Kabbalah Library

All the innovations begin only once a person has been rewarded with emerging from self-reception. This is the meaning of the prohibition to teach Torah to idol-worshippers, since when a person is in Egypt, he cannot be a Jew because he is enslaved to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and when he works for Pharaoh, he cannot be a servant of the Creator.

This is the meaning of “For the children of Israel are Mine; they are My servants,” and not the servants of a slave. When a person is his own servant, he cannot be a servant of the Creator because it is impossible to serve two kings at once. Only once he has come out of Egypt, meaning from self-reception, can he be a servant of the Creator. At that time, he can be rewarded with the Torah. It follows that the first innovation is the exodus from Egypt.