Pesach 3

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים.

The lashon b'chol dor v'dor is an unusual one. If the Mishnah is telling us about a chiyuv, so it's understood that that chiyuv is a constant chiyuv, a perennial. בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לאכול מצה. You don't find such a lashon. בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לאכול מרור. You don't find such the shmos. The reason is that it's self-understood that a mitzvah is nohages l'doros. בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו. Now let's leave that question aside for a minute. Halacha l'maaseh,

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים.

So what am I supposed to feel? I'm supposed to feel that I left Mitzrayim and I'm on the outskirts of Mitzrayim moving toward Yam Suf? But no, בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות עצמו ממצרים. I'm supposed to feel myself that I'm in Washington Heights, but instead of thinking that I've been here my whole life and that I've never experienced a cheirus, no, כאילו עכשיו יצאתי ממצרים and I find myself here and now. So which of the two is it? The same way

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות עצמו כאילו יצא ממצרים

means it wasn't that two days ago I was here in Washington Heights. No, two days ago I was in Mitzrayim, there was a bechina of Mitzrayim, and now I find myself out of Mitzrayim, so I find myself out of Mitzrayim here? Or no, I find myself out of Mitzrayim on the way to Yam Suf? The Rishonim explain in the beginning of the perek in the first Mishnah of Arvei Pesachim that אפילו עני שבישראל לא יאכל עד שיסב. So the Rishonim explain that we would have had a hava amina that the mitzvah of haseiba doesn't apply to an ani because what kind of derech cheirus is it for an ani? It's sort of incongruous with everything else of the ani's general lifestyle that he should be meiseiv. He's not meileh, you live in a palace, okay, so then the haseiba is takke consistent and takke in congruence with all the surroundings. But an ani is living in this run-down shack and he's wearing tattered clothing, so he leans on his left side, that's a derech cheirus? So afilu ani shebe'Yisrael, so l'chora you see that it's not that we're sort of ignoring the present. No, everyone is k'ilu yatza mi'Mitzrayim to where he is right now. The ani right now is shorei b'aniyus and we're not being ma'alim ayin from that fact, but אף על פי כן there's a chiyuv haseiba. So l'chora you see that the chiyuv of

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו יצא ממצרים

means I left Mitzrayim and I find myself where I am now. I find myself in Washington Heights. I find myself where I am now. If that's the case, so then the question arises, nicha, nicha a person finds himself out of Mitzrayim in Washington Heights, that's a tremendous geulah. But there have been periods Rachmana litzlan in our history where it's not clear, it's not immediately evident that where Jews found themselves was better and was preferable to Mitzrayim. When a Jew Rachmana litzlan found himself the leil haseder in Treblinka or in Auschwitz, Rachmana litzlan, so why should it be that חייב אדם לראות עצמו כאילו יצא ממצרים? Why as the Mishnah continues to say in kuf tes-zayin and as we quote in the Haggadah: לפיכך אנחנו חייבים להודות להלל לשבח לפאר? What's it to be modeh, mehallel, meshabe'ach, and mefa'er that a person left Mitzrayim and went to Treblinka, Rachmana litzlan? And if a person found himself the leil haseder as Jews did in Siberia during the Stalin... So what was the לפיכך אנחנו חייבים להודות להלל? So l'chora that's takeh the question is what's the pshat that underlies the bechol dor vador? That's what the Mishna is coming even before we understand why this is the case, but that's what the Mishna is telling us, don't make that mistake, right? The question is takeh a hava amina, but it's only a hava amina.

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים

to feel a sense of cheirus is even something which under the worst possible circumstances, that mitzvah still applies. Again, mitzvas matzah, there's no, there's no stira l'chora between again the worst possible conditions, Siberia, Treblinka, is no stira to mitzvas matzah. Avada no stira to mitzvas maror. I would have thought it's a stira to

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים.

Comes the Mishna and tells us bechol dor vador, it's not a stira. Why isn't it a stira l'chora? It takeh should be a stira. Takeh should be a stira. What's the cheirus? So you see clearly from this, I think the Maharal talks about this as well, that the essence of Geulas Mitzrayim wasn't a physical geula, but was a spiritual transformation. That through Geulas Mitzrayim, that in Mitzrayim we were meshubadim not only politically and physically to Mitzrayim, but spiritually and emotionally as well. הללו עובדי עבודה זרה והללו עובדי עבודה זרה the Malachim tainet. When we were at Yam Suf, so the Malachim tainet הללו עובדי עבודה זרה והללו עובדי עבודה זרה. So Geulas Mitzrayim wasn't only physical and political, but Galus Mitzrayim was primarily it was a spiritual galus in Mitzrayim as well. And hence Geulas Mitzrayim wasn't only a reversal of the physical and political bondage, but there was a spiritual transformation also. And what that spiritual transformation entailed is that in the future, no matter how horrible, no matter how horrific Rachmana Litzlan political and physical circumstances would be, that a Jew would have the capacity within him emotionally and spiritually to remain a ben chorin. Hence

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים,

even if, even if the gzardeen was that a Jew was taken out of Mitzrayim and parachuted into one of the darkest tekufas of Jewish history, but there was still a tremendous sense of cheirus. Because the avdus in every subsequent tekufa didn't have to be anything more than physical and political. But spiritually, that the transformation which was affected through Geulas Mitzrayim is something that remains embedded in every Jewish neshama. And there's always the capacity, no matter what the physical and political conditions, to remain a ben chorin spiritually. And that's what the mitzvah of

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים

to experience that spiritual transformation, that there's no constraint on that because no matter what the external conditions are, there's nothing which prevents experiencing that sense again, that spiritual transformation, that spiritual sense of cheirus. Ella mai, how is it possible, how is it possible to be mekayem such a mitzvah? How is it possible? L'maiseh, I mean maybe, I mean the sefarim tell us that the neshamos were in Mitzrayim the same way they were at Ma'amad Har Sinai, but I have a shvache zikoron. I don't claim to remember that on any conscious level. So how is it possible

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים

when I don't know, it's but l'maiseh I don't, I have no recollection of experiencing it. So how can it be a mitzvah? That, that a person should be able to experience that. Even given the pshat that we said, that the, the aspect of Yetzias Mitzrayim that we're talking about is not the physical or political, but is the spiritual. But even so, it would seem, it would seem to be a mitzvah שאין רוב הציבור יכול לקיימה לכאורה. Ella mai, the pshat is like this. At the end of Nirtzah so we have the piyut of Vayehi Bachatzi Halaila. Right?

אז רוב ניסים הפלאת בלילה בראש אשמורות זה הלילה גר צדק ניצחת זה הלילה

Avraham Avinu prevailed over the four kings in this night, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu הפחיד את לבן הארמי this night, and the same thing with Avimelech, באת אל מלך גרר בחלום הלילה. And according to some of the meforshim on the Haggadah, not only did all these things happen at chatzos, but all these things happened chatzos of ליל טו ניסן. Okay. Why, why is this relevant to Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim? Why is, why is this included in Nirtzah? So lichora the pshat is as follows. The paytan and whoever's responsible for its inclusion in Nirtzah is communicating a very, very fundamental, fundamental lesson, a yesod, and that is the following. We generally think of Tes-Vav Nissan, it's a red-letter day on the calendar because we went out of Mitzrayim. להבדיל אלף אלפי הבדלות, July 4th. Agam that we don't have a picnic, but July 4th. The paytan is telling us, but if you see how much else happened on the night of Tes-Vav Nissan, and especially the things happened long before Yetzias Mitzrayim ever happened, Ger Tzedek Nitzachta, באת אל מלך גרר, Hifchadta Arami, all these things happened the night of Tes-Vav Nissan, so apparently the correct understanding of the relationship between Yetzias Mitzrayim and Tes-Vav Nissan is inverted. It's not that Tes-Vav Nissan is significant because of Yetzias Mitzrayim, but Yetzias Mitzrayim happened when it did because Tes-Vav Nissan was mesugal l'kach. Or in other words, it's a fundamental, fundamental concept that we believe that time is heterogeneous. The same way in the natural world, in the physical world, there's a planting season and you can take the same seed and you can put it in the same, the same soil, and if you don't do it at the right time of year, it doesn't yield the same results. Aye, it's the same seed, it's the same soil, okay. But there's a time in the natural cycle which is conducive to striking roots and growth and there's a time which is less conducive to that. So everything in the physical world is intended to mirror the spiritual world, to give us a little bit of an understanding in derachniyus. It's difficult for us, since we're more karuv from guf than neshama, to relate directly to that which is spiritual. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world in such a way that everything in the physical world mirrors the spiritual world, so we find a mashal. for spiritual things in the physical world. So the same way in the physical world, we see that לא כל העתים שווים לא כל הזמנים שווים, the same thing is true in the spiritual world. The most famous example that which Chazal give is Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo, אלו עשרת ימי תשובה שבין ראש השנה ליום הכפורים. The same teshuva, the same charata, the same heartfelt tefillah is poel differently in Aseres Yemei Teshuva than it is at other times of the year. There's a bechina of Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo. לא כל העתים שווים לא כל הזמנים שווים. And so the same way that's true and there's a special quality, there's a special segulah to Aseres Yemei Teshuva, that's also true and there's a special quality as well to other zmanim of the year. What the paytan is telling us in Vayehi Bachatzi Halaila is Tes-Vov Nissan didn't become significant because of Geulas Mitzrayim, but there's a certain segulah in the zman of Tes-Vov Nissan, which is why Geulas Mitzrayim happened then and not any other time. And emes it's a meforeshe Gemara, meforeshe Gemara. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah darshans the pasuk of Leil Shimurim Hu, לילה המשומר ובא מששת ימי בראשית. Now as many seforim explain, time was created, right? Before there was a world there was no time. When there was only Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is limalah min hazman, so there was no such thing as zman. So time itself is something which is created. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created time. When did Hakadosh Baruch Hu create time? When he created everything else in sheishes yimei bereshis. So לילה המשומר ובא מששת ימי בראשית when Hakadosh Baruch Hu created time, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the night of Tes-Vov Nissan as a zman of geulah, as a zman of gilluy Shechinah. And that's why long before there was ever Yetzias Mitzrayim, there was geulah and gilluy Shechinah happening on the night of Tes-Vov Nissan. That's why גר צדק נצחתו זה הלילה, that's why Damtos Melech Gerar, that's why Hifchadeto Arami, and then Zera Bechorei Pasros etc. were also stricken bizeh halaila. Because the zman of Tes-Vov Nissan, Leil Tes-Vov Nissan, is a zman hamsugal legeulah, זמן המסוגל לגילוי שכינה. If that's the case, so then what would otherwise arguably takeh be an impossible expectation of חייב אדם לראות את עצמו, what's going to elevate me? I should feel like I was just transformed, like I was just so elevated spiritually? How? So the answer is if a person taps into the kedushas hayom, a person taps into the kedushas hazman, the segulas hazman that it's a zman of geulah, so again what's the חייב אדם לראות את עצמו? at smo again the spiritual aspect of Geulas Mitzrayim, the Segula of the Zman of Leil Tes-Vav Nissan, that can make that possible every year. And hence, that's what underlies the the mitzvah, the expectation of חייב אדם לראות את עצמו. Just want to add one one brief thought to that. We quote in in the Haggadah of ועברתי בארץ מצרים בלילה הזה v'hikaisei kol bechor v'avarti b'eretz mitzrayim ani v'lo malach v'hikaisei kol bechor ani v'lo saraf ani Hashem אני הוא ולא אחר. So what's pshat? What's pshat? Let's say משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you have a next door neighbor who makes your life miserable. Makes your life miserable. And someone tells you not to worry, he's going to take care of the next door neighbor. Does it make any difference to you whether he personally takes care of the next door neighbor or he sends a shaliach? The ikar is to get rid of, to see to it that the next door neighbor is dealt with. Doesn't make a difference to me whether whether he does it personally or whether he delegates it to a shaliach. And what's more, I don't even take it as more of an expression of chavivus and ahavah that he does it personally as opposed to delegating it. So what's the gedulah of ani v'lo malach ani v'lo saraf? Okay, so another pasuk tells us that ועבר השם לנגוף את מצרים v'ra'ah es hadam

ופסח השם על הפתח ולא יתן המשחית לבוא אל בתיכם לנגוף,

something something to that effect. So in the course of v'avar Hashem there's ufasach Hashem. Two pshatim Rashi and Onkelos, whether it means to be medaleg or whether it means lachamol lachamol. And of course eilu v'eilu. Dahinu, the flip side of v'hikaisei kol bechor is that whoever is implementing the mission of v'hikaisei kol bechor is also implementing the mission of v'chamalti aleichem. And if it's Hakadosh Baruch Hu bichvodo uvatmo who's over b'eretz Mitzrayim, so that also means that the chemlah and the ahavah which is being expressed to Klal Yisrael is being expressed also directly. If it was a malach or a saraf who was being over b'eretz Mitzrayim, so then that chemlah also would have been communicated indirectly. But if it's אני השם אני הוא ולא אחר, so then it also means that the chemlah is being received directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And l'chora the pshat in that is as follows. The basis for Kabbalas HaTorah, the basis for Maamad Har Sinai,

אנכי השם אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים.

The basis, the foundation for our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Yetzias Mitzrayim. Now Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that that relationship should be direct, that that relationship should be intimate. Avadai hem, not only in the sense of being כולו משועבד וקנוי לאדון, but also avadai hem in the sense of רבי יוחנן בן זכאי's mashal that רבי חנינא בן דוסא k'eved lifnei hamelech and an eved has constant access to the melech. A sar doesn't, a sar has to make an appointment to see the melech, an eved is a yotzei v'nichnas constantly without he doesn't need an invitation. The melech's private secretary walks in at any time. So avadai hem, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that our relationship with Him be direct, be personal, be intimate. What's the foundation? foundation for that relationship, אנכי ה' אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך, dehainu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, I didn't delegate the foundation for the relationship is Yetziat Mitzrayim, I didn't delegate that, there was nothing indirect, there were no intermediaries involved, and hence that establishes a basis again for a direct, personal, intimate relationship that we're supposed to develop with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So the night of the 15th of Nissan is a night of geulah, a zman which is mesugal for geulah. It's a zman which is mesugal for giluy Shechinah, ובמורא גדול זו גילוי שכינה. And it's a zman of ufasach Hashem, where Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the most direct way connected and kavyachol, as it were, reaches out to Klal Yisrael. And given that all of that segulah is present this year and every year in the night of Tes Vav Nissan, so it means it's there waiting for us to take advantage of. It means that through immersing ourselves in sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim, through the mitzvat achilah, through the amirah of Hallel, we try to experience that kedushat hayom, that segulas hayom of geulah, of giluy Shechinah. Rashi's pshat on ufasach is to be medaleg, to be medaleg. Listening to a tape recently, it says in Sefer Chassidut that the same way Hakadosh Baruch Hu was medaleg on Tes Vav Nissan, so too, it's a night of dilug for us as well in our avodat Hashem, dehainu, correlating with what we've been discussing until now, because it's a zman of geulah, because it's a zman of giluy Shechinah, as it were, a person can skip a grade, a person can skip a rung. The type of aliyah, the type of hisallut that a person can have on ליל ט"ו ניסן is even beofen shel dilug. A person, he can fast-forward the night of Tes Vav Nissan. That the same way Hakadosh Baruch Hu acted with a middah of dilug, so too, again, because all of that is latent within the segulas hazman, within the kedushas hazman, it's something, it's an opportunity that we have as well also to be medaleg and to achieve madregas in התקרבות להקדוש ברוך הוא which would otherwise not be possible.