“God blew into his nostrils a breath of life, and the person became a living spirit.” (Genesis 2:7) This is the point of the arrival of the first human being into the cosmos. A creature that has the power of speech. That defines a human being, their ability to speak. We take the power of speech for granted. We don’t think about the root and the significance of the power of speech. We use it, we abuse it. And we never know what it means. The power of speech is the device that reveals the tremendous potential that lies in the soul of every human being.
This theme, about the power of speech, comes up in relation to Pesach, in the famous thought that has trickled down to us from the Arizal, the great Kabbalist… He said that there is an allusion to speech in the word “Pesach,” because the word can be parsed to become “peh sach,” the mouth speaks. What does the mouth speaking have to do with the holiday of Pesach? A lot, says the Arizal. The depth and the sharpest point of the exile in Egypt was that the Jewish people did not speak their own language. And the high point of their redemption was that they resumed speaking their own language. It’s obvious that the Arizal is not concerned about whether they were speaking Hebrew or Egyptian or any other language. That’s not what he’s talking about. He is making a very deep and powerful point.
Each individual human being has his own singular nature and inner core. Each nation also has its singular inner essence, which is expressed in many ways in its language, in its modes of expression, in its modes of behavior and thought. And when a nation or a people cannot express their own inner essence, but instead find themselves expressing and mouthing the thoughts of other people who do not reflect their inner selves, they are said to be in exile. That is the real meaning of exile.
The same applies to an individual. When a person has to live their whole life and do work and practice a lifestyle that does not emanate from their inner being, they are in exile.
Let’s say, for example, that a person is born with an acute and preeminent talent for music. When this person is playing her instrument and making her music, she is clearly expressing the feelings of her innermost being. She is a musician, and she expresses herself through hermusic. It is the same with a person who is born with a talent for art. When he is painting or drawing or however he articulates his artistic sensibilities, he is clearly expressing the feelings of his innermost being.
Now, suppose you were to take this musician or this artist and you were to tell them, “You would make a very good electrician, so I want you to go to work as an electrician.” This person may spend their whole life as an electrician. They may make a lot of money and become very rich. But in the end, when their life is over, the person will have lived out his years without giving expression to their innermost being, because this person was a musician or an artist, not an electrician.
These are very subtle things, but they are crucial to the whole psychological structure of a human being. So many people who are weak live their entire lives, talking, talking, talking, and they never really express themselves. They never really tap in to their inner selves.
During the exile in Egypt, the spiritual exile in the land of Egypt, the Jewish people were hemmed in. The name Mitzrayim, Egypt, is also understood as metzarim, boundaries. A meitzar is a narrow boundary of confinement. The Jewish people were in a situation of narrowness in which the Jewish soul could not express itself.
When the Jewish people were immersed in the Egyptian culture, they could not express themselves in their own modes of expression. Their inner beings remained unarticulated. They were forced into a situation where they found themselves speaking an alien language, literally and figuratively.
And this was their exile.
So the Almighty said, “I took you out of Egypt. I removed you from the situation of your exile. The narrow boundaries that hemmed you in and stifled the expression of your own inner selves no longer exist. You are no longer living in an alien culture and driven to express yourselves in terms and concepts that do not reflect what is in your own souls, in your own inner essence. You have been emancipated. You are free to express yourself in the way that is most natural to yourselves. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Forget the narrowness and the constriction. Open your mouth wide, and I will help you find the natural expression that you seek.”
The Almighty says, “open your mouth.” Expand your horizons. Break out of your narrowness. Widen the range of your conversations. Talk about what’s real, what’s important…
What is the significance of talking? It means that you are allowing yourself to feel and to express that which was shut off. It means that you’re introducing a new tributary that is flowing into the ocean of your soul. It means that you’re exploring thoughts and aspirations that are important but unarticulated. You have difficulties? Talk about it. Bring it into the open. But people are afraid to talk about it. It’s not because the topics are too serious. No. It’s because the people themselves are so narrowed in that they cannot talk about these things. They can’t add new dimensions to their lives. They’re afraid to face up to their insecurities and their unhappiness. They’re in exile.
(Open Your Mouth by Rabbi Shlomo Freifland)
This theme, about the power of speech, comes up in relation to Pesach, in the famous thought that has trickled down to us from the Arizal, the great Kabbalist… He said that there is an allusion to speech in the word “Pesach,” because the word can be parsed to become “peh sach,” the mouth speaks. What does the mouth speaking have to do with the holiday of Pesach? A lot, says the Arizal. The depth and the sharpest point of the exile in Egypt was that the Jewish people did not speak their own language. And the high point of their redemption was that they resumed speaking their own language. It’s obvious that the Arizal is not concerned about whether they were speaking Hebrew or Egyptian or any other language. That’s not what he’s talking about. He is making a very deep and powerful point.
Each individual human being has his own singular nature and inner core. Each nation also has its singular inner essence, which is expressed in many ways in its language, in its modes of expression, in its modes of behavior and thought. And when a nation or a people cannot express their own inner essence, but instead find themselves expressing and mouthing the thoughts of other people who do not reflect their inner selves, they are said to be in exile. That is the real meaning of exile.
The same applies to an individual. When a person has to live their whole life and do work and practice a lifestyle that does not emanate from their inner being, they are in exile.
Let’s say, for example, that a person is born with an acute and preeminent talent for music. When this person is playing her instrument and making her music, she is clearly expressing the feelings of her innermost being. She is a musician, and she expresses herself through hermusic. It is the same with a person who is born with a talent for art. When he is painting or drawing or however he articulates his artistic sensibilities, he is clearly expressing the feelings of his innermost being.
Now, suppose you were to take this musician or this artist and you were to tell them, “You would make a very good electrician, so I want you to go to work as an electrician.” This person may spend their whole life as an electrician. They may make a lot of money and become very rich. But in the end, when their life is over, the person will have lived out his years without giving expression to their innermost being, because this person was a musician or an artist, not an electrician.
These are very subtle things, but they are crucial to the whole psychological structure of a human being. So many people who are weak live their entire lives, talking, talking, talking, and they never really express themselves. They never really tap in to their inner selves.
During the exile in Egypt, the spiritual exile in the land of Egypt, the Jewish people were hemmed in. The name Mitzrayim, Egypt, is also understood as metzarim, boundaries. A meitzar is a narrow boundary of confinement. The Jewish people were in a situation of narrowness in which the Jewish soul could not express itself.
When the Jewish people were immersed in the Egyptian culture, they could not express themselves in their own modes of expression. Their inner beings remained unarticulated. They were forced into a situation where they found themselves speaking an alien language, literally and figuratively.
And this was their exile.
So the Almighty said, “I took you out of Egypt. I removed you from the situation of your exile. The narrow boundaries that hemmed you in and stifled the expression of your own inner selves no longer exist. You are no longer living in an alien culture and driven to express yourselves in terms and concepts that do not reflect what is in your own souls, in your own inner essence. You have been emancipated. You are free to express yourself in the way that is most natural to yourselves. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Forget the narrowness and the constriction. Open your mouth wide, and I will help you find the natural expression that you seek.”
The Almighty says, “open your mouth.” Expand your horizons. Break out of your narrowness. Widen the range of your conversations. Talk about what’s real, what’s important…
What is the significance of talking? It means that you are allowing yourself to feel and to express that which was shut off. It means that you’re introducing a new tributary that is flowing into the ocean of your soul. It means that you’re exploring thoughts and aspirations that are important but unarticulated. You have difficulties? Talk about it. Bring it into the open. But people are afraid to talk about it. It’s not because the topics are too serious. No. It’s because the people themselves are so narrowed in that they cannot talk about these things. They can’t add new dimensions to their lives. They’re afraid to face up to their insecurities and their unhappiness. They’re in exile.
(Open Your Mouth by Rabbi Shlomo Freifland)