A parable is related about a farmer who comes to the big city, and someone suggested that he purchase a lottery ticket, which he wins and becomes unbelievably wealthy. He then hires an (expensive) wise man to teach him about life. Sure enough, this man becomes educated and sophisticated, a big philanthropist and difference-maker in his community. Every year, on the anniversary of his big win, he would throw a big party to thank Hashem for this amazing windfall and how his life was transformed through it. Sadly, one bad investment turned his fortunes around once again and he lost everything again. Yet, he would still throw a party every year. People asked him, “what are you celebrating when you lost everything?” When we sit at the Seder asking questions and celebrating our freedom, it seems a bit strange. We are still in Galus. What exactly are we commemorating?
To answer, let’s conclude the parable. The farmer replied, “Sure, I may have lost all the money – but all the wisdom I have gained I retained. I changed on that day from an ignorant boor to a refined aristocrat!” The same thing applies to us. Sure, we are in exile now, but the experience that we went through, receiving the Torah and becoming the holy nation that we became, can never be taken away from us no matter what. The we are in exile or not is not the point; the idea is that we are Bnei Chorin – we are free people.
This is similar to how R’ Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin titled his biography, “A Place Called Prison,” there was no way a person who feels free can be imprisoned. The authorities can call the place prison, but a free man is not shackled. The problem is that we feel that we must be in control and where we are placed is not necessarily where we want to be. To illustrate, let’s cite an episode related by HaRav Reuven Feinstein, Shlita. The Rosh Yeshiva was staying at someone’s home and locked his guest bedroom door for the night. When he wanted to leave in the morning, he found that the lock jammed, and he was not able to leave. Rav Reuven admitted that he experienced a bit of discomfort, having to wait a few hours until the locksmith arrived and fixed the issue. Rav Reuven commented to his wife, A’H, “I locked the door the night before myself and was relaxed about it; the minute it’s not our desire, we start to feel like we’re locked by chance and begin to worry.”
We must remember that Emunah (faith in Hashem) is when we realize that where we are is exactly where we are meant to be, and we should want to be there by choice. Then, we can become truly free. At the start of the Seder, we recite the Ma Nishtana – asking the children and ourselves, “how is this night different from all other nights?” Then, the Haggadah seems to go off on a tangent when it goes into the story of Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Tarfon. The Rabbis were reclining in Bnei Brak and were retelling exodus from Egypt that whole night, until their students came and said to them, “The time of [reciting] the morning Shema has arrived." The Haggadah then also veers off to bring up Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah who said, "Behold I am like a man of 70 years, and I have not merited [to understand why] the Exodus from Egypt should be said at night.” Why are these two details mentioned here?
It could be these two details are coming to address the difference between the Mitzvah of retelling the story of the Exodus (done on Pesach night) and the daily mentioning of the Exodus. Why do we have the Mitzvah to say the story at night and stop in the morning as that’s when we actually left? Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaria says that the night of Pesach is different than all the regular daily Mitzvah of mentioning the Exodus in the morning. The goal of mentioning it on Pesach night is not just to remind us that we left Mitzrayim. The goal is to what happened on the night before we left: we were still in Mitzrayim but we were free men.
That day we made a realization that being in Mitzrayim was not the problem. It was the fact that we felt enslaved to Pharaoh that is the problem. Once we knew we are free and are only here because Hashem wants us to be here (till the morning) and the situation changed we already felt that freedom in our mind, we weren’t running out and stayed until the next morning. What kind of person gets released from prison but doesn’t run out? However, once we learned that we were Avodim (servants) to Hashem, it doesn’t matter where we are.
Mitzrayim is translated as “boundaries” but if we do not feel them, we are technically free people. As long as we choose to want what Hashem wants, no one else has any governance over us. As such, we start the Seder with the question of why Pesach night is different than the rest of the year. Firstly, it’s at night and secondly, we play out the whole scene with reclining, dips, Matzah, and Marror. This stands in contrast with the rest of the year that we just mention that Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim. We answer that even though we are still in exile we are not slaves to Pharaoh but servants of Hashem and that’s the ultimate transformation on an intellectual level.
That’s why we eat Matzah (the poor man’s bread), ingest Marror (going through bitterness), and literally at the same time on the same night we dip our food and sit reclined. As much as we might be poor and suffering, we are ultimately free royal men. The sages in Bnei Brak staying up all night discussing the story of the Exodus highlights that even when one is in Mitzrayim, one can experience the feeling of freedom. With that knowledge in mind, we graduate to next part of the Haggadah, which states: “Blessed be the Place [of all], Blessed be He; Blessed be the One who gave the Torah to His people Israel, Blessed be.”
We are thanking Hashem that although we are still awaiting the Final Redemption, we have Hashem and His Torah and no matter where we are, we have what we need now and must be grateful to Him. May we be zoche (merit) on this Yom Tov to bring this Emunah into our lives and feel the peace of mind and freedom of the people we really are. May we see the Final Redemption speedily in our days!
