It all changed so dramatically. What began as an idyllic existence (albeit in a foreign land) soured over time. Pharaoh created national hysteria by telling his people that the Hebrews would overrun the Egyptian population and take over the culture and country. The Egyptians, scared by this prospect, gave Pharaoh the license to “take care of the problem.” Jews were conscripted for national service which ultimately turned into slavery. Free men became beasts of burden and Jewish children were thrown into the Nile. What had begun as a safe, secure and prosperous existence evolved into a life of oppression, tragedy, difficulty and despair. For years the Children of Israel cried out to God. They looked to the Heavens for answers and salvation. But God was silent. Then, one day something changed.
“Now it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to God from the labor. God heard their cry, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew.” (Exodus 2:23-25).
Why did God hear the tortured cries of people now when He had not “heard” them before? What was it about these above-mentioned cries that triggered the start of the redemptive process?
The Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, 1194-1270) explains that although the people did not possess the requisite merit for redemption; their prayers were so heartfelt that God had no choice but to hear their voices and ameliorate their plight. We learn from this episode that the most effective prayer is one that emanates from a broken heart. When a person is suffering and turns to God (recognizing that God is the only one who can help lighten their load) their prayer carries with it an incredible energy and ability to effect change.
The Ohr HaChaim (Rabbi Hayyim Ibn Atar, 1696-1743) takes a different approach. Unlike the Ramban who understands the “cries” of the people as prayer, the Ohr HaChaim explains that they did not pray at all. “They did not cry to God to save them, rather, they cried as a person cries out from physical pain. The verse teaches us, that their cry (of pain) came before God.”
But if they did not pray to God, why did their cries of physical pain move God to such a great degree? If indeed God felt saddened by their pain, why was He not moved to action earlier?
The Beis HaLevi (Rav Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, 1820-1892) explains that when a person must contend with suffering and tragic loss, one becomes so focused on survival that they lose the full awareness of how much has been lost. He gives an example of a man who was once wealthy and becomes impoverished. At first, he laments the loss of his wealth. He yearns for the trappings of his lavish lifestyle and constantly compares his previous standing with his current one. However, as time goes on he gets used to his new life situation and begins to forget the full extent of his previous life. Over time he begins to see himself as a pauper and not as someone who once possessed great wealth. His focus on his present begins to obscure the true nature of the past. He must devote his energies to surviving and does not have the luxury of mourning for what has been lost. He stops thinking of the wealth of his past and begins to solely focus on survival in the present.
This is what happened to our ancestors. As the years of servitude progressed, the Jewish slave began to forget that he was ever free. He began to forget that he was Reuven, Shimon and Levi...; he began to forget that we were once a reflection of all that was beautiful and holy; he began to forget that he possessed Abraham’s kindness, Isaac’s strong will and Jacob’s fortitude. Over time our ancestors began to lose their sense of self and connection to their identity.
This is the meaning of the Ohr HaChaim. Amid their agony and pain, they did not pray. Prayer is the dialogical connection to God and to our inner self. Prayer reminds us that we are spiritual beings. Our ancestors lost their connection to their inner spiritual self. They forgot how to pray. When you forget who you are and what you are, the only thing you can do is cry out in visceral pain.
When God realized that His beloved people were losing their sense of self, He had no choice but to initiate the Redemption process. Without a sense of self, there is no future. A people who forget who they are is a people who will be lost in the sands of time. God heard our prayer-less cries and began the process of salvation.
We all encounter challenges and struggles throughout life. There are situations that are so grueling and demanding that we feel we must use all our life energy just to stay afloat. We must make sure that even in such difficult predicaments we never lose our sense of self. No matter how demanding the circumstances of our existence may be, we must always remember who we were, who we are and who we are destined to become.
