Va’eira                                                                                    Nathan Katz

Hashem says in beginning of this week’s parsha- “I also heard the moans of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I remembered my covenant.” It sounds like Hashem only remembered the covenant when the situation became really terrible. Why does he only remember now instead of when the Jews were first enslaved?   

It says in the gemarah in tractate Brachos (5a) that the word ‘covenant’ is used in the Torah when referring to salt and also when referring to “yisorin” (pains, trials and tribulations that one goes through in life). The word covenant is used for salt because there is a covenant between salt and meat that meat will be sweetened by salt. Similarly the covenant of “yisorin” is that “yisorin” helps purify a person. Even though we may not understand why we have to face these trials, they are somehow helping us. That is the covenant between “yisorin” and man. The Riminover Rebbe, in regards to this gemarah, said that salt is definitely needed to help sweeten meat but too much salt is not good for meat and will ruin the taste. So too in regards to the covenant of “yisorin” although a certain amount of trials and tribulations are needed to help absolve someone of their sins, too many are not good for a person. Hashem knows that at a certain point the “yisorim” will lose their purpose. Hashem said “I remembered my covenant” because the level of pain and suffering had gotten so high that he remembered the covenant of “yisoren” and how too much will defeat the purpose. That’s when he said 210 years is enough “yisoren” for Bnei Yisrael.