ויאנחו בני ישראל מן העבודה

A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.

The Gemara argues: Then God should have created two other new stars for Pleiades. The Gemara responds: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rav Naḥman said: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will restore those same stars to Ursa Major, as it is stated: “Or can you guide [tanḥem] Ursa Major with her sons?” (Job 38:32), which is interpreted homiletically in the sense of consolation [tanḥumim] apparently due to the restoration of those stars. And we learned in the mishna that over zeva’ot one recites the blessing: Whose strength and power fill the world. The Gemara asks: What are zeva’ot? Rav Ketina said: An earthquake. The Gemara relates: Rav Ketina was once walking along the road when he came to the entrance of the house of a necromancer and an earthquake rumbled. He said: Does this necromancer know what is this earthquake? The necromancer raised his voice and said: Ketina, Ketina, why would I not know? Certainly this earthquake occurred because when the Holy One, Blessed be He, remembers His children who are suffering among the nations of the world, He sheds two tears into the great sea. The sound of their reverberation is heard from one end of the earth to the other. And that is an earthquake. Rav Ketina said: The necromancer is a liar and his statements are lies. If so, it would necessitate an earthquake followed by another earthquake, one for each tear. The Gemara remarks: That is not so, as it indeed causes an earthquake followed by another earthquake; and the fact that Rav Ketina did not admit that the necromancer was correct was so that everyone would not mistakenly follow him. Rav Ketina also stated his own explanation for the earthquake: Because God claps His hands together in anger, as it is stated: “I will also smite My hands together and I will satisfy My fury; I, the Lord, have spoken it” (Ezekiel 21:22). Rabbi Natan says: The earthquake is caused because God sighs over the dire straits in which Israel finds itself, as it is stated: “Thus shall My anger spend itself, and I will satisfy My fury upon them, and I will be eased” (Ezekiel 5:13). And the Rabbis say: An earthquake is caused when God kicks the firmament, causing a rumbling, as it is stated: “The Lord roars from on high, from His holy dwelling He makes His voice heard. He roars mightily over His dwelling place, He cries out like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth” (Jeremiah 25:30). Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: An earthquake is caused when God forces His feet beneath the throne of glory and the world quakes, as it is stated: “The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1).

״And the Children of Israel sighed,״ it does not say “וַיִּתְאַנְּחוּ — they caused themselves to sigh” but rather “וַיֵּאָנְחוּ — they were sighed”, in other words they caused a sigh for [God] above, meaning that there was a sigh on High on their behalf.

See how precious is the sigh and groan {the krekhtz } of a Jewish person. It provides wholeness [in place] of the lack. For through the breath, which is the ruach-of-life, the world was created. As is written (Psalms 33:6), “… and by the ruach of His mouth, their entire hosts [were created].” The renewal of the world will also come about by means of the ruach, as in (Psalms 104:30), “You will send Your ruach —they will be created; You renew the face of the earth.” This [ruach] is also the vital force of human life. This is because man’s breath is his life-force. As is written (Genesis 2:7), “He breathed into his nostrils nishmat (the breath of) life,” and (ibid. 7:22), “All in whose nostrils was a nishmat (breath of) ruach-of-life.” Regarding this, wise men said: To the extent breath is lacking, so is life (Maaseh Tuviah, Bayit Chadash 2; cf. Zohar II, 24b). We find then that the quintessential life-force of everything is its ruach. Whenever a lack exists, it is essentially in the life-force, which corresponds to the ruach-of-life of that thing. This is because it is the ruach which gives that thing its existence. And sighing is the extension of the breath. It corresponds to erekh apayim (patience)—i.e., extended ruach. Therefore, when a person sighs over the lack and extends his ruach, he draws ruach-of-life to that which he is lacking. For the lack is in essence a departure of the ruach-of-life. Therefore, through the sigh, the lack is made whole.

9. {“I am God your Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide v’amalayhu (and I will fill it)” (Psalms 81:11) .} It has been explained that the ruach-of-life is in the Torah, corresponding to, “And the ruach of God hovers over the waters’ surface.” Therefore, [when the Jews were] in Egypt, which was before they were given the Torah, they did not have from where to receive the ruach-of-life. Of them the verse states (Exodus 6:9), “[But they did not hearken to Moshe] for their ruach was short.” This was because they did not have from where to draw the ruach-of-life, which is the aspect of erekh apayim (patience), extended ruach. It was therefore said of them that “their ruach was short.” This is the antithesis of patience, which is the ruach-of-life drawn through sighing in order to provide wholeness [in place] of the lack, as above. For ruach is wholeness [in place] of the lack, corresponding to, “He will give you what your heart lacks.”