My 5-year-old twin grandsons were at my house last Shabbos and we were talking about Mitzrayim and the Jews being enslaved by Pharaoh. They asked me if I was ever in Mitzrayim. I told them I was. Their eyes lit up. “Did you see Pharaoh?” they asked. “I didn’t see Pharaoh, but I did go inside the pyramids where they buried Pharaoh,” I answered. I told them a funny thing that happened there. While we were touring, the guide pointed to a huge rock, telling us that a mummy was placed behind the rock. “Suddenly,” I said, “we heard groaning noises coming from behind the rock. The groaning got louder and louder. And all of a sudden… my friend jumped out from behind the rock.” He had snuck in there while the guide was talking.
In Parshas Shemos, Bnei Yisrael cried out to Hashem, then “vayanchu”— they groaned. Now this groaning was different from the groaning my friend did inside the pyramid! The pasuk continues, saying they cried out to Hashem, “Who heard their cries and remembered them.”
What type of prayer is groaning? Rav Shimshon Pincus explains that when people have a hard time doing a task, they mumble and grumble. People climbing high on a ladder may find themselves whispering, “Please don’t let me fall; please don’t let me fall.” The Gemara in Bava Kamma says that a man is called a “bau” — one who seeks help. Indeed, a person is always seeking divine help, but he doesn’t always realize it. Personally, I believe praying is a natural instinct. We just need to direct our feeling of need towards Hashem as an actual prayer.
Prayer is a core concept in the geula / redemption from Mitzrayim. Within the Haggadah Shel Pesach, there are a few pesukim that describe the hardships, slavery and emancipation from Mitzrayim. One of them says that the Jewish nation “cried out and Hashem heard our cries.”
Why is this integral to the miracle of exodus and freedom? Rav Matisyahu Solomon explains that the Torah is teaching us that it was only as a result of the Jewish nation’s prayer that they were freed from exile. “I am Hashem Who lifted you out of Mitzrayim. Open up your mouth and I will fill it.” The pasuk clearly associates prayer to being freed from bondage.
The Gemara tells us that a person should ask Hashem like a poor man asks for help at someone’s door-—with humility and by requesting a small amount. This contradicts the pasuk which tells us to ask as wide as our mouth can open. The Gemara answers that it depends on what the request is for. If it’s for your physical needs, ask for the basics and nothing more. But for Torah and spiritual needs, open your mouth and ask for as much as you want.
Moreover, Rav Solomon notes that the exile in Egypt did not involve just physical oppression. It was really a spiritual exile which manifested itself in a physical enslavement.
This week is the first yahrzeit of Hagaon Harav Matisyahu Solomon, zt”l, mashgiach of Beth Medrash Govoha. He was a pillar of the mussar world and a master teacher of our generation. May his neshama have an aliyah. Rav Solomon recognized the digital challenge of our generation and how technology can be misused. We are living in a world where a stormy ocean of decadence can easily sweep us away. Recognizing this, the mashgiach started TAG—the Technology Awareness Group— that helps us create proper safeguards and fences against outside influences, especially from a computer.
Let us join in prayer to be freed from this anti-spiritual tidal wave and merit the coming of the Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash speedily in our days.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the Rosh Yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com
