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One of Artscroll's "Daily Dose of Torah" books, on parshat Vaera, says that the Israelites stayed in Egypt for a significant period of time after being freed from slavery but before the Exodus. I never heard that before. Is there a source for it?

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  • They probably refer to the year of the plagues, when the slavery ended but they stayed in Egypt to see the big finale - a happy ending.
    – Al Berko
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 17:50
  • @AlBerko Can you source this idea? After each plague, the Torah says that Pharaoh refused to let the people leave. Unless you're narrowing the definition of "slavery" to specifically doing the physical labor.
    – DanF
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 19:22
  • judaism.stackexchange.com/a/86077/759
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 20:35
  • @DanF I had always understood the Pesukim by the later Makkos to indicate that while the slavery ended on Rosh HaShanah, they still weren’t allowed to leave until the very end. Or perhaps, just like when the time finally came, they didn’t want to leave like thieves in the night, so too they didn’t want to leave until they had Paroh’s full consent for the same reason.
    – DonielF
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 21:39

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It is a statement for R' Eliezer in the Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 11a, at the very top of the page. There he says that the slave labor and subjugation of the Jewish People stopped in Tishre, and the Jews were Redeemed in Nissan.

R' Yehoshua, who argues with some of the points R' Eliezer made there, agrees with this timeline.

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  • Thanks. The logic is given in RH 11b: "It was also taught in the baraita: On Rosh HaShana our forefathers’ slavery in Egypt ceased. From where is this known? It is written : “And I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt” (Exodus 6:6); and it is written with regard to Joseph: “I removed his shoulder from the burden” (Ps. 81:7). By verbal analogy of the word “burden”, just as Joseph was released from prison in Tishrei, so the slavery ended in Tishrei."
    – Maurice Mizrahi
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 22:17

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