Fooling Ourselves
Why were Jews allowed to sing at the Yam Suf, while angels who tried singing were admonished: “My creations drown at sea, yet you sing to Me?!”
The town Mosser, the Jewish informant who constantly harassed his kinfolk, had died. The town’s Jews rejoiced and danced in the streets. The neighboring town came round to join the party too. Said the townspeople ‘We are glad to be rid of this nuisance, for our lives will now be easier. But why are you guys celebrating? To you, he is simply another Jew who died. You ought to be sad!’
Similarly, the Jews were glad to be rid of the Egyptians, their oppressors. It is altogether appropriate for them to thank Hashem for that. The angels, however, had never suffered. Why were they singing? [- Peh Kadosh]
Another thought; it is sad the Egyptians needed to die. Under the circumstances it was the best possible outcome, but that matters were so – that the Egyptians were so wicked, as to be irredeemable – is regrettable. Which perspective matters: the present – that it was good they died, or the entire situation, – start to finish, – where it is tragic and a loss?
Angels have a wide perspective: their intellect is vast. They ought to look at things broadly, realizing that the whole business was a tragedy. Far better had the Egyptians never sinned at all. But us human-folk see matters narrowly: to us, it was great that the Egyptians drowned!
Another dimension; We serve Hashem using all our powers, even via impressions from appearances, true or otherwise. We capitalize on any opportunity, even imagined, to become better people. We are therefore entitled and encouraged to perceive the drowning of the Egyptians as a good thing, even though that means taking narrow perspective. It makes us better people, folks more appreciative of Hashem!
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Our Mother Bear
‘Observe Pesach in the month of spring, for in that month Hashem has taken you out of Egypt at night’. At night? Didn’t we leave ‘in the middle of that day’?
The Targum reads the pasuk as follows: keep Pesach [for two reasons; one,] because Hashem has taken you out of Egypt (by day, of course!), and because Hashem has done you miracles at night. Which miracles?? Makas Bechoros. Hashem killed the Egyptian first-born at midnight.
Why are we grateful specifically for this miracle? Is this miracle a reason to make Pesach, more than, say, the plague of Frogs?
Moshe was commanded to tell Paroh: ‘Says Hashem; “My firstborn son is Israel. Send out My son to serve Me, or else I shall kill your firstborn son!”‘ The message was clear; ‘you touch my firstborn; I kill your firstborn…!’ Makas Bechoros expressed Hashem’s mother-bear love to Israel. Hashem did not merely exercise justice, rather He took personal revenge, savaging the one who dared touch His favored son, Israel. Makas Bechoros represented that our relationship with Hashem has gone up an entire level. Perhaps this is why Makas Bechoros is a basis for the Pesach holiday more than any other miracle – its not the miracle, its what it represents.
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Thanks, But No Thanks!
Why do we owe Hashem thanks for taking us out of mitzrayim if He put us there?!
Perhaps we needed being enslaved in Mitzrayim. The Siach Yitzchak haggadah gives a few reasons why;
1) Our forefather Avraham doubted Hashem’s promise that his children will inherit the Land. He was punished that his children be exiled and oppressed. (This is the plain sense of the text when Avraham asked ‘bamuh eida?’ and Hashem answered ‘yadoa teida!!’) The Egyptian exile was payback that need must be, repayment of our debt. We were condemned to Egypt, but He redeemed us!
2) The Jews in Egypt sinned there, and were punished with oppression. This is why the first generation Jews, and all shevet Levi were not oppressed, for only upon sinning did oppression begin. Moshe exclaimed ‘Indeed, now its known!’ Rashi translates ‘Indeed, I now know why the Jews are suffering; there is dissent among them’. So the oppression was earned by us. No complaints to Hashem! To His is only praise, that He redeemed us.
3) The experience in Egypt taught obedience, preparing us to serve Hashem. The Avos served Hashem willingly, but true servants of Hashem need to serve Him whether one likes it or not. This we learned from serving the Egyptian taskmasters. (Sh’lah and others) So we gained greatly from this boot-camp, unpleasant as it was. Thank you!
4) Egypt scoured us clean of impurities. The pasuk refers to ‘the smelting-pot of Mitzrayim’. As smelting purifies iron, so we were clarified into Hashem’s people. So we consider the entire affair profitable.
[Are these conflicting opinions? Let’s say parents take the children on a trip. Why? Because it is chol hamoed. Where are they going? To a museum. Why there? Because the children will learn about electricity. But to go there they need a car and gas. They also need money. Perhaps it worked out that enough money for the trip came in just before Yom-tov, in a surprising turn of events.
Okay. So again, why did they go to the museum? Because they had gas? Because it was educational? Because they it was chol hamoed? Because they parents like trips? Because the money arrived just in time?
It’s all of the above; they could not have gone without gas and money, but the reason the parents chose to use their gas and money for the trip is because they like trips and it is chol hamoed. However the justification for the trip is that it was educational. All these come together and compose the reason, method, motivation and justification for the trip. All are necessary.
So too, Avraham sinned, and it would have been appropriate to have his children suffer in mitzrayim as a punishment. For that to happen the Jews themselves needed to deserve punishment. So it was only because they themselves had sinned that oppression was justified. At the same time, Hashem – rachum v’channun – would not have done them something that was not constructive and help them spiritually. So it needed to be a benefit for them, to purify and prepare them for their great role as servants of Hashem. All these are an integral part of one whole.]
So we have a situation – our suffering in Egypt – suggested by our forefather’s sin, fueled by our own wickedness, ending with our betterment and profit. Is there anything to do but thank Hashem and give praise to His name!?
(S’mores;
5) The Ramban explains that although we were to be taken out, it was on condition we would toe the line. We did not, (says the navi Yechezkel)! Hashem was thus free from His part of the deal. Yet He took us out anyhow, as a gratuitous favor.
6) The Haggadah Leil Shimurim explains that it wasn’t without profit that we went through the exercise of going down to Egypt; we gained greatly thereby – money, status, spirituality. Therefore we thank Him for putting us through the process. This is somewhat similar to other approaches mentioned above.
7) We suggested that although all is predestined, Yaakov came to Egypt of his own free will. We cannot blame Hashem for that. Yet He saved us from there. Thanks, Hashem!!)
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Freedom Anybody?
The Seder is our celebration of freedom. So why do we have so many laws, why is everything regulated?
The Sifri tells of the son of the king’s friend captured by bandits. The king agreed to free him on condition that from then on he would be in the service of the king. The nobleman’s son agreed, and the king saved him.
Some time later the king sent for this young man and asked him to oversee the king’s affairs in a far-off land. The kid said No, he was really not interested. Said the king ‘I freed you from captivity on condition that you serve me, was it not so?!’
So too, although we were taken out of captivity, it was not just because. It was on condition we serve Hashem. The Seder is a ceremony of serving Hashem as well as freedom from Egypt. Beforehand we were wretched slaves, now we are noblemen, servants to the king.
Another approach: aimlessness and chaos is not freedom. The meaning of freedom is: Freedom To Accomplish. We exercise our new freedom by concrete, positive action – doing and accomplishing!
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The Day The Sea Ran Away…
What are the physical results of the ‘sea that saw and ran away’, i.e. the Yam Suf moving away and splitting, and the rivers turning backwards?
The Ra’avan explains that the mention of the Yarden in Hallel is simply one example; in reality ALL rivers were affected. They all run to sea, and now stopped running.
It would seem to follow that the next verse too – “the hills danced like rams, the mountains like goats” – also happened on that day. When the water stopped moving, and the earth reacted wildly. Quite possibly there had been something like the tsunami that overran Japan recently, causing enormous damage.
Ninety percent of the people in Egypt lives on three percent of its land; namely in the area around the Nile. (I’m relying on my memory. Possibly it was more than that, something like ninety five percent) Back then, when the rest of Egypt was barren desert and the only water source was the Nile, not to mention transportation, commerce and all, the percent of the population living around the Nile may have been much greater. In fact, probably most of the world population lived within a hundred yards of a river or sea. All these overflowed, flooding the the simple mud huts and flimsy wood homes people lived in.
The world must have been profoundly affected: cities destroyed, many thousands drowned and huge loss of crops and property. Krias Yam Suf was probably a world catastrophe.
(The joke is that where was it secure to be on that day? The only safe place was in the middle of the Yam Suf, where we were!!)
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The Splitting Of Seas
How does the plain reading of the pesukim – that the sea split when Moshe waved his hand over it – jive with the chazal that Nachshon jumped into the sea and it split (or when it reached his nostrils)? Furthermore, the pasuk indicates that a fierce wind blew all night, turning the sea to dry land.
How do these narratives work out with each other???
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Identifying the Yam Suf
What is the Yam Suf? Is it a certain specific place, as assumed, or a generic term for any reedy sea? One thinks it ought to refer to a specific place, often assumed to be the Gulf of Aquba, the Red Sea. However the gemarah tells us that Moshe was put into the Yam Suf as a baby. His parents, who lived in Pithom or Ramses lived thousands of miles away from the red sea. How did they get to the Yam Suf?! And that his sister hung around and was able to call her mother at moments notice?
Perhaps this lends credence to the idea that Yam Suf is a generic term, meaning any sea with reeds.
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What’s It To You?
The wicked son asks ‘Whats this work to you?’ Rishonim explain that his question ‘What is this work to you!?’ belies deep revulsion of mitzvos – he considers it mere make-work, a waste of time, a bondage. In our answer we reject his position, stating that he would not have left Egypt at all, had he been there.
Why do we reject him? Is it because of his chutzpah, his utter scorn of mitzvos? No, no, that’s not it. Rather, says the Haggada, it’s because of a (minor) slip of his tongue; he had said ‘…to you’, implying that he personally does not consider the mitzvos incumbent on himself. ‘Lachem, v’lo lo’. That’s the killer.
The lesson here is that one can consider mitzvos a waste of time, one can be angry at Hashem, one can be bitter and chutzpadik. But bottom-line, if one accepts the mitzvos as binding he has not ‘taken themselves out of the klal’ – he is a bona-fide part of klal yisroel.
That’s the clincher. Its all about if one considers himself obligated to the Torah. All else is periphery…
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Still Slaves Today
. ..and if Hashem had not taken us out, we and our children would still be slaves to Paroh in Egypt! – Haggada. Why could we not have left by other means? After all, Paroh and his army are not around today. What would stop our walking out the front door? And very many other nations were once held captive, yet eventually realized their independence. Why not us too?
One suggestion is that had we not left then, there would have been nothing left to save. We would have totally assimilated into Egypt, thus remaining there forever. (Ritva, Sh’lah etc.)
Another suggestion is that the rise and fall of nations – and captive nations achieving their freedom – which we witness today is only Providence at work – behind the scenes – in order to secure the fate of the Jewish nation. Without the Jews to factor in, things ought to remain stable, the rich and powerful becoming ever more so, thus precluding all chance of escape. (Netziv – Imrei Shefer) So Yes, other nations break free, but it ought not to be so. Its all tied up with our Exodus and destiny.
A third suggestion is that Pharoh would always have legal claim to us as escaped slaves, had Hashem not taken us out Himself. (Maharal Tzinz – Bircas Hashir)
Our suggestion is, that had Hashem not taken us out, indeed, other powers might have done so. That does not negate our debt to Hashem, however. Someone who saves a person takes credit for his life, even if another would have done so, if the first person had not. Similarly, we owe our lives to Hashem, even if another would have eventually taken us out instead. Had no one taken us out, we would still be slaves today…. In concept we consider ourselves to have been resigned to slavery forever.
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Simchas Yom Tov
Shulchan Aruch suggests that we base our meals on wine. (??”? ???”?:?) The Mishna Berurah explains this to mean that nowadays we do not eat meat of Shlamim, so our obligation in Simchas Yom tov is drinking wine. This is based on the plain reading of the Gemarah in Psachim 109 and the Rambam in Hilchos Yom Tov, 6:17 and 6:18.
(The Rambam refers to all the Yom Tov, including chol hamoed, and the Shulchan Aruch seems to be talking only about Yom Tov. This difficulty needs to be addressed.)
The gemarah in Sanhedrin queries with regard to the Ben Sorer Umoreh drinking wine, what type of wine it needs to be: is grape juice enough, or does it need to begin percolating – three days, or perhaps it needs to arrive at full strength – forty days. This is left unresolved.
The same appears to be the case with the wine for Yom Tov. To gladden the heart, it needs to be of certain vintage. In that case, perhaps light wine will not suffice, rather one needs specifically wine that has developed forty days, wine that effects the mind and heart.
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One Little Kid
What is the song of Chad Gadia supposed to signify? (It didn’t happen, did it? I mean, the malach hamoves is still alive and slicing…)
A. Some kinderlach explained that we set up a hierarchy of powers, culminating in Hashem. This reminds us that His power reigns supreme, above all else. The song teaches us to focus our Emunah.
B. Another idea was that evil is repaid in kind. Hillel commented to the skull floating by ‘Because you [killed and] floated other heads, your head has been floated. And those who floated your head will have theirs floated too, one day…’. So too, the poor kid was killed by the cat. The cat was not pardoned, rather the dog bit her. And so on. Beware violence, for it perpetuates itself…
C. A third idea was that we note the escalating circle of violence; a small kid, worth a mere two coins, was eaten by a cat. This set off a cycle of viciousness ending with the Malach Hamaves himself being executed! All for a five-dollar goat!
important lessons!
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The Power Of A Promise
Vhi she’amda lavosenu vlanu – THIS has stood for our fathers and us! What exactly was it that helped our fathers and us? Hashem’s promise to take the Jews out of Egypt.
The S’ma explains the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus means that we recall that Hashem did not take us out to grow bananas. Rather the Exodus is the first step in the eventual Messianic redemption when His Name will be one, and peace will rule on Earth. So too, the promise to take us out of Egypt carried within it a great surety; Hashem will make the eventual redemption be, and preserve us so that we can perform our role in it.
And that’s why the promise to Avraham, to take us from Egypt, preserves us yet today…