Pesach

At
the beginning of the Haggada (“Avadim Hayinu”) we read the following:

“Even
if all of us were wise, all of us understanding, all of us aged, all of us
knowledgeable in Torah, we would still be commanded to tell the story of the
Exodus from Egypt, and whoever expands upon the story of the Exodus merits
praise.”

From
that paragraph we learn the great need to fulfill the mitzvah of retelling our
Exodus from Egypt.

However,
why would we still be obligated to retell the story if we were all wise,
understanding, aged and knowledgable in Torah? What are we gaining? What’s the
purpose of this mitzvah?

Additionally,
if we all already know the story, why should one who expands upon the story
merit praise? He’s not teaching anything by retelling the story!?!

Furthermore,
why don’t we make a blessing over this mitzvah like we do by most others?

The
answer to these questions is rests behind the beginning of the paragraph…

“We
were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Hashem, our G-d, took us out of there with
a strong hand and an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, Blessed is He, had not
taken our forefathers out of Egypt, we and our children and our children’s
children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt.”

Rabbi
Yochanan Zweig explains that by saying that we would all be slaves had Hashem
not freed us from Egypt-the Haggadah is teaching us that the whole point behind
retelling the story of our Exodus is to show appreciation towards Hashem.
Therefore, even if we all already know the whole story we would still be
obligated to review it because the whole purpose behind the mitzvah is to give
gratitude to Hashem–not to gain insights on the story. It therefore also
follows that one who expands on the story merits praise, even if everyone
already knows the story, because the message behind the Haggadah is to show
appreciation to Hashem–not to gain knowledge or teach others. Similarly, it
also follows that we don’t make a blessing over this mitzvah because then we
would in effect be saying that were fulfilling this mitzvah because we were
commanded to do so–and that would lessen the degree of our gratitude towards
Hashem. By not making a blessing when doing this mitzvah we come to perform it
naturally. Interestingly, the Rambam (Sefer Hamitzvot, mitzvah #157) actually
tells us that the reasoning behind the mitzvah to retell the story of our
Exodus from Egypt is to thank Hashem. Thus, we see clearly that the purpose
behind the mitzvah of retelling the Exodus is to show appreciation towards
Hashem. We should all therefore have this in mind and make sure to properly
fulfill this mitzvah.

                           Pesach

“In every generation one is obligated to view himself as though he has gone out of Egypt…” (Pesach Haggada–”Bechol Dor Vador”).

Every year, Jews from all around the world gather around to celebrate the great exodus from Egypt…And for good reason. After all, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds was the greatest miracle in the history of the world! Pesach receives a lot more attention than all the other holidays and great occurrences in history–as we are commanded to remind ourselves of the exodus not just once a year, but everyday in our prayers. So, the question arises: Why is it so important to remember the exodus everyday? Granted, it is certainly important to remember all the great miracles in which Hashem performed for us…But what difference do these constant reminders make on our daily lives?

To answer this question, let’s take a look at an earlier paragraph in the Haggada:

“If the Holy One, Blessed is He, had not taken our forefathers out of Egypt, we and our children and our children’s children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt” (Paragraph: “Avadim Hayinu”).

Many commentators ask: How could the Haggada be so sure that over 3,000 years later we would still be slaves in Egypt? The Jews could have been freed through other forces, or they could have simply escaped themselves!?! Over that large period of time, anything could have happened…So how could it be that if not for Hashem then to this day we would still be enslaved in Egypt?

Rabbi Chaim Halberstam (AKA, Divrei Chaim) answers: The paragraph (“Avadim Hayinu”) begins by saying, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt,” then it says later that we would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. Now, what’s the difference between being slaves and being enslaved? The answer is that “slaves” refers to physical slavery (e.g. backbreaking work), whereas “enslaved” refers to spiritual slavery. Therefore, simply speaking, the Haggada is relating that had Hashem not taken us out of Egypt then we would have remained slaves to Pharaoh in the spiritual sense.

What, however, does it mean that we would still be “spiritual slaves” to Pharaoh and the Egyptians? If were free–then were free! What difference would it had made to our daily lives had Pharaoh freed us and not Hashem?

To answer this question, let’s examine the actual exodus in the Torah:

“It was when Pharaoh sent the nation forth, Hashem did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, which is close; for Hashem said, “Lest the nation have a change of heart when they see war, and they will return to Egypt.” So Hashem led the nation around, along the way of the desert by the Red Sea” (Shemos, 13:17-18).

The obvious question arises: By leading them through the desert, the nation of Israel had a change of heart because of the Egyptians chasing after them almost immediately!?! As the pesukim state, “They said to Moshe “What have you done to us to take us out of Egypt? Didn’t we tell you in Egypt, “Let us be, and we will serve Egypt” for it is better that we should serve Egypt than that we should die in the desert! (Shemos, 14;11-12). Therefore, what was Hashem’s reasoning for not leading Israel through the Philistines because of war, if by leading them through the desert they also had fear of war and a change of heart!?!