Passover: Talking About The Exodus from Egypt - Rabbi Akiva Tatz

[Music] welcome to another a international presentation it's my pleasure to share some thoughts with you for the upcoming yum Festival of pesak and as usual I'd like to suggest something that is a little perhaps off the Beaten Track for for many people but I think will give you food for thought and I'm sure you can adapt this to the various ages at your pesak Seda and uh and and and put some thought into the the festival before we get there along these lines those of you who are with us for puring will remember that we began by by noting that every month of the year has a theme this we find in the Sai and various other sources the g v talks about this every month of the year has a correspondence with a part of the body and a faculty you may remember we said that Pim corresponds to laughter Pim the month of Adar corresponds to laughter and we went into some of the depth behind that what is the faculty that corresponds to Nissan and pesak if we can understand that deeply we'll gain an insight into pesak in general and it turns out that the faculty the human ability if you like that corresponds to Nissan is speaking as we pointed out some one month is talking one month is walking there's hearing there's seeing there's laughter which is perplexing and we spoke about that but Nissen is speech let's think about that first of all quite superficially even without much thought one realizes that PES indeed has much to do with speaking for example PES the word itself means that the mouth speaks that's very well known uh the hag hag means to tell right in fact the Mitzvah of the Torah is in fact to tell the story of The Exodus from Egypt the rambam very interestingly says that the mids to talk about the Miracles of The Exodus right when he talks about these laws he seems to almost omit mention of the actual events of the Exodus according to him the point is to talk about the miraculous nature of the Exodus but nevertheless the Mitzvah is to talk you shall tell your child on that day and therefore it's quite clear that pesak is about talking the ram says when it comes to the mits of the PES if you talk more that means the more you speak the better yes I know there are people who like to speak a lot and this is their opportunity but the point is that's quite unusual normally in fact the ram himself elsewhere says that speaking less is better your words are more precious and more powerful words should be counted but when it comes to talking about the Exodus on the night of P the more you speak the better so wherever you touch the subject you see that speaking is what it's about what lies behind this behind this theme the concept is if we trace it back to its Origins that the human being is a speaking creature let's take it right back to the beginning the beginning of humankind human human creation the Torah says that Adam Adam and Eve Adam and K were living beings and the tum translates that as speaking beings that's very interesting it's that means Adam when he was created became a living creature a living soul and the tarum translates that as which means a speaking Soul that's very interesting the word NE there changes to to R right becomes a that also needs needs thought and if there's time perhaps we'll talk about that but you see that the translation of a living creature according to the tum is a speaking creature now the tum is not a not not an explanation or a commentary it's primarily a translation which means that the total conception is that to be a human to be a living human being means to be a speaking being again that's a translation that's what the words mean in fact those who have a little depth in in this terminology Toro terminology will know that nefes means the aspect of the human that is alive nefes is what keeps you breathing keeps you moving it's it's has you have that in common with an animal Soul R actually means speech again according to cabalistic teaching and the ne talks about this in great detail the neish is in the lower part of the body the r is in the middle part of the body and the is in the higher part of the body the head the is the intermediate Zone and speech in fact is intermediate between zones speech is the intermediate between action and thought thought brought down into action speaking is the connector between those and therefore the perfect word the perfect Soul word if you like that you want to use when you're talking about speech is not and not but and therefore you see that the tum is emphasizing that to be a living human to fulfill one's agenda let's say as a human being you need to be a speaking being let's try to understand this more deeply what does it mean to be a speaking being incidentally if we wish to take things right back to their original point of origin we talk about the human being as a speaking being but God himself Hashem himself speaks the world into existence he expresses himself so to speak in creation the Torah is very particular to talk about God's actions as actions as were with a hand and speaking with a mouth for example the Torah makes it very clear that the world was created by y Elohim Hashem spoke the world into existence and then it says vas he did it as well and the Torah uses images of his hands when the Torah was given another point of creation the Torah makes it very plain that there was speech and action as well the Ten Commandments ASAS and they were given by speech God spoke them to the Jewish people but he handed them over as well in written form so these are two modes of creation but speech is essential and viim doesn't mean that God gave instruction you know he had some agents same Angelic beings that he commanded to to to create the world it means he spoke it into existence that means his word crystallized or condensed into the objects in the world in fact it's no accident that in that in Hebrew which is the spiritual language the word for a word and the word for an object are the same word the Hebrew word davar means a thing and it means a word now why would there be that identity in Hebrew every word is is Essence and a word is a word something you say with your mouth an object is a thing in the world why would a language conflate those two and the reason is because the total conception is that every object in the world is a Divine word means Hashem spoke a word for example light and his expression of the word light concretizes crystallizes into the phenomenon called light and therefore it's truly created by speech so it turns out that the world really is a speaking of course the Practical coroller of this is that you should be listening the world is a conversation every object in the world is speaking its message a human being sensitive living in the world a sensitive human being living in the world is seeing the world or shall we say hearing the world as a conversation every object should be speaking to you of course today it's a dark world and the speech is very very quiet so one needs to be have a deep intuition and a deep sensitivity to what the world is saying but that is the concept so speech underlies creation it is the mode or the medium of creation and of course we are the products of creation and so our mode is speaking what does it mean to be a speaking creature and how does this connect with PES well to be a speaking creature means that you have the ability to connect worlds what was the creation connecting the infinite dimension of Hashem himself into a practical hardcore finite expression which we call the world what was the transition medium that brought from the one to the other speaking and therefore the we understand from this that speech is none other than a medium of connection perhaps to understand this a bit more deeply speech means that you take something in abstraction a thought unrevealed in the world and you bring it into expression in the world you bring it into the meest most minimal of Expressions only words and there's a debate in the talmud whether speech is an action or not borderline right is the moving of the lips is that called they in action in the world for example testimony when Witnesses testify are they actually acting in the world as an action and this has ramifications or are they're doing something that is not quite an action speech is borderline it takes from unrevealed this the spiritual ethereal Dimension and brings it into the mode of expression of course the next step after that is action and that's why in all our sources for example NE emphasizes this time and again the world is built in three layers or action speech and thought or if you bring it from the top down thought speech action so it's important to understand that speech isn't only what's done with a mouth it is all transduction or transmission from higher to lower right for example again let's go to the word the word dbar or debur in Hebrew most narrowly means speech but much more broadly it means intelligent conduct taking something in plan and executing it in practice for example we have dare which means a mover or a leader of a generation not only a spokesman of a generation or as the verse says we say that verse before we blow the chauffer which incidentally is a very potent method of expression as well more potent Than Words the cry itself of the soul is the chauffer and again at that Festival we are expressing ourselves in a particular way but the concept of the verse means that one nation should be subdued or controlled by another again the notion is intelligent plan agenda and then putting that into practice so the broad concept of speech the narrow concept of speech is what you do with your mouth the broad concept of speaking is taking Plan abstraction and expressing it in some way and of course gesture is speech right a walk the way a person walks the way your your bodily habitus and movements are also a speech speech isn't only what's done with a mouth it is all mechanism of taking from the higher world and expressing it in the lower world it's that intermediate Zone and therefore the system always is thought speech action think about it this way where is The Voice formed the voice is formed in the neck why is that what is the meaning of a neck a neck is a connector between a higher and a lower World why do you have a neck you could have walked around like this why were you created with a neck the reason is because there's an organ there's a limb there's a part of the body whose fun is to connect higher and lower Worlds the head is the higher world the place of thought which is unrevealed in the world the body is the place of action expression in the physical world the neck is the connecting Zone and therefore the voice which is the origin of speech is very appropriately developed and originates in the neck it originates in the front of the neck the voice box right the larynx the the part of the human being that Express of speech is in the front of the neck not the back why the front according to our deeper teaching cabalistic teaching the front of a structure always represents its side of Holiness or kadua right the front is always the word front in Hebrew which is panim is exactly the same word as panim which means inside panim means the outer face and P means the inside why are those two words conflated those two concepts and the idea is that it's from the front that you can see the inside not from the back on the contrary the back in Hebrew is called aor and that's the same word as a which means a stranger someone foreign someone who you do not know or recognize and therefore the front is always the side of sanctity and kadua so the front of the neck is always the side of that aspect of connection which represents sanctity in cabalistic writings the front of the neck is called Moshe right called Moshe mosenu the front of the neck is called Moshe sometimes called Ken God the high priest what's the meaning of this because mosha is the one who communicates the higher unrevealed world word into the world he's he is the spokesman he is the connector of Worlds M needed to be present at the giving of the Torah it's called torus mha why is he necessary if God wants to speak to us could he not do that without intermediary no the system is always thought speech action M Moses is the one who brings the Divine word into the world and therefore this part of the anatomy in this in the superal world this part of the anatomy the front of the neck is called Moshe that is the one who speaks hashem's word what do we know about M the divine presence speaks from the throat of M he opens his mouth and from his throat the Divine voice speaks unlike other prophets other prophets are giving over so to speak dictation that they've received from Hashem but mhe when he opens his mouth you hear Hashem speaking the rambam lists the prophecy of mhe as a separate Article of Faith first he requires that we believe in all the words of the prophets but then separately and independently that we believe that the words of mha are true which means he's categorically different than other prophets and the reason is other prophets tell you what God Said but mha opens his mouth and God speaks is utterly different than right the books of the of the Torah the first five books or Hashem speaking directly no Style no spin no no style right there's no there's no Timber of the musical instrument that's coming through it is the music itself so mosha is the one who is speaking on 's word in the world incidentally the back of the neck which is always the dark side as we said before in spiritual teachings in again the cabalistic world the back of an object always represents its fallen or dark side right that's called a the back of the neck in Hebrew is called means the nape or the back of the neck and there's a well-known technique that if you wish to see the Dark Side of something in certain certain applications you can read it backwards spell it backwards and when you spell backwards it spells par Pharaoh that's very interesting the front of the neck is mhe he communicates he brings hashem's word into the world and his antithesis his Nemesis who stands behind him opposing him is called par Pharaoh the one who does not allow the voice into the world that is the duality of what it means to be human are you a connector of worlds are you the one who are you one who expresses the higher message in the world you bring it down and manifest it in the world by your speech your action your behavior in the world your practice of Mitzvah Mitzvah let's not forget are practical actions Mitzvah in fact means connection the word Mitzvah means a connection doesn't mean a commandment only the word means commandment in Hebrew Mitzvah means a connector right like in sa but in arama it means a bond or in he the modern Hebrew word s which means a crew people who function together and therefore Mitzvah means a connection when you do an action in the world you're expressing a Divine cre Creator that's the concept of Mitzvah and therefore all actions in the world are expressions of the higher intention Torah is the idea Mitzvah is the action in the world the human being connects the two and so to be a human means to be a connector of Worlds to speak is the highest most essential version of doing that doing that in the world and therefore when the Jewish people come into existence the mzv speaking they are learning to express godliness in the world The Exodus from Egypt is an exodus from Silence to expression the zah puts it this way the zah says quite openly that when the Jews were in Egypt speech was in Exile we call that galur gutur what does that mean it means that when the Jewish people were being born in Egypt they were unable to express themselves they could not speak the world was silent spiritual world was silent gasu means that speech is imprisoned MIT means the constraint MIT mitar means the the constraints holding the spiritual World in and Silent what is a slave a slave is essentially one who cannot express himself the law of a slave is that what he owns what he acquires his master acquires cannot express himself independently at all that's what it means to be a slave the Jewish people being slaves in Egypt the meaning of that is a people unable to express itself being forced into silence to give a slightly more intense view of this our vision of the next world let's call it the death world right as the gamar tells us in sanedrin it's called the world of Silence the Apostle calls it your Duma those who descend into silence what does that mean a dead person cannot express himself for herself a dead person is a Consciousness there's a body which is inactivated temporarily there's a Consciousness a mind but the two are not connected and therefore the dead cannot speak right that's what we call your day Duma the uh Moran Sanhedrin says that the angel that guards the Dead the angel that watches over the dead is called Duma in other words the conception is and the sadness of death is that it's a phase during which one cannot express oneself of course if you leave Torah teachings in the world then when people say those so to speak the lips of the Dead move but that's an aspect of their life that continues but to be dead means to be a non-speaking being and that's the sadness and the anguish of that world in fact the gor says in Sanhedrin the dead are constantly questioning and asking El longingly they ask the angel of death how long will this be how long will this night last that they long to express themselves being a human being means having a soul in a body that can express the soul the point of the body is not to express the body it's to express the soul and therefore the Jews in Egypt are a people in slavery enslaved forced into silence that's what it means and of course their great leader mha cannot speak either what is the meaning of M's inability to speak the greatest leader of all time shall we say the greatest spokesman of all history is unable to speak isn't that extremely paradoxical imagine for a moment if you will that you are God and you're choosing a leader of the Jewish people to take them out of Egypt and you need the quintessential spokesman would you choose someone who's unable to speak doesn't that sound very strange the concept is that Jewish people are enslaved and are silent our great leader cannot express himself either he's living in a world where his Consciousness cannot be expressed the simple understanding of M his speech defect is that he somehow unable to speak but the deep meaning as the moral explains iner Israel the moral explains that Mosa's inability to speak is his greatness he's living in a world that transcends speech he's living in a world of the things themselves things themselves cannot be put into words words are always mere finite packages words can never say the things themselves they can only talk about the things no matter how articulate and expressive you are no matter how sophisticated your speech you can never say the thing itself you could perhaps cry the thing itself there's no misunderstanding the meaning of a scream of a child in the night and that's what the Jewish people did in Egypt inarticulate screams and cries and it says Hashem heard their cries not their words they were in a world where all they could do is in articulate cry and whena was living in that world he also could not speak he was holding so to speak in a world of deep ideas where things are are connected to the infinite meaning those things cannot be brought into the world and therefore the Jewish people in Egypt were imprisoned by the parro element par is that blockage element that does not allow spiritual speech in the world that's who he is and he has power over the Jewish people and we cannot speak and The Exodus is a movement from Silence into speech it's a movement from a world of Darkness where we cannot speak where our leader moonu amazingly and paradoxically cannot speak and we move into a world we can where we can indeed bring the endless and the infinite into the finite world after the Torah was given these are the words that mosha spoke amazingly as the zor points out in the Mahal explains mosha could not speak before The Exodus but when the Jewish people are given their freedom of expression and we move into receiving Torah which is after all Divine expression manifest in a finite world then he can speak and therefore the book of darim which MOA speaks of himself is in fact his his articulate speech why because Torah is none other than an infinite and divine speech in a finite world is that possible no miraculous yes but that's what happened what does it mean some weeks after pesak that hasem appeared on the mountain what does that mean in non-ch childish terms it means that the infinite bonded with a finite the infinite found a way to be expressed to express itself in the finite that's what Torah is Torah is a document of just so many words but it has infinite content and infinite wisdom in those words Torah is none other than a transduction if you like a transmission of the infinite into the finite and the Jewish people became a people who can speak words in the world that are words of Torah M from being unable to speak dominated so to speak by par becomes an individual who can speak Divine words in the world and therefore the concept of PES on one level it is a movement From Slavery to Freedom yes it's a geopolitical story we became a nation that's all important but it's not the essence the essence of pesak is that we became a people who can express the Divine in the world that's P the mouth speaks that's the hag the ha is not simply that we tell a story because it's sociologically and nationalistically important to tell our children who we are and how we became of course that's important but that's not the essence the essence is to tell our children that we began as a silent being a national being that was entirely silent with a pent up message of spirituality unable to be expressed in the world and we left that Dimension and moved into a dimension in which the Divine speech can be heard through us that is a glorious story that is an amazing story and therefore p means the mouth speaks means to bring down in speech by the way means to draw down into the world of speech God the Hebrew root God means to draw along like you have good or good it means a drawing from one place to another hag means to tell means to take the events from where they began and draw them into expression in the world and therefore the Mitzvah of p is speaking very much speaking it isn't only a practical means of getting the story across we are living as Jews when we speak that story and in fact our history in the world should be none other than a living speech a transmission of a spiritual idea an infinite idea into a practical expression in the world miraculous as that is that is the concept and therefore as we Traverse that process of 49 days we begin where speech is impossible imprisoned silenced we move out into a world of expression and we culminate that with receiving the ultimate expression in the world ultimate Infinite Wisdom compressed somehow miraculously and marvelously into words of Tor and therefore I think the thought to take with us this year as we move towards pesak Nissan is the month of Miracles and the Miracle of pesak the real Miracle of PES is that we begin as finite limited beings and we move into the Transcendent let me leave you with this thought we referred to this before the r says that the Mitzvah is Mitzvah he says mitz T these are his words it's a positive Mitzvah of the Torah to tell and what is expected what what should the next Words Be of The Exodus of Egypt from Egypt after all he quotes the verse in the Torah that says you shall tell your children that we left Egypt but those aren't his words his words are Mitzvah it is a positive Mitzvah of the Torah to tell benim V of the Miracles and wonders that occurred to our forefathers on this night in Egypt isn't that amazing the raam's conception is that when you sit at the Paka the important thing is not to tell about an exodus he goes on to say that if you have a very small child too small to understand any abstraction then you tell them my son my child my daughter we were slaves in Egypt and Hashem took our but that's only for the very youngest the very least mature a child slightly older than that and the rest of the Jewish people you hardly mention the events of the Exodus or rather you do them only as a backdrop and a framework on which to hang the main message what is the main message hash took us out of Egypt namely from a natural world of constraint in the finite in the physical into a world of transcendence and the miraculous that's what it means to be a Jew and therefore to be a Jew means to sit at a p and translate the finite into the infinite that's is what we here for we are not here to tell a geopolitical story that's of course true and it's important but the main reason we want to talk about that story is not because we moved from Egypt into a a different country but rather we moved from the constrained finite physical into the utter utterly miraculous that is story of PES that's the ha I wish you a wonderful uh fulfilling joyous PES of full expression hi this is Paris morer a proud of less of or now what you just watched is one of the many programs that or provides leaving its impact on hundreds of thousands with so many more waiting to be reached Ora central campus in Jerusalem has over 300 students presently learning there and now you can be a vital part of spreading that Bounty of knowledge worldwide by logging on to donate. r.edu we can step up to the plate at this pivotal moment of War Sam growth and bring the next generation of Jews home [Music]