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This week’s Torah portion begins with the account of the descent into the terrible slavery of the Jewish people in Egypt. Despite the fact that we are all very well-versed in the myriad details of this episode, the spiritual causes of the slavery are not as straightforward as may seem.1
The Talmud2 explains that the slavery came as an apparent punishment of Avraham. The opinion of Shmuel3 is that at the Covenant of the pieces, when God promised Avraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Israel, Avraham reacted by asking, “How will I know that I will inherit it”? Avraham was seemingly asking for proof of God’s promise.
The Ran writes that Avraham sinned in that he did not fully trust God’s word. The Maharal adds that Avraham demonstrated a tiny flaw in faith in God with this question. As a punishment for this lack of Emunah, Avraham’s descendants had to endure the Egyptian Exile.
However, a number of other sources note that there was a totally different cause of the Egyptian Exile. The Zohar Chadash4 teaches that the reason of the slavery was as an atonement for the sale of Yosef. The commentaries find a number of connections between the two events that support the idea that the events of the slavery served to atone for various actions involved in the sale of Yosef. because the brothers threw Yosef into the pit, as a consequence, their descendants were thrown into the river; As a consequence of selling Yosef to be a slave, the Jews became slaves themselves; Because the brothers did not show mercy to Yosef, Pharaoh did not show any mercy to their descendants; And finally, because they wanted to initially kill Yosef, many of their descendants were killed in Egypt.
The Zohar also provides another fascinating connection. The Jews were slaves in Egypt for 210 years. Yosef was in Egypt for twenty-two years as a result of his sale and there were ten brothers involved in his sale. Ten multiplied by twenty-two is 220. 210 corresponds to the 210 years that the Jews were slaves, and the additional ten corresponds to the ten brothers themselves who also suffered by dying in Egypt.
However, a number of problems arise with the idea that the slavery served as an atonement for the sale of Yosef. Firstly, all of the Tribes were slaves in Egypt with the exception of Levi, yet Levi was actively involved in the sale of Yosef. Indeed, the Rabbis note that Shimon and Levi were the leaders in the efforts to harm Yosef. Yet Levi did not suffer slavery in Egypt. On the other hand, the one son who had no involvement in the sale was Binyamin, yet his descendants endured the same terrible slavery as all the other Tribes.5 Additionally, Yosef himself, although he may have borne guilt for antagonizing the brothers, certainly did not need atonement for his involvement in the sale, since he was its victim!
The Torat Chessed cites the Chida who answers these questions. In his words6:
“In truth, the slavery of Egyptdid come because of the decree of the Covenant between the peices. However, the Holy One, Blessed is He, in His great mercy, included in this an additional matter and decided that it [the slavery] would also be an atonement for the sin of the sale of Yosef! ... This Exile served to atone for the sale of Yosef, and therefore ten Tribes were slaves during 210 years…However, had this been just as atonement for the sale of Yosef, then the Tribes of Yosef and Binyamin would not have needed to be enslaved.
Based on this explanation, it emerges that all the Jewish people needed to endure the Egyptian Exile as a result of Avraham’s question of ‘how will I know in the Covenant between the pieces, but God combined this consequent with the punishment that most of the Jewish people needed to endure for their role in the sale of Yosef.
It still needs to be understood why the Jewish people had to endure such a painful slavery because of Avraham’s question. One approach is that, in truth, Avraham did not sin in his question and God’s response was not a punishment.7 Avraham did not lack in faith that God would keep His word to bring the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and to keep the Torah. Rather, he was wondering how his descendants would merit to be on the level to receive the Torah and inherit the land of Israel.
God answered him that they need to endure a period of slavery in order to be able to internalize the idea of being servants to God. Avraham was well aware of the failings of all the generations up to his point and he knew that it is human nature to not want to be subservient to anyone.8 Thus, he didn’t know how the Jewish people would be able to be servants of God. Gpd answered that the period of being slaves would prepare the Jewish people for the idea of subservience, and after that period, they would more easily be able to adapt to being servants of God9.
This also explains why the tribe of Levi did not need to be slaves. They were the only tribe who remained dedicated to God throughout the Egyptian Exile and therefore were not in need to slavery to Pharaoh to teach them how to serve others.
We have learnt that the slavery of Egypt was not merely a punishment for Avraham’s question of ‘how will I know?’, rather a consequence of the need to teach the Jewish people how to be servants. In addition, it served as an atonement for the sale of Yosef. This seminal period should remind us of the constant need to be aware of the need to subjugate ourselves to God and to rectify the hatred that led to the sale of Yosef.
