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Shemos: The Advantage of the Bitterness

The Parsha tells us that the Egyptians made our lives miserable: וימררו את חייהם. But what is interesting is that from this Passuk, we learn out the mitzva of having Marror. What lesson is there to learned from remembering how bitter Galus was after it’s already ended?

R’ Matisyahu Salomon has a beautiful explanation, based on writings of R’ Yisroel Salanter. We know that how much reward a person gets for doing a mitzva depends on how much effort they put in to it – לפום צרעא, אגרא. Therefore, those few Mitzvos that one manages to accomplish when things are very difficult can count for many times more than Mitzvos that came to one easily.

The fact that life was so difficult in Mitzrayim gave every action that Klal Yisroel did special meaning. Every word of Tefillah that they uttered in those trying times pierced the heavens – ותעל שועתם אל אלקים מן העבודה. The very bitterness of the exile was what gave Klal Yisroel’s Teffilos the power to set them free.

This lesson is important for all generations. When things seem so difficult, we must remember that every Mitzva we do and every Teffilah we utter is now all the more precious to Hashem. We can never know just how much our “small” things can accomplish precisely when the going gets tough.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום