Each position tries to show a different sin for which the Jewish people were punished. What all of these approaches have in common is the assumption that if people are suffering, there must be a sin that has brought about such a reality. The Midrash at the very beginning of Shemot Rabbah 1:1 takes a different approach.

In this view, the Crucible of Egypt came in an attempt to educate and refine the Jewish people. In order to appreciate the meaning of redemption, the Jews had to first experience a deep sense of communal loss. Nehama Leibowitz z'"l, in her opening essay on Sefer Shemot, uses this Midrash to show the Egyptian experience as a tool for learning compassion and empathy.

The 105th chapter of Tehilim is a short version of Jewish History from the covenant made with Abraham until the Exodus. The second half (the part that we don't say in Pesukei d'Zimra), describes the Jewish people's decent to Egypt and then their leaving:

"And Israel came to Egypt. He made His people very fruitful, more numerous that their foes. Their heart changed to hate His people, to plot against His servants. He sent Moses. He led Israel out with silver and gold. Mindful of His sacred promise to His servant Abraham, He led His people out in gladness, His chosen ones with joyous song."

No mention is made of the hundreds of years of suffering as slaves to Pharoh - only the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and the joy of redemption.

We are living in a world that is inundated with suffering: Nehariyah, Sderot, Baghdad, Darfur, Afghanistan. We are also living at a time when people want to inflict tremendous suffering on the world, especially on Israel and the Jewish people. Nuclear proliferation is spreading from North Korea to (God-forbid) Iran.

It is my sincere hope and prayer that we can soon look back on this time period and sing a 'joyous song' of redemption. Indeed, it is up to each and every one of us to make this happen.

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Rabbi Jeffrey Fox is the Rabbi of Kehilat Kesher -Tenafly & Englewood, NJ