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“In every generation, a person is obliged to see himself or herself, as if he or she is coming out of Egypt.” Passover Haggadah
Rabbi Ashlag considers a person as a whole world in himself .Therefore, everything that is in the world is also represented within each and every one of us. It is in this spirit that he teaches the inner meanings of the stories of the Torah.
Over these last few weeks we’ve been reading in the Torah the story of the exile and redemption of the Children of Israel in Egypt. So our question is, how do we see this redemption of the children of Israel from the suffering and slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, as processes that also take place within ourselves?
How does the element of Pharaoh manifest within us? The prophet Ezekiel ( Chap.29) calls Pharaoh, “The crocodile that lurks in the Nile.” Like the crocodile the cruel enslaver of the Children of Israel is a hard core of our selfish love that wants to swallow and devour, not only the material light that God gives to us, but also any spiritual light that comes our way. He is the ultimate inner hijacker.
How did the Children of Israel fall into his trap then, and how do we get out of his trap now?
The merit of this Torah teaching in this podcast is dedicated to Michael Andrew, the son of Jennifer. May he be blessed with a Refuah Shlemah, a perfect healing.
Picture credit: “Crocodylus niloticus in Lake Chamo 02” by Bernard Gagnon
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