One of the foundations of the Seder are the four Idioms of Redemption (לשונות של גאולה): “I will free you... I will save you... I will redeem you... I will take you” (וְהוֹצֵאתִי וְהִצַּלְתִּי וְגָאַלְתִּי וְלָקַחְתִּי). These four idioms are all verbs and are represented by the four cups of wine we drink during the Seder. There is an opinion in the Talmud that there is a fifth idiom, “I will bring you to the land” (וְהֵבֵאתִי), which was reason for the Maharal (and others) to drink a fifth cup of wine at the Seder.
When only 4 or 5 Idioms of Redemption are identified (we will soon see that there are actually a couple more), they are corresponded to the letters of Havayah from below to above, as follows:
tip of yud“I will bring” (וְהֵבֵאתִי)Primordial Man (אָדָם קַדְמוֹן)yud“I will take” (וְלָקַחְתִּי)Emanation (אֲצִילוּת)hei“I will redeem” (וְגָאַלְתִּי)Creation (בְּרִיאָה)vav“I will save” (וְהִצַּלְתִּי)Formation (יְצִירָה)hei“I will free” (וְהוֹצֵאתִי)Action (עֲשִׂיָּה)One way of explaining this correspondence is to note that the first three idioms appear together in the same verse (v. 6), while the fourth and the fifth idioms are in two separate verses (7 and 8). This exactly parallels the structure of the Worlds as described in the Kabbalah.
But in the fourth idiom’s verse, there appear two additional verbs related to the goal of the Exodus: “I will be your God” (וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵא-הִים) and “You shall know that I am Havayah your God” (וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי אֲנִי הוי' אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם). The most important goal appears in the final verse of this group: “I will give it [the land] to you as a heritage, I am God” (וְנָתַתִּי אֹתָה לָכֶם מוֹרָשָׁה אֲנִי הוי'). Incidentally, the value of these words is exactly 2000, alluding to the Torah’s first letter—a large letter beit—whose value is said to be 2000, indicating that the purpose of creation is giving the Land of Israel to the Jewish people.
The First Commandment
The Ra’aya Mehemna, the part of the Zohar that focuses on the Torah’s commandments, learns from this that the first commandment we received, even before leaving Egypt, is to know God, “You shall know that I am Havayah your God.” The Zohar explains that there are two aspects to knowing God, knowing God in general and knowing God specifically.
