114 THE WORLD WITHIN
cause they were not worthy of redemption, died during the
three days of darkness.
We see that there was a personal deliverance for each
and every Jew who was deserving of deliverance. Anyone
who was not worthy of salvation did not leave. These indi-
viduals had descended to the lowest form of existence as a
result of the negative influence of the "forty-nine gates of
impurity ״in which the Egyptians existed. They were so
pleased with their situation that they were not interested in
redemption. As Chazal interpret the verse "To come and re-
move one nation from within another" (Devarim 4:34):
"What does it mean 'to remove one nation from within an-
other ?׳As a person removes an unborn fetus from within
the bowels of the animal( ״Yalkut Shimoni 828). In the same
way that a fetus receives sustenance from its mother, the
Jews absorbed and were affected by the impurities of Egypt.
Therefore the redemption from Egypt was not only a re-
demption on a national level, but also the salvation of ev-
ery individual from the impurity of Egypt. This personal re-
demption occurred by negating the detrimental influence
which hovered over the Jews in Egypt.
What tools were implemented to dissolve this negative
influence? Moreover, as we learned in the previous chapter,
the Egyptian influence remained even after forty years, as
Moshe Rabbeinu admonished the Jewish people again
when they were about to enter the Land of Israel not to
worship idols because they had seen idol worship in Egypt.
How is it possible to dissolve a negative influence of this
magnitude?
The Power of Humor
See the power of mockery and its destructive factors, for
just as a shield which was daubed with oil causes the