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And Moses was tending... in the midst of a flame of fire from within the thorn bush. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asks: Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal Himself from the heavens and speak to Moses from within the thorn bush? What is so special about this thorn bush, which is more formidable than all the trees in the world, such that any bird that enters it does not emerge from it in peace, but rather is cut to pieces? Similarly, the servitude in Egypt was harsher before God than any other servitude in the world. No slave or maidservant ever went free from Egypt, except for Hagar, as it is said (Genesis 12:20): "And Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they sent him away, him and his wife and all that he had."