A Redundancy
The Egyptian bondage is described by the Torah thus:
“The Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel with crushing labor (perech)… all the work they made them do was crushing labor (perech).”
Commentators question the need for the Torah to repeat that they were made to do crushing labor.
The Talmud’s apparent answer (Sota 11b) to this question revolves around the definition of the Hebrew word for “crushing labor”, which is “perech.”
The Talmud records two views as to what perech means:
According to Rabbi Elazar, perech is actually a composite of two words, “peh” and “rach,” which means a “soft mouth.” Pharaoh began the enslavement of the children of Israel with soft words and gentle persuasion. Pharaoh induced them with encouraging words to join him and the Egyptian people in a patriotic effort to rebuild the country. He even offered them remuneration for their work. Indeed, Pharaoh himself joined the work force to make their participation more enticing. Little by little, Pharaoh regimented the Israelites into an efficient work force, making them easier to coerce into slave labor.
The second view, according to Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani, interprets the word perech literally: crushing labor. As Rashi puts it: “strenuous physical work that breaks down the body.”
It may be suggested that there’s no real difference of opinion as to what actually happened, for both translations and facts are true. While Pharaoh began the process of enslavement with soft words, the work degenerated into back-breaking and crushing labor.
If there is a disagreement it is about our focus when we remember the enslavement on Passover night at the Seder or even daily, when we remember the Exodus in our prayers. Do we focus on the physical hardship that our ancestors endured at the hands of the Egyptian task-masters, or is it the psychological trauma experienced at Pharaoh’s betrayal that should be uppermost in our thoughts?
This may echo another dispute in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 45a) as to which is a harsher manner of punishment, physical or emotional pain? Are people generally more inclined to bear physical pain to avoid embarrassment or do they prefer embarrassment over physical pain.
Even the literal meaning of perech, as crushing labor, Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani maintains, goes beyond back-breaking physical labor. That form of physical pain was augmented when the Egyptians forced women to perform men’s work and men were compelled to undertake women’s work. To force people to do things to which they are not accustomed adds a psychological dimension of pain to their physical abuse.
Romaine Lettuce or Horseradish at the Seder?
The above discussion of physical versus emotional pain has ramifications for the Passover Seder ritual. The Torah commands us to eat Maror-bitter herbs at the Seder as a reminder of the bitterness our ancestors felt in Egypt. The Talmud (Pesachim 39a) enumerates five different vegetables that qualify for “bitter” herbs. One of them is the ubiquitous horseradish, but the preferred vegetable is actually Romaine lettuce.
But, you may point out, Romaine lettuce is not bitter! How does that qualify for a reminder of our bitter experience in Egypt?
The Talmud addresses that question and explains that in fact, the stem of Romaine lettuce, when allowed to harden, becomes very bitter. So, while Romaine lettuce starts off sweet and soft it eventually turns hard and bitter. This reflects the meaning of perech as “soft mouth,” whereby the bitterness of slavery started softly and pleasantly and ended harshly and bitter.
The custom in many communities, including Chabad, is to use both Romaine lettuce and horseradish. The rationale behind this combination, most likely, is to satisfy both opinions; that we remember the bitterness of back-breaking labor and that we remember the emotional distress at Pharaoh’s deception and betrayal.
However, the fact that Romaine lettuce is the preferred form of Maror proves that, in the final analysis, our Sages considered emotional distress more painful and debilitating to humans than a parallel form of physical pain.
To be sure, the determination of which is a more acute pain depends on the magnitude of pain inflicted. Nevertheless, studies have demonstrated that humans have a greater threshold for physical pain than they have for emotional pain. In one experiment, it was shown that humans can think clearly even when enduring mild physical pain, but lost some of their mental acuity when subjected to mild emotional pain.
We can now understand why the Torah repeats that the Israelites were subjected to perech. The Torah acknowledges thereby that there are indeed two forms of perech, one physical and the other emotional. The only question debated in the Talmud is: which one of the two is the more severe form of perech and must be highlighted at the Seder?
Our Exile
We can apply the lessons above to our own situation in exile.
Exile has done two things to us. In so many instances it delivered a powerful blow to our bodies. We were persecuted mercilessly throughout our long history, from Egyptian bondage until the modern persecutions of Hitler and Stalin. Whether it was the Egyptians, Philistines, Amalekites, Canaanites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Pagans, Christians, Muslims, religious and secular regimes, one thing they had in common: they would use force to destroy us or to crush us physically.
But, based on the prevailing view concerning the meaning of the word perech with respect to Passover, it is clear that the emotional trauma that we were subjected to in exile is arguably the more severe form of exile. The pressure we have experienced, the reviling of Jews and Judaism, the pressure on us to adopt the ways of non-Jewish society and the degradation of Jews for resisting assimilation, was more difficult to endure, particularly when it compounded the physical trauma to which we were simultaneously subjected.
Thank G-d, we are now living in the best times in terms of the lack of physical oppression, especially in Western countries. However, we still are suffering from insidious, psychological pressure to conform. If we do conform to avoid the pain it is even more difficult for the Jewish soul. Not feeling that soul pain is a sign that we have become so inured and indifferent that we no longer are in touch with our soul and we don’t sense its profound pain.
Moreover, our generation has found ways of dealing with physical trauma in extraordinary measure. Modern medicine has extended the human life-span in unprecedented ways. However, it seems that even with all the strides we have made in dealing with physical health issues, our generation has not made commensurate advances in treating psychological trauma.
So when we cry out in our prayers for Moshiach and Redemption, while we ask
G-d to remove both forms of perech, the physical and the emotional forms of pain, the emphasis needs to be on the emotional and spiritual, which go hand in hand.
Conversely, our yearning for Redemption should be driven primarily by the realization that our souls will be pain free then, because they will be allowed to express their true selves. No external or internal pressure will deny the soul its freedom.