This pattern was repeated in the Jewish people’s subsequent exiles. The Gemara relates (Yoma 9b) that one of the sins that led to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash was avodah zarah, the worship of false deities, which constitutes the ultimate lack of faith in Hashem. The Gemara adds that the second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because of the sin of sinas chinam – baseless hatred – which represents the other flaw that led to the exile in Egypt: a lack of unity among the Jewish people.
Just as Bnei Yisrael were redeemed from Mitzrayim after they rectified the root sins that were the catalysts for their exile, so too the Jewish people’s future redemption will be brought about when they correct those very same flaws.
Thus, Chazal state (Mechilta, Beshalach, maseches d’Vayehi, ch. 6) that when the Jewish people are redeemed from exile, it is invariably because they have demonstrated faith in Hashem. In addition, the Chofetz Chaim states in the introduction to his sefer that since our exile was caused by a lack of unity and by the sin of lashon hara, these deficiencies must be corrected in order for the future redemption to take place.
In truth, the reason the later exiles represent the same pattern of character deficiencies and correction of those flaws is that all of the Jewish people’s exiles have been rooted in the decree of the exile in Mitzrayim. The Midrash states (Bereishis Rabbah 44:19) that at the bris bein habesarim Hashem showed Avraham not only the exile in Mitzrayim but all the later exiles as well, and Maharal explains (Gevuros Hashem ch. 9) that this is because the decree of exile included in the bris bein habesarim encompassed every exile Bnei Yisrael would ever endure.
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Let us return to the present situation in the United States. We cannot limit blame for the breakdown of moral and ethical norms in the political discourse to the politicians. There are millions upon millions of Americans who obviously support them and approve of what they are doing. This points to an acceptance of a culture that lacks any trace of human dignity. It is not difficult to believe we are, in fact, witnessing the very unraveling of democracy.
Sadly, this host culture has influenced us more than we care to admit. It is a culture that is the antithesis of how the Torah directs us to behave. When we adapt aspects of these disgusting new norms by indiscriminately slandering our fellow Jews and, even worse, talmidei chachamim and Torah giants, we are in essence forfeiting the very reasons for which we became worthy of redemption from our first galus of Egypt, the prototype for all future exiles.
How did America, “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” fall to such a low, disgraceful level where human dignity has become hefker?
Perhaps we can trace it to the breakdown of the sanctity of religion in this country. When it became legally problematic to mention God in our schools, America began its precipitous moral descent. Once God was relegated to the background in American life, morality went into a tailspin.
And as America became so slavishly subservient to materialism and unbridled “freedom of speech” that it became acceptable to gratuitously slander and bash others in the most public of forums, the country’s downhill tumble only accelerated. It was just a matter of time before the sanctity of marriage became expendable and the life of an unborn child was treated so cavalierly.
On Pesach we celebrate our nation’s freedom from servitude, from bondage. We must, however, understand that the bondage in Egypt didn’t happen suddenly. The Gemara tells us it was slow process. At the beginning Pharaoh did not force anyone to work; rather, he tricked them until they fell into his trap and subsequently became enslaved to him.
