Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: It's Easier to Take The Jew Out of Egypt than to Take Egypt Out of the Jew

[music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] >> Okay. Thank you for coming. I know it's a uh It's a very busy time before Pesach. Uh so I appreciate that you uh took time off from Pesach cleaning or perhaps you wanted to go time off from Pesach cleaning, but uh I'm grateful that you're here. Um as always we dedicate the sheer to pray for the protection of uh the Jewish people and to Eretz Yisrael, uh the lasting unity of Am Yisrael, which will lead to victory. And we also pray for all those whose health has been affected physically or emotionally uh by the terror, by the war, uh and the like. Uh Aliyat Neshamah Chan Aleya bas Peretz v'Itzi Porat Sheindl, the late mother of Mike Klein, and her yahrzeit was the 3rd of Nisan. In memory of the father and brother of Chaya Feingold, David Moshe ben Avraham Fischel, and Yonatan Yisrael ben David Moshe. Uh and may all the neshamos have an aliyat neshama. And uh finally by our friend David Weiskopf in honor of family suffering from parental alienation. Uh this is a very very very serious problem, but you might be wondering exactly why would this be the week in which we would uh mention a few words about it? Uh the answer is uh the haftorah of Shabbos Hagadol has a very very important verse. I know this haftorah well. It happens to be my own bar mitzvah haftorah, although it was not uh the parsha of the week. It was a leap year. It said it was a remos, which is which is now read after Pesach. Uh but uh one of the most famous pesukim, which really ends the prophets. Malachi is the last prophet. Uh hinei anochi sholeach l'chem es Eliyahu Hanavi. Behold, I am going to send you Eliyahu Hanavi lifnei bo yom Hashem before the day of God comes that is great and awesome. And what is it that Eliyahu Hanavi will do, which will be a precursor to the coming of the Mashiach? >> [snorts] >> V'heishiv lev avos el banim [clears throat] al banim v'lev banim al avosam. He will return the hearts of children to their parents and parents to their children. What the navi is telling you is that in the pre-messianic era, and that could be centuries or it could be just recent decades, there's going to be a split. There's going to be an estrangement. There'll be children not talking to parents, parents not talking to children. And what a devastating plague that is to the human condition, to the Jewish condition. And the geulah cannot come until there is a healing, until there is a bridge building. And therefore one of Eliyahu Hanavi's jobs is parents open up once again to connect to their children. Children open up to connect to their parents. And uh b'ezras Hashem we should see this. I mean, I know firsthand in in many many cases that I'm involved in how devastating parental alienation is and it's connected to the divorce system and there are many many complications there that I don't want to go into in particular. But simply looking at the fact that, you know, it's not just the parent who suffers. It's the child who suffers. The child loses a relationship that is so essential. So, since Nisan is the month of redemption, and therefore Nisan is the month that we especially pray for Mashiach. In our prayers for Mashiach, we should think about this aspect of Mashiach as well. And of course we happen to be in the middle of a war as well. So, we need Mashiach for quite a few reasons. But parental alienation is one of the reasons that we need Eliyahu Hanavi and we need the coming of Mashiach. So, uh [clears throat] again I I congratulate those like like David who work on this issue and try to really address a very very significant problem. Um again for people who baruch Hashem don't have that problem, they they may not be aware of how significant an issue it is, but it is very very significant. So, we should all think about that. Okay. Uh finally, I I must mention once again the importance of the mitzvah of kimcha d'Pischa or sometimes called uh in which there's there's actually a chiyuv over and above your normal obligations of tzedakah to help families uh meet the needs of Pesach, which are very expensive. And uh baruch Hashem Yibaneh, our own Yibaneh, distributes food coupons to many families to be able to purchase wine, matzah, and all other foods that they need for Pesach. One can contribute via the link in the description box on the YouTube as well as the Yibaneh website. And again, as I say, maos chitim is not just a nice thing to do. It actually is an obligation. So, uh Yibaneh would be a very excellent place to contribute it to. Okay, Pesach is coming. Whether we're ready or not, Pesach is coming. And the hope would be that we'll be ready for Pesach. Pesach has so many memories for so many people going back to their childhoods. And it's both kind of going back in the past and looking to the future. And I want to start though with a very unlikely beginning. I want to spend a little time not even talking about Pesach. I want to talk about Chumash Vayikra. But I think you'll see at the end how how it's kind of connected. Chumash Vayikra begins even before we get into the technicalities of korbanos. It begins Vayikra el Moshe. God calls to Moshe. Vayedaber Hashem elav me'ohel moed. And God speaks to him from the tabernacle, from the mishkan. Now, most people just skip over that pasuk. Let's let's start with pasuk bais, which talks about the laws of korbanos. Like, what's the big deal? In fact, the rishonim have a lot of problems with the very first verse. Because the very first verse is worded in an atypical way. Most of the time, including in Vayikra itself, it simply says vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor. God speaks to Moshe saying. You don't have this vayikra, he calls to Moshe. What [clears throat] is the idea of vayikra el Moshe? So, there's an interesting machlokes. Rashi and Ramban how to understand the atypical vayikra el Moshe. Rashi says, every single time that God would speak to Moshe, he would preface his statement with calling Moshe by name. Uh so God wouldn't just start talking to Moshe, but he would say, Moshe Moshe, and Moshe would acknowledge it. I'm here. Then God would speak. And therefore Rashi says, there's actually nothing unique that happened here. Meaning, the Torah says it once. Because the Torah likes to uh be economical in expression, it doesn't say every single time vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, vayikra el Moshe. But Rashi in fact learns every single time God speaks to Moshe, it is prefaced with calling Moshe by name. Okay? So, according to Rashi, there was nothing unique per se about this particular revelation. Rather, this is simply the vehicle by which God is teaching us the way he normally communicated to Moshe. Now, the Emes says that's actually very difficult because why do it here? Meaning, meaning, perhaps if God would have done it the first time he speaks to Moshe, I could then assume that's going on. But this is like the middle of quite a quite a few other statements. Why would God want to communicate a universal methodology of speaking in the middle of Vayikra? That that's a good question, but that's how Rashi learns. Chassidishe sefarim added in a bit of a humorous way that Moshe was so humble that unless God said, "Hey, I'm talking to you." Moshe would assume God is talking to somebody else. So, God always has to say, "Moshe Moshe, I'm talking to you." Otherwise Moshe would figure I'm just overhearing what God is trying to say to somebody else. Okay. Ramban learns differently. Ramban says there was something singular about this. And to fully understand it, you have to look at the end of the book of Shemos because Vayikra is a continuation of the end of the book of Shemos. At the end of the book of Shemos, we read the mishkan was finally erected on the 1st of Nisan. And then the glory of God descended in the mishkan. And the mishkan was enveloped with a cloud. This is not the cloud over the mishkan. This is literally the mishkan is submerged in a cloud. And the pasuk says, Moshe could not enter the mishkan because the glory of God, the Shekhinah, was in the Mishkan. And there was a cloud. And the Ramban draws the analogy to Har Sinai. Har Sinai was covered with a cloud of glory. And Moshe could not enter the cloud until God gives him permission. And therefore, Vayikra el Moshe is God giving Moshe permission to enter the cloud of glory. And then God gives him the mitzvot. And the Ramban says, once Moshe got permission, he didn't need to get permission continuously. It was a standing consent. And the Ramban says, that is why uh before there was a Mishkan, it just says Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe lemor. Once there's a Mishkan that has a cloud of glory, and Hashem is communicating from within the Mishkan, Moshe cannot enter without reshus. So, bekitzur, this seems to be a technical explanation of biblical verses. Is the significance of Vayikra el Moshe calling Moshe by name every single time, kriat shem, or is it a special netilat reshut, getting permission and authorization to enter into the relationship with God? But as is often the case in technical exegesis, technical interpretive arguments, there are often very deep spiritual truths that underlie even a technical argument. And I I would suggest there's a very significant perspective that is being shown here on both sides that in turn is going to be very relevant for Pesach. Let's first take Ramban because Ramban in some ways is a simpler point. What is Ramban's point? The Mishkan is, so to speak, the residence of the divine presence. There was a cloud of glory enveloping the Mishkan. There is the Shekhinah of fire in the Mishkan. And one cannot enter the presence of God without permission. Moshe needed permission at Har Sinai to enter the cloud. And he needs permission here to enter the cloud. What does that teach us? That teaches us spiritually that if you want to have a relationship with God, you want to connect to God, you must do it on God's terms. God determines the extent and the definition of the relationship. We do not. Now, this is a very important idea because you'll often hear people say, "I'm very spiritual. I feel very close to God. But I just don't see the significance of halakhic minutiae. Are you telling me that God cares if I rip toilet paper on Shabbat, or I turn on an electric switch? I want to focus on spirituality. I don't want to focus on detail." To use a fancy English word, the religious temperament often has a certain antinomianism about it. Antinomianism simply means a rejection of formalistic laws. They want to be free. They want to connect to God in a way that makes them happy and comfortable. Which is understandable. But if it's not with God's rules, you can't enter. In other words, the point of the Ramban is even the greatest person, Moshe Rabbenu, could only enter the Makom Shekhinah if Hashem gave him permission to do so. You need reshus. Halakha, mitzvot, keeping the details are the conditions that God has laid down to have an intimate, meaningful relationship with him. Now, this may sound relatively obvious, but in truth, it was not obvious at all. Uh if we go back to the beginning of Hasidus, you know, um as you know, uh when the Baal Shem Tov started the Hasidic movements, so there was a great deal of opposition from some extremely great people, the Vilna Gaon, for example. And the Vilna Gaon went as far as putting the early Hasidic movement into cherem, excommunication. His talmid, Rav Chaim of Volozhin, was much more moderate in that way. And he did not sign onto the Vilna Gaon's cherem. He gave the explanation that it would be a chutzpah for him to imply that the Vilna Gaon needed his consent. Lema'an Hashem, and you know, maybe I'm just speculating, I don't think that was the reason. I think Rav Chaim Volozhin in fact, although his ex- his his respect for the Vilna Gaon was enormous, obviously, but I believe he disagreed with the Vilna Gaon's very militant approach against Hasidus. And indeed, in Rav Chaim Volozhin's Yeshiva Volozhin, he accepted many Hasidic >> [clears throat] >> uh students. And there were even rumors that his own son, Rav Yitzchak of Volozhin, who became his successor, had, chas v'shalom, Hasidic works uh in his library. And the Lubavitcher Rebbe even says Rav Chaim Volozhin was influenced by Tanya. Okay, I don't want to get into that. But the one thing is, Rav Chaim Volozhin did address a concern that the Vilna Gaon had about Hasidus. And he addressed it very, very extensively in his classic work Nefesh HaChaim, never mentioning Hasidim by name. But if you understood the history, this is what he's addressing. He talks about this very mistake. There are great people, and he calls them well-meaning, righteous people, who say that the most important thing is your emotional connection to God, to love Hashem, to revere Hashem. And if keeping the details of halakha is going to run interference with those feelings and passions, then this erroneous belief maintains, it is better to sacrifice halakhic detail in order to maintain this passion. In other words, the antinomian tendency of some segments, not the Baal Shem Tov, but some breakaway segments within Hasidus. And the Nefesh HaChaim tried to articulate the idea that yes, love of God, fear of God, this is vitally important. But using the language of the Zohar, they are the wings that carry your mitzvot up to God. But if all you have all if all you have are the wings and not the body of the bird, you don't have anything. And therefore, you got to start with the primacy of halakha. And then you try to cultivate the internal experience. But you can't elevate the internal subjective experience over and beyond the halakhic detail. So, yes, halakha without feeling is absolutely defective and inferior. But feeling without halakha is worse. Halakha without feeling is something on an inferior level. Feeling without halakha is zero. Now, now again, Rav Chaim Volozhin is not addressing the tinok shenishba, the one who doesn't have background. That's a totally different story. I mean, he's addressing a person who knows the halakhas and has decided not to keep them on the theory that they will achieve greater spirituality when they separate from the system. Rav Chaim Volozhin says this is a well-meaning, well-intentioned, tragic mistake. So, the fact that it kind of sounds obvious to us today, it it is actually not that obvious uh [snorts] because one could argue that the inner state is more important. Uh and Rav Chaim Volozhin wrote the Nefesh HaChaim to kind of combat that notion. And what I'm suggesting is, I think this is rooted back in Ramban. You want a relationship with God? You need God's permission to enter into that relationship. You cannot enter into a relationship with God on your own terms. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the one that decides the parameters of that relationship. You know, even today there are some remnants of this antinomianism. For example, I may get in trouble with this, so people contact me. But about saying Shema after zman kriat shema. Right, the Shema of the morning has to be said uh before the first fourth of the day. So, now, until they change the clock, that's fairly early. I I zman kriat shema is around uh 8:15 or so, maybe even 7:50, depending on how you compute it. So, let's [snorts] imagine at 7:50 or 8:15, I'm dead tired. And I tell myself the following, you know, if I say Shema now and I meet the time, it's going to be superficial without feeling. I'll be half asleep. I'll tell you what. Let me sleep until 10:00 or 11:00. And then that's going to be the greatest Krias Shema that's ever been said. Right? A person could make the argument, what does God want? What does God prefer? Does God prefer a superficial going through the motions Shema that happens to be at 7:50? Or a passionate, [clears throat] impassioned recitation of receiving the yoke of heaven, accepting the yoke of heaven, which happens to be at 11:00. Surely, the 11:00 Shema is worth much more. The answer is no. You want to connect to God? You got to follow his rules. In fact, Shema itself is a particularly egregious example because Shema is about accepting the kingdom of God. So, what am I saying? I'm accepting the kingdom of God by doing it when God said I'm not supposed to be doing it. You know, I mean, that itself is already contradictory. A lot of new age spirituality is not really serving God. A lot of it is narcissism, doing what makes you feel good. And although ideally Torah should make us feel good, for sure, for sure. I'm not in favor of the idea that if you like it, it's got to be bad. Has v'shalom, the hope would be that what you like is good. But nevertheless, you can't use your likes or dislikes as the touchstone of how you connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now, Rav Chaim Volozhin himself in Nefesh HaChaim gives a reductio ad absurdum of how this works. Let's Let's talk about Pesach. Let's imagine you've been working hard cleaning the house for Pesach. And you've been working for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. And by the time Leil Seder comes, you are exhausted. You're going to fall asleep during the Seder. And with the four cups of wine, that's not going to help you that much either. So, you make the following proposition. I tell you what, it's Leil Seder. Let's make it an early night. Let's go to sleep 8:00. Tomorrow morning we will have a magnificent Seder at lunch. We will be awake. We will be fresh. We will have passion. So, surely, let's make a Seder in the morning and let's sleep early at night. Right? Rav Chaim Volozhin says, who would have such a ridiculous idea that you're taking all the mitzvahs that you're supposed to do at night and because you'd be more inspired, let's do it in the day. So, Rav Chaim Volozhin considered that to be such an absurd example that he was using that to prove his point how you have to encase your feelings within Halacha. So, I I once shared this with a a less [clears throat] religious group. And as kind of the reductio ad absurdum, who would ever think of making a Seder the next day? So, a woman raised her hand and she said, you know, last year we couldn't get the family together for the first day of Pesach. So, we decided to make the Seder the weekend after Pesach. >> [laughter] >> Not just the next day, the weekend after Pesach. And that was the nicest Seder we ever had. Like everybody showed up. So, it's interesting that, you know, things that were considered to be so absurd that they were beyond even possible contemplation are actually done. Life imitates the absurd. Of course, we see that over and over again in many, many areas. That all sorts of things that were considered to be unthinkable even 10 years ago are now almost commonplace. I mean, I remember when I was growing up >> [snorts] >> and I watched plenty of television. And that I mean, that's nothing to be proud of, but on the other hand, television was, of course, a monumental waste of time. But it was a clean It was a relatively clean waste of time. The censorship of the three networks, and you only had three networks in those days, was pretty, pretty strict. You could not show bedroom just a bedroom, you know, basically. And and and the like. And just if you consider what's on regular television or cable TV now, it's a very, very, very, very different different world. I think that network sensors are one of those industries that have simply gone out of business. I don't know I don't know if there's any any position anymore because there's nothing that's censorable. Okay. So, that's what I think I get from the Ramban. I get from the Ramban the idea that you can't just connect to God cuz you want to connect to God. You need God's permission. And God's permission is the system that he created for you to connect to him, which is Halacha. And the same way that if you have a long email address and you'll leave out one digit, even though you might think, oh gee, I did 99.9% accuracy. Well, okay, but you know, even a little thing can mess you up. Or a telephone number or whatever it would be. Halacha is a very exact system. Now, again, I am not addressing I I I want to make it very clear. I am not addressing the tinok shenishba, the person who doesn't have the knowledge, doesn't have the background. God judges such people in a very, very different way. And God will indeed look at their heart, look at their motive. In fact, I have to digress here for a moment. I probably have said this before, but I I I'll repeat it this cuz it is a very beautiful point. You know, many, many years ago I was involved with NCSY. I was already married. I was not a student in NCSY, but I was I was advisors to the advisors, meaning I I would give classes to the older teens who would be the teachers in NCSY. And if you ever went to an NCSY Shabbaton, so Motzei Shabbos, they were all dramatic thing. They have It's called the Shabbos ebbs away. It's a kind of a codified procedure where the lights are off and kids get up in the darkness and they tell their personal story. stories. And I have to tell you the truth, it brings you to tears >> [snorts] >> because these are public school kids. These are kids from totally non-religious backgrounds. And they talk about the sacrifices that they've had to make in their lives. And these are young kids from 14 to 17. And they talk about their love of God and their love of Yiddishkeit and their love of Torah. And you know, it really is extraordinarily powerful. So, I remember a girl got up. She was at an NCSY Shabbaton. And she told the whole story that not only are her parents not religious, her parents are absolutely anti any religious expression in the house. So, she's not allowed, when she's with her parents, to say Kiddush. She's not allowed to light Shabbos candle. So, what she does is This is what she does. Every Friday night, she waited till her parents were asleep, like 11:30 at night. This is Friday night. She would go into the bathroom. She would light the two Shabbos candles. She would blow out the candles and then turn on the fan so there'd be no smell of burning candle. And that is how And then she'd hide the hide the candlesticks somewhere else. And this is what she had to do because if her parents saw her lighting Shabbos candles, they would take it away or whatever it would be. Now, you know, you could give a Smicha test on how many sins did this young lady commit? Right? Okay. Tell me everything she did wrong. No, lighting candles on Shabbos, brocha l'vatala, blessings in vain, turning on a fan, making a brocha in the bathroom. You know, sin after sin after sin after sin. And yet, I can't speak for God, so I don't know. But I can't help but think when Hashem looks at all that she's trying to do to serve him, to keep Shabbos. When her life is not under her control, she's under her parents' control. And she's trying so hard. Can you imagine that God himself is not shedding a tear and is so proud of her? So, I I need to say this as a corrective. Don't understand when I when when I make the point that your relationship to God has to be based on Halacha, I'm referring to people who know [clears throat] the Halacha and are able to conform their behavior to it, but think it's not important. That's a fallacious attitude. When you're dealing with situations like this young lady, that's a different parsha. And there I think the God of mercy will take over from the God of judgment. Again, I can't say I know this, but I very, very strongly feel it in my bones that Hashem has much nachas from her. And who knows if her Shabbos is not more valuable than a person who can keep all of the rules, but with comfort, with ease, without sacrifice. Who knows whether who is greater. Like the Previous Rebbe used to say, and this is a very sharp line. The Previous Rebbe Now, there's a common term in Jewish outreach. We use it all the time. It's called kiruv rechokim. Kiruv rechokim is to take those who are far from Hashem and try to draw them near. It's a very common Kiruv is a shorthand for Kiruv Rechokim. Everybody uses it. The Bal Shem Tov Rebbe didn't like that term. He says, "What gives you the right to say that this Jew is far from God? Every Jew is near to God. They may not know it yet. So, it's incorrect to say you're Mekarev somebody who's far from Hashem. Because he's already close to God. But then the Rebbe turned the knife and he said, "And besides," he switched the he switched the argument. Says, "Who says who's considered near and who's considered far? Maybe this guy that's far is closer to Hashem than you who think you're near." Right? You don't know. Okay. But nevertheless, the Ramban's point is still very valid. You can't use New Age spirituality as a substitute for Halachic adherence. So, that is I think the point we get from the Ramban. That is the point of the Nefesh HaChaim. That was the point of his early critique against the antinomian tendencies in Chassidus. And by the way, uh although Chabad disputes this, uh but according to that's a long story. According to the Tiferes whose father was the Aruch HaShulchan who had been a Rav in a Chabad community, that the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad, actually said to his father, the Aruch HaShulchan, that Chassidim are very grateful for the Vilna Gaon's excommunication because it prevented us from going over the cliff with antinomianism and it made Chassidim extremely vigilant and conscientious in keeping Halacha other than Zman Tefillah, which is one exception. So, he actually gave thanks to the Vilna Gaon for keeping us in the fold. Now again, Chabad totally denies that story. They don't they they deny that it happened. But okay, I I don't know. I wasn't there. But I can tell you that the Tiferes reports that he heard this from his father, the Aruch HaShulchan, a great great Posek, who uh had a conversation with the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad, about this particular issue. Okay. But now, let's look at Rashi. Going back to Vayikra, Rashi says Vayikra is the idea that before God talks to Moshe, he calls him by name. Moshe. What do you see from Rashi? So, I would suggest that you see from Rashi an additional perspective. Because what is a person's name? A name, although many people share the same name, that's true. But a name generally is a singularity. A name singles you out from an anonymous cookie-cutter group. You're no longer just this anonymous all Israel. You're a you. You're an Avraham, a Sarah, an Esther, Esther, a Rivka, a And what Rashi is saying is, on one hand, like Ramban says, God gives you the rules. And if you want a relationship with God, you got to follow those rules. On the other hand, God wants an individual relationship with you. He doesn't want a sameness, homogeneity. He doesn't want cookie-cutter. Each of us has to find in our relationship to God something individual and unique that we bring to that relationship. So, you see that Ramban and Rashi, in their respective interpretations of Vayikra, are really combining two perspectives. You see, if all you had would be the Rashi perspective, the most important thing is me as an individual and how I relate to God, that would create the anarchy and the narcissism of New Age spirituality. On the other hand, if all you had was the Ramban's perspective, you know, you follow the rules and shut up, that can turn into something superficial, going through the motions, without passion, without feeling, without creativity. What's the point of your life? What's the point of your existence if it's just to be exactly what everyone else is doing, like a robot? So, find your voice. Find the beat of your drummer. But do it within the framework of adherence to God's rules. So, indeed, these are kind of two opposite perspectives in Avodas Hashem. But the truth is not in one over the other. The truth is integrating them, combining them, synthesizing them. Live within Hashem's framework. And then within that framework, find your voice. Find your individuality. Find your creativity. So, in the technical Machlokes Rashi and the Ramban as to what is the meaning of Vayikra, we see these two Derachim in Avodas Hashem. In fact, it's often the case in the panorama of Jewish, at least religious, history, it's very, you might say, Hegelian in the sense of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. >> [snorts] >> And that is movements, I'm talking about movements within Torah. I don't mean anti-Torah movements. Often move in opposite directions. Like Chassidus versus Misnagdim. But the truth of the matter is, it's not that one is right and one is wrong. They need to be integrated and synthesized. So, if we say, this is very very simplistic way of saying it, that the Misnagdic tradition stood for adherence to Halacha, and Chassidus emphasized the importance of the internal religious motivation, so each one alone is a distortion. The mechanical adherence to Halacha can make you very superficial and mechanical. The overemphasis on internal religiosity could lead to antinomianism antinomianism and narcissism. So, it's not that Chassidus is right and Misnagdim is wrong. It's that each represents fundamental truths that then have to be synthesized and integrated. A given person might have more of this and less of that. That's fine. There're going to be different balances and proportions. But you got to have both. That's what I mean by Hegelian. It's the thesis, antithesis, the synthesis that takes the truths from all of these different things. >> [snorts] >> So, we now come to Pesach. And we see exactly these two perspectives in Pesach itself. Pesach is of course called Zman Cheirus Seinenu, the season of our freedom, liberation. I'm free. I'm liberated. That would mean I can express myself, my creativity, my personality. I'm a free person. And yet, we also know Chazal say that the word for freedom is Cheirus, Cheiruteinu. And the Chazal have a famous Maimer in Pirkei Avos, Ein Ben Chorin Ela Mi She Osek BaTorah. The only person that is free See, that's different that's a difference between Chofshi and See, it's interesting. Uh when an Eved goes free after six years, an Eved Ivri, so it says he goes LeChofshi. >> [clears throat] >> And indeed, uh the Hatikvah, it's interesting, [laughter] Lihyot Am >> [snorts] >> Chofshi. So, the words Chofshi and Chorin, both of which are going to be translated as freedom, do have different connotations, at least in Biblical Hebrew. Chofshi is the total absence of restraint. I was a slave to a master. I am now Chofshi. He has no claim over me at all. Chorin [snorts] is, as Chazal say, you leave a particular state in order to assume greater and deeper responsibilities. Ein Ben Chorin Ela Mi She Osek BaTorah. So, Pesach is not called Zman I'm not sure what the word was, uh Chofsheinu. I'm not sure if that's grammatically correct. It's called Zman Cheiruteinu. Because it is connected to Kabbalas HaTorah and that is exactly why we start counting the Omer. What is the Omer? The Mitzvah of counting the days between Pesach and Shavuos. And the Ramban says that creates a linkage between freedom and submission to God. You don't look at Shavuos as a separate holiday. Rather, the freedom of Pesach is not freedom from something, but as Eric Fromm said in a different context, it is freedom towards something. You know, you can't say the purpose of your life is to be free. Freedom is not a purpose. Freedom is a condition that enables you to accomplish a purpose. But freedom does not supply the purpose. Torah and mitzvahs supply the purpose. So, on Pesach itself, we are recognizing I got to couple it with submission to God. Fact, the Indian poet Tagore uh says very beautifully, and he he was not talking about Judaism or Torah, he was talking about life. He said a human soul is like a beautiful violin string, capable of the greatest music, but only when it's tied down across the bridge of the instrument. If you take a loose string that's totally free, totally free, what can you get out of it? You can't get out of it anything at all. Paradoxically, the ability to express the beauty within requires that it be tied down. That's exactly what Chazal said when they said, a person is not truly free unless they submit to the Torah. Otherwise, I'm like like a straw blowing in the wind. I'd go this way, that way, that way, that way. This minute I feel this, that minute I feel that. There's no moral consistency, there's no clarity. There's no foundation. What is freedom but the ability to kind of have the clarity to know what are the right decisions to make and what are the wrong decisions to make. So, the two perspectives in Vayikra, the two perspectives in Vayikra come out as the two perspectives of Pesach. Freedom, spontaneity, individuality, creativity, but also submission to God's law through the counting of the Omer and recognizing that true freedom only comes with that submission. Fact, the Gemara says very beautifully, that is why the set the grain sacrifice of Pesach, the Omer, Omer is the grain sacrifice. The grain sacrifice of Pesach is barley. And the grain sacrifice of Shavuos is wheat. Now, at least before cholent was invented, barley was commonly given to animals. And wheat was human consumption. So, on Pesach, if all we have is naked freedom, we're just wild animals. It's coming to Shavuos in which animal liberation becomes the freedom of human dignity. Okay? So, that's the idea of the paradox of submission to Hashem makes me free. Makes me strong. Gives me direction. Gives me guidance. As opposed to the freedom of just being confused, which is not really that liberating in that in that in that way. So, now I want to connect this to um the interesting minhag. It's only a minhag, it's not a halacha. It's an Ashkenazi minhag that after we finish the maggid and we have the matzah and the maror and the korech sandwich, so before we eat the regular meal, the minhag of many Ashkenazim is to have a hard-boiled egg. >> [snorts] >> Now, again, people often you know, they sometimes think minhagim are like more important than halachos. So, like I know I know that some places hard-boiled egg is like your hard-boiled egg, you know, we have to have the hard-boiled egg no matter what. Uh but it is a minhag. And one of the reasons that's given to for it is that uh a hard-boiled egg is the food you give a mourner uh after a funeral because it's oval and it represents the passage of time. There are bad times, but the cycle of time will be good. So, why are you giving a mourning food? Now, m o u r and a mourning food at the Seder? Because it says that the layl Seder, first day of Pesach, is always the same day of the week as the ninth of Av later in the summer. So, if the Seder this year is what? Um Tuesday night Wednesday night Thursday, so Tisha B'Av is going to be Wednesday night Thursday. And we think about Tisha B'Av layl Seder because we don't we don't have a korban Pesach. Like we have a whole Haggadah and there's no the main character isn't there. The korban Pesach is not there. So, >> [snorts] >> in Judaism, there are no coincidences. Why would it be so that the ninth of Av would be the same day of the week as Yetzias Mitzrayim, Z'man Cheiruteinu? So, here is my total speculation. I have no source for this whatsoever. And that is the first day of Pesach is the only day of Pesach that is not yet linked to receiving the Torah. Because we don't start counting the Omer till the second night. Now, why that's so, I'll I'll leave for a few weeks from now. Uh now, there's the point is, every other night of Pesach, freedom and and Torah are linked because we have the counting of the Omer towards Shavuos. The only night where freedom is not explicitly connected to Torah is the first night because there's no counting of the Omer yet. So, the lesson is, when your freedom is not linked to Torah, it becomes Tisha B'Av. It leads to destruction. So, one might say that the hard-boiled egg of the Seder is the substitute for not counting the Omer. In other words, that's the Sefiras HaOmer of the of the first night. Now, I've mentioned already more than once the beautiful thought of the Baal HaTanya that when the Haggadah says, "Each person must regard themselves as if they were taken out of Mitzrayim," the Baal HaTanya says Mitzrayim doesn't have to mean Egypt literally, although I understand that quite a few people do have to go to Mitzrayim in order to get out. So, uh this year maybe each person, at least those who are traveling, each person must regard themselves as if they were taken out of Mitzrayim. Indeed, >> [laughter] >> they were taken out of Mitzrayim. But most of us, uh fortunately, you know, don't have to go to Mitzrayim. We've never been in Mitzrayim. We never were slaves in Mitzrayim. So, what does it mean each person must regard themselves as if they were slaves in Mitzrayim? So, the Baal HaTanya says very beautifully, and this is a drash, that the word Mitzrayim has multiple meanings. Mitzrayim is Egypt, but Mitzrayim can also refer to boundaries and blockages, narrow confining places. As Dovid HaMelech says in Tehillim, "Min ha meitzar karasi Kah." I call out to God from the narrow confines, meitzar. So, says the Baal HaTanya, every person has their own Mitzrayims. Uh I could have a Mitzrayim of anger, of selfishness, of depression, of resentments, laziness. These are my Mitzrayims. And as the saying goes, it's easier to take a Jew out of Mitzrayim than it is to take Mitzrayim out of a Jew. So, says the Baal HaTanya, when God took the Jewish people out of Mitzrayim, he put into the briah a spirit to a koach that if I attach myself to the story of the Exodus, I can become liberated from the Mitzrayims that enslave me. And that really ties into everything we're talking about because we think like a child thinks sometimes, freedom means no restraints. But it's the opposite. That's when you're a slave to everything you're going through. You become liberated not simply when you don't have the outer Mitzrayims enslaving you. You become liberated when the inner Mitzrayims can be conquered and vanquished to some degree again. So, we're always a work in progress and none of us ever complete this job, but we try to make progress. Now, there are two different ways this idea is expressed. It's interesting. It the metaphor comes from two different directions. One is Mitzrayim, that I have to experience my own Yetzias Mitzrayim. The other metaphor is the burning of chametz. So, it be interesting. I I I have not developed an idea whether these could be two different types of constructs. They seem to be along the same lines, but they use different metaphoric images. One is the notion of Mitzrayim meaning limitations, and the other is destroying chametz refers to the chametz of the heart. And there's even a prayer that some machzorim have when you burn the chametz, you pray, "May God allow you to burn the chametz of your heart." And here in Kathmandu, after I don't know if it's still the case, but for many years Chabad ran it was the largest Seder in the world in in Nepal, Kathmandu is like over 2,000 people. A lot of them were Israelis, you know, after the army Israelis have to travel. Most of them were not religious, but you know, they knew Hebrew, etc. And without using microphones or sound systems, Chabad somehow had to run a Seder for 2,000 people. You know, you wonder logistically how you do that, but they were doing that. So, because though the the audience was a little little avant-garde, they developed some avant-garde minhagim, which I think are actually quite sweet and quite moving. And that is on Erev Pesach, when they'd have this mass burning of chametz, like big bonfires, so they asked each person to write down on a piece of paper a negative character trait that you would like to destroy with your chametz. You know, I get too angry, or I carry around resentments, or I procrastinate, you know, which is might be might be a relatively minor offense, but that could be something bad, too. And throw it into the fire. And have kavana that it too should burn up with the chametz. Now, you might say, "Oh, that sounds too avant-garde, that sounds too hippyish." But the truth of the matter is, the the tfillah in the that that in in many machzorim is said after the burning of the chametz, says exactly that. "Just as I merited to burn the chametz, may I merit to burn the chametz of my heart, the yetzer hara." So So, I'll just end with a beautiful story that that is not a Chabad story, but it's a Chassidic story, that a Chassidic rebbe was once doing a bedikas chametz with his talmidim, and they were very conscientious. They spent hours and hours and hours going through every little crevice. And at the end of 3 hours of bedikas chametz, the talmidim were really, really happy that they had accomplished the job. There's no chametz in this house. But the rebbe was not happy. The rebbe started crying. And the rebbe opened his shirt, and he said, "Yeah, we got rid of all of the chametz here, but who's going to look for the chametz in here?" Pointing to his heart. So, the talmidim gave a beautiful answer. They said, "Rebbe, don't worry about it. The Mishnah says in Pesachim, 'Any area in which you don't bring in chametz doesn't have to be searched.'" So, Rebbe, your heart is a place where chametz >> [snorts] >> never goes into. So, you're okay. I'm not sure if the rebbe accepted that answer, but that is a beautiful answer. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if if that answer could be totally true for most of us. So, as we go through the Pesach preparations, and as we sit, and hopefully we enjoy the Seder, and we get elevated, we get inspired, let's also think about, not in a depressing way, God forbid, it's Yom Tov, have to be b'simcha, but think about the idea of being liberated from the negativities within us, because Pesach is a great opportunity for that as well. So, I want to wish you all a chag kasher v'sameach, and may this Nissan, may this Pesach be a true geulah for Am Yisrael as a nation, for Eretz Yisrael, for really the human race, which needs redemption, and for each and every one of us as individuals. Thank you. >> [music] [music] [music and singing] [music] [singing]