"Chassidus on Da’as, Avodah, and Desire — Part II"

Shemos — The Baal Shem Tov’s Warning: When Avodah Becomes Self

Introduction — When Service Stops Serving

Parshas Shemos exposes a painful paradox. The Jewish people cry out to Hashem — yet redemption does not immediately follow. Their suffering intensifies, their spirits collapse, and even prayer seems strained.

Chassidus hears in this moment a subtle warning:
not all avodah liberates.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that exile does not only arise from forgetfulness or ignorance. Sometimes, exile is sustained by religious distortion — when avodah, instead of dissolving the self, begins to reinforce it.

This is a more dangerous exile, because it wears the garments of holiness.

Avodah That Turns Inward

True avodah is meant to orient the self away from itself — toward Hashem, toward truth, toward responsibility beyond ego.

But the Baal Shem Tov warned of a counterfeit form of service:
avodah that measures, compares, and performs.

When service becomes self-referential:

• Growth turns into competition
• Piety becomes identity
• Achievement replaces humility

Such avodah no longer refines desire — it feeds it.

This is not liberation. It is a subtler form of bondage.

Egypt as Spiritual Ego-Formation

Chassidus reads Egypt not only as oppression, but as self-absorption born of survival.

When life is reduced to endurance, the self becomes the center. Even spirituality can be conscripted into the project of self-preservation.

This helps explain a striking Torah moment:

“וַיְהִי בַיָּמִים הָרַבִּים הָהֵם… וַיֵּאָנְחוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן־הָעֲבֹדָה”
[“It was in those many days… that the Children of Israel groaned because of the labor.”]

The Torah emphasizes min ha’avodah — from the labor.
Chassidus hears an echo: avodah itself can become exhausting when it is distorted.

Not because Hashem is distant — but because the self has moved too close.

The Baal Shem Tov: Ego Is the Final Pharaoh

The Baal Shem Tov taught that Pharaoh’s deepest hold is internal.

As long as a person asks:

• How am I doing?
• How do I compare?
• What does this say about me?

Avodah remains trapped within the self.

This is why Chassidus insists that ego is not defeated by asceticism or intensity, but by bitul — self-nullification before truth.

Without bitul, even mitzvos can become another form of self-assertion.

אמת — Truth Without Self

The Baal Shem Tov identified אמת (truth) as the axis of redemption.

Truth is not sincerity alone.
Truth is alignment — when action, intention, and awareness are no longer fractured by self-interest.

Avodah rooted in אמת:

• Does not require validation
• Does not track progress obsessively
• Does not panic when unseen

Such service frees the soul from itself.

This is why Chassidus teaches that humility is not low self-esteem, but accurate self-placement.

Moshe as the Antidote

Moshe Rabbeinu embodies this Chassidic warning in advance.

He resists leadership not from fear, but from refusal to become central. His avodah is defined by removal of self, not its elevation.

This is why Moshe can redeem others.
He is not serving his role — he is serving Hashem.

The Baal Shem Tov saw in Moshe the eternal model: redemption can only be carried by those whose avodah does not terminate in the self.

Application — Examining Our Avodah

Chassidus asks a piercing question:

Does my avodah make me more present — or more preoccupied with myself?

Signs of distorted avodah include:

• Anxiety around performance
• Spiritual comparison
• Identity built on practice rather than humility

Signs of redeemed avodah include:

• Quiet consistency
• Increased patience
• Reduced self-consciousness

When avodah restores inner freedom, exile loosens its grip.

Closing — Leaving the Self Behind

Parshas Shemos teaches that not all chains are visible.

Some are forged from good intentions misdirected inward.

The Baal Shem Tov’s warning is not to abandon avodah —
but to purify its orientation.

When service ceases to serve the self,
the soul exits Egypt.

And redemption, once again, begins within.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Shemos page under insights and commentaries.