Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We are working through the pesukim of the Bikkurim , which are pesukim of Hakarat Hatov . As we said, this pasuk is Hakarat Hatov for the difficulties. . וַיְעַנּוּנוּ , simply translates as They pained us. The Egyptians pained us. We go back to the pasuk in Shemot , וַיִתְּנוּ עָלֵינוּ עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלָיו שָׂרֵי מִסִּים לְמַעַן עַנֹּתוֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָם, / They placed taskmasters upon them, to pain them in their load. וַיִּבֶן עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת לְפַרְעֹה אֶת־פִּתֹם וְאֶת־רַעַמְסֵס. And they built treasure cities for Paroah Pitom and Raamses. What does Vayanunu mean? Literally, it means to be pained. The root of , וַיְעַנּוּנוּ VayAnunu , is Anya or Oni , which means to be pained . It's also lashon Ani/ poor and of Anava which is to be humbled . And it happens to also connect to Ve'Anita which is to announce and proclaim , which is seemingly not related. So, what's the connection between poverty , pain , and humility ? The answer is that a poor man is called poor because he's humbled. A pained man is called pained because he's broken, he's humbled. So, the Egyptians humbled us. The heavy work was there Lemaan anoto / To humble us . That was the Egyptians' goal, but it was also God's goal. As we've mentioned in the past, the Chida tells us the purpose of Galut Mitzrayim was to cause the Jewish people to become humble. We see this throughout the Haggadah. Lechem oni , Ha lachma anya , the bread of humility; Matzah symbolizes humility . Chametz symbolizes gaava / arrogance . For the seven days of Pesach , we only eat matzah . Matzah is humility . The purpose of all challenges in life is to humble us, to make us realize that we're not in charge, to make us realize that Hashem is in control and we need Him. So when we have challenges and we realize that we can't do it on our own and we turn to God, that is God's purpose in sending the challenge. The challenge is not there because God wants to, Has V'Shalom, hurt us or pain us or break us. Rather, Hashem wants us to come closer to Him. Arrogance is the opposite of connection to God. Humility is the act of connection, and that's the goal. The goal is to get us to become humble. That's why the next pasuk after this is וַנִּצְעַק אֶל־יְיָ אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵינ וּ/ We cried out to Hashem our God. Mission accomplished! Once we get the message and realize the purpose of the suffering, it goes away. Because the goal is not to suffer. There is a famous Midrash that Hashem told the Jewish people, at Kriat Yam Suf, Hashmi'eini et Kolech / I want to hear your voice. And the reason the Egyptians were chasing us after we left Egypt was that Hashem said, I don't hear your voice anymore. I don't hear you calling out to me like you called out to me in Egypt. You already feel like you're independent. This happens to everybody. While going through the tzarah , we're screaming out, " Please help us! Hashem help me, just get me out of this." But once the problem passes, that's it. We say, Thank you, God, but I don't need You anymore. That's human nature. It's the way of human beings. We want to be in charge, so we need constant reminders to humble us. And those reminders come in many different shapes, colors, and forms- All things to remind us that we are not in charge . And that's the vayanunu . That's the inui , that's the pain. David Hamelech says, א֭וֹדְךָ כִּ֣י עֲנִיתָ֑נִי וַתְּהִי־לִ֝֗י לִישׁוּעָֽה׃/ I praise You that You pained me and You were there for a salvation . David Hamelech praises Hashem for the pain . That's the Vayanunu . Rabbi Ades asks, Why do we pray? If Hashem gave us a problem, it's a problem. It's what it's supposed to be. So why are we praying ? He says, the answer is because the problem is there to humble us. And when we pray to Hashem, which is the way that we show that we're humble and that we need Him, then the problem goes away. So, as long as you don't pray, the problem is the right thing for you because it's going to push you to pray. But once you pray, the problem can go away. This answers the very philosophical question of Why pray ? If everything Hashem does is for the good, this is what I need . No, you don't need this headache. You need humility . The headache is there to get you to humility. So of course you need the headache to humble you. But once you're humble, you don't need the headache.