Pesach Haggadah with Yismach Yisrael

(1) The Healing Power of Matzah: In some versions of the Haggadah the opening passage begins “Kiha lachma anya,” “This is like the bread of affliction....” This implies that matzah is similar to the bread, which our ancestors ate in Egypt, but it is not the actual bread of affliction that they consumed. We follow the version used by the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria, which says “This is the bread of affliction…” Matzah is more than just an imitation of the food that our ancestors ate in Egypt. It is not like the bread of affliction; it is the actual bread of affliction!! Just as matzah was the bread of affliction for our ancestors that brought about their redemption and release from impurity, so too, matzah has a transformative power for us. Matzah is “the food of healing;” by eating it we find redemption and a connection to the divine. The Zohar explains that because Israel ate the supernal bread in Egypt they were immune to the forces of evil. Hametz is likened to the yetzer harah, the evil inclination. By rejecting hametz and only eating matzah that does not contain hametz, the people of Israel were released from impurity. Thereafter they could consume hametz without fear of its affect upon them. But if hametz is associated with evil why are the people of Israel allowed to eat it at all? And why were certain offerings in the temple made from hametz such as the bikkurim offering? This is explained by a parable. A king had only one child who became ill. At first the doctors fed him only the special cure, but when he became better, he said the child could consume anything he so desired. So too, when Israel went forth from Egypt they had no idea of the source and secret of faith. God said, “Let the people eat only matzah, the bread of healing. While they do so they should not consume any other food. Matzah will become the remedy through which they will enter the secret of faith.” After this nothing can harm them, so they can again eat hametz. Matzah allowed Israel to enter into the service of God and the divine faith; that is why it is called the bread of healing and the food of faith.

(2) The Poor Person’s Bread: This is the bread of poverty: (Page 41a-42a) Matzah is referred to as lechem oni because it reminds us that all blessings come from above. We are impoverished. Without the divine plenty that God rains upon us, we would have nothing. All of the preparations before Passover are meant to remind us that God is the true source of blessing. Actually, the word, oni, has many different meanings. It means “answers” since eating matzah makes us ask many questions and offer diverse answers. It is also called oni as in poverty because it is prepared in the way that a poor person prepares his bread. The word oni can also be derived for the idea that we are blessed by shefa, divine plenty, which comes from above as in the following verse in Hosea 2:23: “And it shall come to pass that I will respond on that day, says the Lord; I will answer (oneh) the heavens and they shall answer the earth; and the earth shall answer the corn and the wine and the oil.” The word anah (to answer or respond) has the connotation of providing divine plenty from above. Lachma anya is the bread that is provided from above. On Passover we reminded that redemption comes from above. We had little to do with bringing about our own redemption. It is an act of divine grace. It was only through our act of eating matzah that we were redeemed from Egypt. It made us aware that there is no place empty of God’s presence and kindness. The Talmud says, “An infant does not call his parents ‘Father and Mother’ until he consumes flour (solid food.) ” This means that wisdom and understanding come from God and we become worthy of them through the food of healing and faith, which teaches us that all comes from God. It was through the merit of this faith that we were redeemed and we will be redeemed in the future. Matzah is called lachma anya, poor person’s bread. We are impoverished of knowledge and only through our reliance on God do we gain understanding. When we eat matzah we too become aware of our divine parent.

(3) Form and Material: “All who are impoverished come and eat.” (Page 42a-b) Human beings are created both of spiritual form and physical material or matter . God desires that spiritual form take precedence over the physical matter. When a person transgresses, the physical aspect of his being overcomes the divine form. Such a person is referred to as kefin . This is the meaning of, “All who are impoverished (kefin), come and eat.” One whose bodily desires have gained ascendancy, come and eat the matzah. Through the power of consuming matzah, the bread of healing, and when a person truly desires to turn away from his evil ways, he can find healing and leave the place of darkness for light. “All who are needy come and celebrate Pesach.” A person whose spiritual form has predominance over his material being often feels has not done enough in the service of God. He still feels needy. Let such a person use his lips to ask for mercy. Passover is a propitious time for this. The word Pesach can be read as two words: peh sach: “His lips speak,” or by switching the order of the letters, it becomes peh chas, “His lips offer compassion.” He has the power to transform the attribute of judgment into the attribute of mercy, with the voice of Jacob. Why do we begin with this declaration before telling the story of the Exodus? We are living among sinful and damaged people and cannot tell the story of the Exodus in this state. This declaration is a call for unity. When a Tzaddik, a truly righteous person attaches himself to simple folk, they become worthy of telling the story of the Exodus and bringing true redemption to the world. The main reason we are in exile is because of the sin of sinat chinam, causeless hatred. By uniting with the Jewish people in the service of God with love and fellowship we become worthy of true redemption. That is why we say: “Now we are here.” We are here united in unity! Next year we will therefore be in the land of Israel, and we will be able to overcome the material aspect of our lives and emphasize the spiritual form of our lives. Now we are slaves, subjugated to the material being but next year we will be free from the evil impulse and serving the good impulse.

(4) The Power of Kol, All: Kol d’tzrich, All, who are needy (Page 42b- 43a) We understand this passage in the same way that many of the commentaries understand the expression “kol (All) leaven… ” We relinquish our connection to all the husks, the fifty gates of impurity which are designated by the word kol. The numerical value of the word kol is fifty. Just as there are fifty gates of impurity, there also are fifty gates of purity in the realm of the divine that lead to the sephirah of binah. We must reject one kol and embrace the other kol. Kol d’tzrich can be translated as, “Those who are in need of kol, the fifty levels of purity, come and pray before the Holy One” with a peh sach, an open mouth. God will then help him. The fiftieth gate will be opened to the one who prays as it was opened in the time of the Exodus. Pesach is a propitious time for us as it was during the first redemption. “In the land of Egypt” Israel had descended to the forty-ninth level of impurity in Egypt. This level is referred to as metzar yam, the narrow place before the fiftieth level. Even so the people ate the matzah, the bread of healing and through the merit of this cure they received a great light. So too, even though we are now in exile and subject to all the evil desires and strange thoughts, let us come and eat matzah and through the power of this action we will repair ourselves. All in need of atonement and forgiveness come and celebrate Pesach. Pesach comes from the Hebrew root which means to jump or hop. Through our ecstasy we will jump to the “fifteenth level” and our feet will never even need to stop at the “first level,” and there we will recall the story of the Exodus. Now we are here in the exile in a place where we must follow the steps of ascent but if we hop forward like a bird escaping from a trap through our ecstasy, we will be in the land of Israel next year, and there we will serve God with awe and love and we will move upward from stage to stage. The first and fifteenth levels that the author refers to here are a reference to the order of the Seder with which we began this ceremony. There are fifteen items in this list beginning kadesh u’rechatz… They are not simply a list of steps in the Seder but aspects of our spiritual ascent. Through true ecstasy, one can ascend to the highest level of spirituality, which is Nirtzah, literally, “to be accepted.” Nirtzah is not the end but the beginning of this journey! Pesach is to hop up to the highest levels of beings and to become one with God!

(5) The Bread of the Humble: לחם עוני - שעונין עליו דברים הרבה. Shmuel said : Lechem oni – Bread through which we are humbled exceedingly. (Page 43a – b) The purpose of matzah is to bring us to a state of submission and self-abnegation, and to learn that everything comes from God (and not through our own abilities). This is a lesson we learn from the sages : “A person says: I have learned wisdom and Torah, what need have I in performing mitzvot?” The Holy One responds: ‘Acquiring knowledge of Torah and wisdom are a simple matter. Acting in a God fearing manner is another matter! One who fears me and then performs acts of Torah, wisdom and Torah will be in his heart as it is written in Psalm 111:10: “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord; they have understanding who perform all of his commandments…” Through humility and self-abnegation one comes to a state of fear of the Lord. All wisdom is already present in his heart but it is only through this state of submission of one’s ego that one becomes worthy of learning Torah freely. Through matzah we derive fear of God from above and through fear and awe that we merit the learning of Torah and many other blessings.

(6) Time, Place, and Soul: All who are hungry: (Page 43b – 45a) We recite this passage on the evening of the Seder as a way of strengthening each other. We recognize that we are in Exile; how can we possibly attain a life of holiness? Holiness is encountered from a confluence of three qualities: sacred moments, holy space, and spiritual being. Ha lachma anya is about the combination of these qualities. When we realize that we are in exile and cannot worship God in the Temple, we make a declaration to one another for the rebuilding of the Temple on this night so that we will not despair. We begin by reminding one another that even though the people of Israel were in Egypt, a place of impurity, they were able to attain a heightened spiritual state without the qualities of olam, ‘place’ or nefesh, ‘soul’ because they ate matzah at the appointed time. The hidden light (of God) was revealed to them without any preparation on our part. Israel had sunk beneath 49 levels of impurity from which they believed that they could not be healed. It was only when they ate matzah that they received light from above that they became worthy of redemption. We may also attain redemption on this sacred night even though we lack both the elements of ‘place’ and ‘soul.’ Eating matzah on Pesach night is a transformative act even if one does so without proper kavvanot , intentions or motivations. This is what Maimonides means when he says that even if someone was forced to eat matzah, he has fulfilled his mitzvah. In other words, he did so without proper kavanah, sacred intentions. All the other mitzvot demand spiritual preparation and kavanah; but not the commandment to eat matzah. That is why halachah teaches us that the matzah can be consumed when one is hungry (one may have less pure intentions in eating the matzah) while the Pesach offering (or the Afikoman) must be consumed at the end of the meal when one is no longer hungry. It must be consumed not as a way of simply consumption but as a sacred act. Even so consuming matzah brings about a state of redemption. The people must simply be aware that they are doing so at a designated and sacred time.

(7) All who are hungry come and eat: The only preparation that we have for eating the matzah is that we don’t eat prior to the Seder so that we consume the matzah with an appetite. That is why we say ‘All who are hungry’ with regard to the matzah. For the Pesach offering (or the Afikoman), we say: “All who are in need (and not, all who are hungry) come and eat the Pesach offering,” because we eat it not in a state of physical hunger but in order to simply to fulfill the mitzvah of consuming the Pesach offering. It is through the sacredness of this hour that we become worthy of attaining the holiness of place and soul. This is the meaning of the second half of the opening declaration of the Haggadah: “All who are here” (in this place) but through the merit of this sacred moment next year we will be in the land of Israel. “All whose (souls) are enslaved;” next year we will be freed from the evil inclination and the subjugation of the nations – therefore we will have hope even now! Matzah teaches us the real depth of our hunger. “Hungry and thirsty their souls fainted in them.” (Psalm 107:5). (Pages 45a – b) The people of Israel were drowning in impurity in Egypt. Like other people who are deathly ill they were so sick they did not recognize the depth of their spiritual malady until they ate some matzah, the food of healing. Then when they ate the Pesach offering they were healed of their malady and they began to pursue God. So it is with us when we celebrate Pesach. We do not recognize the depth and quality of our spiritual hunger until we consume some matzah and we become aware of it. Until we eat matza we think we are hungry for material things. This is what the Talmud means when it says that one can be “desperately hungry and not know this.” The poor person thinks he is hungry for bread and does not understand the quality of his true hunger. That is why we say: “All who are hungry come and eat.” With the first measure of matzah we begin to recognize our true hunger and what we really need. We then say “All who are in need, come consume the Pesach offering.” With this offering we become worthy of opening our mouths with prayer (peh sach) and words of Torah. It is not for water that we are thirsty or for bread that we are hungry but to hear the voice of God. When we eat the matzah we recognize that we are living in an impure land and cannot perform all of those commandments associated with the land of Israel. Therefore we say: “Next year may we be in the land of Israel.” Overcoming the evil within us and in the world “It is well known to you that it is our will to fulfill your will, O Lord. What prevents us? It is the leaven that is in the dough and the subjugation by the other nations. ” “All who are hungry” (45b) This statement is an invitation to all of us who are subject to evil desires and have damaged the holy covenant within and are now in need of the food of healing. Such people are in need of kol; it is through the power of matzah that they are able attain this blessing, repair the mind and purify the thoughts. By eating matzah they then can open their mouths with Torah and prayer, as the Haggadah says, “Let them come and Pesach – peh sach, open their mouths.” The author of the Haggadah begins by making it clear that no one willingly chooses to deny God. He addresses the reasons that we are unable to overcome the forces of evil – It is because of “the leaven in the dough” and the fact that we are subjugated beneath the nations of the world. “The leaven in the dough” is a reference to the yetzer hara, the evil inclination. Rashi explains that when God created human beings he did so with dust taken from the four corners of the earth as well as dust from the Land of Israel. The dust from the Land of Israel is holy and the dust from the other nations of the earth is profane. This profane dust is the “leaven in the dough” to which the Talmud refers. Each human being, then, is constructed from both holy and profane material. When we are in the land of Israel the holy dust reigns over our nature, but in the Diaspora the profane dust within us rises up with the profane land in which we are living to become a dominant force. We begin the Seder by saying, “Now we are here,” in the exile. We are subject to the forces of evil that surround us. If we have not fulfilled God’s will, that is why! If we could study the Torah we could sanctify the four amot within which each Jew must dwell so that this space would become like a small bit of the land of Israel. However, conditions of the exile do not allow us to have the leisure to do this. Therefore we also say: “Now we are slaves,” subject to the nations and therefore not free to study Torah and devote ourselves to holy matters – next year may we be free to do so!

(8) Matzah has the Power to Protect: The heart knows its own bitterness; and in its joy no stranger can intermeddle. Matzah has the power to protect. This is what the Holy Jew of Przysucha taught regarding the verse “Or let him take hold of My strength (maozi) that he may make peace with me. ” The word maozi, my stronghold has the same numerical value as the word matzah. God does not abandon the broken hearted and the despised. The people of Israel had sunk to such a low state of being that they could not even pray to God or call out for God’s help. All they could do is cry out, “Woe!” It was through the power of two mitzvot that they gained redemption: matzah and the Passover sacrifice. They gained the ability to express real humility and self-abnegation, and were thus protected from “the stranger ” who attacks them. As long as we are aware of our lowliness and distance from God, we can embrace our joy without fear of “the stranger” attacking us. When our prayers are offered with true humility, they are safe from the intermeddling of the Satan. Matzah teaches us this humility. It is through the holiness of this night and the commandment of eating matzah, that we are blessed with the necessary livelihood to survive. Pesach is the day on which ‘wheat’ is judged. That is why we say, “All who are in need come and eat;” come eat that which is permissible and not that which is forbidden, that we should receive it honorably and amply. By eating matzah we learn how to offer supplication to God and to do so without humiliation from “the stranger.” Matzah purifies our prayers even in the exile when we are subject to the nations around us. As Reb Zusha said, “When a person opens up a door of hope, he is like a peasant who peeks through a crack in the door that leads to the king’s antechamber. How fortunate are those who can offer supplication to the king and enter within His palace.”

(9) The Jewish Soul is Indestructible: All who are in need: (Page 48b) Every Jewish soul is connected to its supernal root on high by a rope made up of thirty-six threads, as is written “Israel is the measure (the rope) of his inheritance.” When a person breaks God’s laws these threads are broken. Only the worst of people could possibly break all thirty-six threads (such a person could never exist). Even then a Jewish soul is still connected to God so that the tie that binds us above can never be fully broken. This special bond to God is referred to as kol Yisrael or kol adam. When we say kol ditzrich, “All who are in need” we are referring to this special bond to God. It means “anyone in need, kol, let him come and eat.” Every Jewish soul is connected to the body of the Jewish people and can never be cut off completely from it. That is why we make a statement before the various mitzvot of the Seder in which we say that we are performing them in the name of “All Israel.” (See the statement before the Kiddush Pesach offering and were purified by it, we can attain this state of purity through the holiness of the hour. Through this state of purity we will be able to return to the Land of Israel and bring about a reuniting of time, place and soul. Then we will become free as we release ourselves from the improper desires and repair the soul along with time and space.

(1) A Time for Questions: Hidden Gematria in the Kiddush (Page 50a): “The second cup of wine is mixed . Here the son asks his father. If he doesn’t have the ability to ask, his father prompts him: “How different is this night from all other nights… According to the intelligence of the son the father shall teach him

(2) The second cup of wine is mixed: Commenting on this statement in the Mishnah, the Talmud (Pesachim 108b) says: “Rabbi Isaac said in the name of Rabbi Samuel: “These four cups must contain the amount of wine needed to mix ‘a nice cup.’” The Hebrew word for cup, kos, has the numerical gematria of 86 just like the word Elohim, a name of God. When the letters in the word kos are written in their full form , the word has the gematria of 232, which is written, reish (200) – lamed (30) – bet (2). This is the same value as the Tetragrammaton written out in all its possible full forms added together . Reish-lamed-bet is also the first letters of the Hebrew saying, rachmana liba ba-ay, “The All-merciful desires the heart” for the essence is to direct one’s heart to God. The number 232 is also the gematria of the word habrachah, “the blessing” which is an allusion to the statement in BT Shabbat, 76b: “What is ‘a nice cup’ – it is the cup over which we recite the Birkat HaMazon, the Grace after Meals.” This is a hidden allusion to the coming of redemption which will occur on the second night of Pesach, which is also the first night in the counting of the Omer, the one associated with hesed in hesed, when God will be reunited and the forces of evil will be weakened just as we weaken the wine in the kos yafeh, the nice cup. There is a reference to this in the verse in Zechariah, 14:9: “On that day the Lord shall be one and his name shall be one.” The Hebrew yiheyeh Adonai, “Lord shall be,” has the gematria of 95 like the word yafeh. The word yiheyeh is very much like the divine name so together with Adonai it is a reference to the reuniting of the names of God. Yafeh then is the reuniting of these names....

(3) Here the son asks his father: The first cup of wine is an expression of the first letter of the divine name, the letter yud. This letter is connected to the sephirah of chochma, which is also referred to as kodesh, holy, and about which it is said, ‘That which is too wondrous do not seek and that which is hidden from you do not ask. The second cup of wine is associated with the next sephirah, binah, understanding, and the Hebrew letter hay; it stands before us as a question. As we pour the second cup it is only now that the son can ask his father because he enters the realm of hay, binah.

(4) According to the intelligence of the son the father shall teach him: The fact that the Torah offers different answers for each type of child proves that the Holy One desires that we teach each child according to his ability. We also hope that God will teach us according to our intellectual ability, and that our words will be acceptable before God. We know that we do not have the ability to comprehend the full depth and implications of these matters. May it be God’s will that we should not say anything that is not according to the will of the most blessed one and that we should merit to have worthy children and not the opposite, God forbid. We are commanded to answer a child according to his intellectual ability. That is why each statement in the Mah Nishtanah is a little more subtle than the previous one. We begin with a statement about eating matzah that deals with the most concrete aspect of Pesach. Then we ask about vegetables which we eat even though we can live without them. Then we have a question about dipping; and finally the most subtle question of all, about leaning. The answers to these questions according to the four levels of human being: body (guf,) spirit (ruach), life force (nefesh) and soul (neshamah) and it will be derived from the four levels of interpretation in the Pardes. Thus, the passage that follows the Mah Nishtanah also suggests that there are multiple levels of understanding and explaining the Exodus from Egypt. We begin by saying, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.” This answer really applies to everyone. Each person understands the nature of slavery on a different level – the deeper our understanding the greater our apprehension of the suffering of the Israelites. Next, we answer those who might be tempted to say that the story of the Exodus was only relevant to the generation that left Egypt since their experience made them worthy of receiving the Torah. Since we spend more time delving into the depths of Torah we don’t need to concentrate on the Exodus itself. Therefore we say, Even though we are wise, we are knowledgeable…we are knowledgeable in matters of the Torah we are still commanded to tell the story of the Exodus. No one is exempt from this commandment no matter how exalted he may think he is. Finally, we are told that we are not only obligated to tell the story, but to do so at great length at what ever level we can, just as Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva, and the other sages did. They are meant to be role models for us.

(5) The sages study Torah through the night: Just as creation begins at night and concludes in the daytime, so these sages began studying at night and concluded with the coming of sunrise the following morning. The coming of sunrise and the pronouncement of the time for Shacharit is symbolic of the hope for redemption. The morning service is the primary pronouncement of the unity of God as well. The students come to the sages and see that the time has come for the recitation of the Sh’ma in order to tell them that through their studies they have revealed the ultimate purpose of all being. A great light has been revealed.

(1) We Were Slaves: The Exile and Liberation of Speech ( Page 51b): From the narrow place (min ha’metzar) I cried out, and he answered me from the wide open space. It is obligatory to recall the Exodus from Egypt each day, morning and night. On this night, however, we do more than simply mention this event. We tell the story of the Exodus. We begin by saying, “How is this night different from all other nights?” and respond, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Mitzraim, and he took us out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.” The Zohar teaches us that the story of the Exodus is really the story of the exile of speech . The words Pharaoh and Mitzraim are an allusion to this exile. When the letters of Pharaoh are switched around it spells oreph, restricting, just as the word Mitzraim can be read metzar yam, the narrow place. In exile, the Israelites lost the power of speech. They could not lift their voices in prayer and Torah. The powers of idolatry imprisoned them so that they could not be redeemed. It was only through the mighty hand of God that we were redeemed from speechlessness and we gained peh sach, an open mouth, though which we could offer prayers and thanksgiving. That is why the essential mitzvah of the first night of Pesach is Haggadah, declaring. Telling the story (at length) is a sign of our true freedom. We find in the story of the subjugation Israel not only an image of redemption from exile, but also one of birth. When the people of Israel were in Egypt they were like a fetus in its mother’s womb. They were unable to speak or cry out. Only when they came forth from the ‘narrow place’ were they able to speak; therefore Passover celebrates our receiving a peh sach, a fluent tongue, once we left the womb that confined us. In this season of miracles and wonders the telling of the Exodus enters the heart of the listener for goodness. Haggadah, the telling, them is the very essence of the day since it expresses the freedom of expression that the Israelites received when they left Egypt. “If the Holy One had not taken our ancestors out of Egypt, then we our children, and our children’s children would still be subjugated to Pharaoh:” That we would still be slaves to Pharaoh subjugated does not make sense. Since we are all branches that extend from the same roots, if our roots had been stunted then the branches would have dried up and withered as well. But how is it possible that we would still be subjugated to Pharaoh? Pharaoh symbolizes the quality of Oreph (See note 8) so by being subjugated to Pharaoh, we are really saying that the impurities of Egypt would still have enslaved us.

(2) Something Even for the Wise: Even if we were all wise, all knowledgeable…it would be incumbent upon us to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.” (Page 53a) Why would we assume that wise and knowledgeable people might think that they were exempt from the positive commandment of recalling the story of the Exodus from Egypt? One answer to this question can be found in Rabbi Bunem’s interpretation of the following statement in the Midrash (Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:2): “For by me shall your days be multiplied and the years of your life shall increase. ” (Proverbs 9:11) (God says to Israel): “And if you were to think,” God said: “Maybe I gave you the Torah for your detriment,” I want you to know that I only gave it to you for your own good! Even the angels desired the Torah…” What exactly is the meaning of this statement? Why would we think that God gave Israel the Torah for anything but our own good? After all, Israel accepted the Torah and said, “We will follow and obey it” Rabbi Bunem, the Holy Jew, understands lira’atchem, “Your detriment” and litovatchem, “your own good” as describing the ultimate purpose in following the laws of the Torah: Remove from evil (sur mayrah) and to teach us to do good (asay tov). Some of the commandments are meant to remove us from the impurity of evil while others are meant to help us become worthy of the presence of the Divine Sovereign in our lives. Thus, the statement in the Midrash should be read as follows: “I didn’t just give you the commandments to remove evil from you lira’atchem, (“For your evil”); I also gave it to you litovatchem, “for your goodness.” That is why the angels desired the Torah – to ascend to an even higher spiritual level. Similarly, there are two reasons that God took Israel out of Egypt (and we recall this story): to remove the people from the filth and impurity of Egypt and to bring them to the light of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Once we are removed from evil, we might think we no longer had any reason to recall the simple story of the Exodus. But even the wise and knowledgeable must recall the Exodus since it brings people to a higher spiritual level as well. Just as our ancestors became worthy of revealing the divine presence so do we gain both the first and the second aspect of the Exodus through our retelling!

(3) Even if we were all wise, all knowledgeable…it would obligatory for us to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt. And anyone who tells the story at length is praiseworthy.” (Page 54a) Why would we assume that the wise and knowledgeable people might think that they were exempt from the positive commandment of recalling the story of the Exodus from Egypt? It is so easy to think that the story of the Exodus is too basic. No matter how knowledgeable a person is, there are still depths of insight to gain from telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The story of the Exodus is the source of our most profound theological beliefs. When we tell the story of the Exodus, we conclude that God is one and unique, and that God’s providence is over all things and that God’s rule is all powerful, and that God’s presence fills all space. We arrive at complete faith and true knowledge through the telling of the story. But a truly wise person understands the limits of his own intellect; he realizes that he cannot completely comprehend all things divine, even if he is one who delves into the mysteries of Torah and Kabbalah. That is why we are supposed to recall the story with questions and answers – since there are limits to what we can apprehend, one must ask questions. The more we ask the more, we will realize that there are limits to what we can know. That is why the Haggadah says that “It is a commandment to retell the story of the Exodus” and that “one who tells the story at length is praiseworthy.” One who goes to great lengths to tell the story of the Exodus becomes like an overflowing spring. The great sages of whom we read in the Exodus are an example of this. The more they told the story of the Exodus and questioned one another, the more the light of their wisdom filled the world. Their dialogue continued until the wee hours of morning when their students came to get them. They said to their teachers: “Masters, you have already arrived at the highest levels of knowledge and understanding – you can now recite the morning Sh’ma which is an expression of our most basic faith in one God. The story of the Exodus arouses the deepest levels of divine forgiveness just as the Exodus itself was able to lift the people of Israel out of the impurity of Egypt. Through the telling, then, even the lowliest person is able to attain complete repentance and redemption. One’s telling of the story of the Exodus arouses the power of compassion. Even those who are not in need of such forgiveness or compassion must tell the story. That is why the Haggadah says: anyone, (even the wise and knowledgeable) who tells the story of the Exodus at length, is praiseworthy. One should tell this story, like all stories, in a simple, straight-forward fashion. One who can tell the story both simply and with hidden allusions to its deepest meetings is truly praiseworthy, like the great sages of old were able to do.

(4) Another answer to the question: (Page 55b) Telling a story is like stoking a fire full of hot coals. The more one turns and prods the coals the hotter the fire will become. Similarly the more one tells the story, the more one becomes worthy of attaining a true knowledge of the Divine, as we learn in Exodus 10:2, “That you may recount in the hearing of your children and your children’s children….in order that you may know that I am the Lord. ” One might think that wise and knowledgeable people are exempt from this commandment – the Haggadah comes to teach us that even the most righteous person is even more praiseworthy when he dwells on the story of the Exodus. Even if we were all wise, all knowledgeable…it would our obligation upon us to tell the story of the Exodus: (Page 55b) We lift up the holy sparks that fill the world by finding the fallen letters, repairing them and lifting them up . This is what we learn in Micah 7:15, “As in the days of the coming out from Egypt I will show you nifla’ot, wonders.” The word nifla’ot can be read as nafal ot, fallen letters. Each person must lift up the letters that have fallen to earth and are broken. Similarly, in Egypt the Israelites were oppressed, bifarech, ruthlessly. This word can be read as be peh rach, with a soft tongue. Through their oppression the Israelites were able to lift up the broken letters and redeem them. The essence of this repair was Pesach, peh sach, speaking with a fluent tongue . Through our telling of the Exodus we bring life to the broken letters that fell to earth during the cataclysmic trauma in the time of creation and we lift them up once again. Those who hear these words on this night when we tell the story of the Exodus as we are commanded to do will gain vitality and life. When we tell the story we cause others to give thanks and praise the Holy One, so that we express holy utterances that are a source of vitality and strength. These words fly upward rather than remaining below, God forbid. Not only is the story teller praiseworthy but he has the merit of making others praiseworthy as well since they too will raise God and acknowledge his manifold acts of love and his wonders, his fallen letters.

(5) Even if we were all wise….it is a commandment upon us to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: A teaching of Rabbi Yehiel Danziger: (Page 56a) When we tell the story of the Exodus we bring healing to each of organs and sinews in the human body. Each of our limbs and organs needs us to bring divine blessing upon it. When we sin, our organs and sinews are cut off from the divine source of vitality. By telling the story of the Exodus every part of our being is reconnected to their source of holy vitality. We arouse the lights of redemption that existed at the time of the Exodus, and they heal us, so that we are performing a mitzvah for ourselves. That is why it says that telling the story is a commandment upon us. We are not just commanded; we bring a blessing upon ourselves.

(6) Anyone who tells the story at length is mishubach, praiseworthy: (56a-b) When we tell the story of the Exodus with all its hidden allusions, and meanings for the service of God the teller quiets the roar of the days of judgment. “To still” is another meaning of the word mishubach, praiseworthy, as we see in Psalms 65:8, “Who stills, mashbi’ach, the noise of the sea, the roar of the waves, and the tumult of the people,” and he brings loving kindness to the world. That is why the students remind their teachers that it is time for the recitation of the Sh’ma in the morning. The morning Sh’ma is associated with Abraham who was a man of hesed, loving kindness, and was responsible for beginning the redemption of the Jewish people. Abraham actually shortened the amount of time Israel was to be enslaved. When righteous people tell the story of the Exodus at night they arouse the forces of hesed from above. The students reminded the sages that Abraham was perfected the 248 organs and 365 sinews of the human body through his divine service. We are able to do so at a time of day associated with him through the efforts of the righteous. Abraham watches over the people at this time and brings loving-kindness upon them through the efforts of the righteous ones. May we also draw loving kindness upon us and let us say Amen!

(7) “‘This one’ is praiseworthy:” God becomes praiseworthy through our telling. Rabbi Uri of Strelisk explained the words from the prayer Baruch Sh’amar, “God is praised in the mouth of his people,” to mean that God only becomes praiseworthy when we offer Him praise. Similarly, when we tell the story of the Exodus we refrain speak gossip and unworthy speech and instead we speak holy words of Torah. As a result, God becomes praised in the mouth of the teller. “Therefore, this one” becomes praiseworthy. “‘This’ is praiseworthy:” Through our telling we gain knowledge of God. The word this generally refers to something we can see and point to, as in Isaiah 25:9, “And it shall be on that day, he shall say, “Lo, ‘this’ is our God, we have waited for Him that he should save us.” The more we tell the story the more apparent God becomes to our senses (so that it seems as though we can actually point to the divine as say “This is God!”)

(1) Affirming life and performing mitzvot: This episode raises many questions. (Page 57b-60a) It is surprising that the students found it necessary to remind their teachers about reciting the morning Sh’ma. How could they speak so impudently to their teachers? Surely the sages knew this! And since they were engaged in the commandment of telling the story of the Exodus, shouldn’t they have been exempt from other mitzvot? There a rabbinic principle that one who is engaged in a Mitzvah is exempt from other mitzvot? An introduction is necessary to understand the true nature of the dialogue between the students and the sages in this story. Judaism is a religion that affirms life above all else. We can only serve God in this world; when we give up life we loose the opportunity to bring pleasure to the Holy One. We see this in the story of Rabbi Akiva. When he was about to be put to death by the Romans, he began to recite the Sh’ma. His students asked him, “Until here?” Rabbi Akiva responded, “All my life I worried if I could fulfill the commandment to ‘Love God with all your soul.’ Now that this opportunity has come to me shall I not fulfill it?” The students of Rabbi Akiva were distressed that their teacher was prepared to give up his life by fulfilling the mitzvah of martyrdom and lose the opportunity to serve God in this world. They said, “Until here (you will serve God and no more?).” They knew that Rabbi Akiva had the power to deflect the Romans and save himself, and yet he was not prepared to do so; that is why they questioned him. They believed it was better to remain alive and serve God than to die and lose all future opportunities to do so. Like Moses who did not want to die outside the land of Israel, he was willing to give up all the blessings in store for him in the world to come in order to bring pleasure to God in this world through divine service. Rabbi Akiva recognized that he would never have such an opportunity of martyrdom again; to recite the Sh’ma while giving up his soul. He could not pass up such a holy opportunity. The question to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues in this episode is much the same. The sages in B’nai Brak had reached such a level of ecstasy, and connection to God that they were prepared to give up their souls in ecstasy. They were no longer connected to this world, and their students seeing this wanted to bring them back to the realities of this world and its opportunities. They did so by saying two things to the sages at B’nai B’rak. First, they called out to their teachers, “Rabbotaynu,” our teachers.” In this way they reminded the sages that they would be lost without their teachers. Who would teach them the Torah and God’s commandments? All righteous people actually fulfill their mission in this world relatively early in life and could easily return to their place with God. It is part of God’s grace that he allows us to keep them more time so that they can reach their children and their students in this world. Second, they said to their teachers, “Has not the time for the recitation of the morning Sh’ma arrived?” In Sefer Haredim we learn that the commandment to “Love the Lord your God” means to love your fellow by teaching God’s ways to all humankind, as Abraham did. Abraham is called Ohavi, “My lover,” because he made known God’s presence to all people in the world. A true servant of a king will go out of his way to bring other people to the service of the king as well. As long as a person is in this world, he is capable of accomplishing this goal, but he cannot do so once he leaves this world and enters the world to come. Such a person brings great pleasure to God. When we are dedicated and selfless in the service of God we can do so many times. But when we do so in martyrdom, we can only do so once and never again. This was the meaning of Rabbi Akiva’s students to him. They said: Ad Kan? “Only until here” Are you really prepared to give up the opportunity to serve God?” So too when the students spoke to the sages who were about to let go of their earthly existence they said to them, Are you really willing to give up your souls in this way? It is time for you to recite the Sh’ma – this is a form of mesirut nefesh, selfless devotion – and by reciting the Sh’ma with your entire being it is as if you gave God your very life, and thereby brought him pleasure! This is the meaning of a verse in Eshet Hayil, Proverbs 31:25-26. Strength (oz) and dignity are her clothing; she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and a Torah of loving kindness is on her tongue. The word oz is a reference to Torah. When one makes the Torah one’s mantel, God reveals the blessings that will be given in the time to come. However, the righteous person merely laughs at them – he would rather bring pleasure to God in this world. Therefore, “She opens her mouth with wisdom,” means that she opens the gates of wisdom from above and arouses great compassion from the source of all compassion in order that the “Torah of loving kindness” shall be on her tongue. The Talmud offers two interpretation of this phrase This means that one either learns Torah for its own sake (without an ulterior motive) or one learns Torah in order to teach it to others. Such Torah brings great pleasure and satisfaction to God. The Zohar says that people who serve God in this way are like those who have sacrificed their very soul to God. When one does this, “She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness ." When Torah is learned for self-aggrandizement, it is considered the bread of idleness. The truly righteous would never consume such “bread” because it does not bring satisfaction to the Creator.

(2) A Mystical “Happening:” This passage begins with the word ma’aseh which literally is a tale or an incident. By transposing the letters of the word, it spells mah, “what,” and shin-eiyin is the number 270. By joining together in a mystical fellowship and negating their own self-interests, they drew down upon themselves 270 supernal rivers of light. This is the essence of the mitzvah of the Seder; to eat it in a fellowship. How do we know joined together in a state of ecstasy? The Talmud teaches us that one should not recline in the presence of one’s teacher; yet here all the sages reclined, even though Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Joshua were in the presence of their teacher, Rabbi Eliezer. There are two reasons for this. First, the word misubim, “reclined,” may have a different meaning here. This word may be from the word saviv, “surrounded,” as in Genesis 37:7: “And behold, your sheaves stood round about. ” When the Haggadah says the sages were misubim, it doesn’t mean they were reclining. Rather they were surrounded by a mystical fire and became completely unaware of their very being and one another. As a result of this they entered into the presence of the Holy One, and approached a moment were they were about to release themselves from material existence. We try to reach this state by following Rabbi Isaac Luria’s custom of declaring, before we pray, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In this way we express our willingness to place our love of others above our self interests. By sincerely performing this mitzvah we will become less focused on our own ego and we will be able to enter into the presence of God. Having reached this mystical state, their students now brought their teachers back to reality by reminding them that it was time for the morning Sh’ma. They said, “Is it really time for you to leave this world and experience the final unification?” (The morning Sh’ma is a reference to this final and ultimate mystical experience. The evening Sh’ma is the beginning of divine service since it is at the beginning of the day, and the morning Sh’ma is the culmination of divine service in which we accept the yoke of God’s sovereignty.

(3) Morning and Evening: Two Spiritual States: Morning and evening represent two different spiritual states of being. That is why the sages at B’nai B’rak studied all night and then were reminded to recite the Sh’ma in the morning. The morning Sh’ma is recited in the daylight when we can experience the presence of God through our physical senses and reason. Truth becomes manifest and apparent to us in the daytime. In the evening when we affirm God’s existence in the darkness of night, we give expression through emunah, faith, since we can not use the physical senses to affirm our belief in God. The sages at B’nai B’rak expressed their faith through the night and thus were able to give expression to faith through reason in the day with the recitation of the Sh’ma. Similarly the faith in the night experience in Egypt led to the faith experience at the Red Sea when the Israelites saw with their own eyes the “mighty hand of the Lord.”

(1) The Exodus from Egypt: Remembrance and Self-Expression: “…I have not succeeded in offering a proof for mentioning the Exodus from Egypt”. (Page 61a) It is difficult to understand this controversy since the Talmud explicitly implies that one should recall the Exodus at all times. We have two passages which suggest that one should recall the Exodus from Egypt: “Remember this day on which you came forth from Egypt out of the house of bondage,” (Exodus 13:3) and “…In order that you may remember the day of your going forth from Egypt all the days of your life. ” (Deuteronomy 16:3) Everyone would appear to agree that one is always obligated to remember our Exodus from Egypt, both day and night. So what exactly do Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah and the sages disagree about? The first Tanna and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah differ over whether one must apply verbal expression to this memory or not. According the first Tanna in the Mishnah, the Mitzvah is to simply to remember the Exodus; in order to strengthen our memories it is a good idea (but not obligatory) to mention the Exodus. Thus, a scholar of Torah who is deeply cognizant of the teachings of Judaism would not have to make verbal mention the Exodus in order to think about it or remember it. Rabbi Elazar, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the main way we remember the Exodus is by speaking about it. That is why we have two verses in the Torah: One is to remember and the other to teach us the obligation to explicitly mention the Exodus. Rabbi Elazar follows this point of view; he would say that a knowledgeable person has an obligation to mention the Exodus. There are many citations in the Torah which tells us to remember the Exodus. Why did the sages differ about whether we recite the passage dealing with tzitzit at night? Tzitzit is a ‘daytime’ commandment. Everyone agrees that the commandment of wearing fringes is commanded during the day. On the night of Passover, however, our tradition claims that the night was “bright like the day. It raises the question about tzitzit on this particular night. This is a theme we find throughout the Bible and later literature. In Psalm 139:12 we read, “But the night shines like the day…” In the Zohar we are taught that on the night of the Exodus the night was as bright as a day in the month of Tammuz so that the Israelites could experience God’s judgment.” That is why Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah taught that we should remember the Exodus day and night since the night was like day! When Ben Zoma says that “In order that you may remember the day of your going for from Egypt all the days of your life,” includes the nights, it is because the night was like daytime on this miraculous night. The sages disagreed with this interpretation and suggested that in the Messianic times the night will be like day so we will be commanded to remember the Exodus at night as well as in the day. Just as our ancestors lived in a time of darkness in the time of the Exodus and experienced a great light of redemption, so too, we are in living in the darkness of exile now but through our faith in god we will again experience the great light of redemption. Then, as in the past, the night will become bright as the day!! The sages, therefore, understood the expression “All the days of your life” as a reference to Messianic times. This world is not a place of wholeness and completeness. The expression, “all the days” implies a time of wholeness; the world to come is a place and a time of “All-ness.” In one of his poems, the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria speaks of the world to come a place which is filled with the “life of all. ” By telling the story of the Exodus, you will become worthy of making your soul cling to the “Bundle of Life ,” through the aspect of “All” in the days of your life and you will bring the end closer and the coming of the Messiah.

(1) A Universal God in Time and Place (Pages 62n – 64a): Blessed is the One who is everywhere: The spirituality of the timely (of ashan ) is aroused on this sacred night of Passover as is the spirituality of space. The word HaMakom, which is a name for God, refers to olam (space), because God is the “Place of the World.” The statement says that the Torah speaks about the four types of children; this is a reference to nefesh. On the night of Passover salvation and compassion is aroused for all three spiritual elements: olam, nefesh, and shanah for each and every Jewish person.

(2) Blessed is the One who is everywhere: The Torah is a healing balm for all types of people in the world, whether they are wise, wicked, simple or silent. Each of them can go out of the darkness of night into the bright light of repentance by telling the story of the Exodus on this night.

(3) Blessed is the One who is everywhere: The Haggadah refers to God as HaMakom, “the Place,” to comfort and strengthen the Jewish people during their exile. Even though we have no place of our own during this time of exile, we are in “the place” of God, and there is no place from which God is absent. Also, in every Jewish soul there is a spark of God so that God is present in each of our places.

(4) The Torah speaks of four types of children: The Torah is eternal and universal. Therefore, the Torah must be speaking not only about Jews but human beings in general. Each person asks questions and each is provided with answers.

(5) Blessed is the One who gave the Torah: Torah comes from the same word as Moreh, to teach or to guide. The Torah guides us and teaches us how to serve God. It shows us which path will lead us to the light of God. God gave the Torah to the entire Jewish people. Each of us has own special path of understanding through which we find our way to God. No one should ever feel distant from the Torah and no Jewish spark with ever be lost.

(6) Blessed is the One who gave the Torah: One can look from one end of the universe to the other with the special light that is in the Torah. This light was created on the first day of creation and then hidden away by God for the righteous. The Holy Ba’al Shem Tov revealed the hiding place of this light in his teachings. The Torah is wider than the world and it can contain this great light through which one can look from one end of the universe to the other. We must give thanks to God who removed us from the darkness the Torah and continues to teach us the Torah until the present time. Were it not for the Torah we would be unable to move ourselves in matters of holiness. No person would be able to rejoice.

(1) The Lasting Effect of the Mitzvot: “What are these testimonies, statutes and judgments which the Lord our God commanded you?” (Pages 66a- 67a) Similar to the person who asked Hillel to teach the whole Torah while standing “on one foot,” the wise child asks for a brief explanation for the commandments. What is their purpose and meaning of the mitzvot? The answer that he receives is, “One may not eat any dessert after the Pesach offering.” In other words, just as the taste of Afikoman must remain in his mouth at the end of the Seder, so the mitzvot must constantly remind us of the oneness and uniqueness of God and give us a constant sense of God’s closeness to us. Remembering the purpose of the commandments is as much of a commandment as performing them. The wicked one responds differently. He considers the entire effort of making Pesach a pain. As a result he knows that he won’t relate to the larger purpose or meaning of this experience afterwards. Therefore, he says: “What is all this work to you?” He emphasizes that this has meaning “to you” but not “to him” because he doesn’t believe that it serves any practical purpose. He considers all this work a form of bondage. One answers the wicked one’s question by saying that God did this for the sake of our faith and trust in Him. He explains this through the verse in Jeremiah, 2:2: “You followed him into the wilderness into a place that is unsown.” Even though we were not worthy of God’s compassion (because of our lack of mitzvot), God allowed us to plant the first seeds of faith so that we would be worthy of redemption. Planting is a symbol of faith. When we plant a seed, we do so because we trust that God will make it grow. Similarly, by performing the commandments we express our trust in God that He will make us worthy of His blessings all of our lives. This is totally unlike the wicked person described in the Haggadah who is too cynical to trust God. That is why he is unworthy of redemption. In Leviticus Rabbah 15:4 we learn that if a wicked person expresses trust in God he will be surrounded by divine grace despite his wickedness. This Rasha, this wicked one, lacks such trust and would not be worthy of being redeemed had he been in Egypt.

(2) For You or For Him: Self-Serving or Serving God? The wicked one asks according to his wickedness: “What is this service for you?” (Page 67b) The wicked person argues that we do not deserve to be redeemed so all our efforts in performing these acts of divine service are a waste of time. Even worse, we are so sinful that these actions are really self-serving and not for the sake of God. The wicked person says that we perform them for you and not for Him! We answer the wicked person by saying that “God did this for me” because of my trust and faith in Him. God redeemed us from Egypt even though we were immersed in the forty-nine levels of impurity and every aspect of our being was in exile. However, because we displayed real trust in God we were redeemed from Egypt even earlier then we were supposed to be redeemed. Had the wicked person been in Egypt he would not have merited this early redemption because he lacked trust in God.

(3) The Wise Asks and the Wicked Speaks (Page 68a): How are the Chacham and the Rasha different from one another? Concerning the wicked person the Torah says: “When your children say to you… ” The child in this passage “says;” he does not ask a question but makes a statement. The verse in Deuteronomy uses the verb sha’al, asks, to describe the wise person . There is an answer to the wise person’s question while the wicked person’s question is rhetorical. He is not searching for an answer. The wicked person is wise in his own eyes – he doesn’t need or want anyone else’s answers. There is no way to reform such a person. We answer the wise person by telling him to eat the Afikoman and nothing after it. In this way the taste of the Afikoman will remain in his mouth even when the Seder has ended and he will show self-restraint not only on this night of Passover but in days to come as well. By not eating after the Passover offering (or, today, the matzah - Afikoman) we show that we do not eat out of hunger and that we can control our appetites. The Afikoman will become an “advocate” that symbolizes our efforts not just to assuage out appetites, and also to eat in a holy fashion. It will become a sign of his goodness.

(4) The Wise One: Performing the Mitzvot out of Love (Page 68a): The wise child’s question is an expression of love. He asks about the various types of commandments including the hukkim, the statutes for which there is no logical rationale, because he wishes to show his great love for his Creator through his actions. He performs all the positive commandments out of love. We answer him by telling him that there is no limit to the extent of one’s love of God. By telling him that we do not eat anything after the Afikoman, we are saying that we he will be so aroused by the love of God, that no other dainties or goodies will be as sweet or fulfilling! After eating the food of healing, matzah, his desire will be only for God, His Torah and His commandments for which there is no limit or end. Rabbi Danziger’s father explained that the wise child wishes to interact with his wise father but is not sure he is worthy of such standing. We answer him by saying, “Even if this is true, that you are not worthy of being with the wise, by eating the food of healing, matzah, it will heal you of all your infirmities. That is why we answer him by reminding him about the Afikoman. By taking hold of the matzah, we free ourselves of all the desires of this world. This is what the sages meant when they said that in telling the story of the Exodus, “We begin with shame and end with praise.” This is a promise that even if we begin the Seder with the shame of sin, we will be raised up so that we become praiseworthy.

(5) Human Action and Divine Grace: “So too (V’af), you shall teach him the laws of Passover:” (Page 70b – 71b) A teaching of the Ba’al Shem Tov: This statement begins with the word V’af, “So too.” What does this expression add to our understanding of the wise person? This has to do with the concept of the Chacham, the wise person. Chacham comes from koah mah, “What strength is there?” What makes this person a Chacham is his ability to recognize that all his strength comes from God, and that by himself he has no resources. The wise child begins by asking about the testimonies, statutes and judgment which all come from God. He emphasizes that these laws are from God and not from human beings. He says that God gave us these laws in order to perform acts of kindness and goodness on our behalf. We respond to him by saying “So too, what I am about to say to you is also part of what God has commanded us to do: “Don’t eat anything after the Afikoman.” We learn from this that without God we could not prepare all the details for Passover. We understand after eating the final bit of matzah that we do not need anything else but that which God has given us. This is in contrast to the wicked one who believes that all his strengths are his own creation. He removes his “self” from the rest of the people of Israel; that is, because he removes the divine part of his “self” he is guilty of denying the basic principle of Judaism. We chastise him by saying you are not worthy of redemption because you think that you are somehow deserving of this gift from God. One who is arrogant enough to presume that he is righteous enough to be redeemed deserves to be denied this gift. It is only because of God’s graciousness that we are redeemed – not because we have earned it! Similarly, Rabbi Michel of Zlotchev would expound on Leviticus, 1:6 “He shall flay the burnt offering (olah) and cut it into pieces.” One who lifts himself up by thinking that he has attained such heights through his own efforts should cut his actions into small details – then he will know better. When we look carefully at the mitzvot in all their details he will recognize that he has really not accomplished anything. There are so many nuances in the performance of the commandments we can never fulfill them completely. We see this in the case of counting the Omer. On the second night of Passover we are filled with the excitement of performing this mitzvah; but each day is a combination of the various divine attributes so that it is hard to main this ardor and enthusiasm. This is what the Chacham means when he asks what the testimonies, statutes and judgments are. He is asking about all the nuances of the commandments because he realizes how hard it is to fulfill the mitzvot. We respond by telling him about all the other laws of Passover – we are rewarded for our efforts even if we fail to know all the subtle nuances of all the laws. It is through the power of matzah, the food of healing, that we are able to repair the evil in our lives and bring holiness into our being. Some Final Notes on the Wicked Child (Page 72a – 73a): The child mentioned here is not completely wicked; rather he is so mired down by impurity that he has given up hope of ever escaping from it and repenting. Therefore we answer him by encouraging him and saying: “Look what God did for me even though I was in Egypt and mired down by the forty nine-levels of impurity. The problem is not that he is wicked but that he has given up hope of remaining part of the Jewish people; this is the cardinal principal of Judaism that he has denied. Every Jew must believe that “God did this for me!”Anyone who denies the covenant is called wicked and anyone who guards the covenant is called righteous. When one repents from having denied the covenant is transformed into a righteous person. The wicked child has been told by others that the reason that they have not repented is that they are afraid that they could not remain repentant. If they knew that they could repent and immediately die they would do so (so as not to sin again). Their failing (in their rationalization) is that they do not realize that when one repents he becomes a completely new person and no longer has the desires that he had before. The real answer to the wicked child can be found later in the Haggadah in the passage about when we must tell the story of the Exodus: “When matzah and maror are before us.” In other words, don’t worry about the past or the future in repentance; worry only about the present moment that is before you, and then you will be able to go forth from darkness to light.

(1) The First Sparks of Enlightenment: “What is this?” The simple child is filled with a great light and he does not know what it is. Explain to him that in Egypt the people also experienced a great light known as the expanded consciousness just as he is experiencing now. This let the people to declare a sense of wonder to one another. He is now experiencing this state of the soul.

(2) “And the one who does not know to ask;” We give this child the same answer that we gave the wicked one in order to show him that no matter how low a level one ascends to, one can return to God through the merit of faith and unity. One can go forth from darkness to a great light.

(3) “And the one who does not know to ask;” We have already learned about the three qualities for spiritual renewal: nefesh, olam and shanah. When a person transgresses and wishes to return to God from his evil ways, God offers him a means of doing so. He should go to a true tzaddik who embodies the quality of nefesh. In his holiness the tzaddik will arouse the sparks of repentance in the sinner and the person will find himself in a holy place. When a tzaddik serves God with holiness he creates olam, a space which is as holy as Mount Sinai. This holy place will help the supplicant to think thoughts of repentance and to enter the path of penitence. Even if he is far from this path, this holy time spent with the tzaddik will arouse penitence in him as well. This is the meaning of the verse “You shall tell it to your child on that day.” “On that day” refers to a holy time. Passover is such a holy time, when the entire Jewish people offer praise and prayer to God. We should tell this child about it and he in turn will receive this message.

(4) We’re Not So Different from One Another! “And the one who does not know to ask;” (Page 74b) This refers to one who does not know how to ask or to open his mouth to speak before the sovereign one because he lacks da’at, knowledge. Explain to him that this was also the state of the people of Israel in Egypt. They were so lacking in knowledge that they could not open their mouths in supplication before God. Still God appeared to them and redeemed them. As we sit together at the Seder table as our ancestors did, we are just like them with the matzah and maror before us. So God will answer us now! The Ohr Hachayim explains this verse in this fashion: On this day we are all the same. It is a day on which we have the ability to express ourselves before God. This is the meaning of Pesach – peh sach. Even though you can ask questions the rest of the year today we each have an expressive mouth. We can pour out our hearts before God. Today God desires to hear songs and praise from mortal beings, as we are taught in the Zohar: “(On this day) The Holy One and his entire retinue come to listen to our story.”

(5) Haggadah: That Which Draws Out the Heart: It is because of that which the Lord did for me on that day when he took me out of Egypt. (Page 75a)We have already learned that telling the story is called Haggadah because it draws a person’s heart to fear God as one listens to the story of God’s miracles and wonders. The words of the teller enter the heart of the listener and it influences him for good. While we are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus all year long they do not have the same effect on the individual as they do on this night. That is why the Mekhilta makes a point of emphasizing that we must do so “on this day” and not only on this day but when the matzah and maror are lying before us. This is the time most fitting for the telling of the story. Ba’avur Zeh - “Because of this.” What is it about the matzah and maror that they must be before us when we tell the story of the Exodus? God redeemed us from Egypt when we were most humiliated and bitter. Matzah, the bread of our affliction, is a symbol of our humiliation, and maror is a symbol of our bitterness. When Israel reached the realization that there was no hope for them to save themselves, then God redeemed them. This is the meaning if the verse in Isaiah, 27:5: “Let him take hold of my strength (ma’ozi) ” The gematria of word my strength is the same as matzah. It is through the merit of such faith that we were redeemed from Egypt. When we say ba’avur zeh, ‘because of this,’ it is as if we can literally see God at this moment and are pointing at him: “It is because of this One.” This is an affirmation of our ancestor’s faith in God’s redeeming power. So too we must show as much faith if we wish to be redeemed. That is why we answer the wicked child with this verse. He lacks such faith in God and therefore he would not have been worthy of being redeemed from Egypt. This answers the question that many of the commentators ask: Why are we told to remember the Exodus specifically on this night? Are we told to remember it every night? On this night the effect of our telling is much more powerful: it inspires faith in God. “May God help us to learn, to teach, to implant awe and love n our hearts and in the hearts of all Israel, Amen!”

(1) Degradation and Exaltation: Once our ancestors were idolaters: (Page 75b – 76b) There is a well-known controversy in the Talmud between Rav and Samuel concerning the nature of the redemption. The Mishnah says that we should begin with ‘degradation’ and end with ‘exaltation’ in telling the story of the Exodus. Rav says that this means we should begin by speaking about how our ancestors worshipped idols while Samuel claims that we should begin by speaking about the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt. Rabbi Jehiel Danziger explains that even though we may begin with our own degradation, we will be transformed and conclude with praise and exaltation through the story and our actions. This is not just our ancestor’s degradation that we are speaking about but our own as well. What is ‘our degradation’? According to Rav, we are speaking about all forms of idolatry that we are guilty of today . According to Samuel, the purpose of the exile in Egypt was to lift up the holy sparks from the time of Adam. He was guilty of breaking the covenant. We are now in Exile for the same reason. Through our telling of the story we will be able to attain complete repentance on this night.

(10) It wasn’t just one who rose up against us to destroy us; rather in every generation: According to the Midrash , “The most difficult part of winter is the rains.” Similarly it was the severity of the subjugation that completed the time of exile for the Jewish people; this is true for our experience in exile as well. That is why the Haggadah tells us that, “It is this that has sustained us…” The knowledge that the severity of our exile has kept us going because we knew it meant that we would be even closer to the end of our suffering.

(11) Rabbi Elimelekh of Lyzhansk taught that a tzaddik has the power to spread out the suffering which precedes the coming of the Messiah over generations so that it is not so severe that it can destroy the people. In this way the suffering of the people has been spread out so that there is no longer any subjugation and birth pangs which are traumatic to the people of Israel. That is what the Haggadah means when it says that, “The Holy One saved us from them.” Each generation provides suffering which brings us closer to our redemption. We must pray to the God who set boundaries for all things to set boundaries for our suffering as well. May he bring us back to our land as he promised us and our ancestors – we are no more worthy than our ancestors were! It is only through the merit of our faith that we were redeemed or that we will be redeemed, and that God will gather our exiles from the four corners of the earth speedily in our day, Amen!

(12) It is our strong faith in this time of darkness that sustains us. It keeps us from becoming lost among the nations or falling into the snare of the idolaters, which they have spread out for us. This is what it says in Psalms 92:3: “To speak of His love in the morning and His faith at night.” Faith at night refers to this world, which is a world of darkness. It is through our faith that we are able to sustain our selves until the first light of morning comes which refers to the world to come.

(13) Why Do the Nations Hate the Jewish People? And it is our faith that has sustained our ancestors: (Page 80a-b) We can see the power of our faith from all the exiles and pogroms, which the false religions have perpetrated against one another and us. Among other religions there has also been persecution and suffering. When these groups become stronger, however, they turn against those who persecuted them. In the end, however, their zealousness and hatred dissipates. With the Jews it has been different; the hatred and persecution of the Jews has not dissipated over the centuries. The Jewish people have grown smaller and the hatred for them has increased. This in itself proves the eternity and truth of our holy faith. For the other nations their hatred of one another had to do with beliefs; both groups insisted that their faith was the truth. In the end, since their faiths grow out of human beings and not a divine source, they eventually become reconciled to one another. Their leaders are here today and in the grave tomorrow. Not so with the Jewish people. The Jewish people believe in the true God who is faithful and forever, without falsehood or change. Israel is strengthened by their faith. Since the hatred of Jews is a hatred for the Source of their faith, and the Source is eternal, this hatred never disappears. That is why the Haggadah says that “It is our faith has sustained us,” even as it has fed the hatred of other nations and religions. If our faith had depended on human frailty it would not have been able to sustain us; rather, it is the Holy One who has sustained us and saved us from the nations. God is the root of our faith and certainly God will save us!

(2) Once our ancestors were idolaters but…. God has brought us closer to His service: This how we answer the evil inclination when it attempts to discourage us from returning to God in repentance. The evil inclination tries to dishearten us by saying, “Aren’t you embarrassed to come before God considering the extent of your sins and transgressions? It is better to just leave matters alone; why take on such a heavy yoke in trying to return in repentance? Your sins are over the top and your guilt reaches to heaven!” All of this is meant to discourage you. We can answer the evil inclination by saying, “Look at our ancestors who worshipped idols! God still brought them close. Therefore don’t be afraid to rerun and live. Nothing stands in the way of repentance! God continually provided you with ways to come closer to His presence.”

(3) And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir as an inheritance but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Esau’s inheritance was Seir while Jacob’s inheritance was to be the Torah. It was only possible for Israel to become worthy of receiving the Torah by first being subjugated to the Egyptians so that they could become purified and refined of their gross matter. Just as a fine metal utensil must first be refined through fire to remove the dross from it, Israel had to be refined of its dross. The Israelites had to be refined seven fold before they were worthy of receiving the Torah.

(4) Suffering Leads to Blessing: Blessed is the One who kept His promise to Israel “la’asot: ” (Page 77a): Commenting on the statement in the Talmud, “Until where is the purpose of suffering? ” the Maggid of Mezerich said that it is God’s purpose for us to gain through our suffering and not simply to suffer (for our sins.) The purpose of suffering is the good that comes afterwards. This is the meaning of the word la’asot. Rabbi Shneur Zalmnan of Liadi taught that this word means to repair or to fix as in Genesis 2:3 and in Samuel II 19:25. God calculated the end of Israel’s servitude so that none of the sparks of the people of Israel would be lost. Their ending would come about at just the right time and not a second late. All of their suffering in Egypt was for the purpose of lifting up their divine sparks. This is what God told Abraham, “And also that nation whom they serve will I judge, and afterwards thy will go out with great substance. ” The lifting up of the great sparks will be their great substance.

(5) Rabbi Jehiel Danziger explained another rabbinic insight in this way: Commenting on the birth of Isaac, the sages said that a line was drawn on the wall (by which to measure the passage of time.) Our forefathers were told, “When the shadow reaches this place next year you will give birth!” Why was such a marker necessary? The ultimate redemption of the Jewish people was to be measured from moment of the birth of Isaac . Isaac was born on the fifteenth day of Nissan. Israel was redeemed exactly four hundred years later to the moment on the fifteenth of Nissan. Had the redemption been delayed Israel would have sunk beneath the forty nine gates of impurity and it would have been impossible to redeem them. The mark on the wall was meant to show the exactitude with which Israel was redeemed and how God calculated the redemption. God knew they exact moment of repair and redemption!

(6) He calculated the end: Even before the subjugation of the Jews began, God had calculated when, how and through what merit Israel would be redeemed from slavery. According to the Zohar, Volume II 170b, Samael, the prince of evil, attacked the Israelites by saying, “Both the Egyptians and the Israelites worshipped idols.” Despite this, God had already devised a way of redeeming the people. This is what it means when the Torah says: God said to Abram, Yadoah taydah – It is known, you shall know that your offspring shall be strangers in a land that does not belong to them… ” Commenting on this the Midrash says, It is well known that I am the one who deposited them here – It will be known that I am the one who will free them. In this phrase he hinted to His children so that they would know that both their suffering and redemption would be product of God’s actions. All of it was for their good! They would then come to understand that this was God’s ‘hidden love’ – even their subjugation was an act of love since it led to redemption. Through this knowledge they would be able to bring the redemption closer because they would understand the ultimate purpose of their pain. This is the mean of zechut avot, the merit of the ancestors. Through our ancestors we gain the clarity to understand the purpose of our lives. Our ancestors clarify the way for their descendents.

(7) God is Gomel Hesed, One who performs acts of loving-kindness: Blessed is the One who kept His promise to Israel: The Maggid of Mezertich explains a statement in the Talmud in the following fashion. Why does the leg of the gimel face the letter dalet? Gimel is the first letter of the expression gomel hesed, doing kindness and dalet is the first letter of dal, needy. It is the way of the person who is a gomel hesed to pursue the dal. Why everyone feels compassion for the poor, only a truly pious person runs after the poor person to aid him. Similarly, God kept his promise to Israel even though they were unworthy of God’s redemption. He calculated the end of the redemption; he devised a means of redeeming them, He made sure that not spark of the Israelites was lost.

(8) The Purpose of Redemption: You shall certainly know that your offspring shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs… The Midrash says, Yadoa, It is known, that just as I caused them to spread out, taydah, it will be known that I can gather them up again. In this insight there is a further insight to be gained. The purpose of causing the spreading out is ultimately to gather them up again. That is, the ultimate purpose of their being spread out is now to gather the holy sparks that fell through the great “Breaking. ” This is what we mean when we recite in the Musaf Service, “Gather our dispersed from among the nations and our dispersed ones from the four corners of the earth.” The Midrash continues, “It is known that “I” subjugated them; it will be known, that I will redeem them.” The “I” in this verse refers to the Shechinah, the Divine Presence who is exiled with the Jewish people and for whom they will be redeemed.

(9) Suffering and Salvation: And it is that which has sustained our ancestors and us: (Pages 78b – 80a) God joins together all the suffering and exiles of the Jewish people from the time they became a nation so that He can bring about their redemption even sooner. Even though the encounter with Laban was not an exile per se, it is clear he wished to destroy the people of Israel, so it is included here. Similarly, our enemies have tried to find ways to destroy and humiliate us. That is why in the prayer book we ask God to gather up all our exiles. This means not just the people but all the times of exile so we can finally become worthy of redemption.

(1) Our Actions Reflect on Our Ancestors and on God (Page 85b – 86a): “We have sinned against our ancestors; we have committed iniquity, We have acted wickedly.”

(2) “We cried out to the God of our ancestors:” When we act wickedly and sin, we not only sin against ourselves but we sin against our ancestors as well. Our sin is a mark against our parents and ancestors since all our sins are born within our mothers’ wombs. When a person transgresses, it leads to his parents’ humiliation. When the Israelites realized their lowly station in life in Egypt and pondered the rock from which they were shaped as the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they became distressed that they were causing such pain and embarrassment to their ancestors. When they considered this fact more deeply, they realized that their sinfulness caused anguish not only to their ancestors but also to their Father in Heaven. As the Talmud says, “When a person causes anguish to the Divine Presence, what does She say? ‘My head hurts. My limbs hurt! ’” That is why the verse says, “And we cried out to the God of our ancestors.” The Israelites were guilty of committing two evil acts. First, they deserted God from whom they were shaped in order to dig their own poorly fashioned wells. Even if they were to live a thousand years they would not be able to offer sufficient praise on their own to the One has bestowed so many acts of goodness upon them. Second, they insulted the memory of their ancestors in their wickedness. Therefore their sigh rose up to God. God, however, never turns away such a heartfelt sentiment.

(3) “We cried out to the God of our ancestors:” The Israelites did not feel their own pain (because they negated themselves) as much as they felt the anguish and humiliation of our Father in Heaven, even though they were on a lowly spiritual level of being at the time. We have learned that the Israelites were like mutes in exile because along with them the Divine Presence, known as the dibbur, the Divine Utterance was also in exile and could not fully express Itself. Despite this, God heard their voice. This is because God can discern our hearts and inner being, and the voice of Jacob roars out from its most inner depths. Against this place (from which we cry out), Samael, the demonic accuser, cannot accuse us by saying, “Both the Egyptians and the Israelites worshipped idols. ” Similarly we learn that whenever Haman spoke out against us below, the angel Michael defended us above. God does this because he takes into consideration the oppression and forces against us and sees how we bend our inclination in a desire to repent and how we cry out to God, asking Him to have mercy on us. This is the greatest defense of the Jewish people and it makes us worthy of having our sins transformed into merits. Those accusations brought against the people in Egypt actually became a defense of the Israelites. Israel’s cry then was precious in the eyes of God as were our sighs.

(1) The Suffering of the Shechinah (Pages 86b – 87a): “We cried out to the God of our ancestors:” Pharaoh tried to avert the attention of the Israelites from the worship of God by bringing suffering to the people. As we have seen, Pharaoh wished to oppress not only the Israelites but also God and the people cried out to God because they were fearful of being seduced to the worship of idols by the Egyptians. Crying out to God leads to the negation of the individual. There are two reasons why the Israelites cried out to God. One reason is because of the humiliation of the Shekhinah, and the other is the suffering of the Shekhinah. When the righteous person serves God with his whole being he negates his very essence and becomes aware of the suffering of the Shekhinah; as a result he cries out to God. The average Jew, when he becomes depressed and dejected because he has reached the gates of death because of his own suffering, cries out because of the humiliation of the Shekhinah. Because of the darkness of their souls in Egypt the people negated their very souls and no longer felt their own suffering and they then cried out to God for the pain of the Shekhinah. This is what the Torah means when it says, “Their sigh rose up to God. ” This is the teaching of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov and the holy Rebbe of Belz. A similar explanation about suffering has been offered for a verse in Psalms: “As the male deer thirsts for water so my soul thirsts for you. ” The sages comment on this: “The male deer is the most pious (chasidah – feminine) of all the animals. When all the other animals are thirsty, the deer lifts up its eyes to heaven and then digs a hole in the ground with its antlers and brays . God has compassion upon it and brings up water from the depths of the earth.” The opening words of this verse are k’ayil ta’arog, “like a male deer who thirsts.” The word ayil is masculine while the verb ta’arog is feminine. This verse then speaks about both the male and female deer. The male deer thirsts for water and the female deer suffers the pangs of childbirth. How so? The womb of the female deer is very narrow so that it cannot deliver its child. At just the right moment, a snake comes and stings the female deer causing its womb to open wider and allow deliver of its offspring. If the snake were to sting the deer too soon or too late, it would die. This verse teaches us that God takes compassion for each creature at just the right moment in time. This is equally true for human beings as it is for animals. The verse in Psalms 42, then, contains both the masculine and the feminine that there must be a uniting of male and female in suffering for the redemption to be complete. So too the people feel their suffering and the suffering of the Shekhinah, for redemption to come to the nation.

(2) A Simple Prayer (Page 87b – 88a): “The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage and they cried out. Their cry because of the bondage rose up to God:” Sometimes a simple and brief prayer can be as effective as a long and involved one. The Talmud says that if one finds oneself wandering through a place of brigands and bandits, one should offer a brief prayer: “Do your will in heaven above.” Commenting on this, Rashi says: “In a place where there is no sin and where God’s will is only for good.” Rabbi Jehiel Danziger comments on this discussion. In a place of danger when there is no time to pray at length, one should ask God to have mercy on him from the place in heaven to which sin cannot reach to accuse the person. Then the person will be taken out of this dangerous place and he will be given rest from his enemies. The prayer should be brief but should come from the depths of one’s heart. This was the place to which the prayer of the Israelites reached when they cried out to God. Such a prayer offered up will reach God Himself and not an angel or some other divine being.

(1) Martyrdom and Faith: “God heard our voice:” “And I have also heard the groaning of the people of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in slavery.” This groaning is the groaning of the hallalim, those who are close to death. We see this in other verses in the Bible such Ezekiel, 30:24: “He shall groan before him with the groaning of a deadly wounded man.” And Job, 24:12: “Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out.” This does not mean that they are already dead but that they are close to death. They are not crying out due to a lack of faith but rather as an affirmation of their willingness to become martyrs in the name of God. At that moment, they sanctify the name of God from their hearts and express complete faith. The martyr also expresses regret for the moments when they lacked complete faith, “when the Egyptians enslaved them.” Oppression leads to a loss of faith as the Talmud says, “It is well known before You that our will is Your will. What prevents us from obeying You? It is the oppression and the yeast the dough that becomes leavened. ” Mitzrayim, Egypt, is from the word comes from the word Metzarim, which means oppression or narrow place. This is what causes us to sin. We ask God to have compassion on us for the times when we express faith even in times of darkness. Send us your light and truth and redeem us!

(2) A Prayer Hidden Deep in Our Heart (Page 89a – 90a): “And God heard their sigh and God remembered His covenant:” God answered Israel’s prayer even when it was only a sigh. Even when it seems that we can no longer pray to God, if a person cries out from his heart and contemplates from where he came and to where he is going, and all of his journeys in this world, God will hear him if he realizes just how far he is from the Holy One. This person will realize that God never intended it to go well for human beings all their days. Just as God worries about us, we should worry about the anguish and pain of the Divine Presence.

(1) We learn an important lesson from the sigh of the Israelites. Even when we are in great pain and anguish so that we can barely open our mouths, and even if we are confused, our one sincere sigh from our deepest heart can make a difference. This is because God searches our hearts and comes close to the humble and lowly. God hears us and saves us! This is the meaning of Psalms, 39:13, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my sigh; do not keep silence at my tears; for I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, like all my fathers were.” “Hear my prayer” when I articulate my prayer before You. And when I cannot pray, “Give ear to my sigh.” If I can’t even lift up my eyes to You and sigh, then, “Please do not silence my tears.” Those tears are spontaneous expressions of sorrow. And if I can’t even cry then give me the credit of my forefathers who were strangers and sojourners, “For I am a stranger with you and a sojourner .” So too when the Israelites were mired in impurity in the land of Egypt, and couldn’t even cry out (all they could do is say, oy vavoy !), God still heard us in deference to the merit of our forefathers. As the Torah says, “The children sighed.” All their prayers were answered because of the merit of our forefathers. Our prayers were heard in deference for Jacob, or Israel as he came to be known. That is why the Torah says, “The cry of the children of Israel has come before me.” However, the Attribute of Justice accused Israel of being unworthy of redemption because of who their ancestors were. It said that the people of Israel should have known better than to rebel and transgress against God since they were the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their sin was even worse than that of simple and ignorant people who transgress against God. It is for this reason that the God looked at Israel’s difficult situation in Egypt and their subjugation by the nations. The Holy One says to the Attribute of Justice, “Don’t be too quick to judge the people of Israel as if they were willful sinners; rather consider the fact that because of their unfortunate circumstances they sinned by accident. It is because of the oppression and madness that Israel has sinned and not a willful choice!” Let every Jew strengthen himself and remember the source of his being, the holy forefathers. It is through their merit that we offer prayers to the one who is, and say, “I am the child of the holy forefathers. Through their merit let my prayer rise up, the prayer of a needy person offers in search of compassion and acceptance before Your throne of Glory, Amen!”

(1) God Knows the Intention of our Prayers: And the Lord took them out – Not by means of an angel, nor by means of a Seraph (fiery being), nor by means of a messenger but by means of the Holy One through His own glory…” The angels and Seraphim could not know what was in the hearts of each Israelite when he or she cried out to God. Only God in His glory could know what is hidden in the inner heart of each person. God took us out of Egypt because He could discern the hidden intention in each person’s heart when we cried out even when our cry did not sound worthy of such redemption.

(2) The Pintele Yid (Page 90b – 91b): “Not by means of an angel, nor by means of a Saraf…but by means of the Holy One through His own glory… I am the Lord – and not another:” Why was God willing to personally redeem Israel from Egypt? Rabbi Jehiel Danziger offered the following explanation: Moses asked, “How is it that we were redeemed from Egypt? Wasn’t all of Egypt sullied with idolatry?” Since God desired the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt, He chose to overlook their idolatry. God ‘hops over the mountains and skips over the valleys.’ Why was God willing to overlook Israel’s impurity and sinfulness? God promised our forefathers that He would never destroy their descendents. When Israel found itself in distress and cried out to God from the very depths of its inner spark of divinity, the Source of Compassion above was aroused within God and could not destroy the nation. This inner spark of divinity is untouched by impurity because it comes from the very throne of glory upon which the form of Jacob is engraved. When such compassion is aroused, God discerns the heart and each person’s inner spark, which comes from this place, is part of the divinity and has compassion upon His own portion. This is the meaning of the verse in Isaiah 48:11: “For my own sake, for my own sake I will do it .” This place of this compassion is highly exalted so that even the angels cannot fully attain this type of compassion. It was with this compassion that Israel was redeemed. This is what the Torah teaches us in the verse above: “I and not an angel; I and not a Seraph; etc…” Only the Holy One Himself in His Glory did this. No other being can attain the depth and significance of this level of compassion.

(3) “And the Lord took them out – Not by means of an angel…nor by means of a messenger but by means of the Holy One through His own glory:” Manasseh was one of the most evil kings to reign over the land of Judah on the Davidic throne. Despite this, God created a small opening underneath His throne of glory so that Manasseh’s cry for forgiveness would be accepted. Manasseh was so evil that a veil of separation was created between him and his Father in Heaven . Still God created an opening in a place where judgment cannot reach, a place where absolute compassion has complete authority. So too with the Israelites, though they were mired beneath forty-nine gates of impurity, in his wondrous compassion He forgave them. Even the Attribute of Justice could not accuse them, for this compassion came from a place higher than the angels, a place where justice has no authority. As it says in the prayer book: “From His place may he turn in compassion.”

(1) A Desire to Return to God (Page 92b – 93a): “With awesome power – This is the revelation of the Divine Presence:” Certainly every Jew should feel great yearnings for these lights, as it says in the Talmud: “One who is not obligated in the commandment of returning, is also ‘not forgotten.” “Has God ventured to go and take for Himself one nation from the midst of another nation:” When brilliant lights are revealed to the holy people, they were aroused from their slumber and their inner spark began to burn brightly. The nation was cleansed of its filth. The impure Egyptians could not tolerate the great and holy and wondrous light of God. They said, “We are all going to die” because their inner essence was dark. This is what the Torah means when it says, “God took a nation out of the midst of another nation.” God brought forth the inner spark. There was another nation within each Israelite. No evil of transgression could ever affect this spark. This is where Israel’s holiness comes from.

(2) “With awesome power – This is the revelation of the Divine Presence, as it is said, “Has God ventured to go and take for Himself one nation from the midst of another nation:” The Midrash says concerning this verse, “Rabbi Yudan said, From the word “Has (God) ventured” to the word “nation,’ that there are 72 letters. If someone says that there are really 75 letters, just take out the word goy , nation, the second time it appears in the verse. Rabbi Avin said, “With His (72 letter name) God redeemed them.” Commenting on this, Rabbi Jehiel Danziger asked why the second word goy is not included in the counting of the letters? It is because the other nations do not have a divine inner spark like the people of Israel. It is because of this spark that God apportions compassion to Israel. When He looked upon this divine portion He took one nation out of the other nation. That is why we are told, “You shall be holy because I am holy.” Israel and God share this common characteristic. At the time of the Exodus, the Egyptians became terrified when the divine presence appeared in the land of Egypt. They knew that they lacked this divine spark and could not live if it rested upon them. Therefore they pressed the Israelites to leave Egypt as quickly as possible. About the Israelites, in contrast, the Torah says, “You to whom God has cleaved are still alive this day.” It is because it was similar types cleaving to one another.

(3) Unity and Spirituality (Page 93b – 96a): “The awesome power as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes:” Rabbi Jehiel taught that God performed many miracles in Egypt in order to prepare the Israelites for the giving of the Torah at Sinai, as it says, “When you are brought forth from Egypt you shall worship God at this mountain.” The receiving of the Torah was only possible when the people had attained a state of unity; the people camped together like one person and with one heart. This is one the verse means: He performed all these awesome acts “before your eyes” so that you would attain a state of unity and become one group. The word l’aynekha, before your eyes, is singular, an expression of their unity. This was the nature of the events that took place in the time of Achashveros . After the Exodus the Israelites had time to prepare themselves for the giving of the Torah and its acceptance. They did not yet understand the preciousness of their unity as a nation. By the time of Purim, the Jewish people understood the importance of this quality. They accepted the Torah without any special preparation. They realized that the miracle of Purim that was performed for them was a great miracle because it united the nation, and therefore they accepted the fasts and prayers freely. This was the greatest miracle of all: that in a place of impurity and sin like Egypt the light of God appeared to them and opened the eyes of the blind. This is what Rashi explained concerning the verse in Deuteronomy 4:35: “To you it was shown…” God opened seven firmaments and revealed Himself. When God revealed Himself in Egypt, He took from the Egyptians whatever divine sparks they may still have had. This is what the Torah means when it says, “They despoiled the Egyptians.” They became like a pool emptied of fish. That is, they took all the divine sparks that were within them and they were revealed in the Israelites. What’s more, the Israelites began to recognize the hidden sparks that were within themselves. These divine sparks were like the chaff of the wheat or the clouds that cover up the sun. That is why the verse says that God revealed these mighty acts before your very eyes. For the first time, they began to recognize the presence of God within themselves. This made them even more worthy of the many miracles and the redemption itself. Rabbi Jehiel taught that one who separates himself from the Jewish people because he doesn’t think there is anyone as worthy as him and considers everyone else to be nothing is like someone who is blind in one eye. He can only see the faults in others. Such a person is impaired. He has damaged the first letters of the divine name Yud-Hay, which are associated with the Divine and the human mind. A person who has impaired in the first letters of the divine name has also impaired in the five senses (since these senses are a product of the mind). He cannot see his own faults. As it says in Psalms, 40:13: “My iniquities have taken hold of me; I am unable to see.” And as the Ari of blessed memory taught: when a person sins, the vitality of that particular limb with which he sinned is now impaired. Since the mind controls the body, his entire self is impaired. That is why the word melekh, king, is an abbreviation for moach (mind), lev (heart) and kaved (liver). These are the organs that rule over the human body. Just as the mind rules over the body, if a person has bad attitudes his entire body is impaired; he cannot see as he should or hear, as he should. Such a person cannot see or hear the truth that God is the one who directs the world and the cause of all causes. Not only that but an arrogant person believes that he can arrive at all truths with the human intellect. This of course is impossible; as Job said, “Can you find out deep things about God? Can you find out the purpose of the Almighty?” Even the angels and the Seraphim cannot discern the deep secrets of God. No, only the person who recognizes his own limitations will realize the extent of our ability. He will come to understand that only by implanting in his own heart faith in God that is both simple and complete without any doubts, will his strong faith become a healing balm in his life. A person who thinks he is wiser than everyone else and believes that all other people are fools is called “sick in his legs/feet.” This is because ‘feet’ are associated with wisdom. In the Sephirotic chart, netzach, eternity, and hod, beauty, are also the two legs. In Midrash Hazit, there is a story about a person whose legs became diseased. The person went from doctor to doctor seeking a cure. Finally one of them told him to put cow turds on his legs and he would be healed. This is really a symbolic story. A person whose faith is weak is called one with sick feet. And by putting turds on his legs he would acknowledge the limits of his own intellectual ability. Only by recognizing the limits of our intellect can we gain true faith. This is what the Baal Shem Tov meant when he said before he died, “I am but a simple lad who has faith,” and then he was healed. Only by humbling ourselves and abnegating our ego can we gain the merit of simple faith for the lowly person sees the exaltedness of God. “As the lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes.” Now we can understand the significance of this verse in the Torah. It begins with lachem, for you, which is plural, and it ends in the singular ainechem, your very eyes. Through unity and friendship the people of Israel will see with their own eyes the precious light of the face of the living God in all its glory. When we put aside our self-interests and abnegate ourselves, we become one in the presence of God.

(1) Overcoming Sin is Essential. Pharaoh only made a decree against the male children while Laban sought to uproot all of them: (Page 80b – 81ba) How could Laban possibly be worse than Pharaoh? One who causes others to sin is worse than one who commits murder. Laban hoped to cause Jacob to sin by switching around his daughters and forcing him to marry Leah before Rachel whom he truly loved. Jacob’s bed was complete so that his children would be born without any type of blemish. By forcing Jacob to marry someone he did not really love, he might make himself impure and thus Laban would have blemished future generations of Jacob’s offspring. Laban wanted to uproot “kol,” the fifty gates of purity that were contained in our forefather. That is why God warns Laban in Genesis 31:24 by saying: “Take heed that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.” What God was saying to Laban was that he should not speak falsely to Jacob and thereby cause our forefather to sin. Jacob’s core value was the opposite of Laban; he was associated with truth: “You shall show truth to Jacob. ” Jacob, therefore, had to overcome Laban’s qualities even thought they were brothers in falsehood. Like his mother, Laban’s sister, Jacob is praised because he did not follow the character of his uncle, Laban even after living with him. He also rejected the basic character of Esau. The verse that the Haggadah quotes from the Bikkurim (first fruit) ceremony makes this point. It begins, “You shall speak and say before the Lord you God, “My father…” The word v’anita, you speak, has another connotation: You shall bear witness as in Exodus 20:13 “You shall not bear (ta’aneh) false witness. ” When we made our declaration upon bringing the first fruits to the temple the people had to say loudly for all to hear, “I am speaking in the voice of Jacob and not that of Esau or Laban or others who practiced magic and falsehood. Even among the simple minded who may still have such practices, by making such a declaration it becomes clear from their deepest heart to God that they reject such practices. As we tell this story we hope to repair any such blemish that we still are carrying, that our voice will be heard in the heights of heaven, and that we will be redeem with goodness and complete salvation, Amen!

(2) The power of our voice can transform us and bring us closer to proper actions, and negate the evil that we may be tempted to follow. As we have seen above, the First Fruit declaration is a kind of witness. Through our testimony we will come to act properly. That is why Rashi explains the word v’anita, as lifting up one’s voice. We not only lift up our voice but we lift our tongue from among all the other tongues, and Israel from among all the other nations. Our language is able to fend off evil Samael who seeks to bring us down and the other nations who seek to destroy us. The word kol, voice, is an abbreviation for “You shall be Holy to the Lord. ” Our voice is a declaration of our desire to be holy and the first step in this path. We must embrace the voice of Jacob within us.

(3) Overcoming Sin by Recognizing our Divine Connection: And there he became a nation: This teaches that the Israelites were distinctive there: The evil inclination causes us to sin through despair. It forces us to see our shortcomings and inadequacies and makes us loose hope of fulfilling God’s service. We thereby fall into the net of sinfulness. We need to strengthen ourselves by acknowledging that we are precious to God and that each of contains a piece of the divine. Then, “His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. This is how we become distinctive – by recognizing our special connection to God.

(4) Bitachon: Trusting God: You came to possess great attractions (adai ad): The word ad is associated with the quality of trust in God. In Isaiah 26:4 we read, “Trust in the Lord forever (adai ad) for the Lord is an eternal rock.” The word ad has the numerical value of 74, which is the same as the divine name Akhdatam, a name, which sweets judgment in the name of Elohim. Even though the Israelites that they were not worthy of being taken out of Egypt or of receiving the Torah they place their trust in God’s kindness that He would redeem them with the quality of trustworthiness. We repeat the word ad twice here, because twice the numerical value is 148, the same as the word Pesach. The verse in Ezekiel teaches us that despite the fact that the Israelites were ‘undeveloped’ and lacking in mitzvot, Pesach made them worthy of redemption. Our trust is the greatest adornment that we offer God.

(5) You were poorly clad and naked: Naked here means lacking in mitzvot. We see this in the story of King David. Once in the bath house, he looked at his nakedness and exclaimed, “Woe to me for I am lacking in commandments ! Then he noticed his circumcision and he was comforted. The Israelites felt naked in Egypt until they circumcised themselves and prepared the paschal lamb. That is the significance of the last part of the verse, which repeats the word blood twice – the blood of circumcision and the blood of the sacrifice.

(1) Egypt Wages a War on the Service of God: The Egyptians did evil to us: (Page 83b-84a) The Egyptians tried to keep us serving God. Through servitude the people were distracted and they were not able to worship God with a clear mind. Pharaoh said, “Let us deal wisely with them,” in matters of divine service, “so that when we join in a war between the forces of holiness and evil, they will not be able to serve God and thus help the forces of holiness!” When they realize how bad their situation is the Israelites won’t be able to lift up their voices and come before the Holy One. The Egyptians did not understand that this oppression would cause the Israelites to cry out to God even more and that their prayers would thus reach the heights of heaven. God especially hears the prayers of those who have a broken heart and are downtrodden. That is why the Torah says, “The more they sighed, the more they increased and spread out. ” The more the Israelites suffered, the more compelling was their holy service of God. The Zohar says, “There is no prayer like the prayer of the troubled.” This is the meaning of the rabbinic statement, “That which wisdom has made a crown to her head, humility has made a shoe for her foot. ” Yirat Shamayim, fear of heaven, is greater than the pursuit of wisdom. The pursuit of wisdom is nothing more than a shoe when compared with the pursuit of humility. Why? Because humility leads us to fear of heaven, and the fear of heaven is the beginning of all wisdom. The people did not know this, “It is not because of your greatness that God loves you. Rather God loves you when you make yourself small in His sight. Look I gave greatness to Nebuccadnezer, the mighty emperor and I gave greatness to Abraham. Why did I give greatness to Abraham? Because he said “I am nothing but dust and ashes. ”

(1) Egypt ‘Afflicts’ God: And afflicted us: As it is said, “They set taskmasters over them in order to oppress HIM with their burdens: (Page 84b – 85b) This verse suggests that the Egyptians, ‘so to speak ’ were oppressing the Holy One, as it says in Psalms 91:15, “I will be with him in times of trouble.” And as the sages stated, “When a person is in pain what does the Divine Presence say? My head hurts, My limbs are in pain!” As we have explained many times, within every single Jewish heart there is an inner spark of the divine from above.

(1) “The Egyptians forced them to work ruthlessly (bifarekh):” As we have explained many times, the divine utterance was in exile along with the Jewish people. The Israelites recognized their lowly state of being and realized that the ability to open their mouths in prayer had fled from them. Despite this the divine spark within them was aroused and it lifted up their souls and they cried out to God, and this brought them compassion from the source of all compassion, a place to which even Satan cannot approach. When the Egyptians realized that the voice of Jacob had ascended to heaven, they tried to oppress the Israelites even more in order to negate their supplications so they could not arouse the forces of compassion. This is the meaning of peh rakh. Their words were rakh, soft, because they wished to accomplish something harsh. “The Egyptians did evil to us” The word vayrei’u, they did evil, comes from the root reut, friendship. It really means they made themselves companions to the Israelites. They did this with “soft words.” The Egyptians joined themselves to the Israelites in order to break the power of their prayers.

(2) “The Egyptians forced them to work ruthlessly:” Another meaning of the word bifarekh is “with falsehoods.” When the Israelites heard the false accusations of the Egyptians they cried out to God from the very inner depths of their souls. They said, “Even though we have become estranged to You, we are still with you like our ancestors. Help us because our ancestors served God with truth and purity!”

(3) “The Egyptians forced them to work with ruthlessness:” Bifarekh may also refer “through prayer .” Because of their servitude, the Israelites’ minds were confused and they could not worship God clearly. When we inverse the letters of Pharaoh it spells oreph, restricted kavanah, inner intention is the essence of prayer, and such a quality was impossible because of the oppression that the Egyptians placed upon them. To make matters worse, the Egyptians would say to them, “You supposedly believe in God; why don’t you pray to Him to save you?” This is what the Torah means when it speaks about “the oppression ” which they forced on them – they would aggravate the Israelites with their taunts.

(1) “Rabbi Judah grouped the plagues by initials:” The Holy Ari wrote, in the hidden scroll, says that the Holy One redeemed the Israelites with three angelic beings with the following names: Da’av, Tzada’, and Kashchav. These three names are made up from the names of the plagues. The first name Da’av, is made up of the first letter of the first, fourth and seventh plagues. The second name Tzada,’ is made up the first letters of the second, fifth and eighth plagues. And the third name Kashkhav is made up of the first letters of the third, sixth, ninth, and tenth plagues. It is with these angels that Israel was healed when He redeemed them from Egypt.

(1) “Rabbi Yosi the Galilean said:” The Ari revealed a secret and wondrous mystery concerning the plagues and these three passages. According to the Ari there were three angels who also smote Egyptians in Egypt and at the sea: Shafu, Takal and Ashtza. The Rabbi Shimon Ostropoli, one of the early Chasidic leaders, offered the following explanation of these three mysterious names. When the Haggadah refers to the ten plagues in Egypt and the fifty plagues at the sea, he is referring to the angel Shafu. The gematriah is of Shafu is the same as the name Rabbi Yosi HaGelili. The name Takal is a reference to the forty plagues in Egypt and the two hundred by the sea. The gematriah of the word Takak is thesame as Rabbi Eliezer. The name Ashtza is a reference to the fifty plagues in Egypt and the two hundred and fifty at the sea. The name Ashtza is the same gematriah as the name Rabbi Akiva. This is a wondrous mystery and a great secret!

(2) Rabbi Yosi the Galilean said: What do we really learn from the way Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva count the plagues? Isn’t the whole point that we should thank God for taking us out of Egypt and redeeming us from the bitter exile? Since, however, the point of the plagues was both “to smite and to heal” then the nature of the plagues against the Egyptian had a beneficial affect upon the Israelites. The number of plagues, therefore, tells us of God’s great love for the people of Israel!

(1) The Purpose of the Plagues: To Fear God vs. to Be Afraid of God: “These are the ten plagues:” (Page 96a-97a) “And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite and heal.” The verse in Isaiah captures the very purpose of the plagues: they were meant to inflict the Egyptians and heal the Israelites. When the Israelites saw the mighty plagues that took place in Egypt their eyes would be opened to the power of God, as the scripture says, “In order that you may tell in the ears of your children and your children’s children what things I have done in Egypt and my signs that I have done among them…and you shall know that I am the Lord.” God wanted us to appreciate His might. Because of the slavery and the oppression, this was the only way the Israelites could appreciate this knowledge. As the Talmud says: “Thunder was only created in order to open the stubbornness of the heart.” The Holy One told Israel that when the people listen to the voice of His will and do that which is right in His eyes, he would not have to smite them any more because they would know that “I am the Lord;” then, everyone will understand on their own. When you see the heavens and the earth and all the host of the heavens, you will perceive my greatness sand my exaltedness as David said, “When I behold your heavens, the works of your hands, the moon and the stars which you have ordained…” This is the way of healing: to understand and truly see that “I am the Lord.”

(2) There are two types of fear. The more essential type of fear is not fear of punishment but the fear that comes from the recognition of God’s power and authority. At first, we fear God because we are afraid of being punished, but slowly we come to recognize the greatness of God’s glory and are able to approach this higher form of fear. While the Jews were in Egypt they feared God because they witnessed the plagues. God’s ultimate purpose was not to make the Israelites afraid of God. Rather the fear invoked by the plagues slowly brought the people to the true fear of God. When the Egyptians refused to listen to God but still acknowledged that the plagues were the “finger of God,” the Israelites realized that God would not punish them as He had the Egyptians. Slowly the Israelites began to understand they could fear God without being afraid of God, and that such fear was beneficial to them. They saw that God was the One who controls, and that he is the higher power. Only then did they become worthy of the Exodus and the splitting of the Red Sea. That is why the simple servant saw more at the Red Sea than Ezekiel the prophet. “Now that you have seen my greatness,” said the Holy One “And you have heard my voice…you will know that all the diseases with which I struck Egypt, I will not place upon you. ” I will not strike you with such diseases because it is not that type of fear that I want you to attain. I want you to know that “I am the Lord.” That is, that I am great and exalted, that I am the root and source of all the worlds. This is the greatest cure for you. When a person contemplates this type of fear, he gains more understanding and healing, as it says. “Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and return and be healed.

(1) The Sum is Greater than the Parts: “Had He fed us the manna:” (Page 102a –b) The reason that manna was given this name is because the people did not know what it is. It was not they simply didn’t know what the manna was but that they did not know why they were worthy of such a precious gift, given their sin state of being. The manna was mighty bread and grain from heaven, something far beyond their worth. Moses responded, “It is the bread which the Lord has given lachem, to you, for food. ” God gave you this special food because you are one community and one people. It teaches us that when we are together as one people we are considered righteous. Individually we may be unworthy of the manna, but as a community we are worthy of such a blessing. This is the idea behind the practice of eruvei hatzerot; the practice of setting up a place with communally owned food so that the entire community can carry on Shabbat. In addition to building an eruv, a boundary around a community, it is also necessary to place good in a communal place to show that the entire is really one household. The reason this institution works is that a person’s knowledge follows his food. Israel came to realize that bread like all things comes from the divine without any efforts from human beings. Thus we read, “And God spoke to Moses: ‘Behold I will rain bread from heaven for your people everyday…” God did this so that all the people would come to know that everything comes from heaven through divine providence of the Creator blessed be He. One should not say, “ It is by my strength and the efforts of my hand that I have accomplished this.” It is customary to recite the portion dealing with manna each day following the Shacharit service so that one should not think that his successes are his own accomplishments and by thinking thus he will cause the conduits of prosperity to become blocked. Rather through true knowledge that everything comes from Him, may his name be blessed, we draw down the source of plenty. This is the meaning of the statement, “The Torah could only be given to those who ate manna. ” Only those who understand that God is the source of all knowledge and that He conveys understanding to humanity through His Torah.

(1) The Way of Sanctification: Olam, Shannah. Nefesh: “Had He given us the Sabbath but not brought us to Mount Sinai:” The essence of all the commandments is to “make yourself holy ” by sanctifying that which is permissible. When we do the permissible in a holy way we add spiritual existence to these acts. We do this by using the spiritual power of holiness within ourselves. Just as God gives existence to all things, we give spiritual existence to the things that God has permitted to us. We do this by sanctifying the realms of olam, shannah, and nefesh in which all things are found. These are the realms through which we can overcome the wicked desires and to aid our Father in Heaven. For the realm of shannah, we can do this by sanctifying the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is referred to as hemdat yamim, the most desirous day, because it is the time when we overcome our desires from the whole week and bring them into the realm of the holy. When we eat on the Sabbath we also sanctify the act of eating and all the bodily functions and all the desires of this world with holiness. All the pleasures that we have on the Sabbath allow us to give thanks and praise God. That is why Moses told the people, “Eat that today for today is the Sabbath of the Lord. Any manna that was collected before the Sabbath had to be eaten on the Sabbath because it became part of the individual and land raised up the holiness of the day. The consumption on the Sabbath transformed the rest of the week.

(1) “If God had brought us close to Mount Sinai gut not given us the Torah, it would have been enough for us:” Here is but one example of this teaching. The questions of the commentators on this statement are well known. What would have been the point of coming to Mount Sinai and then not receiving the Torah? However, given the fact that the people of Israel recognized how unworthy they were of receiving the Torah, to even be brought to Mount Sinai was a privilege. The Holy One, however, receives those with a broken heart freely, “For I dwell with the lowly.” This made them worthy of receiving the Torah.

(2) “Had God brought us to Mount Sinai but not given us the Torah:” (Page 100a-b.) What favor is there in being brought to Mount Sinai (and not receiving the Torah)? When a person is oppressed he is more likely to cry out to God and pray with great intensity and clarity. The very idea of getting out of Egypt and being brought to the mountain must have seemed like the greatest act of salvation and favor from God. The mountain would have represented a place of quiet and peace for an oppressed people where they would be able to dwell for the length of days. It was a place where they would be able to worship God with a clear mind. Therefore when the Israelites were still in Egypt, in a place of oppression and affliction, leaving Egypt and going to Sinai itself probably seemed like a favor. It was only later that they came to realize that to go to the mountain and not receive the Torah was no favor.

(3) The Torah: Doing More than Avoiding Evil (Page 100b – 101b): “If God had brought us to Mount Sinai but not given us the Torah it would have been enough for us!” We learn that avoiding evil is, in itself, not enough. We are expected as Jews to do righteously and to sanctify the most mundane aspects of our life. During the seven weeks between the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah at Sinai, the Israelites were healed of the spiritual ills that afflicted them in Egypt. God commanded the people of Israel to count the days in the same way that a menstruating woman counts the days between the end of menses and the beginning of her purity. The commandment of counting these days and preparing for the giving of the Torah was meant to remove the people from the impurities of Egypt, and to teach them that they could control their animal desires. Through the counting of the sephirah, the people of Israel learned to avoid the negative injunctions of the Torah even before they had received the laws of the Torah. This is why we are grateful to God for bringing us to Mount Sinai (and allowing us to heal ourselves of our spiritual ills). Even if God had not given us the Torah but had allowed us to have this time of healing, it would have been a great thing. The seven weeks between these two events allowed the Jewish people to return to a state of spiritual and moral equilibrium without sin or good deeds. At the end of the counting they had neither sins nor good deeds; they had neither lost nor gained in their lives. God expects much more of us than simply avoiding evil, but to reach such a state is in itself a great accomplishment. More than just teaching us to overcome guilt and shame, God wants us to perform good deeds so that we can bring about the unification of the Holy One and the Divine Presence. The seven weeks between the Exodus and Sinai taught the Israelites to remove evil from their lives, while on the fiftieth day (Shavuot), they accepted the positive commandments. Once they removed evil from their lives through these weeks of counting, they had the ability to use their physical characteristics as a means of sanctifying God. Even the angels could not accomplish this. Through the Torah we can sanctify our physical acts such as eating, drinking and procreating. Angels cannot perform these acts so they do not have the same ability to sanctify God that we can. The positive commandments, then, are an extraordinary opportunity because they allow us to elevate our lowly physical and worldly acts and thus bring them closer to God. This is the meaning of the verse, usefartem lachem “you shall count for yourself.” The word count, usefartem comes from the same word as sapir, sapphire or brilliance. We are commanded to purify our basic human needs for forty-nine days, and then on the fiftieth day we can elevate these instincts to God through the performance of mitzvot. God wants us to do more than just to avoid evil; the Holy One wants us to do good and to act holy. When the Israelites left Egypt first they had to purify themselves so they could then perform holy acts by elevating the world in the name of God. This is the greatest gift we can offer God; it is something that only the Jewish people can accomplish!

(1) “And had You brought us into the land of Israel:” (Page 103) The Land of Israel is the realm of olam. It is called “a desirous land. ” When we live in the land of Israel we overcome the wicked desires and we desire only to pursue the holy. This is true not only for those who live in the land but those who make a pilgrimage there as well. Through the strength of this quality, “No person shall covet (tachmod) your land either. “You brought us into the Land of Israel and built the temple to atone for our sins:” This is how great the loving kindness is that God has for the children of Israel. When a person stumbles in the dark, there is no one around to laugh at his clumsiness but when he stumbles in the middle of the day everyone can see him and laugh at him. God not only gave us the Torah and brought us to the Land of Israel, but He built the temple for us as well. He should not have forgiven us but he built the Temple so that we would have a place where we could atone in the privacy of our own homes.

(1) “How doubled and redoubled is the good, which the One who is Present has bestowed upon us:” (Page 101b) Why were the favors which God bestowed upon the Israelites both doubled and redoubled? This can be compared to a benefactor who gives a needy person some money. This is a single kind act. But if the benefactor not only gives him money but also prepares and cooks a whole meal for the needy person then his act is both doubled and redoubled. Giving money is an act of tzedakah that could be for almost any poor person. But when the kind person goes to so much trouble he shows true loving-kindness. Here also, had God simply taken us out of Egypt, a place of impurity it would have been a single kind act. All the acts that God performed prove that God’s favors were redoubled, that he wasn’t just doing a kind act but making the act personal to the needs of the Israelites. These were not many separate acts of kindness but part of God’s greater plan to help the Israelites recognize God’s greatness completely.

(2) “How doubled and redoubled is the good which the One who is Present has bestowed upon us…and he built the Temple for us to atone for our sins:” (Page 101b- 102a) Rabbi Jehiel Danziger asks how someone who is the recipient of these fifteen favors from God could ever sin against His creator? If, however, such a person should sin, one would think that there would never be a complete atonement for him given all that God had already done for him. We have already said that a scholar’s inadvertent sin is considered like a willful sin. Even so, God is so merciful that he included among His divine favors the building of the Temple so that the people would have a means of atonement. This is a favor that is doubled and redoubled!

(1) “God has bestowed many virtues upon us:” (Page 98a - 99a) In the Torah portions before Passover we come to recognize that everything is a gift of God’s gracious kindness and not our efforts. God blesses us according to the measure of truth we perceive through our intellect. That is why the Haggadah says, “God has bestowed many ma’alot upon us.” The word ma’alot can mean either favors or virtues. When we recognize how gracious God has been, that it would have been enough had God simply taken us out of Egypt and done no more, God would have considered our recognition a virtue worthy of His goodness. According to our deeds, this is all we were worthy of: to be taken out of Egypt and no more. This is true for each of the statements in Dayyenu. Our recognition of the truth of this statement turns our recognition of a favor into a virtue worthy of God’s reward. Each statement here makes us aware that we were rewarded out of kindness and not according to our deeds. Any one of these favors ‘would have been enough.’

(2) Divine Love Beyond our Worth (Page 99a –99b): “God has bestowed many degrees upon us:” We have already seen that the plagues were both meant to punish and heal. Each plague brought the Israelites to a higher plain of recognition of God’s great power and kindness. That is why the favors in dayyenu are referred to here as ma’alot, which also can mean degrees of height. God bestowed upon us a heightened degree of recognition with each plague and miracle that He performed. God considered each miracle that we recognized as if we performed it ourselves. These degrees are not like the degrees of accomplishment in this world that are short lived and disappear. As it says in the book of Psalms: “But hesed, divine love, is also yours when you reward each person according to his deeds. ” God gave Israel rewards even before they worthy or needed them. He gave us the mezuzah even before we had homes of our own.

(1) “Had He split the sea for us:” The people of Israel acquired both faith and wisdom when they left Egypt. When the Israelites attained faith that allowed them to leave Egypt, this faith rose up and aroused the power of wisdom, which comes from the same place as faith. This happened at the Red Sea since it was decreed at the very beginning of time that the sea should part for the Israelites. That is why the Psalmist says, “You made everything with wisdom.” The Torah says that that the “sea returned l’eitano, to its strength, when the morning appeared. ” Rashi and the Midrash mention the fact that the word l’eitano should be read as l’tan’o, “according to its condition.” God had made a condition upon the creation of the world that the sea would split for the Israelites. The sages said, however, “The merit of the fathers and their own faith would have been sufficient for me to split for them the Red Sea. ” It was through their faith that the people had the wisdom and the power to bring about the splitting of the Sea.

(1) Passover as a Paradigm Change (Page 93b – 94b): “Rabban Gamliel used to say: If one has not explained three things on Passover has not fulfilled his obligation:” What is the reason for these three Passover symbols? Pesach is connected with the verse, “Draw forth and take one of the flock for each family and slaughter the Pesach offering. ” It is a reminder that the first act of repentance must involve rejecting evil. When the Israelites took hold of the lamb for the Passover sacrifice they were publicly affirming their rejection of idolatry since the lamb was one of the gods of Egypt. The second symbol, Matzah, is the food of healing, which cures all of the spiritual infirmities of human beings. Having rejected something negative they now acted in a positive fashion. Maror has the same gematria as the word mavet (death – 446), is replaced by chasa, romaine lettuce, whose gematria is the same as chaim (life – 68). It alludes to repentance, which is performed out of love. If after explaining these three symbolic symbols, the person is unable to open his mouth in song and praise to God, he has not fulfilled his obligation and he still carries the burning scar of his own wickedness. The word chovah, obligation, can also mean guilt. Lo yetze yidei chovato can be translated “He has not gone out of his guilt.” This is the main obligation of Passover.

(2) “Rabban Gamaliel used to say: If one has not explained three things on Passover:” It is not enough to think about the story of the Exodus. As the commandment suggests, one must explicitly tell the story: “You shall tell it to your child on that day. ” The word Pesach means that we should do so with a peh sach, an open mouth. It is a commandment to pour out the bitterness of one’s soul before his creator and to declare songs and praises to God. At other times such expressions would be considered impudent and overbearing, as it says in Psalms: “But to the wicked person, God says, “How can you declare my statutes or place my covenant in your mouth? ’” But tonight it is not only permissible but it is a commandment to do so. Yet the story must be told with deep concentration and inner spirit. To tell the story without inner intention is no better than mumbling idle chatter. Such words are like a body without a soul, and if one does it this way one has not fulfilled one’s obligations. The person must learn how to tell the story of the Exodus from the three Passover symbols which we now explain.

(3) Pesach – teaches us that in a brief moment a person can sanctify himself by rejecting evil and idolatry as we have explained above. Matzah – teaches us the importance of repairing the mind and attaining wisdom from the Source of all wisdom. Maror – teaches us the importance of self-transformation and repentance. The power of repentance is such that when we repent out of love for God, our malice (zadonot) is transformed into merit (zakayot.) Similarly we replace the maror (death) with chasa (life) as explained above. Yet how do we go about accomplishing these tasks? How can we come before God and declare God’s praise with inner intention? By doing so with a peh sach, with an open mouth! This is what Rabban Gamaliel said: “Anyone who has not explained these three symbols ‘with a peh sach’ has not fulfilled his obligation.”

(1) Fellowship is essential (Page 94b- 95a): "You shall say: It is the Passover offering for the Lord:” The most essential part of the preparation for Passover is gathering together a group of people assigned to eat the Pesach offering. Today each household should be made up of a gathering of fellows who are beloved to one another. By humbling ourselves in the presence of others and placing the interests of the group over our self-interests that we sanctify our hearts and devote ourselves to God’s will. Then our only desire will be to serve not good and not to pursue the desires of this world. That is why the Torah says, “It is a Passover offering for the Lord.” It is for the Lord and not for us. Through this effort we will eat all year long in holiness and purity. There are many proof texts for the idea that it is the gathering of people and the abnegation of the evil that is the essential aspect of Passover. Initially Maimonides says that the korban Pesach can be sacrificed for a single individual but he then says, “but one should try to gather with others” in offering the sacrifice. Similarly, when the Torah says, “No stranger shall eat of it,” it means one who is estranged from his Father in Heaven and hungers after the desires of this world. The Torah also says, “In one house it shall be consumed. ” This is explained in the Aramaic translation of the Torah to mean that the offering shall be eaten by one group of people, a havurah. For the essential part of the preparations for Passover is the gathering of friends. The Talmud says that whatever is attached to something that is holy is also holy. Similarly, when the people of Israel are attached to one another, they are attached to their Divine Source. (But really the law is that the offering can be made for the individual as long as he can consume the who Passover offering by himself!)

(1) Passover in the Present: “Why do we eat this matzah?” Many of the early commentators all ask the same question: The Haggadah says we eat matzah because of the haste with which we left Egypt. Yet weren’t we commanded to eat matzah even before we left Egypt on the night of the Passover? So why does the maggid offer this explanation? Even though we were commanded to eat matzah the night before we left Egypt, the eating of matzah is not meant to be a construed as a simple reminder of a past action. We eat matzah with faith and inner intention so that the great light, which our ancestors experienced, will be revealed to us as well. We recognize that this moment is much like the moment of the Exodus. This is what the Torah says, “This is a night of watching to the Lord. ” This verse is similar to another one: “On this day they entered the wilderness of Sinai.” Rashi and others point out that the verse says “On this day,” and not “On that day,” because every day should be like the day we received the Torah at Sinai. Similarly, the night of watching did not happen long ago but happens as we sit down at the Seder table. It is a propitious time and a time of redemption as it was in the land of Egypt. That is why we are biblically mandated to eat matzah. We try to arouse the holiness and the presence of the Divine Presence as our ancestors did by not allowing the yeast to rise within us. And in this way we try to strengthen ourselves with a new sense of vitality. How fortunate is the one who experiences this level of holiness!!

(2) Not Commandment but Encounter (Page 95b – 96b): “Why do we eat this matzah?” The commandment of eating matzah is unlike any other commandment in the Torah. The first time the Israelites ate matzah was immediately after they were commanded to do so; they ate it along with the pesach offering. The people were also promised that they God would reveal a great supernal light, as the Torah says, “I shall pass through the land of Egypt…I am the Lord.” The Midrash says that the aroma of the Garden of Eden entered the pesach offering of Moses so that all of Israel came and asked him for some of it. ” It is well known that there was a great light of revelation at that time, whose holiness could not be measured. The question is, then, why do we bother to eat matzah today since we do not have this same experience. Therefore the maggid brings the verse above, “The dough which they had brought out of Egypt was baked into unleavened cakes; for they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provision for their journey." And the Haggadah tells us, “the holy one revealed himself to our ancestors before the dough had time to rise,” to explain why else we eat matzah on Passover. Actually according to the rishonim , the early commentators, the people were not commanded to eat matzah after the Seder. They ate it because of the haste with which they left. Eating matzah then is not a product of the commandment given on the night of the Passover but a product of the people’s experience the next day. God made it happen so fast so that they would land up with matzah instead of bread to teach them that in future generations whenever they would eat matzah there would be the potential for a revelation of the Divine Presence!

(1) “Why do we eat this maror?” In order that you may remember the day of your going forth from Egypt all the days of your life .” There is a parable in the Midrash that goes as follows: A certain princess wished to marry a king but in the course of reaching king she had to pass through many troubles and problems. When he finally reached her, the king said, “My daughter I ask you not to remember all the exile that you underwent before entering our marital huppah.” This parable is troubling because it is not comparable to the verse which says, “that you may remember…” The Torah commands us to eat maror so that we will recall the bitterness of slavery that we experienced before entering the huppah of Mount Sinai. So what can we learn from this parable? In the parable we might conclude that without all the troubles as it is written: "You shall tell your child on that day: This is on account of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt." It was not only our ancestors whom the Holy One redeemed from slavery; we, too, were redeemed with them, as it is written: "He took us out from there so that He might take us to the land which He had sworn to our fathers." And travails the princess would never have reached the king in order to become married to him. Similarly, we eat bitter herbs so that we will remember that had the Egyptians not embittered our lives we would never have been redeemed. In fact they oppressed us so badly that the number of years that we were supposed to be enslaved was cut down. So because of bitterness, which the maror represents, we came to dwell beneath the wings of the Divine Presence even sooner! We remember the bitter because it became sweet. When we eat the maror we are not supposed to remember what was bitter to us but how our travails gave birth to such a wonderful blessing.

(1) The Divine Spark Within Us (Page 107a): In every generation a person is obligated to see his “essence:” The word atzmo, usually translated as “himself,” can also be translated as “his essence,” as in the verse, “It was the very essence (etzem) of the heavens for purity. ” This is an allusion to the inner divine spark found in each of us. A person must strengthen this holy spark no matter how low a state he reaches. In Egypt, we were so deeply mired in impurity that the demonic prosecutor said both the Israelites and the Egyptians worship idols – so how was one any better than the other? And yet the Holy One in his great mercy looked and saw the inner spark of the people, as it says, “I am the one who explores the heart and the conscience. ” So, too, each Jew must say that in every generation a person must strengthen the inner spark, which is still in him. This spark is capable of blossoming and becoming revitalized in the end. The Holy One not only redeemed our ancestors long ago but he redeems us as well along with them. As the holy Ari has said, “All the souls of the Jewish people were in the iron furnace of Egypt and we were redeemed from there.

(2) God Hears Our Prayers (Page 107b): In every generation a person is obligate to see himself as if he personally went forth from Egypt:” The Maggid attempts to encourage and strengthen each Jewish soul whomever it may be and no matter how lowly a state it has reached. Such a person should never despair, because God never ignores the prayers of any person. As we say in the Amidah, “ For you hear the prayers of every mouth.” Even when the Israelites descended to such a low level in Egypt, because their trust in God was so strong and they cried out to God, He answered them. We say, “As if he personally went forth from Egypt.” We are not nearly as bad as our ancestors who went forth from Egypt. If our hope and trust are great, we will be worthy of being redeemed speedily and completely.

(1) “Therefore it is our duty to thank and praise:” God took us out of all types of subjugation in Egypt: From slavery, depression, sadness, and darkness. Each person should thank God according to his position and ability: We thank God for our redemption and for the redemption of our soul.

(2) “Therefore it is our duty to thank and praise,” (108a) Rabbi Jehiel Danziger explained the Mishnah, “If the wife is wounded, he is obligated to see to her healing ” to mean that he has an obligation to pray on her behalf. Since the rabbis obligated him to pray on her behalf he cannot say, “Who am I – I am not worthy of praying on behalf of a sick person.” It is like the parable of a king who sent a messenger to another king with an important message. Even if the messenger shows up in ripped and torn clothes not worthy of being seen by a king, even sack clothe, he is allowed to enter the chamber of the king because he is the messenger of another king.

(3) Similarly, since the Torah commands us to tell the story of the Holy One and the Exodus from Egypt, even though it is great chutzpah for us to do so, we are allowed because it is our “duty to thank and praise,” and on the authority to this power we may do so. “From darkness to a great light:” (Page 108a) Lift up your eyes and see how great are the works of the Lord above nature. The Rambam teaches us that one should not go from a place of darkness to a place of light too quickly because it will hurt the person’s eyes. Yet in Egypt we went from darkness to light. Not only that, but we went from darkness to a great light, and for this we sing before Him a new song. We sing a new song because it is as if we are singing for the first time ever. That is why we sing a new song. This is similar to what the author of the liturgical poem wrote…The woman who has never experienced the pains of birth labor worries more and more than a woman who has already experienced labor and for whom labor is already a familiar experience. So too, the Jewish people worry and tremble each year as the High Holy Days approach even though they have experienced Divine Judgment many times. Each Rosh Hashanah is like the first experience of Divine Judgment. This is because Rosh Hashanah is like the left hand, which pushes the person away while Pesach is like the right hand, which draws the person closer. The one who is pushed away on Rosh Hashanah with the left is brought closer on Passover with the right hand because Passover is when the forces of love grow strong. As it says in the book of Psalms, “With your right hand you support me. ” Each year on Pesach we should feel as though this was the first Passover when the great light was revealed. That is why we sing a new song as we accept the light of God anew. It is as if we never experienced Passover before. Our hope and trust in God are strong on this night because we feel that we will be worthy of receiving a complete redemption.

(1) Where Our Rejoicing Takes Us (Page 110b- 111a): “The sages said:” There is a controversy in the Talmud about how much of Hallel should be recited before the meal at the Seder. Beit Shammai said that we should recite up to the words, “He turns the barren wife into a happy mother of children. Halleluyah!” Beit Hillel suggested that we should recite the Hallel service up to the words, “Who turns rock into a pond of water, the flint into a flowing fountain.” What is the source of this controversy? The sages disagreed about how much of Hallel was necessary to cause such rejoicing. According to the Ari Beit Shammai believed “the barren mother of children” is a reference to binah, one of the highest of the sephirot, the supernal mother. The joy to which we aspire is the joy that reaches the highest levels of heaven. But those who can aspire to such a level are few. It is impossible to live in this world according to Beit Shammai. He is referring to a time in the future when the whole world will be filled with such knowledge of God. That is why the law follows Beit Hillel who uses the second passage that refers to the joy in this world. The word halachah, law, is an abbreviation for, Hari’u ladonai Kol Ha’aretz, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. ” When we tell the story of the Exodus we remove the heart of stone from our flesh and we transform it into a heart of flesh. We give expression to Torah and prayer with holiness and purity until we become an overflowing well who can influence others with the living waters of Torah.

(2) Another interpretation: The controversy between the schools of Hillel and Shammai has to do with how far one must go in praising God. According to Beit Shammai, one should read as far as the phrase, “happy mother of children.” This means that the main purpose of the telling the story of the Exodus is to make the supernal mother happy – only then will we be worthy of redemption. But this is a level of spirituality that is much higher than this mundane world.”

(1) “Rachzah: Wash the hands for the meal” The simple meaning of the word rachzah is to wash, as in the verse, “When the Lord will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion. ” With God’s help we will become worthy of removing all the sins from our lives by telling the story of the Exodus. And there is also an allusion in this word to trust as in Bei ana rachez, “In Him do we trust. ” The final hay of the word rachzah, is a reference to the shekhinah, the Divine Presence. The shekhinah is with us in exile and suffers along with us.

(1) “Motzi matzah:” By eating the matzah we become worthy of eating all year long with holiness and purity. The consumption of Matzah is our way of repairing all the permissible forms of consumption of food. Through this symbol we also bring forth an important lesson. We must make the spiritual piece of our lives larger than the physical piece just as we hide away the larger piece of the matzah. We should never become subjugated to the physical just as the matzah is not subjugated to the yeast.

(2) “Matzah:” All the lessons from matzah relate back to the idea of humility. It is meant to banish arrogance from our lives, and all the husks which take hold of us when we are eating. As it says, “Lest you have eaten your full….and your heart is lifted up and you forgot the Lord your God. ” Holy eating can bring us to humility and a broken heart. The commandment of eating matzah is meant to weaken the inclination for sexual immorality and incest. By eating properly we can repair the blemish in our covenant. Why don’t we say the sheheyanu when we eat the matzah for the first time? According to the commentator, Abudraham, wit is not necessary because this blessing is included in the blessing which we just said “Who blessed us…and brought us to this night.” In any case each person is supposed to see himself as if he personally went forth from Egypt which means that this is not the first time that we ate matzah!

(1) “Maror:” Maror, whose gematriah is mavet, is compared to death since it includes all the harsh judgments. It is necessary to be sure and chew up all the bitter herbs with our thirty-two teeth (just as there are thirty-two paths of wisdom). By chewing the maror we sweeten its bitterness. Therefore, we learn that one who swallows the maror without chewing it has not fulfilled the commandment since he has not chewed and sweetened it!

(2) “Maror:” Eating the maror is meant to weaken the inclination to commit violent acts and spill the blood of others. In Sefer Rokeach we are taught that the verse, “Better is a dinner (arukhat) of herbs where love is than fatted ox and hatred with it .” The word arukhat has the same gematria as the word chazeret, another word for the bitter herbs. The maror, then, is meant to arouse love between human beings and through such love it is meant to arouse love between the people of Israel and their Father in Heaven. This is what we are taught, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord. ” When we love our neighbor we begin to recognize that we must love God as well.

(1) “Korekh: Maror and matzah sandwich:” The reason we make a sandwich out of the matzah and the maror is to remind us that even if we have reached the gates of death we can still become worthy of a good life. Maror is associated with death and matzah, which is connected with divine wisdom, chochma, is associated with life. The word chochma has the same gematria as the word hachaim, the life. That is why Hillel placed the maror between the matzah and the pesach offering in his sandwich. Matzah and maror are also associated with love and fear – they must be combined with each other.