How to Leave Mitzrayim Every Day

He [Hashem] does not desire the might of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of man. The Lord desires those who fear Him, those who hope for His kindness. (Psalms 147: 10-11) 

What is “Egypt” in Hebrew? It’s mitzrayim. What does that mean? It means the narrow people. Mi-tzarim. 

From Egypt to today, “civilization” sees advancement in a simple straight line: Make more money, get a better job, achieve social status, rise to the top. Who are the most famous people in the world? Elon Musk. Donald Trump. George Clooney. Barrack Obama – those who fulfilled these ideals.  

This narrow concept traps us: We, the Jewish people, are Divine Spirits trapped in physical bodies. Israel is jailed to a Greek world that worships not what the spirit wants, but what the body desires. Like a dog on a leash, we are forced down their narrow path, with little regard for whether it’s the right direction. 

What Does “Israel” Mean? 

“Israel” means the path to God. Through the lens of the nations, it’s a minimal path: austerity, chastity, intensity. That’s from the human perspective.  

From Hashem’s perspective, it’s entirely different. Hashem is infinite. He is everything, everywhere. 

Hear, O Israel, Hashem, our God, Hashem is One! 

God is speaking to us when He says this. From the perspective of the Infinite, up is also down, backwards is also forwards, and left is even right.  

What Israel Symbolizes 

The Magen David we are forced to see is also a deception. We see the six-pointed star pressed on a flag, a shirt, or a necklace. It’s handcuffed to the Egyptian’s two-dimensional plane.  

The six points on the Jewish star represent God: He is up, down, left, right, forwards, and backwards. His presence extends in every direction, and in every dimension.  

The Magen David points everywhere. It’s multidimensional – just like our God. Just like our personal and national mission.  

Our path is downwards and backwards as much as it is upwards and forwards. We can go backward and find Him there. We can sink down, and He is watching you. Three times a day, we recite the Alienu prayer. At the end of the first section, it teaches:  

For Hashem, He is God, in the heavens above and in the earth below – there is no other! 

At every point, we are in His world. At every step, we are “Yashar Kail” (“straight with Hashem”), or Israel. We are on His path. We are somewhere, with some mission.  

What is straight in Hashem’s eyes, might not look straight in our eyes. If our mission is to strengthen our trust in Him, then the greatest leap forward can be when we get fired from our dream job for no good reason.  

Even as we backslide in our finances, social standing, self-confidence, and dreams, for every moment we understand that this is good because it comes from Hashem, we are moving forward even if we think we are moving backward. We are moving upward, even if it feels like we are sinking downwards. 

Every Day We Leave Egypt 

Rabbi Nachman tells us that this world is a narrow bridge1. He describes the bridge as the passageway from this world to the next, but he doesn’t reveal in what direction your bridge is moving.  

The narrow bridge is to eternity, which is in every direction.  

That’s why giving someone a smile might not seem like the day’s biggest accomplishment, but it might be. Fighting off the urge to say something juicy about someone might not seem like a big deal, but in its own direction, you are pushing forward at the speed of light.  

Falling down and moving backwards might feel disappointing, but so long as you have trust that it’s from Hashem and that there is good in it, you are pushing forward in His direction.  

¹ Likutei Moharan II #48 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, 300 Marketing Solutions, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO-optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.