Psychological insight by the Ohr Hachaim, that emotional suffering/anxiety/fear only removed when sufferer knows that the cause has vanished

‘Vayasha Hashem bayom Hahu’ – Hashem saved them on that day, when the Bnei Yisrael saw the faces of the dead Egytptians. In fact, the Midrash explains that each Jew saw the (dead) face of the specific Egyptian that tried to attack him. The Ohr Hachaim explains that it was only on ‘that day’ (rather than the day that they were released from Egypt) that the Jews were saved by Hashem, since they now had emotional freedom (in addition to physical freedom). Until they saw the dead face of the Egyptian that tried to kill them, the Jews were emotionally scarred and haunted, still in fear that they might come back. Thus only when the Jews saw the dead faces of those Egyptians were they truly saved.

• Share on Facebook
 Print This Post