The House of Bondage

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.   Exodus 20:2

            Our verse is the first sentence spoken by God to the Children of Israel as we stood at Mount Sinai.

            Rashi and Naḥmanides explain "the house of bondage" as referring to Egypt.

            Based upon a Midrashic comment, which is seemingly unrelated to our verse, Or haHayyim offers a novel explanation of the phrase "the house of bondage". Our Sages taught that God entrusted the care of each land, other than the Holy Land, to one of his ministering angels, while He Himself cares directly for the Land of Israel. Thus, Or haHayyim suggests that "the house of bondage" (literally "the house of servants [or slaves]") does not refer specifically to Egypt, but to a land which is supervised by one of God's servants, an angel, that is, the entire world except for the Land of Israel. In His first direct communication with His chosen people, God hinted that the purpose of taking the Israelites out of Egypt was specifically to bring them to the Holy Land, where they would be under His direct supervision.

            During the period of Sefirat haOmer, we count the days between the exodus from Egypt and receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai in order to stress the fact that the goal of the exodus was to bring Israel to receive the Torah. It is certainly not by chance that Yom haAtzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) falls at this time of the year. Rather, it is a reminder that entering the Land of Israel with Torah as the national constitution is the completion of the purpose of the exodus from Egypt.