Wednesday, April 05, 2023

aim high!

The Sifsei Tzadik writes that just like we have 4 minim on Sukkos that correspond to four types of Jews, i.e those that have Torah+mitzvos, those that have only Torah, those that only do mitzvos, and those that have nothing, so too the fours cups on Pesach and the 4 leshonos of geulah correspond to the same.  We say in davening every day that Hashem is "zocheir chasdei Avos" and will bring "go'el l'vnei bneihem."  Three Avos, three different qualities, three midos, all of which warrant bringing redemption to Klal Yisrael.  But there are 4 cups and not three.  Moshe added the dimension of geulah even for those that have nothing, no merits at all.  That is what we celebrate on leil ha'seder.

We say just before the second cup:

הוֹצִיאָנוּ מֵעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב, וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹר גָּדוֹל, וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה

It sounds very repetitive.

I saw quoted from the Noam Elimelech that the geulah effected each person on his/her own level.

For some people, being in Egypt meant suffering the pains of physical toil.  The geulah they looked forward to was simply getting a pass from having to work.  This is a redemption מִשִּׁעְבּוּד.  

Some people recognized that there was more to it than that.  For them freedom was an ideal, a value, something beyond simply being an escape from physical bondage.  This is a redemption of מֵעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת.  

And finally, there are those who recognized that even that did not fully capture fully what geulah meant.  Geulah was more than a physical escape, more than an ideal, but it was able renewing a bond with G-d and being able to serve him.  This is the redemption מֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹר גָּדוֹל.

The first commandment of aseres ha'dibros is "Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha..." -- "...that took YOU out from Egypt," in the singular.  

Noam Elimelech writes in P' Yisro:

אך נראה בהקדים לפרש פסוק "אני ה' אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים", ופירשו אשר נאמר "הוצאתיך" לשון יחיד. ולענ"ד נראה, דהנה בהיותם תחת שעבוד מצרים לא היה דעת כולם שוה כנ"ל, וזהו "אשר הוצאתיך" לשון יחיד כנ"ל, לכל אחד ואחד היה הגאולה לפי דעתו ומדריגת

Wherever YOU were holding -- whether it was just wanted to escape the pain of work, whether it was the ideal of freedom that inspired you, or whether it was the longing for Hashem's presence -- Hashem brought redepmtion on that level.

And so the question we have to ask ourselves on Pesach is not whether or not we will feel the redemption, as we all know that בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת־עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם and undoubtedly we will try to achieve that to some measure in our seder.  

The question we have to ask ourselves is what type of redemption we will feel and aspire to.  

Is escaping the שִּׁעְבּוּד if our day to day drudgery all we care about, in which case we are yotzei with our vacation in Cancun?

Or maybe, even if we are not social justice warriors, we are bothered by the injustice, inequality, and unfairness that has corrupted our entire society, the failure to have חֵרוּת because of economic, social, and political bonds that hold us back?  That's a madreiga too. 

Or maybe we can aim even higher, and feel the pain of being seperated from G-d, and yearn to bridge that chasm.  

אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ - in the singular.  Whatever we aspire to, that is what the chag will give us in return.  So aim high.

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