בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
בְּרוּךֶ אַתֶה חֲוָיָה שְׁכִינּוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדַשְׁתַנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיהֶ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהָתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קֵרְבָתְנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתָהּ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
Blessings for learning and studying Torah
Berakhot 11b:
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Nonbinary Hebrew Project:
B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Feminine God Language:
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah
וַיְהִי֩ בַיָּמִ֨ים הָֽרַבִּ֜ים הָהֵ֗ם וַיָּ֙מׇת֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם וַיֵּאָנְח֧וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל מִן־הָעֲבֹדָ֖ה וַיִּזְעָ֑קוּ וַתַּ֧עַל שַׁוְעָתָ֛ם אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים מִן־הָעֲבֹדָֽה׃ וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶת־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֵּ֖דַע אֱלֹהִֽים׃ {ס}
A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God. God heard their moaning, and God remembered the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.
וימת מלך מצרים. נִצְטָרַע וְהָיָה שׁוֹחֵט תִּינוֹקוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְרוֹחֵץ בְּדָמָם (שמות רבה א'):
וימת מלך מצרים THE KING OF EGYPT DIED — he became stricken with leprosy (and therefore may be spoken of as dead; cf. Numbers 12:12), and he used to slaughter Israelitish children and bathe in their blood as a cure for his disease (cf. Targum Jonathan and Exodus Rabbah 1:34).
וימת מלך מצרים. עתה יוכל משה לשוב אל מצרים. וישראל עשו תשובה. כי יחזקאל הזכיר שהיו ישראל עובדים גלולי מצרים. על כן ענם השם ותחת אשר לא עבדוהו עבדו אכזרים:
THAT THE KING OF EGYPT DIED. Moses was now able to return to Egypt. The Israelites repented. Ezekiel notes that the Israelites worshipped the idols of Egypt. It was because of this that the Lord afflicted them. As a punishment for not serving God they served cruel masters.
ויזעקו. זעקו מכאב לב על עבודתם, כענין הלילי שער, זעקי עיר: ותעל. שועתם אל האלהים מן העבודה. לא בשביל תשובתם ותפלתם, אבל כמקנא על אכזריות המעבידים, כאמרו וגם ראיתי את הלחץ:
ויזעקו, they cried out of frustration about their miserable fate and their enslavement. A similar expression for venting such feelings of frustration occurs in Isaiah 14,31הלילי שער זעקי העיר, “Howl, o gate! Cry out, o city!” ותעל שועתם אל האלוקים מן העובדה. G’d’s response was not due to their repenting and praying, but He simply was angry over the excessive cruelty with which the Egyptians treated the Jewish people This is why He added (when He spoke to Moses in 3,9) וגם ראיתי את הלחץ אשר מצרים לוחצים אותם, “and I have also seen the pressure that the Egyptians keep imposing on them. [perhaps the reason why our author does not consider the Jews’ repentance and prayer being a factor is the fact that the attribute with which G’d responded was still the attribute of Justice, אלוקים and not the attribute Hashem as he explained to Moses in 3,9 Ed.]
ויהי בימים הרבים ההם. כשארכו הימים שעברו ד׳ מאות שנה מזמן ברית בין הבתרים וכסבורים שעבר קץ השעבוד.
ויהי בימים הרבים ההם, “It was during these many years, etc;” the reference is to the 400 years that G-d had told Avraham that it would take before His promise to him that his descendants would be redeemed from the land in which they would be slaves would be fulfilled. The Jewish people in Egypt now felt that the time for them to be redeemed had arrived.
ויאנחו בנ״י. יודעים היו שהוטל עליהם שעבוד של ד׳ מאות שנה אבל סבורים היו שהתחילו מברית בן הבתרים ולפיכך ויאנחו ועל ידי כך מהרו בני אפרים לצאת, והם לא התחילו אלא משנולד יצחק. ד״א כל זמן שאותו מלך חי היו מצפין שמא כשימות זה יתבטלו גזרותיו מעלינו שכן מנהג כשמלך מת מיד מתירים כל החבושים שבכל עיר ועיר וכשמת זה לא נתבטלו גזרותיו אמרו מעתה אין לדבר סוף לפיכך ויאנחו.
ויאנחו בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel were groaning;” they were well aware that their G-d had decreed a period of 400 years of mixed bondage and being treated as aliens at the time He concluded the covenant of the pieces with Avraham in Genesis chapter 15. They had mistakenly thought that the period of 400 years commenced from the day that covenant had come into force. They did not know that if they had paid close attention to the wording of that covenant, they would have realised that the countdown could not have started until the day Yitzchok was born, as the promise was not to him (Avraham) but to Avraham’s descendants (Compare Genesis 15,4). A different interpretation of the reason why the Israelites are described as groaning at this point: As long as the old king had been alive, they had hoped that with his death the harsh decrees against them would “die” also. When they found out that they had hoped in vain, they groaned and prayed to G-d, as they were on the verge of giving up hope. [This was the first time in 86 years that they prayed to G-d. Ed.]
מן העבודה. פי' לא שצעקו לאל שיושיעם אלא צעקו מן הצער כאדם הצועק מכאבו. ומודיע הכתוב כי אותה צעקה עלתה לפני ה', והוא אומרו שועתם וגו' מן העבודה פי' מצער העבודה וישמע ה' את נאקתם פירוש הרמת קול כאבם. עוד ירצה על דרך אומרו (תהלים קי''ח) מן המצר קראתי יה ענני במרחב יה כי אחת מהתפלות המתקבלות היא תפלה שמתוך צרה, וכן הוא אומר (יונה ב') קראתי. מצרה, והוא אומרו ותעל שועתם וגו' מן העבודה פי' לצד שהיתה מצרת העבודה, וכפי זה שועה זו היא תפלה וצעקת כאב הצרה הנה היא רמוזה באומרו מן העבודה ויזעקו, ובזה ידויק על נכון טעם ששינה הכתוב לשונו שהתחיל לומר ויזעקו ותעל שועתם וגו', שהיה לו לומר ותעל זעקתם וגו', אלא נתכוין לומר שהם זעקו מהצרה וגם שועו לה' כאומרו ותעל שועתם. וכפי זה שיעור הכתוב הוא על זה הדרך ותעל שועתם ששועו לאלהים מן העבודה.
מן העבודה, on account of the bondage. They did not appeal to G'd to save them from their situation; they merely groaned, something which people who feel that their burdens are too great are wont to do out of a sense of helplessness. The Torah informs us that although this outcry was not a direct appeal to G'd for help, it did reach the ears of G'd because their situation was indeed intolerable; this is why the Torah adds that the reason G'd responded was מן העבודה, their bondage was too intolerable. However, G'd did not respond to a prayer but to a general groaning, i.e. נעקתם (verse 24). The Torah may also teach us something that David referred to in Psalms 118,5, where he speaks about מן המצר קראתי קה, "I have called upon the Lord out of distress, etc." One of the prayers to which G'd responds is the one that is prompted by the distress a person finds himself in. We find that Jonah prayed from similar motivations (Jonah 2,3) when he said: "I called out because I am in distress." The Torah testifies that G'd responded to the distress the people found themselves in. According to our analysis the word שעוה means prayer, as well as an outcry prompted by pain; this is hinted at by the Torah's use of the words מן העבודה ויזעקו; the Torah is quite correct therefore when it introduces G'd's response as being in response to שועתם instead of זעקתם. The Torah wanted to point out that the outcry of the children of Israel consisted of two elements, i.e. both זעקה and שעוה.
From Rabbi Rachel Barenblatt: "Crying out, and the possibility of change" at https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2015/12/crying-out.html
The first step toward liberation wasn't Moshe seeing the Burning Bush, or going before Pharaoh to demand his people's freedom: it was a krechtz, a heartfelt cry. Torah teaches that we cried out, and God remembered us and answered. One could quibble with the text: why does God need to be reminded? Wasn't God able to see our suffering before we cried out? But maybe the crying-out was important not so much because God needed to be reminded that God's children were in tight straits, but because we ourselves needed to cry out, to acknowledge our own constriction and our own grief.
We've all heard the parable of the frog who jumped into a pot of cold water and acclimated as the water temperature rose, never realizing that the rising temperature spelled impending death. Apparently it isn't true in any scientific sense, but I think there's spiritual truth in that grisly story. One can become accustomed to tight straits in many forms: to pain, and to suffering; to overwork; to being taken for granted or being mistreated. Like the frog in the story, we may not notice when our circumstances become so toxic that they're dangerous.
Sometimes we tell ourselves that our ability to live with pain -- whether physical or emotional -- is a sign of strength. Sometimes we regret our painful circumstances, but don't see any way out of them, so we make a virtue of necessity and learn to live with them. That's a coping mechanism, and it can serve its purpose well. But the downside of that coping mechanism is that it habituates us to our own suffering. And when we're accustomed to our own pain, we don't cry out... a silence which can easily go hand-in-hand with losing faith in the possibility of anything better than where we are.
The first step toward liberation wasn't Moshe seeing the Burning Bush, or going before Pharaoh to demand his people's freedom: it was a krechtz, a heartfelt cry. Torah teaches that we cried out, and God remembered us and answered. One could quibble with the text: why does God need to be reminded? Wasn't God able to see our suffering before we cried out? But maybe the crying-out was important not so much because God needed to be reminded that God's children were in tight straits, but because we ourselves needed to cry out, to acknowledge our own constriction and our own grief.
We've all heard the parable of the frog who jumped into a pot of cold water and acclimated as the water temperature rose, never realizing that the rising temperature spelled impending death. Apparently it isn't true in any scientific sense, but I think there's spiritual truth in that grisly story. One can become accustomed to tight straits in many forms: to pain, and to suffering; to overwork; to being taken for granted or being mistreated. Like the frog in the story, we may not notice when our circumstances become so toxic that they're dangerous.
Sometimes we tell ourselves that our ability to live with pain -- whether physical or emotional -- is a sign of strength. Sometimes we regret our painful circumstances, but don't see any way out of them, so we make a virtue of necessity and learn to live with them. That's a coping mechanism, and it can serve its purpose well. But the downside of that coping mechanism is that it habituates us to our own suffering. And when we're accustomed to our own pain, we don't cry out... a silence which can easily go hand-in-hand with losing faith in the possibility of anything better than where we are.