The Jew and Egypt
Translated by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky from the Writings of
the Ari
It is stated in the Torah that [one of the
punishments for national wrongdoing is that] "G-d will return you to Egypt in
ships...and you will be sold there to your enemies as slaves and handmaidens, and
no one will buy" (Deut. 28:68). Why is causing us to return to Egypt a
punishment? The Torah does indeed tell us that "you shall see them [the
Egyptians] no more" (Ex. 14:13), but is going against the Torah's command a
punishment?  | | " The exile of Egypt to the upper tip of the yud, which outweighs them all..." | | |
Also, why did G-d say this about Egypt, but not about
other exiles? Why is He against our returning to Egypt, but permits us to travel
to Babylonia or Media?
Further, why do our sages normally speak of only four
exiles - Babylonia, Media, Greece, and Edom - as in the verse "And behold, a
dark fear..." (Gen. 15:12) but the exile of Egypt, which was more severe than any
of these, is not mentioned together with them?
[Note discussing Abraham's vision of the future of his
descendants: "And behold, a great, dark fear fell upon him." "'Fear' refers to
Babylonia.... 'dark' refers to Media.... 'great' refers to Greece.... 'fell upon him'
refers to Edom'" ( Bereishit Rabba 44:17).]
Finally, why is the exodus from Egypt mentioned in
the Torah so many times?
[To answer all this:] The four exiles correspond to
the four letters of the name Havayah, and the exile of Egypt to the upper
tip of the yud, which outweighs them all and is greater than they.
The four letters of the name Havayah
correspond to chochma, bina, the middot, and malchut,
respectively, while the upper tip of the yud corresponds to keter,
the source of them all. The super-conscious is more powerful and its
rectification therefore more crucial than all the other powers of the soul.
Therefore it is mentioned repeatedly [in the Torah]
and is not mentioned together with the other [exiles], for it is in a class by
itself. | | " The purpose of exile is to elevate the fallen sparks of holiness..." | | |
Now, the purpose of exile is to elevate the fallen
sparks of holiness that [were scattered all over the earth and] were mixed in
with evil due to the sin of Adam. This is the meaning of the verse, "There is a
time when a man overcomes another man to his detriment" (Ecclesiastes 8:9),
meaning that the "evil man" overcomes the "holy man" to his own detriment, for
the fact that he oppresses Israel and rules them allows Israel to totally
extract from him all the sparks of holiness within him.
"Evil man" and "holy man" here mean the forces of
evil and good. Just as in the vision of Ezekiel the array of divine attributes
flowing into Creation had the form of a man - and the anatomy of terrestrial man
reflects this organization of forces, so are the forces of evil arranged in the
human form.
And wherever they go, the Shechina goes with
them, in order to elevate her component parts.
The Divine Presence accompanies the Jewish people
in their exile, in order to reconstruct herself out of the fallen sparks of her
shattered self.
That is why we are commanded not to return to
Egypt, but are not so prohibited with regard to other nations [that have
oppressed us], for we have not yet elevated all [the divine sparks] within them.
"And they emptied out Egypt", meaning that during the
Egyptian exile the Jewish people elevated all the divine sparks that inhered in
that culture and country.
This is why the punishment for wrongdoing is that G-d
"will return you to Egypt in ships". Since Egypt corresponds to the upper tip of
the yud, and there remain divine sparks to elevate in the other lands,
which are compared to Egypt like the body is to the head, Israel must return to
Egypt.
By returning to Egypt, the general exile, Israel
can then proceed to elevate whatever sparks remain in the derivative exiles of
the other nations.
But as to Egypt itself, "no one will buy". When there
were sparks of holiness embedded within them they desired to rule over Israel.
But since Egypt has already been totally refined, it no longer has any desire to
enslave Israel. Therefore, they will not want to buy them as slaves.
Babylonia corresponds to the head, as it is
written: "You are the head of gold" (Daniel 2:38). Media and Persia correspond
to the two arms, Greece corresponds to the body, and Edom and Ishmael correspond
to the two legs. This is why the latter two exiles are long. | | " The Arabs...will rule over the Jewish people for a time concurrent with the exile of Rome..." | | |
The present exile is seen as an extension of the
Roman exile (Edom is Rome), since culturally and legally, Western civilization
shares the values and worldview of ancient Rome. A subset of this exile is that
of Ishmael, the Arabs, who are seen as an antithesis of Roman civilization and
values, and who will rule over the Jewish people for a time concurrent with the
exile of Rome.
This is also why our sages refer to the final
stages of the exile as "the heels of the Mashiach" (Sota 49a), for in
that time it will be necessary to elevate [the divine sparks] that have become
enmeshed in the lowest elements [of these exiles], the feet.
Regarding this body, our sages said: "The son of
David shall not come until all the souls have been emptied out of the Body" (Yevamot
62a), referring to the holiness that has been mixed in with the evil of the
"evil man" mentioned above.
The usual meaning of this saying is that all the
souls waiting in their spiritual storehouse (known as the "Body") must be born
into this physical world at least once in order for Mashiach to come.
Here, it is being interpreted to mean that all the divine sparks ("souls") must
be elevated and thus emptied out of the body representing the exiles of Israel.
Now, as we said, Egypt outweighs all the other
exiles for it corresponds to the tip of the yud and transcends the rest
of this "body". Therefore, when the Mashiach comes and the process of elevation
and refinement of the sparks will be completed, "death will be swallowed up
forever" (Isaiah 25:8), and the sparks will be totally elevated as they were in
Egypt. About this time it is written, "As in the days when you went out of Egypt
I will show him wonders". [ Likutei Torah and Sefer HaLikutim, parashat Ki Teitzei]
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