Why is the opening mitzvah that of evid ivri? Furthermore, the Yerushalmi Rosh Hashana says א"ר שמואל בר רב יצחק (שמות ו) "וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן ויצום אל בני ישראל" על מה ציום? על פרשת שילוח עבדים. The simple read of the Yerushalmi indicates the parsha of freeing a slave was said already in Mitzraim. Why command slaves about freeing slaves? And why does that commandment have to be given first?
Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook says לפני כל סידור מהלכי החיים בחברה, הדבר הראשון הוא הטיפול בענין העבדות. קודם כל יש להיות אדם, אדם שלם ונורמלי, ולא עבד משועבד לדבר חיצוני. The reason the Torah opens with this mitzvah is because in order to keep the mitzvot one must remove one's addictions, desires and impulses. The freeing of an evid after six years is a message that one must release themselves from all of the 6 bad middot that control a person in order to be able to keep the mitzvot. Before physically exiting Egypt, Hashem was commanding Bnei Yisrael to free themselves. Before Pharaoh released them, they had to be able to willing to free the slavery that the self-imposed bondages that come allowing with being a nation born into slavery in Egypt. Only then would Pharoah letting them go make an actual change in their lives.
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