The festival of Passover is commonly referred to in our prayers as the "Season of our Freedom" and the "Festival of Matzos." These names relate to aspects of Passover that are germane at all times and in all places.
The other names of this holiday - "Passover" and the "springtime festival" - apply only to distinct times and places: The name "Passover" is related to the Passover offering, which could be brought only when the Holy Temple stood; "springtime festival" refers only to the Northern Hemisphere, for in the Southern Hemisphere Pesach occurs in the fall.
Understandably, the festival's message for the entire year[1] can best be gleaned from those titles that apply at all times and in all places. The term "Season of our Freedom" alludes to more than just the Jews' freedom from enslavement in Egypt thousands of years ago: it invokes the true freedom of each and every Jew in all times and places.
The ultimate purpose of the Exodus finds expression in the verse:[2] "Upon your taking out the nation from Egypt they shall serve G-d on this mountain," i.e., the experience of receiving the Torah at Sinai. For the Jewish people could not be truly free of the physical bondage of Egypt until they were spiritually free as well.[3]
Spiritual enslavement - the Hebrew word for Egypt being etymologically related to "straits and limitations"[4] - can come about from without as well as from within: A person may be enslaved to the mores of his society, or he may be a slave to his own passions. True freedom from this kind of enslavement can be achieved only through Torah and mitzvos - "serving G-d on this mountain."
But what specifically is the freedom seeker to do? Herein comes the lesson of the festival's other name - the "Festival of Matzos."
The "Festival of Matzos" consists of two parts: the obligation to eat matzah and the prohibition of eating chametz, leavened products. The obligation to eat matzah is limited to a specific amount at a specified time - a quantity the size of an olive must be eaten on the first night of Passover.[5] However, the prohibition against chametz knows different limits; the tiniest particle of chametz is forbidden throughout the holiday.[6]
The natural differences between chametz and matzah, and the consequent differences between eating matzah and refraining from chametz provide a valuable lesson in the quest for spiritual freedom.[7]
Leavened dough rises continually. Matzah is the very antithesis thereof - the dough is not permitted to rise at all.
Our Rabbis explain[8] that chametz is symbolic of haughtiness and conceit - traits so deleterious that they are at the root of all negative traits. This is one of the reasons why even the minutest amount of chametz is forbidden - haughtiness and conceit must be completely nullified.[9]
Ridding oneself of the traits represented by chametz and performing the mitzvah of eating matzah enable the Jew to overcome his own faults and the blandishments of the mundane world. He is then able to free himself from spiritual exile, and enjoy this freedom throughout the year.
Based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. XXII pp. 266-270.
Notes:
- (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah, Berachah 98b.
- (Back to text) Shmos 3:12.
- (Back to text) See Avos 6:2; See also Shmos Rabbah 41:7; Vayikra Rabbah 18:3; Zohar II 113b and onward.
- (Back to text) See Torah Or, Yisro 71c and onward.
- (Back to text) Tur and Shulchan Aruch and Shulchan Aruch Admur HaZakein, Orach Chayim 475. [The size of one "olive" in Halachah is 28 grams, or 1 ounce.]
- (Back to text) Pesachim 30a; Rambam, Hilchos Chametz u'Matzah 1:5; Tur and Shulchan Aruch and Shulchan Aruch Admur HaZakein, Orach Chayim beginning of section 447; Shulchan Aruch Admur HaZakein, Orach Chayim beginning of sections 431 and 445.
- (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah, Tzav first ma'amar titled Sheishes Yamim, ch. 3; Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14d and onward, et al.
- (Back to text) See places cited in previous footnote.
- (Back to text) See Rambam, Hilchos Deos 4:3; commentary of R. Yonah on Avos 4:4.
The last day of Passover, known as Acharon Shel Pesach, concludes the theme of liberation and redemption from exile. While the first night of Passover commemorates the redemption from exile in Egypt, the final day celebrates the future Redemption, which G-d will bring about through Moshiach.
[1]
The connection between the first and the last redemptions is also gleaned from the verse:[2] "As in the days when you left Egypt, I shall show you wonders [during the final Redemption]."
Our Rabbis ask:[3] Why does the verse say "As in the days when you left Egypt," when the Exodus took place on one day, as the verse states:[4] "Remember this day on which you left Egypt."
On the day the Jewish slaves left Egypt they achieved the status of free people.[5] This transition, however, is an ongoing experience that requires constant meditation on the concepts of slavery and freedom. A person's ruminations must have a salutary effect on his daily conduct.
This is why spiritual redemption from all straits and limitations that constitute spiritual Egyptian exile is an ongoing process, notwithstanding the fact that the Jews' physical Exodus took only one day.
This is expressed by our Sages when they state:[6] "In each and every generation and on each and every day, every man is obligated to see himself as if he had gone out from Egypt on that very day." Man's viewing the Exodus from Egypt as a continuous process will lead to daily improvement in conduct as well - as befits a free man.
Both the first and the final redemption involve the liberation of all the Jewish people. Just as the Exodus encompassed the entire nation and resulted from the Jews' collective service, so will the future Redemption liberate all Jews from exile, and it too will result from our collective efforts.
This collective liberation and effort came about during the Exodus as a result of the effort of each Jew, who first liberated himself from his own spiritual exile. And so with the final liberation: the efforts of each and every Jew in redeeming himself from spiritual exile will result in the collective redemption of all Jews from the final exile.
In practical terms, the lesson from the above is that each and every Jew is entrusted by G-d with a unique mission that he, and only he, is capable of accomplishing. He cannot rely on someone else to fulfill that mission for him, for the other individual is entrusted with his own mission.
On the other hand, each person must also realize that he is part of a collective - the Jewish nation. His mission is thus of vital importance not only to himself but to all the Jewish people. Fulfilling his mission as an individual thus helps the Jewish people fulfill their mission as a collective whole. Ultimately, each Jew's personal redemption from spiritual exile leads to the collective redemption of all Jews from the final exile.
Based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. XXII pp. 258-263.
Notes:
- (Back to text) See Sefer HaSichos 5700 p. 72.
- (Back to text) Michah 7:15.
- (Back to text) Zohar III 176a; ma'amar titled Kimei Tzeischa 5708.
- (Back to text) Shmos 13:3.
- (Back to text) Gevuras HaShem ch. 61.
- (Back to text) Pesachim 116b, Tanya ch. 47.
The name of the holiday Pesach, or Passover, derives from the Hebrew words meaning "and G-d will leap over."
[1] Rashi
[2] explains further: "The festival is called Pesach because of [G-d's] leaping.... Therefore perform all its aspects in a manner of bounding and leaping."
What is the particular relationship between the holiday that celebrates the Exodus, and bounding and leaping?
The Jewish people lived in Egypt for many generations, eventually descending to a state of slavery. Some became so mired in slavery that when the time came for their liberation they did not want to leave Egypt![3]
During the period that the Jews were in Egypt, the country was considered to be the most culturally advanced of its time in terms of knowledge, art, technology and philosophy[4] - the things people commonly refer to when they speak of "culture" and "civilization." But in terms of morality and ethics, Egypt was the most depraved, degenerate and immoral of lands,[5] so much so that it was known as the "abomination of the earth."[6]
It was from a land such that the Jewish people had to attain complete physical and spiritual freedom, so that soon afterward they would be able to lift themselves to the heights necessary for receiving G-d's Torah. For the main purpose of the Exodus was the receipt of Torah, as G-d told Moshe: "When you will take the nation out of Egypt, they shall serve G-d upon this mountain [of Sinai]."[7] Indeed, Rashi notes[8] that it was in merit of their eventual service to G-d at Sinai that the Jewish people were redeemed from exile.
Receiving the Torah from G-d involved the acceptance of all its decrees, beginning with the Ten Commandments, the first of which was: "I am the L-rd your G-d, you shall have no other gods," and the last of which was: "You shall not covet... anything that belongs to your fellow man."[9] These themes of G-d's absolute unity and the highest degree of ethics and morality in terms of man's relationship with his fellows stood in stark contrast to the depravity of Egyptian "culture" and "civilization."
Clearly, departing from such an abject state and achieving true inner freedom to the extent of accepting Torah and mitzvos before fully comprehending them[10] required the mighty leap of "Pesach - in a manner of bounding and leaping."
All this began while the Jews were still in Egypt, when G-d told them about the Passover service, including the instruction that the entire service be done "in a manner of bounding and leaping."
This vaulting manner of service culminated on the first night of Pesach, when G-d Himself leapt over the bonds and fetters of exile, revealed Himself to the Jewish people while they were still in Egypt, released them from their captivity and established that from then on their inner state would be one of spiritual freedom.
This Passover theme of vaulting and leaping is fundamental to Jews and Judaism at all times and in all places, and is to be carried through the rest of the year.
We find ourselves exiled in a physical world, with a preponderance of our time required for physical acts such as eating, drinking, sleeping, earning a living, etc. The time remaining for spiritual affairs such as Torah study, prayer and the performance of mitzvos is thus severely restricted.
Nevertheless, Pesach tells us that as Jews we are expected and empowered to "leap over" all physical and corporeal limitations to attain true spiritual freedom the whole year through.
Based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. XII, pp. 160-164.
Notes:
- (Back to text) Shmos 12:23.
- (Back to text) Ibid. 12:11.
- (Back to text) See Shmos Rabbah 14:3; Tanchuma, Va'eira 14.
- (Back to text) See commentaries of our Sages on I Melachim 5:10.
- (Back to text) See Toras Kohanim, Acharei 18:3.
- (Back to text) Bereishis 42:12.
- (Back to text) Shmos 3:12.
- (Back to text) Ibid.
- (Back to text) Ibid. 20:2-14.
- (Back to text) See ibid. 24:7; Shabbos 88a.
Chanukah