Leaving Egypt Every Day

by Miriam Metzinger | More from this Blogger

25 Jan 2007 12:24 AM

According to the Torah, every day every person should feel as if he or she has left Egypt. The Jewish people escaped from slavery thousands of years ago to serve Hashem and to travel to the Promised Land. What does this event or series of events have to do with our lives in 2007?

The Hebrew word from Egypt, Mitzraim, is also related to the word meaning boundaries or constrictions. Every day, we face challenges to our spiritual life. Just having to work 9 to 5 (or like me, at all hours, off and on) seems like an obstacle to plumbing the depths of one's soul or discovering a connection with G-d. Many believed that you have to go off and live in a cave to commune with G-d, or forego marriage, work, material life and even ahome to be holy. Judaism teaches that a person does not have to run off to a cave (real or metaphorical) to live a life connected to Hashem, as long as one's intentions are directed toward living a holy life.

What is the difference between the kind of work that the Jews did in mitzraim and the work we do every day? There is little difference if a person works for the sake of work. Workaholism, without a purpose, is pointless. Just as in mitzraim, where the Jews were told to build pyramids in quicksand which kept sinking and sinking, our lives can enslave us to the point where we feel that we are building a prison of material things. The answer is not to quit one's job or even work fewer hours (unless this is conducive to sanity and health), but to reflect a few moments on what the purpose of the work is. Freedom can be achieved by reflecting on one's purpose, and slavery can only exist when one loses connection with the soul. Therefore, infusing our lives with a sense of purpose, a holy purpose, enables us to leave mitzraim every day.

See Also: The Mine Generation Leaving Home and Leaving Habits a Jewish View of Anger

Learn more about Miriam Metzinger

Miriam is a freelance writer, a work-at-home mom and lives in Jerusalem with her two sons, Schneur Zalman (3), Yosef Yitzchak (6 months and counting) and her husband, Yehoshua, who is a rabbi and i...

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