"And we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors" (Deut. 26:7). – as it is stated, "And it was in those great days that the king of Egypt died and the Children of Israel sighed from the work and cried out, and their supplication went up to God from the work." (Ex. 2:23) "And the Lord heard our voice" (Deut. 26:7) – as it is stated; "And God heard their groans and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob." (Ex. 2:24) Deuteronomy 26:7 is part of the First Fruit Declaration. Even though this verse is self-explanatory, the Maggid learns a unique insights from it. First, the Torah says, “A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out...” (Ex. 2:23) so that a person should not think that their outcry was because of violence or anger or because of some disagreement. Rather it was a cry of sincere remorse. The Israelites cried out, Because God is the king who rules over the whole world.

When the king of Egypt died, Israelites and Egyptians alike went out to offer a eulogy, laments, and tears in the city streets, as was the custom when a king dies. This is what the verse states, “The king of Egypt died… and then the children of Israel sighed and cried out.” Even though the sighing and crying came about at the time when the king died, in their hearts and inner most thoughts their cries resulted from their suffering and hard labor and not because the king’s death, as the verse states, “They cried because of the labor…and their sighs rose up to the God of their ancestors.” For God, knows what is hidden in the hearts of human beings, and God understood the true intentions of their tears. Since the passage in Deuteronomy only says that they cried out to God, “The children of Israel sighed from the labor and cried out,” the Maggid brings this verse, “And they sighed to God because of the labor,” so that one might not think that the sighing and crying was because Pharaoh’s death. The second insight that the Maggid finds in this verse, “God heard our cry,” is that the reason for Israel’s redemption was not simply because God heard their cry, but also because of the repentance of the nation and their cry to God, and their covenant with God. That is why the Maggid brings the verse, God heard their cry and God remembered His covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. But the covenant was made only with Abraham, as is stated, “On that day Adonai made a covenant with Abram…” (Gen. 15:18) Since the verse mentions Isaac and was fulfilled through him, and was also fulfilled through Jacob, therefore Scripture makes the covenant dependent on all three of them. There is a hint of this in the three-year old calf that was sacrificed in the Covenant of the Pieces, that the threefold calf was a reference to the three forefathers as I have explained elsewhere. Therefore it states “His Covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob” since the covenant was made for all of them. We have now answered the question in the sixtieth gate.