"And G-d spoke to Moshe and said to him: I am HaShem. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as E-l Shaddai, but though My Name HaShem I did not become known to them."
Rashi writes: "Our Rabbis of the Talmud interpreted this as referring to the matter that Moshe asked: Why did You harm this people? The Holy One, blessed be He, said in

What harm befell the Jewish people?

response: Woe for those who are lost and not found! Many times I revealed Myself to the patriarchs, yet they did not question My actions. You, however, asked: Why did You harm this people?"


And what harm befell the Jewish people? Right at the final moments, at the end of the Egyptian exile, after they heard the good news from Moshe that the redemption was at hand and they were going to leave Egypt, came the intensified hardships and the new decrees from Pharaoh. Pharaoh called the Egyptian taskmasters and commanded them to stop giving the Jews straw to make the bricks.


It was during this time that Moshe went back to Midian to return his wife and children to his father-in-law, and he stayed in Midian for the following six months. Why did HaShem cause the slavery to be intensified during the last six months of exile, while Moshe was absent from the Jewish people? The answer is that during the final stage of the redemption, HaShem tested the Jewish people. He wanted to determine who the righteous among them were, and who deserved to be redeemed, and who were the wicked who would perish during the three days of darkness. Now, during the final moments, without a leader: Who would give up hope of redemption, and who would stay steadfast in their belief?


And as the redemption of Egypt goes, so goes our redemption: "I am the L-rd, in its time will I hasten it." The prophet here speaks about the two paths to the redemption; one being with miracles, easy and without hardships, and the other coming in a very natural, slow way, but full of troubles and heartache. This latter one is the path we are on today. The Vilna Gaon teaches us that in this path it is necessary to have troubles and

There is, though, a way to shorten the process that we are in today and to sweeten it.

heartache, for without them, the redemption process cannot move ahead. Rather, it is the hardships that help move the wheels of redemption forward.


There is, though, a way to shorten the process that we are in today and to sweeten it, and that is for our fellow Jews to head home and leave the exile behind them. Take Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's comment this week that Ma'aleh Adumim is a part of the State of Israel and always will be. Why would he say such a thing? Certainly, Ma'aleh Adumim never was settled before our time, it is not a Biblical city that goes back 3,000 years ago; rather, it is because today some 30,000 Jews live there. There would never be a way, even for them, to uproot such a large city.
Now just think, if all the other settlements would be as populated as Ma'aleh Adumim, then there would be no talk of giving anything away to the hateful Arabs. But this, unfortunately, is not the case. Rather, most settlements are very sparsely populated. And why? Because the Jews are elsewhere, busy worshiping the almighty dollar - instead of being in the Land.
 
It seems that their punishment will be twofold: for not coming home when they were supposed to, and for making the redemption process more painful.
Let them not be as the 80% who stayed behind in Egypt, just to be destroyed, but let them awaken to the new light that will shine from Zion.