Community Torah Corner, January 24, 2025

In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vaera, we read of the beginning of the Israelites’ redemption from slavery, as God rains down the first seven plagues upon Egypt. But the text tells us that when Moses came to inform the Israelites that he would lead them to freedom, they did not listen to him.  “They would not listen to Moses because their spirits had been crushed – kotzer ruach – by cruel bondage” (Exodus 6:9). Rashi, the great medieval commentator, teaches that the words kotzer ruach mean not that their spirits were crushed, but rather that the Israelites were literally short of breath. The weight of slavery was so onerous, the pain of their lost hope so searing, that our ancestors actually struggled to breathe.

 

Over the past year-and-a-half, that verse has resonated more deeply than I can ever remember, because since October 7th, 2023, we have all been kotzer ruach. We have all been struggling to breathe. But this past week, for the first time in nearly 16 months, we all collectively sighed with relief as we witnessed the release of Romi Gonen (24), Doron Steinbrecher (31) and Emily Damari (28), three women who had been held in captivity in Gaza for 470 days. Watching the incredibly moving footage of these women reuniting with their families, one can only imagine what it must feel like for their parents to finally be able to take a real breath again.

 

This week’s Torah portion also contains the four expressions of redemption, which serve as the basis of the four cups of wine we drink each year at the seder table. “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. And then, I will take you as my people.” (Exodus 6:6-7). Four expressions of God taking us MeAvdut LeCherut — from slavery to freedom.

 
It is so fitting that we read those words this Shabbat, as this coming Monday, January 27th is International Holocaust Memorial Day, the anniversary of the day on which Auschwitz was liberated. And while we are elated at the return of Romi, Doron and Emily, we continue to anxiously await the return of the over 90 hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza. To paraphrase this week’s Torah portion, we pray for the moment when they will be brought out from under the yoke of oppression and redeemed from bondage, so that finally, we will all be able to breathe again.