Bondage Makes For the Greatest Bond of the Ages

Parshat Lekh Lekha

by Rabbi Avi Billet

One of the great conundrums we face in understanding the history of our people, going back to Avraham Avinu, is why there was a need for exile? If God wanted Avraham’s descendants to inherit the land He gifted to our forefathers, why not just have it start with the birth of Yitzchak, with some kind of blueprint that as the family grows, they will spread further and further from the center, ultimately occupying the whole land, as promised? 

Perhaps it does not take too much imagination to see that things don’t necessarily work that way. Even in the recent election we saw how Americans have very different ideas as to what direction the country should be headed (to use a bland cliché). Even after only 250 years, the “United” country seems very “divided” over a number of issues. There is a Constitution, which some look at as the founding document behind which all future laws must be scrutinized. Others see it as a living document which was good in its time but needs to be rewritten for the realities of our times. 

The parallel is actually not very good, because truth be told, the US Revolution from England and the ratification of the Constitution is more parallel to the Exodus and the giving of the Torah (obviously – with all the differences of peoplehood and the Torah’s Divine source). But there is what to be said about the similarities of anyone being able to become an American, and everyone being able to become a Jew – provided certain civic responsibilities (all mitzvos for the Jew!) are affirmed and ideally adhered to. 

The Bnei Avraham (later Bnei Yisrael) would have been one large tribe that had spread across the land, but would not have much in common save their shared ancestry. 

So, on a simple level, they needed to have a shared experience of hardship (the degree would be in the hands of their oppressors to decide how far they’d take it), and then have the shared experience of the Exodus, followed by Revelation at Sinai, cementing a shared set of values that would become eternal, and that would define our people throughout history. 

So why did Bnei Yisrael have to go to Egypt? Couldn’t this have happened somewhere else? Perhaps not as oppressive? It is obvious that the promise made to Avraham that “Your descendants will be strangers in a strange land where they will be oppressed and enslaved for 400 years” refers to this exile. But the degree of slavery is not included in the promise. And even the strange land is not identified! So why did it have to come about in this specific way? 

Abravanel rejects a number of suggestions as to why they went down to Egypt, such as “a punishment to Avraham” or “to prime their hearts to be ready to receive the Torah” instead favoring that God told Avraham about it because God sees the future, and the venture down to Egypt was completely a measure for measure response to the brothers and Yaakov for their treatment of Yosef. The way Yosef gets down to Egypt and becomes the viceroy is all so clearly Hashgachas Hashem (God divinely orchestrating), in Abravanel’s eyes, as he proceeds to outline: 

 “It makes more sense to attach the ‘reason’ to the tribes, Yaakov’s sons, because the Torah testifies about them that they sinned a terrible sin on account of their sinat chinam (baseless hatred) of their brother Yosef. This includes their planning to kill him when he was simply looking to seek out their welfare, their throwing him in a pit, and their selling him to Egypt. And even if Reuven wasn’t at the sale, he participated in the hatred, and even advised. Later he said “We are guilty over our brother, in that we saw the suffering of his soul when he pleaded to us, and we did not listen. This is why this difficulty [referencing hot the Egyptian potentate Yosef was treating them] has come upon us.” (42:21) Since they all sinned, proper justice is that they should receive their punishment. And since they sinned with Egypt, in selling Yosef to be a slave there, they were deserving of themselves being stricken in Egypt, [eventually] becoming slaves there, them and their children and grandchildren, for many year, just as Yosef was exiled there, along with his children and descendants. 

Since they cast Yosef (שהשליכו) into the pit, their children were cast into the river היאורה ישליכוהו. Because on their account Yosef went down to Egypt, it was on his account that they all came down to the exile in Egypt. Since it was while they were shepherding sheep that Yosef visited them and they did their vile deed, the sheep were used as the excuse for why they had to come down to Egypt “For there is no pasture for our sheep in Canaan.” (47:4) 

Of course, Yosef was also to blame for becoming haughty over his dreams. But Yaakov also sinned through giving Yosef a special cloak (causing jealousy), and in sending Yosef to check on the welfare of the sheep, all while knowing that his brothers hated him.

This is why Yaakov and Yosef were included in the punishment of exile, since they were not blameless, however, since their sin was more negligence, they didn’t suffer as much as everyone else.” 

To summarize why the family of Yaakov (Bnei Yisrael) ultimately ended up in Egypt:

 • Sinas Chinam against Yosef

 • Plans to kill him when he is seeking their peace

 • Throwing him in a pit

 • Selling him as a slave to Egypt

 • Having no empathy for the position they put him in

 • Measure for measure

     o They cast Yosef in the pit, their sons were cast in the Nile

     o They sold him as a slave to Egypt so they became slaves to Egypt

   o Because their deed happened while taking care of sheep, sheep would be their main concern bringing them down to Egypt

 • Yaakov and Yosef put a “stumbling block” before the blind by sending Yosef to Shchem – into the lion’s den of hatred. While they all went down... Yaakov and Yosef alone merited that their remains were brought up to Canaan (while the text does not indicate anything similar happened to the remains of the brothers, the rabbis indicate all were brought out – see, for example Makkos 11b) 

Perhaps one can suggest that ultimately, since the number of years they were in Egypt was 210, that the actual years of slavery were around 120, based on the years of Yosef’s life, and the assumption slavery didn’t start until after the death of Levi. There is also an assumption made that Yosef was in Potiphar’s house for 1 year before he was put in prison, and that he was therefore imprisoned for 12 years, a period far worse than the excellent way he was treated in Potiphar's house. If 10 brothers are in a way responsible for Yosef’s descent to Egypt and eventual imprisonment, and he was in prison for 12 years, then 10x12=120... 10 consecutive sentences of 12 yrs each and you have 120 years of slavery. The 400 years, as noted, begin with the birth of Yitzchak – long before any descent to Egypt, and a number of commentaries claim that the actual Bris Bein HaBsarim took place out of order from how it is presented in the Torah, when Avraham was 70, based on the verses which indicate the Exodus was happening at the conclusion of 430 years (Shmos 12:40-41) 

The descent to Egypt was meant to cleanse the Bnei Yisrael of sin, and to remove from their hearts the kind of hatred that might cause one to sell a brother into slavery. Once the time of the sentence had passed, they were ready to face their destiny and become united as a nation forever through Revelation and receiving the Torah. 

The Torah has defined our people for thousands of years. Along with the covenant, the Torah is the main reason we are still here, after many other nations and empires have disappeared, and it is how we survived when all else was bleak. But it was the experience of exile that paved the path for Teshuvah, and for a nation to survive forever, as promised to Avraham Avinu. 

May we be so worthy to always see the success and growth of the Jewish people through the fulfillment of the Covenant!