At the beginning of Parshas Va'era, Hashem instructs Moshe Rabbeinu to tell the Jewish people that He will redeem them from Mitzrayim. He uses four different terms to express this idea, "I will take you out (v'hotzeisi) from under the burdens (sivlos) of Egypt; I will rescue you (v'hitzalti) from their servitude; I will redeem you (v'ga'alti) with an outstretched arm and great judgements; and I will take you (v'lakachti) to Me for a people and I shall be a G-d to you, and you will know that I am Hashem your G-d who takes you out from under the burdens (sivlos) of Egypt" (6:6-7).
What is added with the last phrase, "and you will know that I am Hashem your G-d who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt?" Moreover, why is the word sivlos in this phrase spelled with a vav, while the word sivlos in the beginning of Hashem's statement is spelled without a vav?
The Be'er Yosef explains that the Jewish people suffered two forms of persecution in Egypt. First, they were physically oppressed. The Egyptians enslaved them with crushing harshness (Shemos 1:13). They embittered their lives with hard work, forcing them to make mortar and bricks (1:14) to build storage cities for Pharoh (1:11). In addition, Pharoh decreed that all Jewish male children were to be thrown into the Nile. The Jewish people suffered terribly from the back-breaking labor and oppression to which they were subjected.
But aside from this physical subjugation, the Jewish people also suffered a spiritual persecution at the hands of the Egyptians. After years of forced labor and torture, the Jewish people no longer felt their elevated status as the children of the Avos and Imahos. They lost some of the special aura of kedusha and the distinctive middos they had inherited from their ancestors. While the Jewish people did maintain their names and their language even in Mitzrayim (Midrash Tehillim, Shochar Tov, 114:4), they also assimilated Egyptian culture. "They mingled with the nations and they learned their ways" (Tehillim 106:35). They imitated the Egyptians in their behavior to such an extent that the angels complained that the Jewish people did not deserve to be saved because they were no better than the Egyptians. "These serve avodah zara, and these serve avodah zara" (see Alshich, Va'eira 8:18, based on Midrash Rabba, Vayikra 23:2).
The Jewish people suffered a double persecution in Egypt, but they felt only the physical oppression. Their spiritual affliction was no less significant, but sadly they did not even sense how much their enslavement had changed them. This is hinted to in the passuk, "And Bnei Yisrael groaned because of the hard work and they cried out...Hashem heard their cries, and He remembered his covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Hashem saw Bnei Yisrael and Hashem knew" (Shemos 2:23-24). The Jewish people cried out from the grueling physical labor, but Hashem saw not only their physical oppression. He remembered his covenant with the Avos. He thought of the distinguished ancestors of the Jewish people and He knew. Only He knew the spiritual depths to which Klal Yisrael had sunk, while they were totally unaware of their own spiritual affliction.
This, says the Be'er Yosef, is the meaning behind Hashem's statement in the beginning of Parshas Va'eira. Hashem promises that He will rescue the Jewish people from under the physical burdens (sivlos) of Mitzrayim. Here sivlos is spelled without a vav because it is referring only to the physical slavery, the persecution that Klal Yisrael perceived. But then Hashem adds that He will take the Jewish people as His nation, and be for them a G-d, and then they will know that Hashem is the one who rescued them from the burdens of Mitzrayim. After Hashem gives the Torah to Klal Yisrael and they elevate themselves to become "a kingdom of princes and a holy nation", then they will understand that Hashem actually saved them from a double persecution (sivlos with a vav), both a physical and a spiritual oppression. Only after Klal Yisrael received the Torah and appreciated their illustrious ancestry and their inherent spiritual potential, did they truly understand what kind of spiritual affliction they had suffered in Mitzrayim.
Until a person is exposed to kedusha, he doesn't know what he's missing. This is a common phenomenon with ba'alei teshuva. For years, they live without Torah and mitzvos, and they think they have a fulfilling life. They are successful professionally and socially. And they often don't even realize what they are missing. But after they are introduced to talmud Torah and Shabbos and tefilla, they appreciate how much more enriched their lives can be.
Even Orthodox Jews from birth can sometimes feel this way as well. They observe the mitzvos but may not feel a love for talmud Torah or don't connect to tefilla, or maybe Shabbos isn't an uplifting experience for them. Often we all get so involved in the responsibilities of life that we don't have the time or the head space to deepen our connection to Torah and mitzvos.
This, says the Ramchal (Mesilas Yesharim, Ch. 2), is the evil scheme of the yetzer hara. As Pharoh said, "Let the work become more intense on the men and let them engage in it; and let them not speak false words" (Shemos 5:9). The yetzer hara throws all kinds of distractions in front of a person just so that he will not be able to focus on spiritual pursuits, and then gradually the person loses sight of the true value of Torah and mitzvos. The antidote to such a mentality is to take a step back, to invest more time and effort into mitzvos, to expose oneself to more experiences of kedusha, and hopefully that can set a person on a path toward spiritual growth.
Sometimes momentous events in history are what give us a different perspective and motivate us to take our Yiddishkeit more seriously. That certainly is how many people have felt recently. Whether it's developing a heightened appreciation for Shabbos, a renewed focus on tefilla, a more acute realization that only Hashem can provide protection, or a deeper understanding of the importance of unity in Klal Yisrael, the Simchas Torah massacre and its aftermath have been a wake-up call not only for secular Israelis but for Jews all over the world. It's an opportunity for all of us to consider how we can strengthen our involvement in talmud Torah, connect more emotionally to mitzvos, and deepen our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Who knows? We just might discover that we were missing out all along on something of priceless value.