"In every generation and every day," the Tanya teaches, "a person must regard himself as if he had that day come out of Egypt." Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi reads the Exodus not as ancient history but as a daily spiritual event.
Egypt, Mitzrayim (מצרים), means "narrow straits." The Exodus is the liberation of the divine soul from its confinement in the body, described in Kabbalistic imagery as the "serpent's skin." And this liberation happens every single time you say the Shema.
When you declare "the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4), you are not making a philosophical statement. You are drawing God's unity into yourself. "Our God" means the same thing as "the God of Abraham" in the Amidah prayer: Abraham became so nullified, so absorbed into the light of the Ein Sof (אין סוף), that God was called his God. Abraham achieved this through decades of spiritual ascent. But we receive it as a gift through the Torah.
The Zohar comments on the verse "that they bring Me an offering" (Exodus 25:2), noting that the Hebrew can be read as "bring Me." God is saying: when you engage with Torah, you are not receiving information about Me. You are receiving Me. The Torah is not separate from God. It is God's will and wisdom, united with His very essence.
This means the only barrier between your soul and complete union with the Infinite is your own will. The moment you desire it, the moment you accept God's kingship upon yourself and declare His oneness, your soul "is spontaneously absorbed into His unity." As the Zohar teaches, "Spirit evokes spirit and draws forth spirit" (Zohar II:162b). Your turning toward God calls forth God's turning toward you. This is why the Exodus is mentioned during the Shema. Every recitation is a liberation.