From Darkness to Light Shabbat Hagadol 5784

(9) [As for] our brethren, the entire House of Israel who [still] remain in distress and captivity, whether on sea or on land, may God have compassion on them, and bring them from distress to relief, from darkness to light, from servitude to redemption, at this moment, speedily, very soon; and let us say Amein.

לְפִיכָךְ Therefore it is our duty to thank, praise, laud, glorify, exalt, honor, bless, raise high, and acclaim the One who has performed all these miracles for our ancestors and for us; who has brought us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from grief to celebration;
from darkness to great light and from enslavement to redemption; and so we shall sing a new song before Him. HALLELUYA!

(1) On the evening [or] of the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, one searches for leavened bread in his home by candlelight.

The Gemara asks: And the tanna of our mishna, what is the reason that he didn’t explicitly teach: The night of the fourteenth, as it was taught in the school of Shmuel? The Gemara answers: He employed a euphemism. Since the tanna of our mishna did not want to mention darkness, he preferred the term or to refer to the night of the fourteenth. And this is in accordance with a statement of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: A person should never express a crude matter,

(130) The words You inscribed give-d light,
and grant understanding to the simple.

(1) 1. The Time for the Search of Chametz, 2 Seifim: At the beginning of the night of the 14th of Nisan, we search for chametz by the light of a candle in holes and cracks in every place that it would be usual to have brought chametz.

(1) This corresponds to (Pesachim 2a) "On the evening [אוֹר] of the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, one searches for leavened bread in his home by candlelight", and the Tanna read אוֹר as evening, employing a euphemism, etc. For when His Blessed Divine Providence is revealed in the world, then there is no darkness there at all. The essence of light is Hashem Yisbarach, so to speak, as explained above. Then, night is illuminated like the day, etc. As it is written (Psalms 139:12) "Even darkness will not obscure [anything] from You, and the night will light up like day", as it will be in the future, as it is written (Zechariah 14:7) "and it shall come to pass that at eventide it shall be light", as we request (Passover Haggadah ) "illuminate like the light of the day, the darkness of the night". The essence of the darkness of night is from the knowledge of natural science, which is the essence of darkness, while faith in divine providence is the essence of light, as explained above. ..By this, night corresponds to day, the aspect of (Psalms 139:12) "and the night will light up like day", etc., as explained above. And therefore the Tanna called that night 'light', אוֹר.

(1) וירא אלקים את האור כי טוב ויבדל AND GOD SAW THE LIGHT THAT IT WAS GOOD, AND GOD CAUSED A DIVISION — Here, also, we must depend upon the statement of the Agada: He saw that the wicked were unworthy of using it (the light); He, therefore, set it apart (ויבדל), reserving it for the righteous in the world to come (Chagigah 12a).

(2) הזה THIS [STAGE OF RENEWAL] — Moses was in perplexity regarding the Molad of (the exact moment when begins) the new moon — ...did He not converse with him only by day, as it is said, (Exodus 6:28) “And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake [unto Moses]”; (Leviticus 7:38) “On the day when he commanded”; (Numbers 15:23) “From the day that the Lord commanded and henceforward”? But the explanation is: This chapter was spoken to him close to sunset and He pointed it out to him at nightfall (more lit., near darkness) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:1).

...

and it came between the camp of Miżrayim and the camp of Yisra᾽el; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה WHAT MAKES
THIS NIGHT UNLIKE ALL OTHER NIGHTS,
so that every other night we eat either bread or matza,
but tonight there is only matza?

מַעֲשֶׁה ONCE,Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria and Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon reclined [for the seder] in Benei Brak. And they told of the Exodus from Egypt all that night;until their students came in and said, “Teachers –the time for saying the Shema of the morning has come.”

Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria said:I am almost seventy years old,and never have I merited to find the command to speak of the Exodus from Egypt at night –
until Ben Zoma interpreted: It is written, “SO THAT YOU REMEMBER THE DAY OF YOUR EXODUS FROM EGYPT ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE.”
“The days of your life” would mean in the days; “all the days of your life” includes the nights.
But the sages say, “The days of your life” would mean only in this world; “all the days of your life” brings in the time of the Messiah.

וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ “AND YOU SHALL TELL YOUR CHILD” –One might have thought
this meant from the beginning of the month. And so it says, “on that day.”
Had it said only “on that day,” one might have thought [the obligation] applied during the day.And so it also says, “Because of this” –“because of this” can only be saidw hen matza and bitter herbs are there before you.

“JUST A HANDFUL OF SOULS” –
As it is said:
“Your ancestors were but seventy souls
when they went down to Egypt –
and now the LORD has made you
as many as the sky has stars.”

(1) ואלה שמות בני ישראל NOW THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — Although scripture has already enumerated them by name whilst they were living, when they went down into Egypt (Genesis 46:8-27), it again enumerates them when it tells us of their death, thus showing how dear they were to God — that they are compared to the stars which also God brings out and brings in by number and name when they cease to shine, as it is said, (Isaiah 40:26) “He bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name” (Exodus Rabbah 1:3; Tanchuma Yashan 1:1:2).

“AND THE LORD BROUGHT US OUT OF EGYPT” –
Not through an angel,
not through a seraph,
not through any emissary.
No, it was the Holy One, His glory, His own presence.
As it is said:
“I shall pass through the land of Egypt on that night;
I shall kill every firstborn son in the land of Egypt,
man and beast,
and I shall pass judgment on all the gods of Egypt:
I am the LORD.”

GEMARA: The Gemara asks: From where do we derive that these mitzvot were commanded to be performed specifically during the day? ...For reciting the hallel, the proof is from that which is written in hallel: “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the Lord’s name is to be praised” (Psalms 113:3). Rabbi Yosei said: The proof is from another verse in hallel: “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Psalms 118:24), implying that it is to be recited during the day and not at night.

(1) והיה לכם למשמרת AND IT SHALL BE IN YOUR KEEPING (or watching) —He therefore gave them two commands, relating respectively to the blood of the paschal-lamb and the blood of the circumcision — for that night they circumcised themselves, as it is said (Ezekiel 16:6) “[When I passed over thee] I saw thee wallowing in thy bloods (בְּדָמַיִךְ is plural)” i. e. in two kinds of blood. (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:1).

(8) Do not rejoice over me,
O my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I rise again;
Though I sit in darkness, GOD is my light.

Draw near the day that will be neither day nor night.
Highest One, make known that day is Yours and also night.
Appoint watchmen [to guard] Your city all day long and all night,
Light up like daylight the darkness of night
IT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT.