Mitzrayim and the exile of speech
The shiur brings the Arizal’s description of Mitzrayim as an exile of speech together with its description as a place of sexual corruption. The same two areas appear again: the covenant of the tongue and personal holiness.
Moshe’s difficulty speaking is read within that spiritual condition of the generation:
וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־ה׳ בִּי א־דני לֹא אִישׁ דְּבָרִים אָנֹכִי גַּם מִתְּמוֹל גַּם מִשִּׁלְשֹׁם גַּם מֵאָז דַּבֶּרְךָ אֶל־עַבְדֶּךָ כִּי כְבַד־פֶּה וּכְבַד לָשׁוֹן אָנֹֽכִי׃
Moshe said to Hashem: Please, my Master, I am not a man of words, neither yesterday nor the day before, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue. — Exodus 4:10
The teacher explicitly says that he is not describing a personal failing in Moshe. Moshe, as the leader, is connected with the state of the people he leads.
The Midrash at the beginning of Devarim describes Torah as healing the tongue. Moshe, who had spoken of his difficulty speaking, later gives the words of Sefer Devarim. The teacher connects that movement with taking the people out of Mitzrayim and bringing them to Torah. Speech becomes available for Torah and tefillah:
אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בַּמִּדְבָּר בָּֽעֲרָבָה מוֹל סוּף בֵּֽין־פָּארָן וּבֵֽין־תֹּפֶל וְלָבָן וַחֲצֵרֹת וְדִי זָהָֽב׃
These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel across the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suf, between Paran and Tofel, Lavan, Chatzeros, and Di-Zahav. — Deuteronomy 1:1
The Zohar II:25b develops this as the joining of voice and speech at Sinai. The rav attributes the wider exile-of-speech account to the Arizal; the Zohar is a direct earlier parallel. Shaar HaKavanot, Pesach 3, explicitly connects Pesach with peh sach and the obligation to speak at length about the Exodus.
He also points to the familiar wordplay of Pesach as peh sach, the mouth speaking, and to the prominence of telling the story at the Seder. The shiur includes the association of Pharaoh with ha’oref, the back of the neck, as part of this kabbalistic account. These are readings within the sources’ spiritual framework. The Pharaoh/back-of-neck association appears in Shaar HaKavanot, Pesach 5 and 9, alongside Mitzrayim as the narrowness of the throat. The letters of פרעה can be rearranged as הערף, using the defective spelling of the word. This is a letter association, not the word’s historical etymology.
The rav also points to the Israelites’ first cry:
וַיְהִי בַיָּמִים הָֽרַבִּים הָהֵם וַיָּמׇת מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם וַיֵּאָנְחוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן־הָעֲבֹדָה וַיִּזְעָקוּ וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם אֶל־הָאלוקים מִן־הָעֲבֹדָֽה׃
During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned under the labor and cried out; their cry rose to Hashem because of the labor. — Exodus 2:23
He sees the release of a voice beginning within that distress. His larger account continues toward the spoken Torah at Sinai, rather than treating this one moment as the complete repair.
Yosef uses speech to give life
Yosef is the figure of personal holiness in this discussion. The account in Sotah 36b describes him being taught the seventy languages before meeting Pharaoh. The Gemara describes him as initially unable to learn them. A letter hei is then added to his name, and he can learn. The Gemara reads this in the verse:
עֵדוּת ׀ בִּיהוֹסֵף שָׂמוֹ בְּצֵאתוֹ עַל־אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם שְׂפַת לֹא־יָדַעְתִּי אֶשְׁמָֽע׃
He placed it as a testimony in Yehosef when he went out over the land of Egypt; I heard a language I had not known. — Psalms 81:6
Pharaoh knows many languages, but Yosef also speaks the holy tongue that Pharaoh cannot understand. The rav links that additional capacity for language with Yosef’s holiness. The shiur sees a connection between his integrity and his capacity for speech.
Rashi on the account of Yosef’s success in Mitzrayim says that the name of Heaven was familiar on his lips. The teacher stresses that Yosef continues to acknowledge Hashem even while standing before Pharaoh. His speech expresses the way he understands his life.
The same care appears in the prison. Yosef notices the sadness of the other prisoners and asks what is troubling them. The verse gives the question:
וַיִּשְׁאַל אֶת־סְרִיסֵי פַרְעֹה אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ בְמִשְׁמַר בֵּית אֲדֹנָיו לֵאמֹר מַדּוּעַ פְּנֵיכֶם רָעִים הַיּֽוֹם׃
He asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in custody in his master’s house: Why do your faces look troubled today? — Genesis 40:7
The teacher uses it as an example of speech directed toward another person’s need.
Yosef also speaks with the words that answer the dreams before him. Other proposed explanations of Pharaoh’s dream fail to satisfy him; Yosef’s explanation is received:
וַיְהִי בַבֹּקֶר וַתִּפָּעֶם רוּחוֹ וַיִּשְׁלַח וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־כׇּל־חַרְטֻמֵּי מִצְרַיִם וְאֶת־כׇּל־חֲכָמֶיהָ וַיְסַפֵּר פַּרְעֹה לָהֶם אֶת־חֲלֹמוֹ וְאֵין־פּוֹתֵר אוֹתָם לְפַרְעֹֽה׃
In the morning his spirit was troubled. He sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men, and Pharaoh told them his dream, but no one could interpret them for Pharaoh. — Genesis 41:8
Rashi notes that there were interpretations, but they were not accepted by Pharaoh. He gives the example of predictions about seven daughters being born and buried. Making a speech or offering an explanation is different from saying the words that reach the person and answer what he needs. The shiur reads this as another expression of the connection between personal holiness and speech that reaches its recipient.
These examples place the teaching within ordinary relationships. The mouth can acknowledge Hashem, notice another person’s pain and speak in a way that helps. Those uses of speech belong alongside the discussion of the power to create.
Yosef and Yehuda coming together
The teacher cites the Sfas Emes on the meeting of Yosef and Yehuda in Vayigash. In the explanation given here, Yosef is associated with the covenant of the body, while Yehuda is associated with the covenant of speech and tefillah. Yehuda is the ancestor of David HaMelech, whose Tehillim becomes central to this discussion.
Their meeting brings these two powers together. The shiur connects that meeting with the themes of Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David. Yosef’s revelation to his brothers follows the encounter with Yehuda:
וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל־אֶחָיו אֲנִי יוֹסֵף הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי וְלֹֽא־יָכְלוּ אֶחָיו לַעֲנוֹת אֹתוֹ כִּי נִבְהֲלוּ מִפָּנָֽיו׃
Yosef said to his brothers: I am Yosef. Is my father still alive? His brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed before him. — Genesis 45:3
The rav hears more in “I am Yosef” than an identification. He is still the Yosef who was with Yaakov, retaining his kedushah in Mitzrayim. This is his explanation of the encounter, alongside the verse’s plain account of the brothers’ astonishment.
Sfas Emes, Vayigash 5645, identifies Yosef and Yehuda with the two covenants and with the two aspects of redemption. Its particular passage speaks of Yaakov preparing the descent into Egypt through Yosef and Yehuda. The rav joins that teaching to their meeting at the beginning of the parashah. The correspondence is clear, while the source’s setting and the rav’s application should both remain visible.
This gives another way to understand the original question. Reciting Tehillim uses the mouth for connection with Hashem. The covenant of speech participates in the repair of the other covenant. The shiur also cites the description in Tikkunei Zohar of malchus as peh, the mouth.