Home

Pesach | New Page Title | A Drop From The Ocean of Wisdom | Was Moses a Hunter? | The Promised Land | Remember what Amalek has done to you | The Holy Language | What is the secret of his immortality? | Moshiach | Purim | Page Five Title | Torah Sources and the Seder | Page Seven Title
The Jewish Thread
Pesach

The Festival of Liberation

April 8, 2001 - 15 Nissan 5761

Independence Day

"betach badad ein Yaakov"

15 Steps to Freedom

mk-seder.gif

The four sons

The Principles of Faith

Freedom

Passover: A Love Story

The Haggadah: Gratitude in Action

matzabaker2.jpg

"It is because of this that Hashem acted"

The source for the obligation to recount the story of the Exodus is the verse (Exodus 13:8):

"V'higadita l'vincha ba'yom ha'hu leimor, ba'avur zeh asah Hashem li b'tzeisi m'Mitzrayim." = "And you shall relate to your child on that day, saying: 'It is because of this that
Hashem acted for me when I came forth out of Egypt.'"

Many mistake to think that we perform the Pesach commandments because G-d delivered us out of the bondage of Egypt. The truth however is exactly the opposite: G-d delivered us in order that we shall perform those commandments.

The Torah existed before creation and is the blueprint of creation. The commandment of eating matza then, is prior to the Exodus. Our tradition tells also, that our Fathers ate matza on 15th Nissan, long before the Exodus, since Abraham executed the commandments as result of his understanding the deep reason of them.

The sequence of historical events could have been shaped in another way, according to our execution of our free will. However, G-d ordained that the commandments would be carried out in any event, only, in such a case of another sequence of events, the commandment of eating the matza would have resulted from other historical circumstances.

This is evident from the above verse: "BA'AVUR ZEH asah Hashem" = "It is BECAUSE OF THIS that Hashem acted".

The verse clearly tells, that "ZEH", namely, the matza, is the reason for the Exodus, not vice versa, as is the prevalent mistake.

09.jpg

haggadot

home_image.jpg

Pesach at the doorstep.

"I am G-d your Lord (H' Elokeicha), which took you out of Egypt..."
(Shemot 20:2).

With those words start the Ten Commandments. Why doesn't - ask the Commentators - the first Commandment start with the allegedly simpler declaration: I'm G-d who created the world?

To understand the existence of a Creator, is simple to any sane intelligent observant of reality. The fact however, that the Creator of the world chose the People of Israel to carry on the task of accomplishing creation's end, and that He intervened in their behalf by changing the fixed order of natural law - is a thing that can be seen only from observing human history.

Therefore, it is this big innovation, that we are commanded to know in the first of the Ten Commandments, namely, that the Creator intervened to change the natural laws of His creation for the sake of His people.

We are commanded to remind ourselves of this each day - this Mitzva is performed by reciting in the morning and in the evening the verse in the Shema: "I am G-d your Lord who took you out of Egypt to become your Lord", and a Jew must remind himself of the Exodus before saying this verse.

Likewise, in many prayers, the motive of the Exodus is mentioned. Also when reciting the Kiddush on Shabbat eve, we must be aware of two things while reciting them, in order to perform this Mitzva properly: the Creation, and the Exodus.

The Seder night we execute once a year, is completely dedicated to remembrance of the event of the Exodus, and all our Mitzvot and Minhagim in this holy night are aimed in order to remember it.

But it is more that that. Like all Mizvot, especially the
performing of the Seder, is meant for our corporeal entity to take part and unite with our spiritual one, in actuality - reliving the whole sequence of events of the Exodus.


plate.gif

Sources

Torah Sources and the Seder

Talmudic sources

4matzot.gif

Laws of the Seder

Pesach on Saturday Night

Kadesh

PESACH RECIPES

Jewishfood

Koshercooking

Classic Passover Foods

Special Tzimmes

Pesach with...

Ohr Somayach

Judaism 101

OU.org

Aish.com

List of Dates

April 8, 2001 (Jewish Year 5761)
March 28, 2002 (Jewish Year 5762)
April 17, 2003 (Jewish Year 5763)
April 6, 2004 (Jewish Year 5764)

oldcity.jpg