Persecution, Retribution and Intervention

Divrei Torah - “It will come to pass, if you obey these laws [of the Torah] and you will keep and do them, then the L-rd your G-d shall keep unto you the covenant and the mercy which he swore to your forefathers.

On the first verse in the Torah section of VaYechi (the last section of Bereshit, the first book of the Torah), Rashi comments: “Why is this passage closed?  Because once our forefather Jacob passed away, the eyes and heart of Israel were closed, because of the suffering of the enslavement, for the [Egyptians] began to enslave […]