Notes from the Underground - Day 11 - Erev Pesach edition

While sitting in the bunker I was thinking about R' Elazar and R' Akiva and the other great Tanaim sitting in their bunker during the Roman occupation.  Where were the talmidim who only showed up at sunrise to tell them it was the zman of kir'as shema?  Secondly, even I have a little window in my bunker -- did the Tanaim not even have that to notice that it was sunrise?  And what does it mean that they were talking "kol OSO ha'layla" -- as opposed to some other night?  Why not just say "kol ha'layla?"

 

I spent too much time trying to find where he says it but couldn't (so much for using the old editions of seforim w/o an index), but if I remember correctly the Tiferes Shlomo someplace reads the word "oso" derech remez as "os vav," the letter vav.  I want to suggest as follows: the story behind the story of those Tanaim was that due to the occupation (we were "occupied people" before it was trendy), they were separated from their talmidim.  Due to the situation, rather than each Rav being with his kehila (in those days I think Rabbis still spent Yom Tov with their kehilah and not at a Pesach program, but I may be wrong) these Tanaim were all stuck together in their bunker.  That Yom Tov was spent suffering the pain of separation.  And so these great Tanaim spent the night darshening "os vav," the "vav ha'chibur," the letter that connects -- they spoke about the longing for connection between Rebbes and talmidim, parents and children, neighbors and friends, the Shechina and Klal Yisrael.  "Ad she'ba'u talmidei'hem," they continued learning, they continued davening with that in mind, until they effected being united with their talmidim, until the dawn of a brighter day was upon them. 

 

There are people (not me) who say before doing mitzvos that it should be "l'shem yichud KB"H u'Shechintei.." etc.  I have a heretical thought that maybe we need to spend some time davening to be m'yacheid Klal Yisrael with each other.  The Shechina, I think, will in the end be able to take care of itself if we take care of what we have to do.

 

Hashata avdei l'shana ha'ba'ah bnei chorin...  We say in pirkei avos that “ain lecha ben chorin ela ha'oseik baTorah.”  Little kids think that going to school to learn things is avdus, and now, when they get to sit home and don't learn as much, that's being a ben chorin.  Hopefully we all one day grow out of that mindset -- maybe Pesach is about freeing us from that mindset.  We should IY”H have a chag of geulah from Mitzrayim = meitzarim, from the confines of the bunker, both the physical bunker and our mental bunkers, and enjoy the cheirus of Torah.