Yehuda Ha'Levi (Spain, 1075-1141)

(16) 10. Al Khazari: Indeed, I see myself compelled to ask the Jews, because they are the relic of the Children of Israel. For I see that they constitute in themselves the evidence for the divine law on earth. He then invited a Jewish Rabbi, and asked him about his belief.

(17) 11. The Rabbi replied: I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles; who fed them in the desert and gave them the land, after having made them traverse the sea and the Jordan in a miraculous way; who sent Moses with His law, and subsequently thousands of prophets, who confirmed His law by promises to the observant, and threats to the disobedient. Our belief is comprised in the Torah--a very large domain.

(12) Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?”

(4) The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat!(5) We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.(6) Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!”

(5) Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine,

(1) ועתה AND NOW — if you will now take upon yourselves the observance of My commandments, it will be pleasant (easy) to you from now and henceforth, for every beginning is difficult (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:5:1).

(22) And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days;

(22) ויהי חשך אפלה … שלשת ימים — there was darkness of gloom when no man saw another during those three days, and there was moreover another period of three days’ darkness twice as thick as this when no man rose from his place: one who happened to be sitting when this second period of darkness began was unable to rise, and one who was then standing was unable to sit down. And why did He bring darkness upon them? Because there were wicked people amongst the Israelites of that generation who had no desire to leave Egypt, and these died during the three days of darkness so that the Egyptians might not see their destruction and say, “These, (the Israelites) too have been stricken as we have”....

(23) People could not see one another, and for three days no one could get up from where he was; but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings.

(18) But God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

(18) וחמשים — The word חמשים means provided with weapons. — [Because He led them by a circuitous route through the wilderness He brought it about that they went up from Egypt well-provided; for had He led them circuitously by the route of an inhabited district they would not have provided for themselves every thing that they needed, but only a part, like a person who is travelling from place to place and intends to purchase there whatever he will require. But if he were setting out for the wilderness he must provide all that he will require. — This verse (statement in the verse) is written only with the view of making the ear understand (preparing you for a later statement) viz., that you should not wonder with regard to the war with Amalek and the war with Sihon and Og and Midian where they obtained weapons, since they smote them with the sword]. In a similar sense it says, (Joshua 1:14) “and ye shall pass over armed (חמשים)”. Onkelos, too, translated it by מזרזין which signifies “armed” in Aramaic, just as he translates the word וירק in (Genesis 14:14) וירק את חניכיו which means, “And he armed his trained servants” by וזריז. Another explanation of חמשים is: only one out of five (חמשה) went forth from Egypt, and four parts of the people died during the three days of darkness because they were unworthy of being delivered (Mekhilta; cf. Rashi on 10:22).

The tanna of the mishna further states: In each and every generation a person must view himself as though he personally left Egypt, as it is stated: “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: It is because of this which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8).

, ...In every generation a person says "What God did for me", and not "for my ancestors."

The Exodus is renewed and significant for each of us in our own time, our own generation, because in every time there is a "Mitzrayim" - from Tzar - a place of narrowness, oppression, challenge, a place of fear - a place we have to "leave". And this 'leaving', however hopeful and positive, is always challenging. May God grant us the strength for every Exodus.

(7) Know, too! a person must cross a very, very narrow bridge. The main rule is: Do not be frightened at all!