Levi died? And the answer is, because kol zman any of the brothers were alive, the shibud didn't start. What happened? As soon as they all died, that's when it started, and Levi was the last one to die. Coincidence? Maybe. You want to read the Rashi? Go ahead. Read the Rashi, but read it clear! And then you'll appreciate the shibud. See, this is not stam putting together information. It's true. It's the havanah, it's the understanding of yetzias Mitzrayim and shibud Mitzrayim. Go ahead. למה נמנו שנותיו של לוי? Oh, the pasuk says, Vayamos... it says, read the pasuk. Pasuk tes-zayin. It says, Ushnei chayei Levi. Shnei chayei Levi! How long did Levi live? Seven and thirty and a hundred years. Why do you take Levi and put him separately, tell me how long he lived, says Rashi. למה נמנו שנותיו של לוי? להודיע כמה ימי השעבוד, שכל זמן שאחד מן השבטים קיים לא היה שעבוד, שנאמר וימת יוסף וכל אחיו, ואחר כך ויקם מלך חדש, וללוי האריך ימים על כולם. You were right. Everybody thought it was Yosef, because you got confused with the beginning, Vayamos Yosef. No, no. Vayamos Yosef וכל אחיו. Levi. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe it's about the last of the brothers. And then Levi happened to...

This happened to be the last one to die. Or is it possible that Levi's death was the beginning of the shibud? Is that possible? Is it possible that Levi, who was mishabed himself, u'recho l'ish chasidecha, he was meshubad to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. How was he meshubad to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? He doesn't ask any questions, right? There's no questions by Levi. Egel, ish echad. He's ready to kill for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Who reacts like that? Eved reacts. When someone is an eved, he has no own feelings, nothing. Moshe avdi. Moshe was a Levi. Moshe Rabbeinu had this koach. Aharon HaKohen had this koach also. It says clearly, Vayidom Aharon. Aharon keeps quiet. Whatever the Eibishter does, it's fine. That was the koach of Levi. The moment Levi dies, begins the shibud. Ready for further? You ready for further? You ready? You want to hear? Levi was the smallest of all the shevatim. Do you know that? You know where we know that from? It's also Rashi. You look at Rashi, Parshas Vayeitzei, perek chaf tes, pasuk lamed daled. You know that Levi was the smallest of all the shevatim? Okay, go ahead, read the Rashi. Rashi says, Levi's, when he was born, it says a different lashon than the rest of them. Read the pasuk, chaf tes, lamed daled. Okay, it says, Vatahar od vateled ben, ותאמר עתה הפעם ילוה אישי אלי, כי ילדתי לו שלשה בנים. So Levi's born. Says Rashi, it says a little bit different lashon by Levi. What's the different lashon? It says, בכולם כתיב ותקרא. It says, ותקרא. Now over here it says, קראה. Why? Yeah, no. He says, Why? Why? Gives a why. Rashi explains why. No? Next Rashi. Next Rashi, the why. Next Rashi, no? Give it to me. It's not there. It is. Famous Rashi. Al kein. Kol mi shene'emar bo al kein, merubeh be'uchlosin. When it says al kein, it means that they had a lot, a lot of children, chutz miLevi, except for Levi. Why did Levi not have so many children? Sheha'aron hayah mechaleh bahem. What? The aron. They used to carry the aron, and the aron was a dangerous business. You didn't do right, if you weren't pure, it would kill you. Finished. Ha'aron hayah mechaleh bahem. So the meforshei drachim ask a great question. Only Bnei Kehos carried. That's only one family from the Levi. How come the rest of them weren't so big? Why were they so small, Levi? What, because one family from them carried the aron? So the truth is, maybe, yeah, maybe because of one family and all their children, he wants to say gevaldik. And the emes, I found the Ramban in Bamidbar. It says the same thing. Uvnei Yisrael paru vayishretzu vayirbu vayaatzmu bim'od me'od. This was in the shibud of Mitzrayim. There was a shibud, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu sent the shibud, Uvnei Yisrael paru. Vechasha yanu osam, but Levi didn't have vechasha yanu osam, ken yifrotz v'chen yirbu. They weren't part of the shibud. Meileh, they didn't have, Uvnei Yisrael paru vayishretzu vayirbu vayaatzmu bim'od me'od. And the Prasha Drachim adds, he says a marvelous devar. He says, if you take a look, the Ribono Shel Olam did this on purpose. Why? Because since they were killing, they were killing the babies, so therefore HaKadosh Baruch Hu made, Paru vayishretzu vayirbu vayaatzmu, and the Maharal Diskin adds, a marvelous devar, HaKadosh Baruch Hu chishev es hakeitz. HaKadosh Baruch Hu calculated the keitz. What's that pasuk? Remember what the pasuk is? Zu prishus derech eretz, right? It says, Vayanu osanu. Zu prishus derech eretz, which means they didn't let them have babies. So if they didn't have children, so the work would be much...

That's right. If you don't have a lot of people to work, so it's much less. How would it be mashlim the work in 210 years? Uvnei Yisrael paru vayishretzu vayirbu vayatzmu me'od me'od. Reb Moshe Meidim have more children, and this was all the chishbones hakeitz, so they should work more, so they should do the 410 years in 210 years. A real diskin, no? You hear what's going on here, Reb Eliezer? You hear? It's a nifla nora. It's a nifla nora, you hear? Mimeila, Levi, Levi that didn't work, says the Pashas דרכים, there was no reason for the paru vayishretzu vayirbu vayatzmu me'od me'od, mimeila, v'lo chsiv. Can I ask you a question? What did Rashi hold? What did Rashi hold? Rashi held that they should be like the rest of Klal Yisrael; they had a special bracha. If there was a bracha in Klal Yisrael, vayishretzu vayirbu, and they didn't have it, what did Rashi think? Why couldn't Rashi bring the pashut reason, vayishretzu vayirbu? And the teretz is, according to Rashi, they did have the bracha, vayishretzu vayirbu vayatzmu me'od me'od, but it says, v'Chashianos osam kein yifrotz, and the teretz is they were part of the shibud, but they did it in a different way. If you look in the Pashas דרכים's shmooze, the whole shmooze of the Pashas דרכים in daled is to explain this: were they part of the shibud? Were they not part of the shibud? How could they be part of the shibud? What is he talking about? But they weren't working, and you know what the teretz is? Boy, they were working. They were singing in koilel. To say they're not working is like that balabos that says, Ah, Levi... Levi, they're not working. Eh, Levi, they're not working. Levi worked very hard, my friends. Levi carried the ohel of Torah. They were part of the shibud. They were mekayem the shibud a different way. You like it? Biggest raya. You see, Rashi couldn't think of the cheshbon of the Ramban, that the shibud wasn't for them, and therefore there was no part of va'yishretzu va'yirbu. What it means? Klal Yisrael had six at a time. And the teretz is that the part of va'yishretzu va'yirbu, according to Rashi, was even on Levi too. You want me to prove it to you further? I'll prove it to you further. You ready? Did Levi take from the biza? Did Levi take from the looty of Mitzrayim, the bizas Mitzrayim? Did Levi take? So, drasha, there's an interesting pshat, dracha, wants to say, maybe not. Avadim v'einoi osam, kiyam bah, right? V'achakein yetzu birchush gadol lo yetzu. So you see that it was connected to the avadim v'einoi osam. He wants to say with this a marvelous chiddush. He says, it says, Va'yiten Hashem es chein ha'am b'einei Mitzrayim. Hashem gave the favor of the people in the eyes of Mitzrayim, v'gam ha'ish Moshe gadol me'od. He says, what's the pshat, einei? Va'yiten Hashem es chein ha'am. What's the ha'am? Va'yiten Hashem es chein Yisrael. What kind of ha'am? The nation. Oh, he wants to say that the word am is lafukei Levi. He says, it says, Yechaper al amcha, kahel, eilu Yisrael. Yechaper ela haLeviim. The Leviim weren't called up. The Leviim were not called up. They were separate. They were am Hashem. It was like a different nation. What do they call that? The Kurds. They have their own autonomy. They had their own autonomy. Levi had their own little melucha within Klal Yisrael. So he says that's the pshat. Zachu Yisrael because of bizah, because of the avodah. V'im kei, shivtah shel Levi shelo hayah bichlal hashibud, hayah bichlal hachein. They didn't get it. They weren't part of the bizah. And he says that's pshat. Gamu ish Moshe. Why Moshe? Parents of Moshe stam gave כסף. Gamu ish Moshe, gadol miyai. This has nothing to do with the am. Moshe was separate than the am. Two different things. The am was Klal Yisrael, because they had to get what? Bizah. Levi didn't get bizah. Tell me, you know what Rashi holds about this? I'll tell you what Rashi holds. There's a Gemara in Bechoros, daf hei amud beis. The Gemara in Bechoros says, Why pidyon peter chamor? Does anybody know why only chamor? The only firstborn is from a chamor? Why is there an inyan called pidyon haben from a chamor? You remember the Gemara in Bechoros? The chamor did a tremendous—

Tremendous thing. They carried the biza. They carried the... So what? What does that have to do with what we're talking? You remember the lashon in the Gemara, shelo haya echad miBnei Yisrael shelo yatza — that didn't come out with chamorim te'unim im zahav. There wasn't one person in Klal Yisrael. Levi included, huh? Levi included. Rashi brings this down on perek chamor. Look at the Rashi, yud-gimmel yud-gimmel. Rashi quotes this and he puts it in brackets. It's an interesting Rashi. It's כדאי to look at it. But it's a Gemara in Bechoros, daf hei amud beis. So you see clearly that everybody, including Levi, was shayach to the biza. It's okay? So Levi was shayach to the biza. What do you mean? V'lo avadim v'ino osa. And the teretz is, Rabosai, kol ha'oleh, whoever takes ol Torah, kol mekayem ol Torah, ma'avirin mimenu ol derech eretz. Levi did work in Mitzrayim. The kohel gadol does work. Don't think the kohel gadol doesn't work. Go ahead, read the Rashi. Go ahead, read it, read it! Rashi, yud-gimmel yud-gimmel. Yud-gimmel yud-gimmel. Petach chamor. Why chamor? Go ahead, nu. Why not peter shar beheimos? Oh, why not? Second reason is, v'o she... she... she... see you, et Yisrael b'yetziatan miMitzrayim, she'ein echad miYisrael shelo natal imo harbeh chamorim te'unim mikaspam... Yes, he's quoting Bechoros. Kol echad miYisrael. Everybody, huh? Kol echad miYisrael. Hmm, very interesting, very interesting. So everybody had it. All right. Let me show you an interesting Gemara. Let me show you an interesting Gemara. The Medrash, Medrash says, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha me'eretz Mitzrayim, mibeis avadim, right? Who is Hashem talking to? Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha me'eretz Mitzrayim. So the Medrash says—well, what's your question? Now, let's take a look a little further. There's a Medrash Rabbah in Shemos, mem-gimmel, siman vav. You know what Moshe Rabbeinu was very nervous by the Egel. What was he nervous? He said, Ribonoi shel olam, kacha amarta b'Sinai, Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Elokecha. Did he say Elokeichem, or he said Elokecha? And who is he talking to? Moshe Rabbeinu. Lo ne'emar Elokeichem lo ne'emar, lo li amarta, didn't you say it to me? Shema lahem amarta. Maybe you actually said it to them, v'ani bitalti es hadibur. Maybe it was to me, Anochi Hashem Elokecha. You didn't say it to Klal Yisroel. If you said it to Klal Yisroel, then they shouldn't have made the eigel. But you told it to me, and I made a mistake, and I told it to them. It wasn't for them; it was meant for me. That's how the Reb Moshe Rabbeinu was, what do you call it, defending, defending Klal Yisroel. Anochi Hashem Elokecha, he said it to me; he didn't say it to Klal Yisroel. Says the Prashas Derachim from the Maharash Yaffe, one of the early kadmonim, what was Moshe's havamina? But it says mi'beis avadim. Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha mi'beis avadim. So it couldn't have been talking about Moshe Rabbeinu; he wasn't working. This is the kasha that the Prashas Derachim asks: What was the havamina? So he wants to say maybe it was mi'beis avadim, because don't forget, he was originally in Paro's house. Ah. So again, says the Prashas Derachim, so what's the pshat? What was the havamina? Rabosai, let me tell you what the pshat is. Beis avadim doesn't say avdus; it says mi'beis avadim. Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher ge'alticha mi'avdus. It doesn't say that. Hotzeisicha mi'beis avadim. Avadim. I took you out. I was motzi you. You know who the...

Sakana of being engulfed in Mitzrayim was Moshe Rabbeinu. Ish Mitzri hetzilu. As a matter of fact, he even got punished for that. Chazal tell us that because it was nikar on him that he was a Mitzri, he got punished. Moshe Rabbeinu understood Paroi, and Paroi's house, and Mitzrayim, which is an extension of Paroi and his kingdom, was beis avodah. Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha miBeis avadim. And this is what I was telling you: Paroi had tirud, tirud, bilti layoram ish es yado. Paroi was the ultimate. We're soon going to learn this. Ad kedei kach that he convinced himself that he's a god. He convinced himself that the yeor and the whole business, it's him. This is Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha miBeis avadim. Moshe Rabbeinu thought it was talking about him, and I'll prove it to you. You ready? I'll prove it to you. I saw a gevaldige, gevaldige pshat from Rav Schwab. It was beautiful. The Medrash Tanchuma says, Anochi. Anochi is lashon Mitzri. It's actually Egyptian. It's not Hebrew. The word anochi, says the Medrash, is an Egyptian word. Lashon Mitzri hu. You knew this? It's a peledike Tanchuma, pele, pele. Lashon Mitzri hu. Anochi is a lashon Mitzri. Lemo adah vadoim, says the Medrash. What can I compare this to? For example, a melech, king, that his son was captured, was taken captivity, and for many, many years he was in captivity. So what did the melech do? The melech went and learned the language of the captors so that when the child comes back to him, he'll be able to converse with him. Otherwise, they won't speak the same language. Yeah? So too HaKadosh Baruch Hu did. All the years they were in Mitzrayim, in Mitzrayim. So they had the culture, Mitzri. Therefore Hashem said, Anochi, teaching them, I. Anochi, anoch is the lashon of the Mitzri. And he says it's also Yalkut Shimoni, and he says that if you take a look at the piyutim for Shavuos, for the first day of Shavuos, it says, Oz biksav Ashuris. Hashem spoke to us in ksav, the writing of Ashuris, which is the writing in the Sefer Torah, uvilshon Ivris, and the lashon of Ivris, uvedibur Mitzris simchalta, and with the dibur of a Mitzri, You gave us over the Torah. So he says, Reb Yosef HaKalir, the payet, knew this medrash, and based on this medrash, he wrote this piyut, that Hashem spoke to us, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, bedibur Mitzri, the words of a Mitzri. He says, unbelievable question: the word Anochi is all over the Torah. What do you mean? Anochi was till Mitzrayim, there was not Anochi? Hashem didn't speak to Avraham Avinu Anochi? It's all over in the Torah. Hashem spoke, Anochi magen lach. Scharcha harbeh me'od. Hashem didn't say the word Anochi to Avraham Avinu. What's the pshat that Anochi is a lashon of mitzri? Then he asked another question. Why only Anochi? Why only the Anochi should be b'Mitzri? The whole Aseres HaDibros should have been done b'Mitzri. I mean, they don't understand Hebrew, and they only understand Egyptian, so the whole Aseres HaDibros should have been in Egyptian. In Egyptian. It's a great question. You should know, I saw that, I had such hana'ah. I gotta tell you a funny story. You know, I have a weakness. I get drunk when I see sefarim, right? Like the drunk when he sees new whiskey, he's got to buy it, because, you know, you never know if that taste, that beer, he tasted that beer. When I see a sefer, I gotta buy it. Gotta buy it. So this sefer, you see, you notice, I've seen it in someone's house. I saw it lined up for bar mitzvah. He gives it as a bar mitzvah present. And he had it with different colors. And I thought to myself, you know, it interests me to see that sefer. I'd like to look at it. What happened was, I ended up not looking at it. I didn't get a chance to look at it because he came.

This happened during the week. So I pass by an old sefer store that sells old sefarim, and I got drawn in. I don't know why. I usually never go into old sefarim stores because I like brand new sefarim. So I got drawn in. Frankel's in Boro Park. I got drawn in. Kids, I see the sefer here. I'm saying to myself, looks like it's a brand new sefer. Look at it, brand new. I open it up, and the price is from like an old used sefer, half price. I'm saying it's a siman min haShamayim that I can buy it. That's it. The sefer is new, and the price is from an old sefer, so it's got to be that Hashem is screaming to me, Buy the sefer. Kids, I bought the sefer. I couldn't control myself. I walk out of the store, and I say to myself, I gave in to my thing. I said I wasn't going to buy sefarim this week. Too much. Yeah, but I need it, I need it. And I'm fighting with myself. Kids, I say, you know what? Maybe min haShamayim they want me to buy the sefer. Let me see what the first thing I open up. So I open it up pretty much in the middle, and I'm looking there, and I see that it's mamish the topic that I was thinking about: ... and everything. And I realized that the Eibishter was sending me—and by the way, I use this excuse with every sefer I buy. I tell—you see that the Eibishter was talking to me and telling me to buy the sefer. Al kol panim, it's gevaldik. You hear the question? So the whole answer has to be that way. Then he asked me a third question, but I thought they didn't speak the language from Mitzrayim. It says clearly, ... What's the Chazal talking about? Says Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, beautiful stuff. Mamash a beautiful word. Very, very, very moved. Here he says a word like this. He says, Lulei d'mistefina, I'm a little worried to say this because it's a big chiddush, but he says this is what I think it is. It's not the word. It's not the language. It's the concept of an Anochi. Anochi is an Egyptian concept. It's all about me. Anoch. It's all about me. Paro, he says, beautiful, he says, Paro, it was all about me. Klal Yisrael took into them, Klal Yisrael adapted in themselves this whole hashkafah through years in Mitzrayim of anoch, I only think about myself. Therefore they couldn't hear. Sound familiar? Sound familiar? You can't hear Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Can't. How do you hear Anochi Hashem Elokecha? Pasach HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the Ribbono Shel Olam came and said, Ani. Oh, we know what that is. We know, oh, that sounds familiar. Anochi? Anoch. No, it's not anoch. What it is is, kilomar, pasach HaKadosh Baruch Hu, heir sheha'anoch. Who is anoch? Ani. It's me. Anochi, it's me. From now on, the Anochi is going to be me. And he says that's what Reb Leizer Kalir, that's what the paytan meant: Ksav Ashuris, lashon Ivris, u'bedibur Mitzris. It was a mixture. Anoch. Oh, yeah. Anochi. It's not anymore. Anoch is finished. It's a combination of Anochi. Right. Dibur. Right. Targum. What do they call that in the... Ibnics? What do they call it? Judaics. This was Judaics. Mitzriatics. It was Mitzriatics. Mitzriatics. Anoch? Oh, we know that is Anochi. It's ani. It's no more. Finished. And he says, beautiful, listen to what he says. He says, you know, take a look at Pari. Ani Pari. Uviladai lo yarim ish es yado v'es raglo. Total tyranny, to the extent that he believed that he was God. He stood on the earth, me, Anoch. Tyranny. Tyranny. You hear? The kitzur, what happened? Vayiftacham miBeis avadim miyad Pari melech Mitzrayim, and he taught us avadim l'melech, v'lo avadim la'avadim. Kitzur, he says a very big vort. Ul'or zeh, according to this we can understand what the pasuk says, that Yaakov told his children, I'm going to give you a siman. The Anochi is the same Anochi that Hashem spoke to my forefathers, Anochi...

U'v'lashon anochi yesiach im avi. This is the pshat that the Ribono Shel Olam will come on Har Sinai and say to you, Anochi. What's the pshat? This pshat. I think—I mean, he doesn't explain, but I think that's what he means. The Anochi. You know what the avos were? The avos were that there was no them; it was all about Hashem. You'll hear that one day: Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Hashem will come back to you one day to tell you, You lived in Mitzrayim, you. You're going to hear the lashon that Hashem spoke to my fathers, to your avos, that it's not about you; it's about Him. Anochi. It's about HaKadosh Baruch Hu. With this, rabosai, I want to explain something very, very interesting. You know, Moshe Rabbeinu tells Ribono Shel Olam, How can I go and speak to Klal Yisrael and tell them that Hashem... Madua Paroh didn't listen? I'm sorry, Madua Bnei Yisrael—Hein Bnei Yisrael lo shamu eilai, v'eich ishme'eni Paroh, v'ani aral sefasayim? How is Paroh going to listen? So the mefarshim ask a famous question. It's a kal vachomer, a kal vachomer doesn't make sense, because the reason why Klal Yisrael didn't listen, it was because of slavery, because they were mechaymeru b'avodah kashah. Lo shamu el Moshe mikotzer ruach u'me'avodah kashah. So what was the havamina that Paroh is not going to listen? Maybe Paroh will listen. Gargeshmak. Why didn't Klal Yisrael—you think they were so busy they couldn't listen? It doesn't mean that. The way we're learning, it's very geshmak. They had avdus. They would mishabed themselves to the chomer. They would mishabed themselves to their lives, to their daily activity. Therefore they couldn't hear. There's nothing to listen. You can't go over to a guy who's completely involved in himself and his life and start talking about God. There's no anochi. It's a contradiction. That's what he's saying. Madach klal Yisroel, kol shekein Pari, because Pari was what? Was the epitome of avdus, the epitome of oived lachomer of the anochi. That's the kal vachomer. I hope it's pashut pshat in the kal vachomer. Avodah kasha, the way I'm explaining to you, doesn't mean that they were literally working too hard; they didn't have time to listen. They couldn't listen. They weren't bar hachi to comprehend God taking somebody out. Living for ruchniyus, living for a higher meaning and being. Pari's supposed to do it. Pari was the biggest eved. Mi beis avadim. ... Who was the biggest eved? He was the eved to the anochi. So of course he's not going to listen. Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo? What are you talking about? I should go listen to Hashem? I'm Hashem. I once told you over this joke that a guy once went to a therapist, and the therapist asked him what's bothering him. He has a big problem. He lives in fantasies. He thinks he's Napoleon. Napoleon. The guy tells him, Ah, don't worry, it's nothing. After half hour he says, I don't understand, why are you saying it's nothing? I really think I'm Napoleon. He says, You don't understand. You can't be Napoleon because I'm Napoleon. You can't come and tell him that you're Napoleon because he's so convinced that he's Napoleon. He's not going to hear you. It's the same thing. Mi Hashem asher eshma b'koloi? What, I'm going to listen to you about Hashem? You need to talk about me. Talk about me. I'm Hashem. The Anochi was so strong by him, he had nothing to listen to. With this, I want to explain a very interesting yesod. Avdus is the yesod of gadus, yeah? Do you know what avdus is? Do you know what avdus is? What does it mean to be? I'm going to show you something very interesting. You ready? Vayetzaveh. He commanded Moshe and Aharon l'hotzi es Bnei Yisrael me'eretz Mitzrayim. Who Moshe and Aharon? This is Moshe and Aharon, right? Vayetzaveh. He gave him a charge: take out Klal Yisrael. The Medrash says, Vayetzaveh, zu parshas shiluach avadim. He taught him the parsha of the sending out of avadim. That's the shaychus, sending out of avadim, parshas mishpatim. As a matter of fact, Rav Yerucham says a very famous vort from Rav Yerucham, that why is parshas eved Knaani—I'm sorry, eved Ivri, excuse me—eved Ivri the first parsha in Eileh Mishpatim?

It's serious to teach you eved. Eved. Eved! Teach you eved. What does that mean? Let me explain to you what that means. A person, yeah, a person, mammon. He thinks it's his money. He goes to Choshen Mishpat thinking, it's my money. He damaged my property. No. Eved. Kol ma shekana eved, kana rabo. It's about Hashem. A person can learn Mishpatim and say he's somebody. It's my property, my rights, my reshuyos. He can start thinking that he's an entity. No. He's not a man d'amar. It's all eved. Eved Ivri. Notice the first parsha, eved Ivri. I'm going to prove this to you. You want to hear a pasuk in Yirmiyahu? Let me show you a pasuk in Yirmiyahu. Ha'davar Hashem el Yirmiyahu me'es Hashem lemor. Lamed-daled, pasuk yud-daled. Koh amar Hashem Elokei Yisrael: Anochi karati bris es avoseichem. I made a treaty with your fathers, b'yom... on the day hotzii'osam me'eretz Mitzrayim, mi'beis avadim. What was the treaty? You know what you would say the treaty? Torah. Miketz sheva shanim teshalchu ish es achiv haIvri asher yimacher lach, va'avadcha sheish shanim, v'shilachta chofshi me'imach. It's pasuk in Yirmiyahu. I made a treaty with you. The treaty, Hashem made a treaty with Klal Yisrael on the day they left Mitzrayim. What was the treaty? That you better let the slaves go at the end of miketz sheva shanim. Does anybody know why you have a halacha miketz sheva shanim? Does anybody know why we have this halacha? Chazal tell us: avadai heim, v'lo avadim la'avadim. Why do we pierce the ears of the eved that wants to stay? Oizen sheshama al Har Sinai. Listen to the words, Har Sinai. Ki li Bnei Yisrael avadim. Har Sinai, ta'amdu v'shilikim al har hazeh. You became my eved. Avodah, avdus. And then you want to stay further. This was a treaty. B'yom hotzi'osi eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim, mi'beis avadim. Now what? Avadai heim, v'lo avadim la'avadim. You are my slaves, but you're not slaves to other slaves. This was mikeitz sheva shanim tishalchu. The parsha of eved Ivri. What is an eved? Let me tell you what an eved is. An eved is kinyan haguf, kol ma shekoneh eved, koneh raboi. An eved has nothing. There is no entity. An eved is only what his rav is. Avdus. Yesod of avdus to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This is Yetzias Mitzrayim, and this was shibud. The shibud is to teach us avdus, that a person can function being an eved by bitul hachomer. That's va'avadum v'inu osam. Chomer. There was no— that's the Chiddush HaSforno always say. What, the chomer u'leveinim. What's chomer? They had to work on the chomer. Look at all the Chiddush HaSforno. Chomer u'leveinim. Heis kol avodasam. It was working against the chomer. It was bitul, it was kur habarzel. Hisbatlus. That's avdus. This, rabosai, is Yetzias Mitzrayim. This, rabosai, is shibud Mitzrayim. Hainu hach, it's actually all the same thing, and that's why the Rabbeinu Shalom didn't just give us yissurim. He taught us through avdus, the concept of being misbatel legamrei HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Let us learn avdus. Kol ma shekoneh eved, koneh rabo. Then, you know what we'll have? We'll have the other part of the eved. You notice, the special halachos how the adon has to treat his eved, you know that? Special halachos. Maybe if we act like avadim, we'll get the special treatment, the special treatment of an eved. It's also, it's a double-edged, it's a double-folded deal. If we'll act like avadim, then the adon will, what, have all the halachos to act with us like the eved and the adon. There's one pillow, it says. Who gets the pillow? Have to make sure he's comfortable. And also, madoneiv yiten la'ishah. Everything is, the adon has the right to give you what he wants, and it all belongs to who? It all belongs back to the adon. Ha'ishah meyaldes al yedeina, it all belongs to him. He gives, and it all belongs to him. So if we act like the avadim, and we keep the hilchos avadim, then the hilchos avadim works to us. HaKadosh Baruch Hu will keep and act with us in hilchos avadim.