16 Jan PARASHAT BO: CARING FOR VICTIMS

Parshat Bo tells the story
of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the
Exodus from Egypt.
Throughout the Torah,
the importance of this
event, and of
remembering this event, is emphasized. And
many mitzvot were commanded
specifically to ensure that we never forget
that we were downtrodden slaves in Egypt
until Hashem miraculously brought us to
freedom. One reason why the story of
Yetziat Mitzrayim is so critically important,
and so foundational to the Jewish
experience, is because it teaches us about
the ability to overcome challenges. Our
ancestors were lowly slaves, subjected to
unimaginable misery and persecution, and
then emerged as a proud nation, standing at
Mount Sinai and hearing Hashem speak to
them. The story of Yetziat Mitzrayim is
thus the story of the Jewish People
throughout history – the story of resilience
in the face of hardship, the story of triumph
over adversity, the story of never losing
hope or faith no matter how difficult the
situation is. And this is the story that we
each must write for ourselves, as

well. Yetziat Mitzrayim teaches us that we
can overcome any personal challenges that
we face by placing our faith in Hashem,
that no struggle is too difficult, that we can
and must be strong even in hard times. But
there is also another reason why the Torah
places great emphasis on remembering our
ancestors’ experiences in Egypt. The Torah
on several occasions commands us to look
out for the poor and the downtrodden, and
it makes the point that we experienced
hardship and suffering in Egypt. We
ourselves endured the pain and degradation
of slavery – and so we need to empathize
with, and care for, those who are hurting,
those who are struggling, those who are
alone, and those who are vulnerable and
afraid. We were there, we know what it’s
like, and so we have the responsibility to
help them. We place a great deal of
emphasis on the first message of Yetziat
Mitzrayim – on fighting, on struggling to
succeed and triumph in the face of
adversity, on trusting our ability to
overcome any challenge. Specifically,
because of this, we aren’t always
sufficiently attuned to the plight of those
who struggle. We hear and tell ourselves so

often that we can overcome
anything, and so we might be
led to apply this to other people
enduring hardship. We might
look at people who are struggling
and think, “They can get over it.
They’re strong. With emunah,
anything is possible – so they
can handle this and recover.”
This attitude overlooks the
second message of the story of
Egypt – empathizing with
people’s pain, and doing what
we can to care for them. We
have among us many victims, of
many different kinds. There are victims of
various forms of abuse. There are victims
of crime. There are victims of
poverty. There are victims of neglect. There
are victims of bullying. There are victims
of abandonment. And they need to see that
we care, that they’re not invisible, that we
want to embrace them and help them. Of
course, all Am Yisrael are victims; we have
been victimized for millennia. And we’ve
grown stronger through our extraordinary
power of resilience and our faith. But this
does not allow us to belittle the pain and

the suffering of our brothers and sisters
who are in pain. They don’t need to be told
to hear classes or read books about emunah,
or to be told that they are strong enough to
handle anything. They need our empathy,
our unconditional support, and the
assurance that we are with them and ready
to help them. For ourselves, we need to
reinforce our faith in Hashem and in our
strength to persevere. But for others, we
need to show empathy and concern, and
extend ourselves as much as we can to
alleviate the pain and suffering of our
fellow Jew in distress.