The seforim famously teach us that every Yid can get out of Mitzrayim every year on Pesach. What does this mean on a practical level? What is our Mitzrayim, and how can we get to geulah?
A meitzar (the root word of Mitzrayim) means a barrier. Every person has different nisyonos, but sometimes the challenge is so great that we see it as a barrier, something we simply cannot find a way to get past.
Sometimes one can experience this in the way he looks at himself, thinking that his current level in ruchniyus is the limit of what he can achieve. He says to himself, “I know myself well. This is who I am. Higher spiritual levels are just not for me.”
But this is nothing more than a barrier that the yetzer hara has put around you! We may have a hard time seeing past the barrier, but the truth is that the barrier is just an illusion.
Every Yid has such barriers, each on their own level. A Yid who is not yet shomer Shabbos may see keeping Shabbos as such a barrier. If you encourage him to try to keep Shabbos, he might respond by saying, “I would really love to, but that is just too much for me. I can’t do that.” But if he is able to push himself to start keeping Shabbos, even though he thinks he is “not there yet, that’s not for him,” he will often realize that the barrier he once had was just an illusion.
This is a common perspective in many areas of avodas Hashem, and each person experiences his own barriers. But don’t let Pharaoh tell you that you can’t. You can do anything!!
The seforim teach us that there are two central areas in which Pharaoh really tries to get to us, and these are taavos and emunah.
When it comes to taavos, Pharoah tries to tell us that we are at the level we can get to, and that higher levels of kedushah and more gedarim are not for us, so we should not try being holy beyond our current spiritual level.
When it comes to emunah, Pharaoh wants us to believe in nature! Pharaoh wants to limit us to only see the natural ways of the world: in our health, livelihood, and everything else.
This is another illusion! Hashem is the only reality. He is everything and does everything. All we have to do is hishtadlus, which is making vessels for Hashem’s shefa to come down, but the hishtadlus does not bring anything on its own!!
The Mesilas Yeshorim writes this out very clearly:
לא שההשתדלות הוא המועיל, אלא שההשתדלות מוכרח, וכיון שהשתדל הרי יצא ידי חובתו, וכבר יש מקום לברכת שמים שתשרה עליו, וכו’ כי כיון שעשה אדם קצת מלאכה, משם והלאה אין לו אלא לבטוח בקונו ולא להצטער על שום דבר
Hishtadlus is not what helps, but it is still required. And once one does his hishtadlus, he has fulfilled his obligation, and then there is a place for the blessings of Heaven to shower on him… Because once a person does a little work, from there going forward, there is nothing more for him to do than trust in his Owner and not to feel concern or pain about anything.
Getting stuck in doing too much hishtadlus, and being anxious once we’ve done our part, instead of calmly relying on Hashem, is a very deep meitzar that is really hard to get out of. It takes us over in everything we do.
The same applies to health. We are very used to thinking in terms of cause and effect, thinking that it is just natural factors that bring health or illness, but this is really Pharaoh as well. We have to do hishtadlus to keep healthy, but this is not what, ch”v, makes one sick or doesn’t! Only Hashem is in charge of that!
Our main avodah should always be on strengthening our emunah, going up the ladder of emunah more and more, not having bitachon in our hishtadlus, only having bitachon in Hashem. This alone brings all the yeshuos!
Another difficult meitzar can be social pressures. Since “everyone does it” it must be spiritually ok for me to do it as well. This is also very hard to break through, but in truth, who cares what everyone does? I have to do what Hashem wants from me!
So how does one achieve Yetziyas Mitzrayim? How can we break through these barriers?
There are three steps to this: the first step is to look for ‘Moshe Rabbeinu’ and listen to him. Look out for a tzadik that talks to your neshama; you will then see that it is possible to grow, just as the tzadik did. When you connect to a tzadik you receive spiritual energy to grow.
Listen to what the tzadikim teach us, that every Yid is mammish a son of Hashem! B’ni bechori Yisrael!! A Yid isn’t just a goy who has mitzvos. No, not at all! You are a beloved son of Hashem. Know how great you are! Never say you can’t. You can!!
The same Hashem who took us out of Mitzrayim is still around today in 5786; “ani Hashem lo shonisi, I am Hashem, I have not changed.”
The next step is to take one step in separating yourself from the Western culture that keeps on fooling us about what life is all about, telling us to be like everyone else. Understand how false this is, we are not at all like everyone else! Take a step towards breaking this klippah, on your level.
The third step is to try doing one good thing with mesirus nefesh. Start learning a little more on a daily basis, or some other commitment that requires you to push yourself to do. Keep growing with a healthy and positive mesirus nefesh!
Since it is Pesach time, we get a special siyata d’Shmaya to go out of Mitzrayim. Take a few minutes to yourself, and think about what your meitzarim is, and what you can do to take a step in the right direction. On Seder Night, we each get a special injection of emunah to really get out of our meitzarim!
How do I navigate a meitzar that is totally consuming my life?
If you see that a specific nisayon, whether it is financial crisis, a health crisis, or anything else, cha”v, is totally taking you over, the first principle is: Do not try to ignore it or run away from it! If you feel that all you can do is daven, because you can’t find a way out, then do just that — daven as much as you can!
If the nisayon is consuming you, your avodah is not to try to magically make it “not consume you”, and there is nothing wrong with you because of the fact that it does consume you. So what is your avodah?
To understand this better, take a moment to think about various people you know. You will notice that some people have a specific crisis, and they are taken over by it, totally preoccupied with handling their situation. Another person you know may have the same exact crisis, but are totally relaxed, handling it with ease. What is the difference between them? Is one of them doing something ‘wrong’? Why did Hashem orchestrate things this way?
The answer is that Hashem has orchestrated that one person should panic about this situation because that person’s neshama has a certain avodah that must be done. (In the terminology of inner avodah, this is called birrurim, which roughly translates as “distinctions.” These are processes a Yid goes through that helps refine him more and more).
The reason his nature is that he reacts in this way to this challenge, is because Hashem wants him to strengthen his emunah specifically from a place of an all-consuming nisayon and the pressure that comes with it. This is what Hashem needs of him, kiviyachol.
The second person is not particularly bothered by the same nisayon, because his neshama has no avodah here!
The more it bothers you, the more it is your avodah! People tend to think that life should be “regular,” and sometimes, by mistake, things go haywire. The opposite is the truth. Things went haywire to show you what your life is all about!!
Hashem is showing us what we should be davening for. Don’t run away. Take the message, and do just that!
After the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, they weren’t really ready yet for Matan Torah. This is why Hashem brought them into a very heavy avodah at the Yam Suf. They were totally enclosed by meitzarim from all sides. They then went ahead and davened on a very deep level, deeply knowing that only Hashem can help them. And with a little bit of mesirus nefesh they were zoche to see the greatest of nissim!
This is why Chazal teach us that shidduchim, parnassah, and health are “as difficult as Krias Yam Suf.” This doesn’t just mean that one needs nissim in these three areas. It means that in these three areas, most people have heavy avodas to get out of their Mitzrayim. They need to fill themselves up with emunah that only Hashem can help them, separate themselves from things that distance them from Hashem, and do some healthy positive mesirus nefesh! These three areas are the main birrurim for a lot of people!
If you are feeling entirely consumed by a nisayon, Hashem is presenting you in a very clear way with the mission that He asks of you now, which is entirely for the benefit of your neshama. Don’t be bothered by the fact that you are so bothered by the nisayon. The entire reason that you are bothered by the nisayon is because it is your mission to be bothered by it, and from that place of meitzarim, to cry out to Hashem, and to strengthen your emunah and find Hashem in that very place.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 76 Pesach.