[Avodah] What does "Redemption/Geulah" mean?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> I once developed a fusion of the Qetzos and
> R' Hutner's Pachad Yitzchaq to define "ge'ulah"
> <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2008/04/geulah.shtml> and
> <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2008/05/geulah-king.shtml>
> (which is based on the prior.

Thank you for those links, but from my perspective, they're very much about Emes, while I didn't see too much about Geulah. One of the ideas there is:

> Rav Hirsch places the "ge'ulah" in the same family as [yud
> ayin lamed] (to progress), ...
> Our definition can thus be phrased as "a process for the
> ultimate revelation of truth."

My problem with this is that ge'ulah always appears in context of being the redemption of a group or of an individual. If it is reshaped into being a "revelation of truth", then I do not know how to apply it to phrases like "he was redeemed" or "we were redeemed". As I'm accustomed to hearing these phrases, they don't concern a search for truth as much as a search for salvation or vindication.

I'd like to go back to the blog entry of Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz of the Young Israel of Karmiel, cited earlier in this thread. I didn't understand his answer too well, but I think his question was fascinating, and I'd like to use it as a starting point. He wrote:

> We have ... five terminologies of redemption mentioned in the
> Torah in regards to our Exodus. V’Hotzaisi- I will take you out,
> V’Hitzalti- I will save you, V’Goalti- I will redeem you,
> V’Lokachti- I will take  you, V’Haveisi- I will bring you (to
> the land).

That much seems to be universally acknowledged. The only dispute of which I'm aware is whether or not "v'hevesi" has already occurred or is to occur in the future, and whether or not we should have a fifth kos corresponding to it at the current time. But this discussion is about the meaning of Redemption, and all five words are part of that discussion.

Rabbi Schwartz continues, and asks:

> What would be lacking without that middle one of redemption? Let’s
> say Hashem would have taken us out, saved us from the Egyptians,
> taken us as his nation (through giving us the Torah) and brought
> us to Israel. What would we have been missing? Mah Chaseir? What
> is that third cup really about?

Reviewing those pesukim (Shemos 6:6-8), I was struck by the grammar of these verbs, specifically the phrases (or lack thereof) attached to them:

V’Hotzaisi - I will take you out from the burdens of Egypt
V’Hitzalti - I will save you from their work
V’Go'alti - I will redeem you with an outstretched arm
V’Lokachti - I will take you for Myself as a people
V’Haveisi - I will bring you to the land

Four of these verbs have specific goals stated. But one of them - Go'alti - does not mention any goal or purpose; it only mentions the means by which it will be accomplished. So what WAS the goal? What does redemption *accomplish*?

Indeed, as RES blogged, suppose G-d had taken us out from the burdens of Egypt, had saved us from their work, had taken us as His people, and had brought us to the Land. Would we be any worse off for not having been "redeemed"?

I do not have any demonstrable answers at this time, only wild guesses: >From the difference between go'alti and the other four verbs, I suggest that Geulah is not a specific event or action, but a process. I also suspect that it does not have an objective, observable result in the physical world, but that it has an emotional or psychological result.

I began by suggesting that redemption is not a very big deal at all, as it merely repairs an injury, such as our slavery in Mitzrayim, or the undeserved jailtime of two fictional characters that I mentioned. RES's blog question similarly suggests that if HaShem would have done the other four things, but not redeemed us, we'd be in our rightful place, so what is missing that Geulah adds?

My answer now is to suggest that Geulah is an emotional healing. Perhaps even an emotional victory. Geulah is the difference between merely surviving an adversity, and "That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger." Yes, we wish that we didn't have to endure that adversity, but we must also admit that we are fortunate to have grown from the experience. Perhaps it can be compared to one whose teshuva is so thorough that "zedonos naaseh zechuyos" - such a person correctly regrets his sins, but at the same time has grown from them, and grown *more* than he would have done without them.

But there are many processes by which a wrong can be made right, and some are less pleasing than others. Perhaps Geulah is the gift of seeing HaShem's chesed so clearly that one can look back on the adversity and pain, and see how it really was worth it.

Akiva Miller

____________________________________________________________
53 Year Old Mom Looks 33
The Stunning Results of Her Wrinkle Trick Has Botox Doctors Worried
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/4f8dc5a5214c95c3fcdst01vuc