By Rabbi Aharon Seleh
Hashem commanded Moshe to go tell Paroah to let His nation go free. Moshe went to Paroah and did as he was told. But not only did Paroah refuse, things became much more difficult for the Jewish nation. The obvious question is why? After Hashem decided it was time for the Redemption, why did things become more difficult before they became better?
Rav Mattisyahu Solomon explains that the Jewish Nation did not have the merit to be redeemed. Hashem decided to set in motion a sequence of events that would finally give us the merit we needed to come out.
Paroah decided to make the Jews get their own straw for making bricks while still filling the same quota of bricks. This was almost impossible. The Egyptian taskmaster oversaw Jewish officers who were in charge of making sure every Jew filled his quota. Whoever fell short was punished by the task masters. But the Jewish officers refused to give the names of their Jewish underlings who fell short and bore the brunt of the punishment by the furious Egyptian taskmasters. This created a special unity among the Jews and became our ticket to freedom.
The Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because of the lack of love among us. Never forget, our mission in life is to love our fellow unconditionally!