This week we begin Sefer Shemos, the sefer that discusses the 210 years of painful and difficult tzaros in Mitzrayim. In the parshiyos of Shemos there is a veritable goldmine of lessons and insights that apply to us, during this era of ikvesa d’meshicha.
Why Burden Them Further?
In Parshas Shemos the Torah relates that Hashem said to Moshe: “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”. Rashi explains that this means: “I am with them in this tzarah, and I will likewise be with them in future galus and shibud malchuyos. This needs explanation. Klal Yisrael were in the midst of galus Mitzrayim. They surely had enough to deal with without hearing about future galuyos!
On Leil Haseder in the mah nishtanah we say: “she’b’Chol ha’leylos anu ochlin chametz u’matzah - On all other nights we may eat chametz and matzah.” Why do we mention that we may eat matza throughout the year? Surely the point is to stress that we eat chametz on all other nights.
The Meaning of she’b’Chol ha’leylos
The Chassam Sofer explains, (Drush Shabbos haGadol, 5596) that the words “she’b’Chol ha’leylos” do not refer to regular nights of the year; they refer specifically to a situation in which a person offers a Korban Todah.
In the times of the Beis Hamikdash, a person who was in a difficult or dangerous situation, such as illness, incarceration etc. was obligated to bring a Korban Todah. The korban consisted of an animal and forty loaves, thirty of which were matzah and ten, chametz. All the loaves needed to be eaten by midnight. The mah nishtanah is drawing a contrast between the Korban Pesach with which we eat only matzah, and the Korban Todah with which we eat both chametz and matzah.
Matzah is referred to as “bread of emunah”. It is the bread that Klal Yisrael took with them, b’chipazon, when leaving Mitzrayim and which instils emunah within us. It represents the rachmanus that Hashem had for us and the nissim He performed for our sake.
Chametz, by contrast, represents the “s’or she’b’isah - the yetzer ha’ra. Just as yeast causes a dough to rise so does the yetzer ha’ra inflate all of olam ha’zeh to appear large and impressive.
The Reason for the Chametz
A man who has survived a threat to his life or a great tzara must bring a korban todah consisting not only matza but also chametz. This is to bring home the message that the reason he had this difficult experience is likely due to a sin. There may have been some chametz, some s’or she’b’isah that brought on this calamity. This recognition is an important part of thanking Hashem for saving him.
On Leil Pesach we thank Hashem for taking us out of a long and terrible galus. The question of the ma nishtana is: Why are the thanks we offer on this night any different to those we offer during the year? Why do we not include the chametz - the recognition of sin - in our expression of thanks to Hashem?
The Chasam Sofer offers a mashal to explain:
Elisha’s Secret
Elisha has a launderette. All the people in his village come to him with their clothing and linen, and, no matter how dirty and sullied they are, they receive them back the next day, clean and as crisp as if brand new.
For years the people of the town would wonder how Elisha did it. They tried washing their clothes themselves but the results were never as good as Elisha’s. What was his secret?
Whenever someone would ask Elisha about it, he would tell them, with a twinkle in his eye, that it was a secret, passed down from generation to generation.
Two men, Moshe and Chaim, were determined to find out Elisha’s methods. They decided that they would follow him when he left work to see where he went and what he did.
Following Elisha
One night, at six in the evening, they hid in the bushes and saw Elisha leave his store. They waited until he was a comfortable distance away, though not too far, and began following him. He made his way through the roads of the village carrying two empty buckets. They were sure that this was part of the secret - he was surely going to fill them with a secret ingredient, which helped make the clothes sparkling clean.
They continued following him out of the village and into the forest. Deeper and deeper they walked until they reached a big mound - this was the place where the chimney cleaner would deposit all the soot and ashes from the village. Eisha took a spade, filled his buckets with the filthy black soot, and heading back to the village. They followed him all the way back and saw that he took the two buckets, deposited them into his store, and headed home.
Moshe and Chaim could not believe their eyes. How was it possible that Elisha cleaned the clothes with filthy black soot from the chimneys? They decided to confront him about it.
The following day, after confessing to Elisha that they had followed him on his secret trip, they asked him why he brought the soot and how it could be used to clean the clothes. Elisha laughed and explained that this is precisely why it was such a secret: sometimes the dirtiest and blackest things have the greatest ability to clean.
All For Our Best Interest
The Chasam Sofer then explained the nimshal: On Pesach we are bid to attain a higher madrega. We are to realize that even when we suffer, even when we are sent into galus, it is not simply a punishment.
The matza is to remind us to have emunah that Hashem is acting entirely with our best interests in mind. Galus Mitzrayim was brought about to raise our potential in serving Hashem, to cleanse us of impurity, and allow us to come close to Hashem and become His nation.
Why Not Fourteen?
In Parshas Vayechi the Torah relates that Ya’akov designated Yosef’s two children - Ephraim and Menashe - to be shevatim. From that moment on there were thirteen shevatim.
The obvious question is: since two shevatim had been added to the nation there should have now been fourteen. Why was Yosef, who had been a shevet until that point, no longer considered one?
The sefarim explain that not only did Yosef’s children become shevatim, he himself became one of the Avos! (This is evident from the number of Ushpizin and in other sources.) Chazal assert that, “ma’aseh avos siman l’banim”. The Avos’s experience - including Yosef’s - were a blueprint for the history of Klal Yisrael.
The Blueprint
Yosef had been living with his beloved father and brothers. His brothers took a great dislike to him and, from one day to the next, he was cast into a pit, sold into slavery, and brought to Mitzrayim, the ervas ha’aretz. There he endured, terrible nisyonos, both physical and spiritual. Eishes Potifar did all in her power to cause him to sin, accosting him on a daily basis.
Yosef was a seventeen year old boy in the most immoral place on the world, and yet he withstood the most difficult nisyonos. He was moser nefesh and did not give in, but then he was sent to jail, accused of terrible crime.
All of this seems like a terrible, unfair story. However, it brought about an astonishing turn of events whereby Yosef became Viceroy of Egypt and was able to save his entire family.
Yosef’s experiences were the blueprint for Klal Yisrael’s experiences in their exile in Mitzrayim. As we explained above, galus Mitzrayim was not a punishment - it was not “chametz”; it was purely “matzah” - a means to bring them to geula.
In this week's parsha, which describes Klal Yisrael as they were mired in the most bitter and painful galus, Hashem told them that there would be more galluyos in the future.
This was to show them that just as in galus Mitzrayim Hashem did not forsake them, on the contrary, He used the gallus to be a medium through which they would become close to Him and become His nation, so would be the case in all future exiles.
They would each be an expression of Hashem's love and guidance - a means to an end, namely the final geula.
Current Times
We are currently experiencing a truly bleak moment in gallus. On a daily basis we hear of our dear brothers being killed, each one leaving behind an almana, grieving parents, siblings and far too often, yesomim And this comes on top of the heartrending experiences of those killed, injured, or captured on Simchas Torah and their families.
We must take the message given to Moshe Rabbenu, that despite the pain and despite the difficulties, the tzaros are like the black soot that can clean us, help us draw closer to Hashem, and bring the geulah for which we so dearly yearn. May we see it b’karov.
