Pesach, Emunah

Chacham hu shoel.

אם אינו חכם אשתו שואלתו. ואם לאו הוא שואל את עצמו. ואפילו שני תלמידי חכמים שיודעים בהלכות הפסח שואלים זה לזה.

Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim has to be within the framework of question-answer. Ad kedei kach, that if a person for whatever reason is making a seder by himself, he's not making a seder with anyone who can pose questions to him, he has to ask himself. V'haya ki yishalcha when the Torah refers to Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim is v'haya ki yishalcha. Okay? So there's a din of question-answer. But especially this hu shoel l'atzmo is אינו אומר אלא דורש. The Avnei Nezer comments how the mitzvos haseder emphasize dibbur. ידוע שכל ענייני חג הפסח בדיבור. First and foremost, l'sapeir b'yetzias mitzrayim. He then refers to the pasuk of v'amartem zevach pesach. Could be that what he has in mind, I don't know, it doesn't spell it out, the Rav zichrono livracha used to point out a machlokes Yerushalmi in the mishna,

רבן גמליאל היה אומר כל שלא אמר שלשה דברים אלו בפסח לא יצא ידי חובתו,

that the Rambam quotes it in perek zayin of chametz u'matza in context of mitzvas sippur. That it's a detail of mitzvas sippur that part of mitzvas sippur has to relate to the mitzvos of pesach, matza, umaror. The Ramban in two places, one in Milchemet in Brachos, so the Ramban says, the Ramban is trying to prove that sometimes you find the lashon of chazal of לא יצא ידי חובתו, that doesn't mean literally לא יצא ידי חובתו that even b'di'eved a person hasn't been yotzei, but it means לא יצא ידי חובתו לכתחילה. Says the Ramban and I'll prove it to you because

רבן גמליאל היה אומר כל שלא אמר שלשה דברים אלו בפסח לא יצא ידי חובתו

and loh shamanu that he has to be chozer v'ocheil the pesach, the matza, l'mor. So you see from the Ramban that

כל שלא אמר שלשה דברים אלו בפסח לא יצא ידי חובתו

means לא יצא ידי חובתו in terms of מצוות אכילת פסח מצה ומרור. That's why if you look in the mishna on kuf tes zayin, on the mishna where the mishna quotes the pasuk v'amartem zevach pesach, so you take a look the Maharsha, it seems to be indicated in Tosfos as well, that the mishna isn't quoting v'amartem zevach pesach as the pasuk which amplifies what the achilas pesach is about, but it's rather quoting this as the makor for the dibbur. It's quoting this as the makor for the dibbur. And v'amartem zevach pesach is in the context of achilas pesach. So even the mitzvas achila, the Torah says, at least l'chatchila, there has to be an element of dibbur. That not only is the dominant mitzvas halaila a mitzvas sippur, but even the mitzvas achila, the Torah says, have to be accompanied by dibbur. And the Avnei Nezer also refers what all the sefarim quote that Pesach is a contraction of peh-sach. the words Pe Sach. Okay. So what's the... what's the significance of all this? Golus Mitzrayim on two levels was precipitated by Loshon Hora. It was precipitated by Loshon Hora in terms of Yosef's Loshon Hora about the Shevatim which incited and generated their sinah and on one level Golus Mitzrayim evolved from that. And then more directly, Rashi quotes from Chazal and Moshe Rabbeinu says Achen noda hadavar that now I understand why the shibbud is so protracted, I understand why... why they deserve this plight of being avadim because they're dilaityorin, that they... they... they... mosur on each other, that they talk Loshon Hora. So Golus Mitzrayim results from Loshon Hora on these two levels. There is a passage in the Zohar Hakadosh that the Gra amongst others quotes this passage where the Zohar has this rather cryptic notion that dibbur was in golus, dibbur was in golus. So what does that mean on a... let's try to understand on a very very superficial level. What does it mean that dibbur was in golus? While we were in golus, so dibbur was in golus. L'chora the p'shat is like this. It would seem, ultimately we're going to modify this just to try to... try to preempt confusion, that the only need for dibbur is when a person is communicating with someone else. As long as I'm by myself I don't need dibbur. I know what I'm thinking. If I'm with someone else, so in order to convey to the other person, in order to connect with the other person, so I have to articulate, I have to verbalize that which I'm thinking. So dibbur represents again connection, represents a yichud and achdus. That's what dibbur represents. So the p'shat is like this. Klal Yisrael again whether going back to Yosef HaTzadik, whether Achen noda hadavar, engaged in Loshon Hora. Loshon Hora is the antithesis of dibbur in the sense that Loshon Hora creates and reflects divisiveness. It creates and reflects pirud between people. When there's pirud between people, so even if physiologically there's speech, but genuine dibbur is in golus. The onesh rachmana litzlan is avdus because one of the salient defining halachos of an eved is that an eved is ein lo yichus. An eved has no connection, not even related to his own children. An eved is ein lo yichus, doesn't connect. So hence Golus Mitzrayim is precipitated by Loshon Hora. That creates and reflects the... That drags dibbur into golus, and that's why Klal Yisroel is enslaved, because dibbur in golus means there's no connection. And Rachmana litzlan, sometimes the slave mentality is that the suffering is so great that a person loses the capacity to care for other people. As we've all heard such stories, Rachmana litzlan, from the concentration camps. Since golus Mitzrayim represents golus hadibbur, a, the abuse of speech, and b, pirud as opposed to being me'ached, the mitzvas halailah is a mitzvas sippur, and a mitzvas sippur vihigadeta levincha. We redeem dibbur by a, employing it for Talmud Torah, for mesora, sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is through Talmud Torah, and b, that Talmud Torah is connected, is vihigadeta levincha. But avdus and the loss of dibbur doesn't only affect one's connection with other people, but avdus and the loss of dibbur also affects one's connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Again, Chazal darshen

עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים לא ימכרו ממכרת עבד,

I forget how the lashon goes, that עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים. An eved not only loses his connection with other people, an eved loses his connection with the Ribbono Shel Olam as well. Avdus affects a person's connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu as well. He loses that communication also. Yet a third aspect of avdus, besides the עבד אין לו חיות, no connection with people, besides the עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים, besides that connection being weakened with the Ribbono Shel Olam, an eved even loses his sense of self. Al pi din, for so many halachos, an eved is keshor vachamor. So many halachos where an eved is keshor vachamor. The Sforno says on החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, he says the reason Chodesh Nissan is the first month is because now that you are free, so now metziuschem habechiri commences. Now you exist in the sense of a human being with freedom. Free will. Kol zman that a person is is totally meshubad to a master, it's not only that he has no connection with others. It's not only that that his subordination to his master prevents him from being meshubad to the Ribono Shel Olam, but even his his sense of self is compromised. He's keshor vechamoro. He has no metzius bechirais. The mitzva of dibbur of the Seder of Leil Pesach are intended not only to try to affect a geula in terms of the first aspect of galus of dibbur, of loss of communication, of עבד אין לו חיות of communication interpersonal, but it's also intended to affect, it doesn't culminate until Maamad Har Sinai, but it's also intended to affect geula in terms of these other two aspects as well. הללו עבדי השם ולא עבדי פרעה. But it's also a geula in terms of, again, on the level of bein adam leatzmo. Coming back to to the Gemara with which we began. So the Gemara says, the Baraisa says,

חכם בנו שואלו אם אינו חכם אשתו שואלתו ואם לאו הוא שואל לעצמו.

So clearly the pshat in the Baraisa here is that whatever it is that's accomplished by beno shoalo, whatever it is that's accomplished by ishto shoalto, that same that same mevukash, that same that same goal is is also achieved hu sho'alas atzmo. But how is that? How is that? When ishto shoalto, when beno shoalo, so then there's there's a dibbur, there's a communication. Hu sho'alas atzmo, so clearly the implication is that hu sho'alas atzmo there's also a dibbur. There's also a communication. What's the dibbur, what's the communication? So again, it it corresponds to this loss of of self that an eved has and is being redeemed. But what it means is this. What does it mean that that hu sho'alas atzmo? What does it mean? A person speaks to himself, so what it means on a on a deeper level, a person speaks to himself, again, it has to be that that it accomplishes what ishto shoalto, what beno shoalo accomplishes, what שני חכמים שואלים זה לזה accomplishes. Means there's communication. Means that a person can communicate with himself as well. What does it mean to have a communication bein adam leatzmo? What does that mean? So what it means is this. A person can know. A person can know. He can know all kinds of yesodos ha'emuna. He can know that the Ribono Shel Olam was was borei and is shamayim va'aretz and ואתה מחיה את כולם. A person can know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the nosein haTorah, המלמד תורה לעמו ישראל. A person can know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mashgiach al ha'olam. And yet, too often, even though we know the We don't act or react in a way that's consistent with these emunos ve'deios. We know that the Ribbono Shel Olam is mashgiach on the world. We know that Hakol MiYado Yisbarach. And yet, instead of relating to things that way, we get frustrated, we get angry, we're bo'et. So how is that? How is that possible? How is it possible that we know with such certitude and with such clarity and yet, in terms of our actions and reactions, it doesn't translate? So the answer is that we know it but we don't internalize it. We know it but it's not internalized. There's no ישים האדם אל לבו. If a person not only knows but a person internalizes that yedia, that emuna in hashgacha pratis, so then a person reacts to everything seeing it as a Yad Hashem, mekabel yissurim, looking to learn and derive a lesson from every experience, try to decipher what it is Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling him, what it is where it is Hakadosh Baruch Hu is pointing him, pointing him to, what it is Hakadosh Baruch Hu is asking of him. Provided that a person not only knows but also internalizes. Lekhora, what the Beis is telling us here, that hu shoel le'atzmo, is that Leil Pesach, the Leil HaSeder, is mesugal not only for a dibbur which creates or recreates a connection of vayehi sham legoy, not only that it creates or recreates a connection to create the bonds which which bind כלל ישראל זה לזה, but it's also mesugal for hu shoel le'atzmo, that a person can communicate to himself in the sense that a person internalizes. And that's what it means to communicate with oneself. And therefore it's takeh, it's not a, it's not a, it's not a charade to have someone asking questions, but really it's not a question because you're talking to yourself. No, it's takeh the same communication. When you talk to someone else, you're communicating. When he's shoel le'atzmo he's also communicating. The goal of the communication is that he should internalize. And that's takeh the pshat, what we say:

אפילו כולנו חכמים כולנו נבונים כולנו זקנים מצוה עלינו לספר ביציאת מצרים.

So what's takeh the pshat? Okay, it's always good to chazer. Ein hachi nami. Ein hachi nami, it's always good to chazer. אין בית מדרש בלא חידוש. Also true. Also true. But the emes is like this, that אפילו כולנו חכמים כולנו נבונים כולנו זקנים, but heyos that, that, that one of the goals of the mitzvas sippur, one of the goals of the mitzvas dibbur is that a person is talking to himself. So in terms of the ישים האדם אל לבו, in terms of internalizing that which a person knows, that's mamash אלו דברים שאין להם שיעור. That even, even lu yetzuyar, even yavo Eliyahu ve'yomar there's not going to be a chiddush in the Beis Hamedrash tonight. Even yavo Eliyahu ve'yomar, he's chazered it enough. He's chazered me'ah ve'achas pamim, it's enough. But in terms of the shoel le'atzmo, in terms of the hasheivosa el levavecha, so that's אלו דברים שאין להם שיעור. So whenever you have a mitzvah which is assigned a certain zman, it means that that zman is especially conducive, as especially mesugal to accomplishing that mitzvah. The yesod is, it's obviously developed in sifrei Chasidus, but the yesod basically is the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah, that's where the basic yesod kind of comes of

דרשו ה' בהמצאו אלו עשרה ימי תשובה שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים

that the time, that these ten days are especially mesugal to the avodah of that season of teshuvah. Pesach is a Yom Tov of emunah, a Yom Tov of not only reinforcing cognitively and intellectually our emunah, but also of shaveh l'atzmo, of afilu kulanu chachamim and even if we're not going to add anything on the level of our understanding, but מצוה עלינו לספר ביציאת מצרים to accomplish the shaveh l'atzmo. And if that's the mitzvas halailah, so it means that the time is especially mesugal for that. It's a time and it's an opportunity, an invaluable one, to make strides in again not only being mechazek what we know and what we believe, but also to make strides in internalizing it and in feeling it and in experiencing all, everything that happens in our lives through that lens of emunah.