8 Shvat: He Who Plants With Tears
HE WHO PLANTS WITH TEARS…
[The Egyptians] embittered the [Jewish people’s] lives.
(Shemos 1:14)
The Holy One, blessed be He, brought them a redeemer. This is Miriam, so called because she felt the bitterness (mirur) of exile. (Shemot Rabbah 26; Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:11)
Sometimes, in order to endure the difficulties of exile, we suppress our feelings and become numb. However, when it comes to the bitterness of exile, this is not a good thing. One of the first steps to Redemption is feeling the bitterness of exile so strongly that we simply cannot tolerate it any longer. The righteous women were extremely sensitive to the pain of exile. They never accepted their bitter state. By cultivating this sensitivity to our true selves, as well as a sensitivity to how intolerable exile really is, we begin to leave exile and move toward the era of Moshiach.
Sichos Kodesh Acharon shel Pesach 5724 Seif 11
