13 Jan VAERA: THE MISSING YEARS OF THE EGYPTIAN EXILE

In the opening verses
of Parashat Vaera,
we find Hashem’s
pronouncement of
the “Arba Leshonot
Geula” – “four expressions of redemption.”
He told Moshe to convey to Beneh Yisrael
His promise that He will “take you from the
suffering of Egypt” (“Ve’hoseti”), He will
“save you from their labor” (“Ve’hisalti”),
He will “redeem you with an outstretched
arm” (“Ve’ga’alti”), and He will “take you
to Me as a nation” (“Ve’lakahti”). The
Gemara famously teaches that the four cups
of wine we drink at the Seder on the night of
Pesach correspond to these four promises.
One of the approaches taken to explain the
significance of these four expressions was
presented by the Shem Mi’Shmuel (Rav
Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, 1855-
1926), who writes that Hashem here refers
to the redemptions from the subsequent
exiles. Already then, during the Egyptian
exile, Hashem informed Beneh Yisrael
that just as He was bringing them out
of this exile, and extricating them from
persecution and suffering, He would also
deliver them from the exiles they would
endure in the future. The first of the four

expressions, “Ve’hoseti,” which speaks of
Hashem bringing the nation out of a foreign
land, alludes to the Babylonian exile, at the
conclusion of which Hashem brought the
Jews back from exile to the Land of Israel.
The second expression foresees Hashem
rescuing Beneh Yisrael from danger –
“Ve’histalti,” and thus refers to the rule
of Persia, when Beneh Yisrael were saved
from Haman’s decree of annihilation. The
third of the subsequent exiles was the period
of Greek persecution, when Beneh Yisrael
faced a grave spiritual threat, as the Greeks
forbade them from practicing their religion.
Hashem thus promised, “Ve’ga’alti” – that
He would redeem them from this spiritual
danger. Finally, Hashem promises to deliver
us from our current exile, the fourth and
final exile, assuring us that He would take us
as His nation for all eternity (“Ve’lakahti”).
The question, however, arises, why do we
commemorate these four promises through
the drinking of four cups on the night of
Pesach, as we celebrate the Exodus from
Egypt?
The answer emerges from a discussion in
the work Torat Haim (Rav Abraham Haim
Schorr, d. 1632) regarding a different

question, relating to the duration of the
Egyptian exile.
The Torah in Parashat Bo (Shemot 12:40)
states that the Egyptian exile lasted a total of
430 years. In truth, Beneh Yisrael spent just
210 years in Egypt. Many commentators
explain that the 430-year period began from
the time Avraham was informed that his
descendants would be enslaved. The Torat
Haim, however, advances a different theory.
He claims that indeed, Hashem decreed
a lengthy period of suffering, but He
mercifully ended the exile earlier. Tradition
teaches that the period of harsh labor began
at the time of the birth of Miriam, Moshe
Rabbenu’s sister, who was 86 at the time of
the Exodus. Thus, Beneh Yisrael endured
only 86 years of slave labor – one-fifth of
the 430 years of slavery that were decreed
upon them. The remaining four-fifths were
delayed to the future. The four subsequent
exiles, the Torat Haim explains, took the
place of the missing years of the Egyptian
exile. The amount of suffering that would
have been experienced in 86 years of
grueling slavery and degradation in Egypt
were transferred to each of these four
periods, and this is how the period of 430
years was completed.

The Torat Haim explains that this is why
we drink four cups of wine on Pesach night.
The word “Kos” in Gematria equals 86,
and thus the four cups of wine signify the
redemptions from the four subsequent exiles
– consistent with the Shem Mi’Shmuel’s
understanding of the four promises made
by Hashem in our Parasha. As we celebrate
the redemption from Egypt, we reflect on
the fact that Hashem shortened the period
of bondage in Egypt, delaying them to the
future. He then delivered us from the first
three of those four exiles, and we eagerly
anticipate the imminent redemption from
our fourth and current exile, may it unfold
speedily and in our times, Amen.