How To See It

The midrash (1:28) says on the possuk (2:11) ויהי בימים ההם ויגדל משה ויצא אל אחיו וירא בסבלותם that Moshe told Pharaoh that the slaves need a day of rest and asked for Shabbos to be the day off.  How does the midrash see a hint to Shabbos in the possuk?  After the days of creation it says וירא אלקים כי טוב, does Hashem need to see it to know that it is good, obviously he created it?  Rav Tzaddok (Pri Tzaddok on Shemos #3) explains that it is because וירא אלקים that it was טוב.  It is the power of Hashem "seeing" that made it good.  At the end of the 6th day of creation it says הִנֵּה טוֹב מְאֹד which Chazal say refer to the evil things because even the bad things were able to be perfected.  It is Shabbos that brings out that eving what appers to be evil has a good and proper purpose in thee world.  Tzaddikim also have this power to bring good to the evil through their gaze.  That is how Chazal derived that וירא means that Moshe brought out this power of Shabbos into the golus.  The day of rest was not just to rest their weary bodies but to reinvigorate the hopes and spirits of Klal Yisroel to realize the geulah would come as the midrash continues that Klal Yisroel studied on Shabbos the promises of the geulah. 

Of course Rav Tzaddok is talking about the levels of great tzaddikim who's minds are so pure that their mere gaze has a physical effect (see Chazon Eish's explanation of עין הרע in likkutim to Bava Bathra #21.)  However, there is a lesson for the regular layman as well.  Sometimes the definition of good and bad is not absolute but rather based upon the vision one has, how one looks at it.  If one looks for problems, there are always problems to be found.  However, one who has the Shabbos perspective will be able to see the geulah from within the golus, the טוב מאד  inside the yetzer harah.