After a long series of 10 plagues poured out by Hashem on Egypt, Pharaoh finally let the Hebrews go. The final plague was the plague of death sent on the first-born of all Egyptians. The Hebrews, however, were sanctified for life by the blood of the Passover which was placed on their doorposts. The blood was commanded to be placed on the lintel and the two doorposts, like a chet. This blood would signal to the angel that Hebrews lived in the home, and all inside the home were saved for life.

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חַי

The plague of death in the Egyptian camp occurred in the middle of the night, while the Hebrews celebrated life with Pesach. The next morning, as the Egyptians wept over the loss of their first-born, Pharaoh finally commanded the Hebrews to leave his land for fear that every Egyptian would die if the Hebrews remained in Egypt.

After a journey of over a week, Hashem brought the Hebrews to the Reed Sea. Pharaoh followed in hot pursuit, but the angel of Hashem stood guard between the Hebrews and the Egyptian army. Then in the middle of the night, Hashem rolled back the waters of the  Reed Sea and allowed the Hebrews to escape to safety on dry ground. Mimicking the miracle that Hashem performed on day three of creation, this path of dry ground made way for the first-fruits of Hashem (the nation and people, the Israelites (Jeremiah 2:3)) to rise, fully formed (like all vegetation at the start of creation).

After escaping to freedom, we see Hashem move in compassionate ways with His people who could not comprehend the ways of Hashem. For them, the wilderness was not freedom and oft they complained that they would rather go back to Egypt rather than die in the wilderness. It is not hard to comprehend the place of fear that these worries stemmed from. For, the Hebrews had been crying out to Hashem for 400 plus years, seemingly without any recognition or help from their God, Hashem. 

If, however, we look at the events of Egypt through the lens of Torah, we will see that though Hashem left our Hebrew ancestors in the land of Egypt and allowed them to suffer immense suffering and harsh slave labor, the Hebrews were indeed not forgotten. For, time and again we read about the ways in which Hashem blessed our ancestors in the land of their affliction. A few over-arching examples include:

1. The miraculous appointment of Joseph as governor.

2. The increase of land, animals, and food for the Jews while the Egyptians had to sell all they had and themselves into slavery.

3. The proliferation of the Jewish people despite immense abuse, neglect, and torture when Pharoah turned away his favor and enslaved the Hebrews.

We see time and again that the Egyptians tormented, abused, and attacked our ancestors, the more Hashem allowed them (the Hebrews) to prosper and grow as a people. Thus, by the end of the promised 400 years of captivity, the people who went down into Egypt only 70 people-strong left with over 600,000 people-strong.

Thus, the slavery strengthened the seed of Hashem, even if we could not see it at the time. Understanding the hearts of His people, Hashem allowed for the lack of food, water, and abundance in earthly means and instead gave the Hebrews manna, small springs, and 2 leaders (Moses, with whom Adonai would commune with directly & Aaron, who would speak to the people on Moses’ behalf if and when needed due to Moses’ weakness in speech). These seemingly meager forms of provision were arguably Hashem’s ways of re-teaching His people to trust in and worship Himself (Hashem) alone. As part of this trust and relationship building with His people, Hashem stated more than once that if the Hebrew people would simply trust in Him, listen to His words alone, and keep all the statutes that He would give to them, that they would be blessed exceedingly (Exodus 14-17).