Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: We Must Act as if We Were Actually Redeemed

[music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] >> Hey, everybody thank God for coming. Um I always debate uh for some reason that lately I've been getting a lot of a lot of colds. Uh So, on one hand I want to I want to teach and on the other hand I don't want to I don't want to give anybody anything. So, it's always a difficult It's always a difficult balance what to do. So, please be mokh with me ahead of time if God forbid I spread anything to you. But I I I think I I mean I have a routine cold. This uh It's not not comfortable, but baruch Hashem I don't think it's anything serious. Um as always we are praying for the lasting unity of Am Yisrael which will lead to victory and for all of those whose health has been affected by terror. Uh refuah shleimah for Avraham Mendel ben Sarah Hudel and for Chaya Nechama Malka bas Rivka Miriam and Chaya Reitza bas Chava Sarah, Yisrael ben Adina by Brandy and Jeffrey Gissal who's been a very very good friend of me and YU in general. Uh everyone should have a refuah shleimah. Aliyat neshama Avraham ben Sender by Fran Hissler, also a friend from Maryland with the following message. Uh Fran's beloved father whose 24th yahrtzeit is 22 Tevet uh 5762 and his uncle Binyamin ben Avraham who along with his wife uh Suri Wachter and children Rivka, Avraham Yosef, and Gittel Miriam were killed in the in the Holocaust. And again Hashem yinkom uh damam. [snorts] And uh leilui nishmat uh David J. Ben Noach, father of Naomi Goldberg. Uh finally the Weintraub and the Lowy families are helping dedicate this class for the refuah shleimah of Rabbi Achia ben Simcha, a very great teacher and inspiration to many and most worthy of zechut avot and specifically the zechut of the revered Rabbi Yitzchak Deloya uh who was the 16th century av bet din of Marrakesh. That's in in Morocco. Uh Again, he Chaki Chaki is a very very well-known and the chashuv rav going back to that time. And uh a dedication in memory of Harav Eliyahu Yehuda ben Harav Yaakov Rabbi Eli Schochet who was a long-time rabbi in the Los Angeles area. Uh great great scholar. Uh he actually wrote a number of of interesting books. One was a book about the Vilna Gaon and the Hasidic movement which was quite interesting. And the other, a little bit controversial was a very biography of Rabbi Saul Lieberman of the Jewish Theological Seminary. I I don't think I have time to go into that. Uh Rabbi Lieberman was a big big talmid chacham who had learned in Slabodka the great European yeshivas. But for various reasons, although he remained He was the Chazon Ish's cousin. Uh and he corresponded with the Chazon Ish quite a lot. And although he remained religious all of his life, but his whole professional career was in the Jewish Theological Seminary. So, you can imagine that Rabbi Lieberman is a bit of a controversial uh person. Uh and uh Rabbi Schochet wrote a very very ex- yet together with another uh with a collaborator wrote a very very excellent uh biography of Rabbi Saul Lieberman. So, he's a chashuv baruch and uh his grandson uh is an attorney in Los Angeles, but he was a long-time talmid of Or Sameach and baruch Hashem also someone I'm uh very close to. Uh finally an anonymous contribution was made for the nitzachon of all of our chayalim Hashem's protection for all of Klal Yisrael and for the geulah shleimah uh soon. Amen. You know, what can I say? I mean, all of us uh can see that the world is falling apart in a million different ways. Uh the war in Eretz Yisrael was only one part of a thing that is spreading in every single part of every single system. Uh and uh in many many ways, as Maharal reminds us uh before Mashiach comes we have to be like a seed and a seed totally disintegrates in the ground before it begins to regenerate. So, we have to realize that all of the systems >> [snorts] >> that we depend on, whether it be science, economics, politics, whatever it would be, the systems all fall apart. Now, what's your reaction when all of the convenient systems that you relied upon fall apart? Some people go crazy and commit suicide. I mean, there's nothing to hold on to. But a Jewish understanding is everything falls apart because all you have is God and all you need is God. So, uh the American coin is very instructive. In God we trust. Now, some people interpret it to mean in God as he's referring to the money, to the coin. In God This is the God. But, you know, we don't look at it that way. We look at In God we trust as the statement that ultimately we have to trust in Hashem. So, precisely when we're most helpless and most vulnerable and there's like nothing we can really do to fix things that's when we're ready for geulah because that's when we realize ein lanu lehischaen ela Alavinu sheba shamayim. We have no one to rely upon except Hakadosh Baruch Hu and that's a very important lesson. And sometimes we learn that lesson in a painful way. We don't learn it in an easy way. We learn it in a painful way, but out of that pain comes the birth of Mashiach. So, there there are two metaphors, right? There is the labor pains of Mashiach looking at geulah as a birth process. And then there is the seed metaphor of the seed disintegrating. But both metaphors kind of come out the same way. Uh that it's going to be a difficult time. But out of that difficulty will come great great light and great great redemption. So, be ezrat Hashem may we be zocheh >> [snorts] >> just as we've experienced so much of the dislocations and so much of the difficulties, may we be zocheh to experience the the redemption and uh and the light of Hashem. So, we are beginning um the second Chumash. It's a big thing. Uh we're leaving Chumash Bereishit at least for now. We're entering the world of Shemot. >> [snorts] >> And the Netziv in his introduction to the book of Shemot has a very interesting thing. He points out that rabbinically the rabbis gave a nickname to every Chumash. Uh so, uh Bereishit is called Sefer Hayashar the book of the upright because it describes the lives of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov who are paradigms of being upright. The book of Shemot I'll get to in a minute. The book of Vayikra is called Torat Kohanim, the laws of the Kohain because Vayikra contains >> [snorts] >> all of the korbanot. And by the way, Leviticus actually means that the laws of the Levi. Uh we then come to Bamidbar and that is called Chumash Hapekudim, the Chumash of censuses, the Chumash of counting. So, actually the English The English name Numbers corresponds to the rabbinic name because Bamidbar begins with a census and it ends with a census. And Sefer Devarim is called Mishneh Torah uh the same name that the Rambam later gave to his compendium. Mishneh Torah, a repetition of the Torah because a lot of the book of Devarim is Moshe Rabbeinu reviewing >> [snorts] >> with different additions and augmentations, mitzvot that were given earlier and history that was uh that had occurred earlier. Right? So, we have Sefer Hayashar, we have Torat Kohanim, we have Chumash Hapekudim, we have Mishneh Torah. What is the name of the book of Shemot? So, the Bahag, the Baal Halachot Gedolot is one of the Gaonim who says, "Ah, the name of Shemot is Chumash Hasheni." The second Chumash. >> [clears throat] >> You know, listen, you you you could have come up with something better than that. I mean, that that's not really uh that's not really saying much. Chumash Hasheni? Why why why is that How is that a description? So, the Netziv explains the Bahag in a very nice way. Chumash Hasheni doesn't mean the second Chumash. I mean, that's obvious. It means Bereishit part two. In other words, this nickname is actually teaching us that Shemot is an integral uh second act of Bereishit. Because Bereishit establishes that God created the world. Shemot tells us why God created the world. There is the how and there is the why. I walk away from Bereishit, God is the creator. By the way, I I don't want to get into uh peripheral issues. But fundamentally, although there's a lot that we'd have to talk about to flesh this out that is why Judaism fundamentally does not have much of a problem with evolution or age of the earth or any type of scientific cosmological theory simply because the Chumash is not designed to teach me the scientific order of creation. The primary lesson of Bereishit is that there is a creator and there is a creation and things are not a product of randomness or chaos. >> [snorts] >> Indeed, Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch said at the time that Darwin's theory of evolution was first published, The Origin of Species, so Hirsch Rav Hirsch was asked whether a Torah Jew could accept the theory of evolution. Um so Rav Hirsch gave two of two points. Point number one is the theory is a theory, it hasn't been proven, and by the way, that's still true to this very day. But he then said, "Even if it could be proven to a 100% degree of certainty, even if we were absolutely clear that this is the way God created the world, as long as you believe that it's God that did it. We can accept any type of theory because God is infinite, >> [snorts] >> and God has infinite tools in his toolbox. So let it be evolution. Now Now granted, you're going to have to explain different particular verses, but you know, there are explanations to all of those things. But philosophically, as long as you believe that God created the world, how he did it, when he did it, is even not even it's not fundamentally important. So Bereishit establishes the notion that God is creator. But Bereishit does not yet tell you why God created the world. And Shemot tells us because of the role of the Jewish people in saying as Rashi himself brings uh in Bereishit, but it's but this is shown in Shemot, that it's the creation of the Jewish people that is the hashlamah, that is the completion and the purpose and the justification for the world that God has created. And therefore, then the Netziv says, "Chumash Hashani doesn't just mean second Chumash, Chumash Hashani means part two of Bereishit to understand that Shemot is a continuation of the creation narrative." Now, in truth, however, >> [snorts] >> although the Bahag uh uses Chumash Hashani, the Ramban in his Hakdamah gives another name for Shemot. Gives a very good name for Shemot. He calls Shemot Sefer Hageulah, the the book of redemption. The book of redemption. And he points out that [snorts] all of Shemot is an uphill ascent to higher and higher levels with unfortunately a few U-turns in the wrong direction. We are liberated from the slavery of Egypt. We are then positioned to receive God's Torah. And then we build a tabernacle, we build a Mishkan that brings the divine presence into the world and into our hearts and souls. It is about the creation of a Jewish people with a purpose and a commitment, leaving the slavery of Egypt, which we'll talk about, and culminating in building the Mishkan. >> [snorts] >> Now granted, as I say, there are some wrong turns like the Cheit Ha'Egel, etc., but in a sense, they are diversions from the path that the book of Shemot is laying out. So So we have a machlokes. In other words, I mean, it's not a contradiction. The Bahag calls Shemot Chumash Hashani. The Ramban calls Shemot Sefer Hageulah. Now there's no question >> [snorts] >> that Yitziat Mitzrayim, of course, this parsha talks about the enslavement of the Jewish people. The truth is, Yitziat Mitzrayim covers either the first three or the first four parshas of Shemot, meaning we don't leave Mitzrayim until Parshas Bo, and we don't have the splitting of the Red Sea until Parshas Beshalach. So this is a long story that will unfold over several parshas, but I think I can use Shemot, the first parsha, to talk a little bit about the central importance of the Exodus in the formation of the Jewish experience. Remembering that God took us out of Egypt, remembering that we were slaves, is so fundamental >> [snorts] >> that not only do we have a special mitzvah once a year to get together and recount the story at length, that of course is the mitzvah of Haggadah, and technically that is called Sipur Yitziat Mitzrayim, and that's an annual mitzvah. Again, in Chutz La'Aretz, it's for two days because of the calendrical doubt, but it's one day, one night a year, you got to tell the long story. But in point of fact, there is a mitzvah every single day to at least mention and remember, verbally mention and remember that God took us out of Egypt. Uh it is in our tefillin, but we also have to mention it. So thus in the Shema, the Shema has three paragraphs, but the truth of the matter is, the first two paragraphs are Shema, the third paragraph about tzitzit is not really part of K'riat Shema. But one of the reasons why we say it in the morning and at night is because of the verse, "Ani Hashem Elokeichem, I am the Lord your God, asher hotzeisi etchem me'eretz Mitzrayim, who took you out of the land of Egypt." And if you look at your trusty ArtScroll Siddur, you will see there's a little asterisk that says, "Have intention to fulfill the Torah's commandment to remember the Exodus." And this is called Zechirat Yitziat Mitzrayim. In other words, these are two different names. The elaborate narrative that we have Pesach night is called Sipur Yitziat Mitzrayim. The cursory abbreviated narrative, or not a narrative, just a statement, that we have morning and night >> [snorts] >> uh is called Zechirat Yitziat Mitzrayim, and it's based on the pasuk, and you may remember this from the Haggadah itself, "L'maan tizkor et yom tzeis'cha me'eretz Mitzrayim, you shall remember the day that you left Egypt kol y'mei chayyecha, all the days of your night of your life, rather. Uh now this is in the Haggadah, but it's actually taken from a Mishnah at the [snorts] end of the first perek of Brachot. And again, uh the Mishnah really gives us a machlokes that maybe people are more familiar with from the Haggadah, but the Haggadah got it from the Mishnah. The The word all the days of your life. The word all is a superfluous word. The Torah could have said, "You shall remember the Exodus the days of your life." What is the meaning of all the days of your life? So we have a machlokes >> [snorts] >> between two rabbis, Ben Zoma and the Sages. Ben Zoma says, "If it just would have said the days of your life, you would have thought you only have to mention the Exodus during the day because that's when we actually left." So the call all the days tells me you're even much liable to do it at night. Now [snorts] the Sages disagree with that. The Sages actually say you don't have to do it at night. Only in the day. And kol is teaching me another thing, that even when Mashiach comes and the later redemption seems to be so much more greater than the earlier redemption, so why would I bother mentioning Yitziat Mitzrayim? I still have to mention it even with the Mashiach. [clears throat] So again, let's keep in mind that the simple meaning of this machlokes is these are two mutually exclusive possibilities. If you do it at night, you don't do it when Mashiach comes. Now this Ben Zoma is of the opinion, and the Gemara says this explicitly, that we are not going to mention Yitziat Mitzrayim when Mashiach comes. You see, because he's not using kol to be marbeh y'mot ha'Mashiach. He's using kol to be marbeh night. >> [snorts] >> The Chachamim, on the other hand, who use kol to be marbeh y'mot ha'Mashiach, they would not do it at night. Meaning, you either do it at night and won't do it when Mashiach comes, or you do it even when Mashiach comes, but you're not going to do it at night. And those are the two possibilities the Gemara is setting up. >> [snorts] >> Now I do want to point out a little bit of an anomaly, which I'm not going to answer tonight, and that is, countless people make a big mistake here. And they think that this is a machlokes about the Seder. Now, that's impossible. If If So Ben Zoma says you do it at night. Okay, fine. But the Chachamim say you don't do it at night. So what does that mean? They didn't have a Seder? So So again, you have to be sure to understand this. The machlokes between Ben Zoma and the Chachamim is pertaining to the mitzvah of the whole year. Yes, according to the Chachamim, the whole year you only mention the Exodus in the day, and you don't mention the Exodus at night. But Leil Pesach, the actual anniversary of the plague of the firstborn, everybody's modeh. In other words, there's no machlokes. Uh in fact, one can even ask a question, just a question, I'm not going to answer this either. >> [snorts] >> Why is this even brought in the Haggadah at all? Like the standard answer somebody will give you is an incorrect answer. They'll say, "Well, we need to establish that you have to mention the Exodus at night to explain why we're having a seder." I mean, that would be the answer the average person might say. We're establishing why we're making a seder at night. That is 100% incorrect. Because even if you follow the view that there's no daily mitzvah of the nighttime, only the day, Lail Seder is 100% at night, derived from other verses. If that's so, I'll leave you with yet another question or two questions. Number one, if the Ben Zoma and the Hachamim is about the daily mitzvah, and it has no relevance to Lail Seder, so why is it in the Haggadah? The Haggadah is focusing on the annual mitzvah. Number two is maybe the bit of an anomaly, and that is if the say you don't do it at night during the year, it's only day and not night, then why Lail Seder is only night and not day? I mean, you're you're reversing it. At least Ben Zoma, during the year, it's night and day, Lail Seder it's night. Okay, at least you're picking up something. But like the Hachamim, it's quite literally a reversal. During the year, only day and not night, according to them, and on Lail Pesach, only night and not day. Okay, question to think about. We got a long time till Pesach. Uh I don't want to answer it, but I just want to bring out the point. And uh I urge if any of you any of you have uh children learning in yeshivas, that they should know these things, ask them this question, and be sure that they can come up with the correct answer. And that is or some answer, and that is what is this doing in the Haggadah? It's from a mission in Brachot, but it has no it has no connection to the narrative of the Haggadah per se. Okay. But be it as it may, uh this was a digression. The main point here simply is that Mitzrayim is so pivotal to our identity as Jews that we have to remember it every single day. And we actually pass it like Ben Zoma, so it's every day and every every night. Night as well. >> [snorts] >> Now, on a simple level, it's important because that establishes God's claim on us, so to speak. He liberated us from slavery, so we become the slaves of Baruch. What do the Ten Commandments say? I know he has no power. [clears throat] I am the Lord your God, and it doesn't say who created heaven and earth. It says I would say so. >> [snorts] >> I took you out from the land of Mitzrayim, the land of slavery. Okay, so in the sense it establishes God's claim over us. He liberated us. >> [snorts] >> But I want to point out another aspect of the Exodus. And this too is in the Haggadah, and this too is taken from the Mishna. Actually, you have to understand almost everything in the Haggadah is taken from another source. Right, the Haggadah is an anthology. It is a compilation of passages from the Mishna, the Gemara, the Midrash. And of course, the songs are added later from the Middle Ages. They're not even part of the original Haggadah anyway. And there's a line in the Haggadah that is taken from the Mishna. I have a lot of them. Let me ask that to me. Every person must regard themselves to you yet some in Mitzrayim as if they themselves were liberated from Egypt. We're not just remembering what Hashem did for [snorts] our ancestors. We are to feel as if Hashem himself liberated me. I have a lot of them. Let me ask that to me. To you yet who yet some in Mitzrayim. >> [snorts] >> Now, that's a very extreme claim. It's one thing to say, I'm grateful for what God did to my ancestors, cuz that's why I'm here. Okay. But that's not quite the same thing as saying it's as if I was personally redeemed. And yet, that's what the Haggadah says. So, how do you understand that? How do we understand a person must regard himself as if they themselves were liberated from Egypt. So, the Rambam actually makes it much easier by the addition of one letter to the sentence. Hebrew and English, not so much modern Hebrew. Actually, modern Hebrew is a fairly verbose language, but but but English and English is a very very concise and exact language, and sometimes a single letter changes the whole meaning. >> [clears throat] >> The Rambam scares us. >> [snorts] >> In English and English, let me ask that to me. He changes the word English to English. He adds a hey. What's the difference? English would mean I have to look at myself as if I was taken out of Egypt. That's a mitzvah of emotion and feeling. How do I get there? English means I must demonstrate an act as if I'm being liberated. So, that's the ritual of reclining, four cups. So, according to the Rambam, it's not so difficult. I have a lot of them. Let me ask that to me. is a behavioral commandment, not an emotional experience. So, the Rambam does make it a lot easier. But most we show them, their is I have a lot of them. English and English. So, how is that so? Meaning, even if I could achieve it, what's the point? Because because here here's the problem. I was not in Egypt. I certainly was not a slave in Egypt. So, in what way am I supposed to fake it? What in what way am I supposed to imagine that I was a slave in Egypt? What's the point of that? Meaning, it's not just it's hard to do. What's the point of something that's not true? >> [snorts] >> So, one explanation is actually based on although the Rambam doesn't need it because of his but based on another thought the Rambam expressed, uh you'd have an explanation for the English And as the Rambam says, >> [cough] >> that it is the nature of a person that we don't have we don't have gratitude for things that we didn't directly experience. So, for example, >> [sighs] >> a person can have a being healthy, but they may not appreciate it until they have sickness, and they get better, and then they appreciate the gift of health. A person born into wealth or comfort does not have the same appreciation as somebody who is struggling in poverty and got into a better situation. Even though as the argues, in some ways the should be larger. Meaning, if I was born into comfort, I should be more grateful to God. That's not the way it is. Those of you that may have parents or grandparents who came from persecuted environments, either survivors of the Holocaust or from the former Soviet Union, or if you're surviving from Arab countries, and suffered a tremendous amount, they appreciate so much being in a free country, whether it's the United States, and especially whether it's Israel. >> [snorts] >> It's the nature of a person that we don't appreciate the good in our lives unless we've also experienced the difficulties. So, the Rambam writes that it is useful to harness the power of imagination to imagine what it is like to be a slave. It's similar, if I could use a modern analogy, it's similar to what actors called method acting. If you know Marlon Brando and Lee Strasberg, uh this idea of >> [snorts] >> putting yourself in a role. You literally imagine that you're the person that you're playing. And sometimes it's even dangerous. I mean, they say that I I I don't know. I have no idea, but um there was an actor who was playing a notorious villain, the Joker, in the Batman movie. Heath Ledger, and he committed suicide. So, the says, I have no idea if it's true, the says that he was so into penetrating the evil of this character that it literally took him over, and his life became unbearable. I mean, it's an interesting theory, and you know, I wonder if such a thing can in fact be so. But the Rambam does write that the power of imagination is very potent, and we can use the power of imagination to generate feelings of gratitude. Meaning, you literally try to picture what it's like to be a slave. The humiliation, the hardship, the whippings, the lack of privacy, the lack of autonomy, the separation of families. And think what it would be like for you to experience that. And that generates gratitude. So, according to this, >> [snorts] >> Haya Adam Lirot Etzmo K'ilu Yatzah Mimitzrayim is not a true statement. It's a false statement, but it's the harnessing of the power of imagination to generate feelings of gratitude. Okay, so that would be one explanation for Haya Adam Lirot. So, I mentioned the Rambam, Maharal, it's behavioral. And I mentioned this explanation, which is also based on another thought of the Rambam, that harnessing the power of method acting or imagination to put yourself in the situation. And what's the purpose? That way you feel the gratitude you're supposed to feel. But there's a third explanation that is offered by the Baal HaTanya. A very powerful explanation, although it does not necessarily comport >> [snorts] >> with the literal meaning of the statement. And he says, Mitzrayim doesn't have to be Egypt. We translated the statement, "Each person must regard themselves as if they were taken out of Egypt." And the question was, "I was never in Egypt." So, I wasn't taken out of Egypt. Says the Baal HaTanya, Mitzrayim is both a country, and it's also a certain attitude or ideology. Mitzrayim comes from borders, boundaries, blockages, restrictions. >> [snorts] >> David Hamelech, when he describes a state of utter despair, this is from Hallel. Min Hametzar Karasi Kah. Metzar Mitzrayim, from the narrow confining places I call out to God. Anani [clears throat] Bamerchav Kah. God has answered me with expansiveness. Mitzrayim. And says the Baal HaTanya, based on this understanding, it makes no difference if you were in Egypt or not in Egypt. Every person has their own Mitzrayim. Every person has their blockage. Every person has their enslaver. And the enslaver that is within you is much, much more powerful than the enslaver that is outside of me. The enslaver within me, my arrogance, my selfishness, my egotism, or my depression, my lack of self-confidence, my inability to have compassion for others or for myself. These are blockages. These are things that prevent me from really connecting to my neshama, >> [cough] >> and they prevent [clears throat] me from becoming the person >> [snorts] >> that I was intended to become. And they prevent me from fulfilling my tafkid. That's my Mitzrayim. And as the saying goes, based on an old cigarette commercial, it's easier to take the Jew out of Mitzrayim than it is to take Mitzrayim out of the Jew. For the people who are really old, this is an old Salem one. You can take Salem out of the country, but you can't take the country out of Salem. But that's that's ancient. That's really, really ancient. Okay. Uh whatever. Okay, [laughter] I see some people remember. Okay, but back with Mitzrayim, it's a good it's a good it's a very good thought. So, says the Baal HaTanya, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu took the Jews out of Mitzrayim, >> [cough and clears throat] >> he puts a spiritual force in the world that allows each and every one of us to latch on to Yetziat Mitzrayim, to become liberated from the Mitzrayims that enslave us. >> [snorts] >> And the meaning that each person must regard themselves >> [gasps] >> as if they were taken out of Mitzrayim means each person must recognize their inner Mitzrayim and have emunah in Hashem and in themselves that by connecting to the spiritual aura and power of Yetziat Mitzrayim, I can be liberated from my own Mitzrayims. Now, in its fullest intensity, this is what happens around Pesach time. That's why Pesach is called Zman Cheiruteinu, the season of our freedom. See what the Baal HaTanya is saying? Our freedom doesn't just mean the Jewish people were liberated from Mitzrayim. We become liberated from our own inner Mitzrayims. Zman Cheiruteinu. So, that happens during Pesach. >> [clears throat] >> But [snorts] these Sefarim Hakadoshim tell us that in a smaller degree, in a microcosm, when we read the parshiot of Yetziat Mitzrayim, that light is shining as well. Shemot, Va'eira. As you know, uh these weeks actually go by an abbreviation, Shemot, Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim. But Shemot, Va'eira is an abbreviation, Shemot, Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim. And the taat is Terumah, Tetzaveh, building a Mishkan, which to some degree is the culmination of Yetziat Mitzrayim. The word Shemot [clears throat] itself means wayward children. So, these weeks are said to be very mesugal for doing teshuvah in different areas of life. Many people emphasize I'm sorry. Many people emphasize the laws of niddah, the laws of tznius, but this is a time for purification and coming back to God. Why? Because the light of Yetziat Mitzrayim is here, which allows us to be liberated from the Mitzrayim that enslaves us. >> [snorts] >> So, what that means is, when you go through the story of the Exodus, whether in the Chumash or whether in the Haggadah later, there's really a double narrative that's going on. There is, of course, the great historical experience of the Jewish people being liberated by God from Egypt, culminating in Matan Torah and the building of a Mishkan with the Egel as an unfortunate side trip. And that is the great national story of Am Yisrael. That is the story of us as a nation that we have to remember every day, and especially we pass down to our children lovingly every year. And of course, we don't deny that historical narrative. But there's another aspect to this story that is much more private, intimate, idiosyncratic. Maybe you share it, and maybe you don't share it. And that is the Mitzrayims that we go through in our own lives, which are also capable of being liberated from through this process. So, there are like multiple things going on in the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Now, people often ask, you know, sometimes in more progressive movements, they like to make many things in the Torah non-historical, but they like to make it metaphors. You know, the Avot are archetypes. Yetziat Mitzrayim didn't really happen. Right? You'll hear this. And people will often ask the question, "Well, is the Torah history, or is the Torah metaphor?" And my answer is, "Yes." Uh metaphor and history are not contradictory. We certainly believe in the historical historicity of the Torah. There was an Avraham, there was a Yitzchak, there was a Yaakov. We were slaves in Egypt, and there were 10 plagues, and there was creation of the world. We don't say it's a mashal, we don't say it's a metaphor. It happened. But at the same time, history itself is a metaphor for deeper spiritual forces >> [clears throat and snorts] >> that are going around. Okay? So, it is the metaphor for the liberation of the inner Mitzrayims that are within every single human being that Pesach and these parshiot in microcosm >> [snorts] >> offer a means to become liberated. Right? So, it's important to understand this. History and metaphor are not contradictory. History itself is a metaphor. I mean, this is mainstream Kabbalah, so to speak, in which every single event is always an archetype of a much larger structure. I mean, that that's exactly the way Kabbalah approaches the entire Torah in a metaphorical way without denying the is accuracy of the events that that took place. So now therefore I want to take one halakhic aspect of how the Haggadah is structured the narrative of Mizraim and show how it may have that double meaning. >> [snorts] >> Again, in order to understand this, let me just make make the point that the Torah does obligate that once a year we have an extended narrative about the story of the Exodus. That is a mitzvah in the Torah. But at the same time, it's important to know that the Torah does not prescribe a particular text. Meaning as far as the Torah is concerned you tell the story in your own words. And it can differ from year to year. There is no liturgical text >> [cough] >> that the Torah requires. The Haggadah itself is a bit of a mystery who who who exactly put together the Haggadah, but the simplest understanding is it's a product, like much of our liturgy, of the Anshei Knesset Haggedolah. I don't mean the songs that came later, but the Haggadah structure uh they put it together. Maybe it's even later than that. Uh but under Torah law there was no prescribed liturgical text. Nevertheless, there were certain halakhic requirements that even if you're telling your own story, you got to do it in a certain way. And the Haggadah in many ways is reflecting those halakhic requirements. So I want to mention one halakhic requirement that that's very interesting. It says when you do the mitzvah of recounting the Exodus, not during the year, but Leil Pesach you have to begin with the negative and move to the positive. You can't just talk about redemption. You got to talk about the negatives. This is called in the Mishna >> [snorts] >> in Arvei Psachim, this is not mentioned in the Haggadah, but it says maskhil bignus you begin with the degradation and shame um mesayem bishvach and you conclude with praise >> [snorts] >> for the redemption. Meaning you can't just do the good stuff. You got to start with the bad stuff. There's actually a machlokes in the Gemara what bad stuff are you supposed to start off with? One says slavery and the other says idolatry. We were spiritually idolaters and that's why the Haggadah has two story lines. It has a story line that we were slaves to Pharaoh and it also has a story line we were idol worshipers. Uh Terach was was really not what cuz it's incorporating both both story lines. Okay. Now once again we can ask the question, why is it so important to begin with the bad? So one answer might be exactly the Rambam that I mentioned before, same idea that we only appreciate good when we remember the bad. If we don't think about the bad, we don't appreciate the good. But that's a perfectly valid argument. We know that from human experience. But here is a certain problem here. The problem is that God gave me the bad. God told Avram your children are going to be enslaved in a land that is not theirs for 400 years and they will be persecuted and eventually they will leave. So >> [cough] >> it's hard to say that by remembering the bad I'll be so grateful to God for taking me out. Cuz my reaction might be why did you put me in? Well, God says, well, I took you out 190 years earlier. You should have been there 400 years. I took you out after 210 years. Be grateful. Well, I mean let's imagine somebody threw me into a jail cell. I mean I can say it's I mean I have gazillion infinite I mean that's what that was Hamas expected somehow that the hostages should be grateful, grateful to the great chesed that we let you go. And we even gave you a bag of goodies, whatever they gave in in those in those bags. Where is the hakaras hatov? I mean that's absurd. That's crazy. So God decreed that we would be slaves. So how can remembering that slavery kind of bring me to a higher level of hakaras hatov? Why did you put me in? >> [snorts] >> So as a result there's a deeper meaning here. The idea of remembering the bad isn't only a before and after comparison. Remember the bad so you appreciate the good. But on a deeper level the bad itself is part of God's redemption. You see it's not that we went through total bad stuff so now I'm grateful for the good stuff. But there's an understanding >> [snorts] >> that the slavery itself was part of the redemption. We meaning the following. How do you understand freedom? I was free Am Yisrael was free, Bnei Yaakov were free we became slaves we became liberated. If you understood that the consequence of liberation was simply putting us back to where we were then indeed I'm not going to be grateful. You made me a slave and then you just put me back to where I was in the first place. But if we understand that the slavery, not just freedom the slavery itself created transformations within us gifts realization of personality traits and kochos that would not have been realized without that experience then you understand we are grateful not only for the slavery but for the freedom. We are grateful even for the slavery. So so what does this mean practically? Meaning I'm now making the point maskhil bignus umesayem bishvach means we're grateful to God not only for the freedom, we are grateful to God that we were slaves. Why would I be grateful to God that we were slaves? So I'm going to mention two things. There are different avenues you can talk about. I [snorts] want to mention two particular things. I mentioned last week uh the Gemara inside that that the Jewish people after 210 years in Egypt >> [cough] >> were at a very very low level. They were in the 49th level of tumah and had they remained even another minute >> [snorts] >> they would have hit level 50. But they had certain zechuyos which is essentially means they didn't assimilate. They didn't change their language. They didn't change their Jewish names. They didn't change their Jewish clothing. They didn't intermarry. Now these were not because they were from they were idol worshipers and they weren't doing bris milah. You can't get worse than that. But they had a certain ethnic identification as Jews. And [snorts] although that is not the ultimate purpose of redemption but that's a necessary condition for redemption. Identification with the Jewish people sharing their pain rejoicing in their happiness. Now so the bottom line seems to be that the Gemara says that even though they reached the 49th level of tumah, they didn't assimilate ethnically. Question is this seems to be contradicted by a midrashic text uh the Beis Halevi brings that says that when the tribes died >> [cough] >> and Yosef in particular died so the survivors said if we were so successful in Egypt when we were living separately how much more so will we be successful if we assimilate and become like the Egyptians. And therefore after Yosef died the Jewish people decided we want to be like the Egyptians. So God put hatred in the hearts of Pharaoh that the more the Jewish people wanted to become close to Mizraim the more they were driven away. This was God's gift. It gave us a sense of being different. So the Beis Halevi simply points out, well, which is it? On one hand you tell me we didn't assimilate on the other hand you tell me we did assimilate. Says the Beis Halevi very pashut before slavery we were in the process of assimilation. As a result of the slavery we realized we have to be different. The gift of slavery was >> [snorts] >> it made the Jew realize that they have to be separate. They have to be different. Now now again uh Jews contribute to every society they're in unlike other groups which I I'm not going to mention. Uh Jews are invariably a positive influence in society. United States, Europe, whatever it is. But at the same time we have to realize that we have to be different, we have to be separated. As Rav Soloveitchik pointed out >> [snorts] >> this is what Avraham Avinu said to Ephron HaChiti when he was buying the Me'aras Hamachpelah for Sarah so he described himself as ger vetoshav anochi imakhem. I am a stranger and a resident among you. Says Rav Soloveitchik, this is the contradictory dual identity of a Jew in a non-Jewish world. >> [snorts] >> We are a resident. We contribute. We try to be productive members of society. We are a toshav. But we also have to have a sense of being a You're not convert, but being stranger in that way. So, if we ask, going back, what is the positivity of this? Answer, it made us realize we have to be separate. This is actually in some ways you might describe this as the hidden blessing of anti-Semitism. The hidden blessing of anti-Semitism is it makes the Jew realize that we have to have our separateness. Or as the mayor Shapiro once put it, >> [snorts] >> if a Jew doesn't make kiddush, the will make havdalah. Havdalah means separation. Meaning, a Jew is supposed to sanctify his life, you don't make kiddush, they'll make havdalah for you. That's one aspect. >> [snorts] >> But but surprisingly, there's another aspect of slavery, slavery, not freedom, slavery, that actually moves in the opposite direction. It moves in the direction of universalism. The Torah says very very often, when it talks about protecting the convert or the the widow, the orphan, the poor, the vulnerable, the oppressed in society, what is the Torah's narrative over and over again? Remember that you were slaves in Mitzrayim. Meaning, even though we might achieve affluence, >> [snorts] >> the memory of the Exodus is emblazoned in our consciousness to remind us to be sensitive to those who suffer, to those in need, to those who are vulnerable, Jewish or non-Jewish. Remember, when you're sitting high and mighty in your land, don't forget the people at the bottom of the totem pole, because you were once there. And by remembering that experience, that generates the empathy that gives rise to compassion. Kind of the opposite. In other words, the first message was slavery teaches me got to be separate from them. But the second lesson is I have to have compassion for those who are suffering. So, as a result, >> [snorts] >> I mean, again, people take wrong turns all the time, but this is why so many Jews were involved in the civil rights movement both in the United States and in South Africa, in the apartheid. Um this is even why this is going to be a little controversial, so don't pillory me. But you know, obviously the um a lot of the Jews who, you know, call Israel guilty of genocide, God forbid, and and and protest, you know, they're crazy or not informed or or making, you know, self-hating statements. But I can't help but think that there is something in that even misplaced compassion that comes from an authentic Jewish source. We suffer even when our enemies suffer. We suffer. We do what we have to do because that's for the greater need, the greater good. But it hurts. It hurts. It hurts if children are getting killed. It hurts. Unfortunately, in life, [snorts] you sometimes have to make decisions that hurt. Sometimes a child may have to have his leg amputated. Does that hurt the parents? For sure it does. It hurts the parents probably more than it hurts the child. But it may be necessary for the child's survival. >> [clears throat] >> But you see, if it doesn't hurt, there is something wrong. We're supposed to feel. We're supposed to feel that pain. And these are the two gifts, so to speak, if I could use the word gifts. >> [snorts] >> These are the two gifts that not yet see us Mitzrayim gave us, not the Exodus, but the slavery itself gave us. One, the imperative of not trying to just become like the nations of the world, >> [snorts] [cough] >> but to recognize our independence. But number two, the commiseration and compassion for all who suffer in the world, because we remember what it's like. You know, it's an amazing thing. >> [snorts] >> A lot of people have what you might call narratives of victimization, whether it's Me Too movement, sexual abuse, emotional abuse. You know, everybody has, not everybody, but many people have stories. And, you know, obviously, we need to respect those stories and offer whatever help we can. This is also going to be something that may be a little bit painful. Uh little controversial, but I want to say this. Sometimes, >> [snorts] >> the way a person responds to trauma, they've been traumatized, is they build a protective shell around themselves, in which their whole life is devoted to no one's ever going to hurt me again. And sometimes that's necessary. But the Torah is suggesting kind of a different approach. The Torah is saying not to deny your victimization, not to cover it up, not to build a shell around you so you no longer feel that pain, but rather feel the pain, experience the pain, but use it as the basis for the empathy that you have for others who are going through that suffering, and then your pain gets transmuted into a positive force that brings light to the world. Now, again, this is a little controversial sometimes when people talk about these points, they say, "Oh, you're blaming the victim." I'm I'm not blaming the victim. I I I don't mean that at all. People who have suffered of course deserve compassion and emotional support. That's not what I'm negating. But I am suggesting that there is a next step in this. There's a next step beyond the [snorts] pain that is utilizing the pain as a source of how you help others in the world. And that is a lesson that once again, we didn't get that from the liberation, we got that from the slavery. >> [snorts] >> And therefore, the matxil biginut umesayem beshvach doesn't doesn't mean remember the bad so you'll appreciate the good, but the bad itself is part of the redemptive experience. And therefore, I make her toes to her sham. So, this is a lesson that applies to life. That's why I say everything about the Exodus is universal to our particular Mitzrayim. That even the negative experiences in life are opportunities for growth and transformation. Some of you might have read the book um All for the Boss. Uh this is the biography of Rav Yaakov Yosef Herman, the father of Ruchama Shain, who authored the book Memory of Her Father. Uh Ruchama Shain and Rebbetzin Scheinberg were sisters. So, Rav Scheinberg was a son-in-law of Rav Yaakov Yosef Herman. Rav Yaakov Yosef Herman was an interesting person. Uh he came with his family as a child below bar mitzvah uh to America. And um well, the story goes that his family came to America. He was, I don't have the exact numbers, but he was like 11 or 12. And his parents couldn't make it in America. So, they went back. They went back to Europe. And they left him alone in this country to fend for himself. There was no child labor laws then. This was uh 1920 or even earlier. And they set up an arrangement where he rented a room or half a room for $5 a week or a month, I don't remember. And that was something he could manage with his job. And as soon as his parents left, the landlord doubled the rent. It became $10. This little kid could not afford that. So, he was evicted Friday afternoon. And he spent a Shabbos in Central Park all alone, having only a little bag of two rolls. He couldn't even move with them because there was no air with them. I mean, but basically he just was stuck where he was. >> [snorts] >> And he was cold, and he was frightened, and he didn't really know how things would ever get better, because it wasn't just that one Shabbos. Like, what is he going to do after Shabbos? And in those days, there was no protection for Shabbos Shabbos workers. So, if you worked, you got Sunday off. Yeah, but if you worked Monday to Friday, you didn't come in on Saturday. You had to find a new job on Monday. So, he's looking at his life. He has no parents that with him, no family, no job, no place to live. And what's going to happen after Shabbat? And he prayed to Hashem that night. He told his daughter many years later. And the one thing he asked Hashem was this. Listen to what he said. He was not even by mitzvah. >> [snorts] >> He said, "I have bitachon that you are going to help me. I have bitachon that things will be okay. But my prayer to you, Hashem, is please don't let me forget what it's like to be lonely and scared, frightened, and poor. So that when I become successful, I will remember these feelings. And they will give me the koach to help other people that are going through these things because I went through them. If I forget what that was like, then I don't have that type of compassion. And if you read the book, you know that indeed he eventually, you know, got married, baruch Hashem, he had to have many children. Uh he became quite successful in the fur business. He lost it all in the depression. Okay, then he came to Eretz Yisrael, but but for a number of years, he was very successful. Um all the good because he was so meticulous in halacha, which was very, very rare at the time in America. When gedolim visited America, he was the one house. There were a few places, but this was one of the main houses they stayed in. But you have to know, if you read the book, that it wasn't just gedolim who came to his house. Typical Shabbos meal may have had 50, 60 people. And many of them were not the type of people we would enjoy as Shabbos guests. Many were mentally ill. Many were aggressive. Many would scream. If they didn't like the cholent, they would dump it on Reb Furman's head. Or whatever it would be. And some of these Shabbos guests stayed in his house for 6 months at a time. They kind of just moved in. >> [snorts] >> And somebody asked him, "How could you take this? How can you have these crazy people who like take away your home?" And he said, "I know what they're going through. I know what it's like. And if you would have known what it's like, you would you would not be angry. Your heart would be opened with mercy and compassion. So, you see from a story like that that it can sometimes be the very darkest moments of a person's life that can be their greatest teachers, >> [snorts] >> their greatest illumination. And that I would suggest is the inner meaning of why you begin with the bad. Because the bad itself, so to speak, is part of Hashem's redemption. So, wish you all a wonderful Shabbos and take care. >> [snorts] [music and singing] [music] [singing] [music] [music and singing]