When the Haggadah shel Pesach describes the events in this week’s sedrah, how the Bnei Yisroel were taken out of Mitzrayim to freedom, it makes what appears to be a strange comment. It quotes the possuk םƒיַר¿ˆƒּמƒמ 'הּנו≈‡ƒˆֹוּיַו – Hashem took us forth from Mitzrayim (Devarim 26:8) and then comments as follows: ַיחƒלָׁ ̆ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל¿ו¿ךָ‡¿לַמ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל – It was not done by means of a messenger,ֹמו¿ˆַﬠ¿ּב ה"ב ̃ה ‡ָּל∆‡ – it was Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself.
Actually, it’s not only in the Haggadah; it’s a Mechilta (Mesichta Pischa 13:4): ı∆ר∆‡¿ּב רֹכו¿ּב לָכ הָּכƒה 'הַו םƒיַר¿ˆƒמ – When it says that Hashem smote every firstborn, ַיחƒלָׁ ̆ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ֹו‡¿ךָ‡¿לַמ י≈„¿י לַﬠ יƒנֲ‡ ַﬠ≈מֹוׁ ̆ – I might think it means by an angel or another messenger, ַיחƒלָׁ ̆ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל¿ו¿ךָ‡¿לַמ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל 'רֹכו¿ּב לָּכ יƒ ̇י≈ּכƒה¿ו' רַמֹלו „ּמו¿לַּ ̇ – therefore it’s written the extra words “And I will smite down every firstborn”, to teach you that it wasn’t with a messenger.” It was Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself destroying the Egyptian firstborn and taking out the Bnei Yisroel from Mitzrayim.
Now, that's easy to say but we must consider what these words actually mean. Because we know that it states openly in the pessukim about that night, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was doing things by means of a shaliach. Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself said that “if you will put the blood of the korban Pesach on the mashkof and on the mezuzos, then ףֹּ‚¿נƒל ם∆יכ≈ּ ָּ̇ב ל∆‡ ‡ֹבוָל ̇יƒח¿ׁ ַּ̆מַה ן≈ּ ̇ƒי ‡ֹל¿ו – He won’t permit the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you (ibid. 22:23). So we see that there was a destroyer who was loose that night – there was a malach who was doing this.
All Types of Angels
Certainly there were intermediary circumstances at work in Mitzrayim. Hashem took us out by means of certain things; whether they were miracles or whether they were other phenomena, it was something. The blood helped out and the lice helped out and hail helped. Later on the waters of the Yam Suf helped; other messengers too.
And Makkas Bechoros was the same – the mashchis, the plague, was a shaliach Hashem. Something happened to them; whether their hearts stopped beating or their nervous system collapsed, something happened. He didn't just make them die with their entire organism functioning normally; something happened. So the mashchis caused the heart to stop beating. That’s also a material cause, an intermediary, that causes the heart to fail.
And actually it makes no difference at all because when it’s done by messengers, it’s still ֹמו¿ˆַﬠ¿בּו ֹו„ֹבו¿כƒּב ה"ב ̃ה. Doesn't He do everything in the universe? What things are done without His will? And if He does them by means of a shaliach, which means the intermediary circumstances, it’s still Him doing it. It’s all Him! That’s the ABC’s of understanding the world.
Ignorant Jews
It’s like what a man wrote in the newspaper last year. Somebody wrote in the Jewish Week and he was quoting me. He wrote that Rabbi Miller said that AIDS is a punishment min haShamayim, that it’s Hashem doing it. So Mel Rosen alav hashnubbel – he’s the president of a toeivah synagogue – he wrote to the Jewish Week a letter and he said, “Miller is ignorant. AIDS comes from a germ.”
Isn’t that a chochmah from Mel Rosen? It’s from a germ so it has nothing to do with Shamayim.
By the way, Mel Rosen died recently at the age of forty two. And not of old age. He died of that messenger from Shamayim. And in Mel Rosen's beis hakisei, in his synagogue, there are no zekeinim. In my synagogue there are old people. We have mostly young people but there are a lot of old people here too. There are always old people in the synagogues. But in those synagogues, no old people. And that’s because Hashem is doing something; He’s making a makkas bechoros all over America – Manhattan especially. Yes, He’s using a messenger, but it’s Him. Absolutely it’s Him.
And therefore it’s a question. What does it mean over here, that on the night we were taken out of Mitzrayim that it was different, that it was Hakadosh Baruch Hu? It’s always Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Along For The Ride
And so we’ll understand it like this. It doesn’t mean that He did things without an intermediary. It was a malach! But „ַב¿לƒּב¿ךָ‡¿לַמ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל – it wasn’t only the malach. That's the peirush – it wasn’t only by means of messengers because on this night the Shechinah went along. It means Hakadosh Baruch Hu accomplished things not merely by means of intermediaries alone but He Himself, if you could say such a thing, went along.
But even that's not enough; it’s just a peirush hamilos. Because what does that mean that “He went along?” He tagged along, just for fun? No, that’s nothing. And so we will translate it with one word: interest. Hakadosh Baruch Hu had an especial interest in what was doing that night; that's what it means.
Now, if as a result of that interest there came down a bigger kedushah on the Am Hashem or something else, this I cannot tell you. But the plain meaning is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu had an especial interest in taking the Bnei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim. He was interested in them as if it was His own personal business.
The Chief’s Interest
I gave this mashal once. Suppose let's say the captain of the police, his son was kidnapped. Imagine if the chief of police had a son who was kidnapped and he’s in jeopardy.
Now, when a child is kidnapped the police are very busy. They are all alerted; an alarm is sent out and there are roadblocks set up everywhere. They’re on the lookout for a certain person or certain kind of a car that's suspected of being involved, and so on. All types of detective work and investigations are taking place. And the chief of police is on top of everything; could be he’ll even be up all night in the precinct building organizing, planning. And every police car, every policeman, every detective, the whole force, he knows exactly where they are, what they’re doing.
But if his own son is kidnapped it's a different story. He’s much more interested. And he's on the job, he himself. He's not satisfied merely to send detectives. He himself is cruising the streets and the roads. He won’t sleep. All the shifts, he’s there in the patrol car. He goes along because that’s his own son and there’s nothing that interests him more than that; there’s nobody he loves more than his own son.
And therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that it was „ַב¿לƒּב¿ךָ‡¿לַמ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל. “I’m not going to merely send along my intermediaries on this job because it's My son who has to be redeemed. Even if it’s nothing more than to show that he’s the one that's closest to Me, the one I love most, I’m personally going along.”
The Theme of Redemption
And that therefore was the theme of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Yetzias Mitzrayim actually is not a time when our forefathers were merely saved from slavery. That’s missing the entire point. They could have been saved from slavery in ways that weren't spectacular at all; it wasn't necessary to make makkos, plagues on Mitzrayim. They could have gone out in a more simple way.
Pharaoh could have got together and said, “Look at these poor people. They were once good friends of ours. Their brother Yosef was a benefactor of Egypt and all they did was ask for asylum. We did them bad and therefore it’s time to let them go out.” Now, it could be that Pharaoh himself wouldn't do that, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu could have moved his heart. ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ה „ַי¿ּב¿ך∆ל∆מ ב≈ל – The mind of a king is in the Hands of Hashem,ּוּנ∆ּטַי ıֹּפ¿חַי ר∆ׁ ֲ̆‡ לָּכ לַﬠ – to whichever end He wants, He will bend it (Mishlei 21:1). He could have caused Pharaoh to change his mind and they would have been freed just like that.
But it couldn’t be that way because the entire spectacle of Yetzias Mitrayim wasn’t to free the Bnei Yisroel. The whole thing was staged for one purpose and that purpose was to demonstrate that ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי יƒרֹכו¿ּב יƒנ¿ּב; that the Jew, that's Hashem's chosen one. That's the purpose of everything that happened.
And what does that mean that we are the chosen one, ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי יƒרֹכו¿ּב י≈נ¿ּב? Merely that He chose us to receive the Torah, to serve Him, and so on? No, that’s nothing yet. ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי יƒרֹכו¿ּב יƒנ¿ּב means that He’s thinking about us, that His mind is on us, only us. ַ̃ר הָמָ„ֲ‡ָה ֹ̇חו¿ּפ¿ׁ ̆ƒמ לֹּכƒמ יƒּ ̇¿עַ„ָי ם∆כ¿ ̇∆‡ – I only know you of all the families of the earth (Amos 3:2).
The Infinite Mind
Now what does it mean “I know you”? And who doesn't Hakadosh Baruch Hu know? He knows every bird and every blade of grass. He knows every micro-organism. He knows what’s happening on Mars and in far-off galaxies. A beetle is flapping its wings somewhere in the Amazon jungle, He knows that too. His Mind is infinite and it can encompass, as it does, all the facts in the universe. Anything taking place in the universe, whatever will take place and whatever did take place too, is all included in the intelligence of the infinite Mind. He knows it all.
So what does Hashem mean when He says “It’s this people that I know”? It means that it’s this people that My interest, My love, is focused on. Absolutely I know about the Americans and the Eskimos and the tribes in the Congo too; but My attention is right here on a humble little home in Boro Park or Flatbush or any frum place.
Exodus Encapsulated
That’s what Yetzias Mitzrayim means: “I am interested only in you. You are my sole interest in the universe. And that's why I made all the phenomena, all the makkos and the wonders, only to demonstrate this one point that I’m intensely interested in you.” The Navi Hoshea said that: יƒּ״כּהו≈בֲהֹ‡ָו ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי רַﬠַנ – When Yisroel was a youth, meaning when they were a young nation, I loved them, יַנָב¿ל יƒ ̇‡ָרָ ̃ יםƒר¿ˆƒּמƒמּו – and from Mitzrayim I summoned My son.” That was the purpose, that we should know that He’s intensely interested in us, like a father for a son.
It means that’s the crux, the hinge on which everything else revolves. All the rest is a commentary on these words. All the makkos, all of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Makkas Bechoros and Kriyas Yam Suf, all of the rest of history, is a peirush on these three words. That's what we mean when we say ‡ֹלֹמו¿ˆַﬠ¿בּו ֹו„ֹבו¿כƒּב ה"ב ̃ה ‡ָּל∆‡ ַיחƒלָׁ ̆ י≈„¿י לַﬠ ‡ֹל¿ךָ‡¿לַמ י≈„¿י לַﬠ. That from now on, from now and forever, I’m going along with you because you’re what I’m interested in. That’s the whole subject of Yetzias Mitzrayim, of ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי יƒרֹכו¿ּב יƒנ¿ּב, in a capsule.
Swallow the Capsule
Now, the fact that it’s a bitter pill for your American heads to swallow? Swallow it anyhow because it's one of the central teachings of Torah. And if you don’t assimilate in your mind this idea, then you don't begin to be a Jew; you have no connection to Torah, because that's one of the most fundamental teachings in the Torah.
And therefore it’s a subject that has to be studied. Because just to say the words, that we’re His chosen son, is superficial talk. Even to say He’s most interested in us, He loves us most, absolutely it’s true, but what does that mean for us? That we should pat ourselves on the back and hold our noses up in the air? No, that’s not it. It’s much more than that because we have to understand what it means to be a son.
