The Challenge of Reliving a Distant Event
“בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים, שנאמר (שמות יג, ח) והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ה’ לי בצאתי ממצרים”.
In every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as though he personally left Mitzrayim, as it is stated (Shemos 13:8): “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: It is because of this that Hashem did for me when I left Mitzrayim.”
Year after year, when we reach this passage, we confront its profound demand. The centuries that separate us from that event make it difficult to see ourselves—and to experience—as though we ourselves actually left Mitzrayim.
In response to this challenge, some have proposed that “each person has his own personal Mitzrayim” and his own individual yetzias Mitzrayim. While this notion carries its own beauty and inspiration, it is evident that such was not the intention of the Ba’al HaHaggadah. His requirement is far more penetrating: to see ourselves as though we were actually present at that historic Exodus, the one that took place then, in real time. How, then, is it possible to genuinely experience this?
Mitchil B’Gnus — Beginning with Degradation
If we remain obligated to relive Yetzias Mitzrayim even millennia after it occurred, it follows that something essential to that Exodus accompanies us perpetually. A foundational truth was revealed in that departure thousands of years ago—a truth that endures to this day—and it is this truth that calls for our deep contemplation.
The structure of the Haggadah rests upon two extremes: one of the lowest degradation, the other of immeasurable exaltation, as Chazal teach: מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח—“one begins with degradation and concludes with praise.” So too with the matzah: at first it is lechem oni, the bread of affliction; ultimately, it becomes the bread of Geulah. We must discern the profound message embedded in this progression.
In Mitzrayim, Klal Yisrael found themselves in an almost incomprehensible spiritual state— הללו עובדי עבודה זרה והללו עובדי עבודה זרה—both they and the Mitzrim were idol-worshippers. Yet despite this, the Borei Yisborach intervened with osos u’mofsim—signs and wonders—and redeemed us from there. He did so because, from the very creation of the world, His intention has been directed toward Yisrael, as Chazal teach: בראשית, בשביל ישראל שנקראו ראשית—the world was created for the sake of Yisrael, who are called reishis. Hashem desired a people and a nation through whom His Shechinah could dwell in the world, and for their sake He entered reality and transformed it.
The Birth of Klal Yisrael
This Exodus was not merely the emancipation of individuals who gained personal freedom. It was the birth of an entirely new existence—the reality of Klal Yisrael. Bnei Yisrael became an am and an ummah, whose roots extend into the most sublime and exalted spiritual realms, encompassing all the neshamos of Yisrael from Avraham Avinu until the end of all generations.
The Borei Yisborach so profoundly desires that Klal Yisrael serve as a merkavah—a chariot—for His Shechinah that He descended into the very depths of degradation to bring them forth. The core identification demanded of us in the sippur of the Haggadah is to live our connection to Klal Yisrael and to internalize the reality that Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires us—so that we may increase the sanctification of His Name in the world. For this purpose, He enters even our most desperate circumstances to redeem us.
By immersing ourselves in the dimension of mitchil b’gnus, we become capable of genuinely identifying with Yetzias Mitzrayim. Through this, we grasp that the Borei Yisborach drew near to us even at our most abject lowliness—and that even today, in our own spiritual degradation, we can apprehend and feel the reality that the Borei Yisborach is interested in us in whatever state we may be, precisely because we are part of Klal Yisrael.
A Living Process That Continues to This Day
Why the Borei Yisborach desires us in this manner remains hidden from our understanding—it is, as it were, His private matter. Yet one truth we know with absolute certainty: He desires us, and it was for this reason that He descended into the depths of Mitzrayim and brought us out. The process initiated
with Yetzias Mitzrayim continues to accompany us to this very day, as we journey toward the future Geulah, when we will ultimately merit to reveal His Name, Yisborach, in the most exalted manner conceivable.
At Yetzias Mitzrayim, we perceived with piercing clarity that all of the Borei Yisborach’s desire in the entirety of creation is for holiness to be revealed in the world through Klal Yisrael. As the Haggadah declares: ואילו לא הוציאנו ה’ אלו’ משם, הרי שאנו ובנינו משועבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים —“And if Hashem had not brought our fathers out of Egypt, then we, and our children, and the children of our children, would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Mitzrayim”—had He not taken us out, the entire world would have remained stagnant, for the Borei Yisborach has no desire for a world in which no sanctity is renewed.
From this emerges the central message of that Exodus: We belong to the nation that Hashem chose to serve Him and to guide the world toward its ultimate purpose. From the moment we left Mitzrayim and witnessed how the Borei Yisborach desires us in every circumstance—down to this very day—we understand that we are an inseparable part of Klal Yisrael, which departed, and continues to depart, from the depths of degradation in order to serve Hashem and bring the world to its tachlis. When we contemplate this deeply, we realize that this is something we can genuinely experience—even today.