Why did Hashem tell Moshe to go back to Egypt?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau explains that Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, “Lech shuv Mitzrayim ki meisu kol ha'anashim hamevakshim es nafshecha,” go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life have died. Moshe was sent back because the old threat had passed.
Moshe had fled for a real reason, and he didn't move until that threat had died out. But once it was gone, Hashem told him so and sent him back. Rabbi Landau draws the lesson: “The reason you left no longer needs you to keep away.”
Most of us never get that message spelled out. We shelved an idea or avoided a conversation because of something that was true years ago, and we kept avoiding it after it stopped being true. That is why he says to check first: before you plan around the obstacle, “make sure the obstacle is still there.”
Watch Rabbi Landau's teaching · Also taught in: teaching 2, teaching 3
Related concepts: Walls that are already gone
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
The verse sends Moshe back because the danger that drove him out had passed.
Deepest human truth
A reason to stay away can expire. Rabbi Landau's call is to notice when it has.
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