Q:
In kiddush on Friday night we say that Shabbos is zeicher l’yetzias Mitzrayim; it’s a remembrance of our going out of Egypt. In what way is Shabbos supposed to remind us of Yetzias Mitzrayim?
A:
Shabbos shows that Hashem chose us to be His people; we were chosen to be the nation that testifies that Hashem created the world out of nothing. “אתם עדי” Hashem said. “You are My witnesses.” Even though the creation of the world from nothing was for all the nations, we are the ones chosen to be His witnesses to testify to the truth of His existence and to His creation of the world from nothing. That’s our job in this world; to never back down from testifying to Hashem’s creation of this world from nothing. And the most fundamental way we testify to that truth is by keeping Shabbos.
Now, when were we chosen for this job? We were chosen in Mitzrayim. At Yetzias Mitzrayim Hashem chose us. שלח את בני – “Send out My son,” Hashem said. That’s the first time Hashem said that. It was at Yetzias Mitzrayim that Hashem called the Am Yisroel “My son,” because it was then that we were chosen. And He chose us for what? שלח את בני ויעבדוני – Send out my nation so that they should serve Me. It means that it was at Yetzias Mitzrayim that Hashem chose us to serve Him. It says that openly: “Send My people out.” For what? “So that they should serve Me.”
So it was at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim that we were chosen for this job of being His witnesses by celebrating Shabbos and thereby testifying to the briyah yesh mei’ayin. And that’s one of the reasons why we mention Yetzias Mitzrayim in kiddush Friday night – because Yetzias Mitzrayim is when it all began.
TAPE # E-229 (October 2000)