Pesach - Passover Ponderings

you're listening to the weekly paral podcast recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in raap Shish is 5775 this week we do not have a paraa because we have pesak the holiday of Passover which begins this Friday night have the Seder on Friday night those of you outside of Israel you have a second seder on Saturday night and we have this holiday which lasts for 7even days continuing on until next Friday and if you're outside of Israel it's 8 days including the following sh now what I'd like to speak about I'd like to share with you a thought about the holiday of pesak about the month of Nissan in which we find ourselves right now in which the holiday of Passover always falls in the month of Nissan Nissan the tah tells us the first commandment that the Jewish people received as a nation was the Commandment of of counting the month of Nissan as the first month of the year this is the beginning of the year for the Jewish people even know 6 months earlier we've begun the year with rashash but in some way we need to understand this perhaps we'll get a depth in this soon but in some way Nissan is the beginning of the year for us now it's interesting the gamar and rashash on on page 11 speaks about an argument as to when the world was created was it created in when we celebrate the creation of the world we speak about that in on rashash was it created then or was it created at the beginning of of Nissan and indeed the mafor the commentators explain that there was an aspect of the world which was created in Tish 6 months ago and there was an aspect of the world which was created now in Nissan as we be begin the spring and the maim explained that the world was created in potential in thought the potential for the world was created in Tish and the actual the the actualization of that the actual bringing of the world into existence happen now in Nissan now what's interesting is that when we speak about the creation of the world in our prayers and in our Focus we speak about it in Tish we speak about it on on rash but now when it comes to Nissan and pesak we don't really speak about the world coming into existence the creation of the world we don't celebrate it so much so what's the what's the understanding why is it indeed that on p on Passover the month of Nissan we don't mention we don't speak about we celebrate the creation of the world it's also interesting the first mishna the first statement of SES in that tractate says that there are four different rashash shanas there are four different beginnings of the year one of them is as we know the first of Tish which the beginning of the year when it comes to years that's when it switches over to the next year from 5774 to 5775 Etc but the the mission also says that the the month of Nissan is the Russia it's the first of the year when it comes to how the kings of the Jewish people count their years if we were to say that King yosia is in the seventh year of his rule when does it switch from the seventh year to the eighth year it switches in Nissan that's very interesting why is it or what's the significance of the fact that Nissan this month which we find ourselves in which pesak occurs in always why is it that it's the month which is the new year for the Kings what's the significance of that before we answer these questions I'd like to focus on the mitzah the the Commandments the special Deeds that we do on PES and Passover among them of course the most famous perhaps is the matah the unleavened bread which we eat and our sages tell us that bread represents the the bread when you have the leavening in the bread it represents Thea the leavening in the bread represents thear the evil inclination the hubris the ego which is in the human being which Acts hot air to to raise up this bread and and the bread Rises on P we eat we eat the poor man's bread the bread which has no has no hubris a poor man has no ego cuz he has nothing and he knows that he has nothing he knows that his life is dependent on others so he eats the poor man's bread and we eat the poor man's bread which represents the lack of hubus the lack of ego now if we look at the other mitzah there are other command ments today we can't observe the Commandment of bringing the special Corbin PES the sacrifice which was specially brought on Passover but if we look at that Mitzvah we look at that commandment and we look at its original Beginnings we see also that it also has this aspect of taking away of huis letting go of ego the Jewish people were in Egypt they had their entire time there their entire lives they had experienced a subjugation to Pharaoh subjugation to Egypt and not just physically but also culturally emotionally they were indeed as our sages say they were worshippers of idolatry just like the Egyptians were worshippers of idolatry but Hashem said at the last minute Hashem says I want you to take a Corbin pesak I want you to take the go one of the Gods of Egypt which was the lamb and I want you to sacrifice I want you to take that animal and in front of the very eyes of the Egyptians I want you to slaughter that animal and bring it as a sacrifice for me me and I want you to place the blood of that animal on your doorposts and indeed that blood that placement of that blood is what protected the Jewish home so that the plague of the firstborn would not affect all of the Jewish people now what's interesting here is that there's a sacrifice again of the hubus the serving of idolatry the serving of the popular culture there's a hubris and ego in that as if I know what it is that's going to give me goodness in this world in this life what is truly good instead of Y yielding to what the tyus says instead of yielding to God's Will and and What God Says is his will so giving into the culture around myself and for the Jewish people at that time giving into the culture of idolatry so that was a statement of hubris or that was a reality that they lived within which was a reality of hubus of ego and by sacrificing that by giving that up they were giving up their egos they were risking their very lives by giving up their egos and giving up their understanding of reality in order to do God's Will and to truly sacrifice their own egos so the cor PES the sacrifice of the PES the Passover offering also represents this and in thinking about the third thing which these are the three aspects that we mention in the hag that we mentioned P mat the sacrifice of the PES the Passover offering the mat which we said represents the poor man's bread which represents a lack of hubris but also the mar the bitter herbs what is it what does it teach us what's the depth of it to remind us of the challenges the bitterness how embittered our lives were as slaves in Egypt so it's a reminder even though today we are Ben even though today we are free even though today we act as the children of kings and we lean and we recline as we eat just like kings do and princes do but it's to remind us of where we were because the foundation of where we are today only can continue if we can if we continue to remember the difficult ulties that we've had to remember the the places where we had nothing and that it is God who gives us everything that we have it is God who gives us this Freedom clearly then the central theme of PES of the mitz the Commandments that we do on Passover is the theme of limiting the ego or even better getting rid completely of the ego we need to get rid of anyit that's in our house there can't be anyit found in our homes there can't be any hubris any ego any yahar any evil inclination what is the significance how are we to understand that this is the theme the central theme of pesak of Passover what is the idea what is the depth of the fact that the theme of pesak is the elimination of ego and hubris also very interesting another point which needs explanation is that when we look at the ha we look at this book that we read we go through the Seder on the night of pesak there's a very important player who's missing from the story we read the T the t is very descriptive and tells us about the Miracles thatu that Moses performed in order to free the Jewish people God commands Moses to be his to be his Messenger to bring the Jewish people out of Egypt but when it comes to our retelling of this tale every year to our children which is perhaps the most central theme of the entire year for the Jewish people we leave mosha out Moses is not not mentioned in the story not only that but when the speaks about the way that God took the Jewish people out it says I did it it wasn't through an angel it wasn't through any Messengers what do you mean no Messengers what about mosha what about Moses wasn't he a messenger of God and no matter how he answered that question the question that will remain is why is it so important for the ha to stress the fact that it was himself and not really mosu not really it wasn't really Moses that it was God and that's the focus that it was only God directly God and no one else no messenger what's the significance of the is stressing that point one last question before we move into the central theme which will help us to understand the answer to all these questions last question is just an interesting point we start counting the there's a buildup from PES from Passover until sh when we receive the Torah there's a 50-day time period from when the Jewish people left Egypt until they indeed received the Torah at Mount Si they heard God's voice speak now when the Torah tells us the Torah commands us to begin counting the countdown from The Exodus until the receiving of the Torah and we count down those 50 days it's called the the counting of the OM now in describing the time when we are to begin we don't start on the first day of Passover we start mud on the night after the the the night after the first day of Passover we start counting the Omare we start that countdown of 50 days and the reference in the T the way that it refers to that time the time that we begin is as that you start counting after shabas now what's interesting is and we do find it is true that in the Torah the Yan yto a festival is referred to as chabas but it seems interesting to me and perhaps we'll see a depth in it why but it's interesting that pesak is referred to specifically as shopus as a day when we cease work we cease conscious creative acts why is PES referred to as that the county begins after the first day the first Festival the first festive Day first yff of Passover ends that's when we begin counting our countdown until what is the significance of the Torah referring to P is shabas and it's also worth noting that Nissan the month that we're in now is the seventh month if we count from Tish as the beginning of of the Year counts six months from Tish and Nissan is the seventh month and the seventh always is the aspect of chabas the seventh day of the week is chabas is the Sabbath what is the significance that the month of Nissan is the seventh month if we count from Tish so to begin to understand this idea we need to come back to a concept which we have spoken of in the past which is a is a fundamental difference of opinion between two Paragons of greatness two people two of the two of the original tribes of the Jewish people and those two people were Joseph and Judah yoseph and Y and this is an idea which is expounded upon by freedlander and it's something which goes back to really before Joseph and Judah to their mothers yehuda's mother was Leia and yosef's mother was Rael and these two men and these two women had a difference of opinion as to what is the correct way to serve God how does one come to the ultimate service of God and it's worth prefacing their argument with a foundational idea which the speaks about which is why we were created what is the entire purpose of the human being R says that the reason that we're here in this world is to take care of a problem called which means the bread of Shame God wants to give of his goodness to the human being he wants to give of his goodness to someone outside of himself as it were and in order for him to give God wants to give to us but the problem is that if we are to receive it for free a poor person a beggar who comes to the door it's an embarrassment it's embarrassing to receive something that someone hasn't earned so in order for us to receive from God we need to take care of this namisa this problem of the bread of shame because if we are to receive the good that God wants to give to us and we haven't earned it so then we will be embarrassed it's impossible to receive it properly and God's good will not be completely received as well as it could be and and that experience of goodness won't be complete so God brings us in this world in order to achieve to somehow create a Tik to rectify the problem of that we should be able to receive the good that God wants to give us to somehow earn it now Yosef and Yehuda Joseph and Judah have an argument as to what is the correct way to solve this problem Yosef says the way to solve this problem is to be a sadic to to do righteous acts to be the perfect God-fearing god- serving human being if I try my best I do everything in order to stand by the ethics that God expects of me then I will have solved this problem of nam I will have earned the right to receive the good that God wants to give me and freeder says that this idea is something that ysf learned from his mother ra that her gisha her approach to life was also one of I need to be earning I need to be able to earn that which I'm going to receive from God you Yehuda on the other hand Judah and he learned it from his mother Leia their whole concept was H was admitting I admit Yehuda is somebody who doesn't a Vera and it's something that's reflected in his progeny and his great great grandson King David he does a sin and he realizes that he's done this sin and he realizes that he's not perfect that he can't possibly earn the good that God wants to give him this doesn't mean that he's not supposed to try this doesn't mean he has doesn't have to do good things doesn't mean that we don't have to fulfill the Commandments but there's an idea Yehuda represents this concept of H that the only way that I can possibly receive the good that God wants to give me is by admitting that I'm imperfect and that Hashem must want to give it to me anyway and fander says very interestingly we see the difference in the approach the results of which what happens with raal and ysf with her approach ra has only two children Le has six children she has half of the tribes of the Jewish people now if we look at the approach of Yehuda of Judah and we look at Leia and we say how does that work how does that solve the problem if the problem is that I can't receive it for free the the bread of Shame well yosef's approach seems very logical it makes a lot of sense so let me earn it let me do everything I can to serve God as perfectly as possible and then I will have earned it then I won't be ashamed to receive that good that God wants why is it indeed that that Yehuda and Leia's approach is correct and it it's more effective how does it even solve the problem of n kisua of the bread of Shame and the answer is I believe that the way that it works is that a person the more I become in touch with the goodness the godliness which is within me which is already naturally there the more that I become in tune with that the less ego I have the less the less I think that I need to earn it the less I judge myself the more become willing to receive and reflect the light of God the light of Hashem what happens is no it's no longer a shame it's no longer a it's no longer shaming to me to receive that good that God wants to give me if I have imbed if I've understood that I don't really deserve it but Hashem wants to give it to me anyway and I become used to that idea I become used to the fact that Hashem is going to give me something that I don't deserve and I develop that throughout my life I don't deserve it but Hashem loves me I don't deserve it but there's a piece of me that's a piece of God and therefore all I need to to do is let go of this belief that I have to earn it that itself is earning it that itself is coming to the place where I'm completely one with God now it's important to understand that both of these Dimensions yosi's understanding of reality and yehuda's understanding of reality are true they're both necessary and important we need both of these ideas because there's a time and a place for each of them the gar there in rash which we quoted earlier which speaks about the creation of the world happening in Tish or happening in Nissan it also speaks about when is the Gula when is the future Redemption going to occur is it going to happen in Tish or is it going to happen in Nissan and the answer which is brought down is that it's going to happen in both because there's two different dimensions of the G of the Redemption there's a dimension of MH which is this aspect of trying to earn it there's an aspect there's a dimension of mhia bavid which happens where we realize that it's just going to be a gift and the difference between these two Dimensions is does it happen naturally which is MH or does it happen in a supernatural way which is mhia David now what comes out is that the six months from Tish until Nissa not including Nan those six months correspond to ysf correspond to the efforts to Theus to me trying to develop in my relationship with hm in an active way PES Passover happens in Nissan the seventh month the seventh the concept of seven is always the concept of malus the concept of shabas is the seventh day shabas is called shabus malus the queen it's the aspect of kingship of kingship which is DAV King David mhia David the Messiah who's to come from King David and just like on chabas WE step back we don't do anything active we we receive all of the good that we have worked on during the week and and we receive much more from the Bounty of hashem's greatness we receive it all on shamas without being active in our relationship with Hashem without being active in our relationship with the world so too when it gets to pesak when it gets to the month of Nissan we get to the point of real subjugation of ego for me to say that I can earn the good that God wants to give me there's a certain eego about that as if I can possibly earn the great goodness that Hashem wants for me the deeper subjugation of ego is where I say I can't possibly do that that's Yehuda it's an admission I can't Hashem I can't do it you do it for me and that's not something that we can do all the time that's you know look at the ratio it's 6 to one right the aspect of YF is six it's the first six it's the active mode it's the six days of the week shabus the receiving the complete subjugation of ego how often do we eat matah only seven days in the entire year it's something which is special it's something which is deep it's something which we can't always access it's something that we can wish for we can hope for we can touch upon for seven days out of the year on pesak on Passover there's no mention of M raenu in the we don't speak about him we go straight to the source mhia David he's not a he's not the type of sadic who I come to him and the sadic the righteous individual somehow it connects me to God no m it is someone who helps me connect directly to my God he facilitates my connection to Hashem when we stand in that Circle Hashem is in the center there's no mhia in the center God himself is in the center and that's it Moshe is not mentioned in theod because the aspect of the the aspect of P the aspect of n is it's the aspect where we're completely we have subdued ourselves we have subjugated our egos we have rid ourselves of and now we can begin to see incredible Miracles we can begin to experience hashem's Redemption the true Redemption the highest Redemption not just in a natural way but in a supernatural way in TI at the beginning of the year rashash we have to stress the fact that Hashem created the world at this time because it's dark it's cold we can't see it our egos have blocked our eyes from being able to see it so we got to mention it but when it comes to PES the the creation of the world the the open creation of the world is so obvious it's like we we mentioned a few weeks ago in that me there's nothing for those lips of Deceit to say they become mute on their own they don't keep talking because it's so clear that is the concept of shabas that is the idea that on chabas as we said shabas is a day where we just receive we are not active we just receive all the good that has been prepared p is referred toab it's referred to as a day of chabas the month of Nissan is this month of shabas because we've gotten to this place where we have subdued ourselves we've gone through the difficulties we remind ourselves of those challenges whether it's through the carbon PES where we sacrifice oursel whether it's the mat that we eat which has no leavening or it's the mar which reminds us of the bitterness all these things burn off the ego and so we can come in to a PES a Passover with a chance to truly receive the light the miraculous light the the almost overpowering light because we've recognized we we've gotten rid of that kisua that ego that embarrassment I want to bless you and please bless me back Hashem should help us all that we should be able to come into this holiday of PES of Passover we should be able with hashem's help to recognize our egos to do our egos to let go of our egos to let go of our judgments to let go of our belief that that we can possibly do without Hashem helping us should help us to be able to indeed receive to be open to receive the incredible miraculous light that he would like to bring down which which Merit to the true G the Final Redemption speedily and in our days thank you so much for listening have a wonderful pesak a wonderful Passover and a wonderful shabus this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]