" Ve'ya'avdu mitzrayim et b'nai yisrael be'parech "- "The Egyptians enslaved the Children of Israel with crushing harshness" (Exodus 1:13).

" Be'parech,"  with crushing harshness, can also be read as  "be'peh-rach,"  with a soft tongue. Pharoah used soft words to deceive the Jews into showing their patriotism by calling for a national service project to build cities to safeguard the country's wealth. Pharoah set the example by joining in the labor force to symbolize that everyone must help Egypt in a time of need. Slowly, Pharoah and the Egyptian workers dissapeared, until only the Jews were still working. Once the Jewish volunteers were mobilized-- figuratively donning their own chains-- it was an easy next step to enslave them. 

Persecutions never begin with outright calls for murder. Just as the Nazis began with decrees to slowly subjugate the Jews before calling for their extinction, Pharoah proceeded in steps: first, slavery in the form of a labor tax; then ordering the midwives to secretly kill male babies; then having every Egyptian throw the babies into the river; and finally, sending soldiers to search all Jewish homes for hidden infants. 

Yet, the more Pharoah tried to afflict the Jewish people  "pen yirbeh "- lest it increase, "ken yirbeh "- the more it did increase; i.e., the more G-d caused their population to grow (Exodus 1:10-12). 


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story
Source: ArtScroll Chumash: The Stone Edition