Q:
You said that we have to thank the Creator for taking us out of bondage. So my question is, what was ever done by us to deserve such a bondage in the first place?
A:
Now, let me explain something to you. We have to deal with the situation just as it is – whether we deserved it or didn’t deserve it, that’s a secondary question. The primary question is, what should be our reaction now that we were in bondage and He rescued us?
It’s like a man who became ill and then he was healed and now he’s saying, “Why should I thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu for healing me? Why did He make me ill in the first place?” That’s not a rational attitude.
Now, the truth is we can explain that too: Maybe you made yourself ill? Maybe you were careless with your health? Or maybe you deserved some chastisement? You know, we say in the bracha of Refa’einu, והעלה רפואה שלמה לכל מכותינו – We ask Hashem to heal all of our “blows.” Why is sickness called makkos, blows? Because an illness is really a blow; the Father is hitting His children – He’s rebuking us. Sickness is a criticism. We’re not sick for nothing so we call it a makah. So probably we earned that kind of treatment anyhow or there was some other good reason for it.
The going down to Egypt, there was a very good reason for that. When our forefathers went into Egypt they went for their benefit; we’ll have time to discuss this maybe next time or some other time but the sojourn in Egypt was a very big benefit for us.
But that’s not the issue at hand – whatever the reason was, we were in Egypt; that’s a fact. And we were enslaved, that’s also a fact. And therefore it’s up to us always to have gratitude in our hearts to Hashem because of this deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.
TAPE # 402
