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Shiur given in 5778

Pesach: What Does Hashem Desire From Us? (Part 1)

Yamim tovim are tremendous opportunities for us. There’s an inyan to be meichen (prepare) for Yom Tov before it comes. To give a mashal, let’s say a person lives in Yehupitsville. We had a talmid whose parents decided they didn’t want to live among people. So they drove into the desert. They drove for a couple of hours. Then the wife said stop, and she said to her husband, “Here is where we shall live.” And they started to build. They first lived in tents. They had twins, twin boys. They became what you call homesteaders, pioneers. They built everything from scratch. They dug wells. They lived out there. The husband was a real city boy from Brooklyn. His wife was more from the other side of the country. They lived out in the Boondocks. Of course, they were hoping that eventually droves of people would follow them out there and they’d make a community of Jewish nomads who live in nomads’ land. They were trying to talk it up about how there’s so much interest and people are emailing them and texting them. They want people to come for Shabbos. Now it’s a few years they’re there, maybe four years, and they’re still living out in the boonies by themselves.

I asked the husband, “Where do you get stuff from? Do you make everything from the land? If you have to wait for an apple, it will take you fifty years. If you see an apple, what do you do?” He said, “Once in a blue moon, we travel a couple of hundred miles into a town, and we stock up.” I said to the guy, “I hope you have a very organized list before you go into that town because if you forget one thing, you can’t go back.” The hachanah they have to make for that trip, to prepare for things they have to buy, is unbelievable. It’s mamash their lifeline.

Getting Bogged Down In the Minutia

You should know that’s how it is for yamim tovim. If you don’t prepare, you know what happens? It’s like when you walk down the aisles in a store, some things grab you, but you know how it is. You go into the store and forget everything you need. You don’t have the list. A person has to prepare himself to know what he is “shopping” for with each Yom Tov. What am I trying to take out from the Yom Tov?

One of the big difficulties with enabling us to properly prepare for Pesach, is that there are so many important details to arrange for Yom Tov, like cleaning your house, turning your house over from chametz to a Pesach house, getting matzos, buying food, basar vedagim vechol matamim. So the metzius is that your focus becomes the minutia, the little things. Then, the whole purpose of the shopping trip gets lost and forgotten on the way. It’s like lehavdil the guy is so busy figuring out how much gas he needs for the trip and preparing everything else he’s going to need, that he forgets why he’s going there in the first place. A person has to prepare beforehand: What do I want to get out of the Yom Tov?

Another thing. You’re sitting by the seder and you want to know what you should be involved in. Where should your mind be? Most people’s minds are in the empty wasteland of their brain. That means they’re maybe thinking about their kids. “Can my daughter say the mah nishtanah in Russian or in Polish? Or could she say it in Hebrew? Could she say it in Yiddish? Will the kids spill wine on their clothes, or not spill anything on their clothes? Will there be decorum? Will they fall asleep at the seder? Will they not fall asleep at the seder? Will they say, ‘Excuse me, Ta, I have to go to the washroom,’ and disappear for a couple of hours.” People get tired at the seder. And before they know it, the seder is over, and they missed it. So how do you prepare?

Then you get a father who likes to be on top of the matzav. What does he do? He gets his haggadah. Nowadays, they have new haggados every year. Competition between Megillas Esther and Haggadah shel Pesach is fierce. Every year you could think those are the most authored and written about sefarim in the world. The fact is he starts looking in the sefer: Do I get this? Do I say this? Then his kid comes to the seder, and his kid has a fat book with pictures. My haggadah. Yossi’s haggadah or Chanale’s haggadah, and he wants his own divrei Torah. He doesn’t want to hear your divrei Torah. It’s very unpleasant to try to get a word in. His wife says, “Shhh! Let Yossi talk. Yossi, what do you have to say about this?” The father says that today he has the obligation of a father to be mechanech the kids. We all have seen this and experienced this.

Some people prepare games, nuts, candies, and other things but, nebach, they miss the boat! If you miss the boat, there’s no second boat. People get disappointed. Even if you look at a sefer or a haggadah for divrei Torah, you might find a lot of interesting divrei Torah, but many of them have absolutely no shaychus. They are cute divrei Torah. Don’t get me wrong. Why do you make kiddush before karpas? It’s a good question. Why is karpas called karpas? Oh, that is a great she’elah. Or why are matzos round? Or כל דכפין ייתי וייכל, you’ve got a great chassidishe vort with a great mashal on that. It has nothing to do with Pesach, and you missed the boat, my friend.

It’s so important to prepare and to focus and not be dependent on anybody else. If you’re able to share with others, fine. But a lot of times, you’re a son-in-law or a son, and your father has a program that he’s presenting to the olam and he doesn’t want to hear what you have to say. You’re not leading the seder. You can’t have two cooks spoil the broth. What do you do then? How do you accept it? What do you work on? If your father has a mehalech, then it’s a little easier. If he doesn’t have a mehalech, and he’s just scatterbrained and shooting buckshots all over the table of random vorts, he might wonder why he gets the question: “Ta, when are we eating?” Or “Ma, I’m getting hungry.”

Emunah and Hoda’ah

The way to do it is to come prepared, to understand what you’re trying to get from Pesach.

The first thing you have to know is that Pesach is a fundamental Yom Tov. What makes it so fundamental? Why is Pesach more fundamental than any other Yom Tov?

In addition to the fact that Pesach is the birth of Klal Yisrael, the answer to this question is – because the foundation of all of our existence in the world is our relationship to Hashem and our belief in Hashem. To the degree that I believe in Hashem, to that degree I have a shaychus to emunah. Knowing about emunah but not feeling any emunah is like getting a hard drive from somebody. Somebody gave me a gift of a little machine with hundreds of shiurim from Rav Shimshon Pincus. I remember holding this little thing in my hand and thinking, “Wow. There are hundreds and hundreds of hours of shiurim on this thing. It’s amazing.” I started to listen, but you have to have time to listen. You figure, okay, I’ve got it on the machine at least.

That’s how most people have emunah. They’ve got it in the sefer. They know about emunah. They know what the subject is. It lists all the subject headings of each shmooze, but that doesn’t mean you have emunah. Even hearing a shmooze doesn’t mean you have it. Sometimes people say to me, “Why do you always talk about emunah and bitachon?” I tell them, “You know why? I’m going to stop the day you get some. As soon as you get some emunah, I’m going to stop.” They say, “So why do you speak about it?” I say, “Because I’m working on it” Usually, when you get some you want more. You see what it is and you want as much as you can get. מי שיש לו מנה רוצה מאתים.

So the first thing you have to figure out is, how does Pesach fit into the emunah picture? That’s the first thing about Pesach.

The second foundation of Pesach is hoda’ah to Hashem.

Do you remember the famous Ramban (Shemos 13:16), probably the most famous Ramban in the whole chumash?^[i] You probably heard it from me many times. What is the foremost desire, the chefetz, of Hashem batachtonim, from people? The reason why I’m asking you this question in front of thousands of people is because the gemara says you’re only omed on divrei Torah by first stumblingin them. If you first stumblein it, then you remember it (Gittin 43a).^[ii] For things that I was asked a question, I remember them until today. Those questions that my rebbi (Rav Meir HaLevi Soloveichik, zt”l) asked me that I had no idea what to answer, I never forgot those answers ever again. For all the other things that he didn’t ask me a question, do you know what happened? Some I remember, and some I don’t.

Listen to this one-line sentence. When you go back home, you ask this to your mother and then try it on your father for size. Try it on your brothers for size. Try it on some of your friends. The Ramban (ibid) says: אין לעליון בתחתונים חפץ. What is Hashem’s desire betachtonim? What is the single most desire that Hashem wants from people down below? If you’re yeshivish, you might say to learn Torah. If you’re chassidish, you might say to do avodas Hashem behislahavus. If you’re a porcupine, you might say something else.

Let me tell you what the Ramban says and don’t ever forget this: כי אם, the only thing, שנאמין בו. The first thing is נאמין בו, we should believe in Him. That’s the first thing. Hashem’s only desire from you is for you to believe in Him. That’s number one. The second thing Hashem wants from you is ונודה לקל שבראנו, that we should be modeh, we should offer up hoda’ah to Hashem, to acknowledge, that He created us. So step one, is we should have emunah in Hashem. Learning Torah is a way to get emunah. That’s why תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם. Avodas Hashem is a way to connect to Hashem. Step two is hoda’ah.  Emunah and hoda’ah. Don’t forget it.

The first thing you have to know is Pesach is the lesson of emunah. Now, what is the point of emunah? If somebody asks you what emunah is, you have to know that emunah is the belief in what Hashem represents in the world, what Hashem’s capabilities are. All the osos and all the mofsim that Hashem brought in Mitzrayim were in order to publicize to the world that Hashem is the sole shalit, ruler. It says it in the passuk.

Now, if somebody asks you if there is anything unique about the ten makkos,most of you will think that the ten makkos don’t really connect the dots. You know what they are? A hodgepodge of things that only Hashem could think of. If I would think of punishing somebody, I don’t think I would decide to turn his water into blood. Maybe wild animals. But Hashem came up with ideas here. What’s this all about?

Proving Hashem’s Absolute Control

So listen to what the Steipler in his sefer Chayei Olam (פרק טו)says.^[iii] The ten makkos was actually a demonstration that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the absolute ruler and controller of every single aspect of the world. He askswhat is dam a proof for? In dam, the world saw that Hashem is the absolute controller and ruler over mayim. And so too by krias Yam Suf. The water stood like walls. Hashem showed that He is the absolute. The next makkah was tzefardeiya. You know what tzefardeiya was for? Hashem showed he was the controller of the life that’s found in the mayim. Then you have makkas arov. You know what arov was for? That Hashem is the ruler over the animals of the world. That’s what Hashem showed. We’re going in this order because I’m trying to show you the order so your mind could digest this. Mayim, animals in the mayim, animals on the aretz and then in makkas arbeh we saw that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was the controller of the flying minim. He was able to produce so many locusts that they destroyed Mitzrayim, and not one of them came into Goshen. They also saw in makkas arbeh that Hashem was the shalit on the brios that were flying, and that Hashem is a shalit on the ruach, on the winds because it says that the locusts came with a strong easterly wind. When Hashem finally got rid of them from Mitzrayim, He also did it with a strong wind. Then you have makkas dever, Hashem is the absolute ruler over the life of ba’alei chaim, and Hashem decides which animals should live and which animals should die. In makkos bechoros they saw that Hashem was the shalit over the lives of people. In the makkah of kinim, lice, Hashem showed that the only reason why land was land was because Hashem chose it to be land and when Hashem decided that it should turn into lice, the land became lice for a couple of tefachim. He is a shalit over the adamah. In the makkah of shechin Hashem demonstrated that He is in control of the health of man and his machalos. The Mitzri’im got boils all over themselves. In makkas choshech Hashem demonstrated that He is the one who brings light upon the world. It comes from Hashem and when Hashem decides not to bring it, then it’s going to be dark. In makkas barad there are three things there. There is rain, there is hail and there is fire. All those things joined together and became barad: smart bombs. And then Hashem arranged that all the Mitzri’im decided to lend the Yidden all their klei kesef and all their klei zahav, all their clothing, rechush gadol, unbelievable stuff. After they got tremendous makkos,they saw that Hashem controls whether someone likes you or not. If you go into a shul and you decide someone doesn’t like you, the first thing I tell you is to stop imagining things. They do like you. But if somebody taka doesn’t like you it’s because Hashem puts that in his mind. When somebody likes you, it’s not because you’re funny or you’re cute. It’s because Hashem makes people like you. Hashem has control over the emotions. Mamash a pelah. Hashem then showed how He controlled wheels on carriages. All their carriages fell apart. At krias Yam Suf Hashem showed more miracles. Middah keneged middah. There’s no end.

Now in order to be prepared forthis you need to think about this. You need to contemplate this, so that when you’ll stay focused you say at the seder, “Kinderlach, there’s a makkah of dam…” It doesn’t sound like a seder. It sounds very not mesudar – you get into your world and think: Hakadosh Baruch Hu, from the makkah of dam and from all the makkos and everything that happened to the Mitzri’im, You demonstrated Your control over everything beyond the shadow of a doubt.” But you have to prepare this beforehand, and on Yom Tov you’re mesbonen in it and hopefully you’ll believe it.

You have people who can talk about how Hashem controls the entire world, and a half a second later, somebody says something not nice to them, and they lose their equilibrium. What happened to believing that Hashem controls everything? You could have a person who swears that Reuven can’t hurt Shimon unless it’s decreed 100% by Hashem, and a second later, Reuven comes to Shimon and Shimon blows a gasket. You’ve got no emunah, my friend.

Now if you look in the Sefer Hachinuch in mitzvah chaf alef,when he talks about the mitzvah of sipur yetzias Mitzrayim,he says as follows: Tonight, everybody, in his understanding, in his language, must speak about this because it’s a yesod gadol, a very big principle and amud chazakah, a very strong pillar, beToraseinu uve’emunaseinu,because it’s a sign for us, אות ומופת גמור בחידוש העולם thatthere’s a Hashem who came before anything, Who does whatever He wants and He’s able to do anything. He’s poel all things in the world, all shinui hateva – and this silences every kofer (denier) in chiddush haolam.^[iv]

Now you have to think about that. Just saying it doesn’t make you a ma’amin. If you’re not going to delve into this sugya of sipur yetzias Mitzrayim, you’re not going to come to any awareness of this! The osos and the mofsim have to bring out in you and bring home to you the emunah that Hashem is the absolute creator of the world, and to silence every kofer. It doesn’t make a difference what anybody else thinks.

I’ll never forget I was once giving a shiur, and there was a father who was more of a modern fellow, an Israeli guy. I was talking about this sugya, how there’s nothing that happens in the world that’s not from Hashem. He stood up in the back of the room and said, “You mean Arafat is from Hashem?” I said, “No, he’s from Mohammad. But who is he from? Who creates everybody? The same One who created you, created Arafat.” He said, “Are you crazy! You think Hashem created Arafat?” I said, “Who then created him?” The fellow wasn’t letting up, “And what about Hitler?” I said, “Hashem made him too.” The guy went completely nuts. He went off the rails. He got so angry he charged out of here. He was so worked up. Such an eino ma’amin! But the guy wore a yarmulke. He put on tefillin every day. He kept Shabbos. But he never kept a Pesach, you see? He never celebrated a real Pesach. He may have gone through it but he never got anything from it! He doesn’t believe that Pharaoh is from Hashem. He just believes that Pharaoh is a bad guy. He just tortured Yidden terribly. No, he’s also from Hashem.

Everything that Happens is Hashgachah

You have to know that everything that happens is the hashagachah of Hashem. Middah keneged middah is hashgachah. The Mitzri’im got punished middah keneged middah. You have to say to yourself, “Hashem, I want to acknowledge and I want to know it and I want to recognize everything that happens to me that is middah keneged middah. Open my eyes to see it, Hashem!” With every little thing that happened to my rebbi, whatever it was, he always looked at what the middah keneged middah was.

I once told you a story. My rebbi had a memory that was a בור סיד שאינו מאבד טיפה, he rememberedthe language of rishonim that he saw seventy years before! He couldn’t understand what people were talking about when they said, “I forgot.” How is it shayach? He remembered stories exactly. If it was one thing off, it was a sheker. I once said something over to him, repeating to him something he had said. He asked me, “Where did you hear that?” I said, “I heard it from my rebbi, he should be gezunt.” He said, “You didn’t hear it from me.” I said, “Rebbi, I’ve got it in my notebook. I only write in my notebook things that I hear from you.” He told me, “Dos is nisht emes. Ich hob nisht gezugt.”

I went out and met another guy, another talmid. I said to the guy, “Do you remember this vort we heard from the rebbi?” He said, “Sure.” I said, “Take a look at it. You see this vort?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Do you know what the rebbi told me? That it’s not from him.” “What do you mean it’s not from him? Of course it’s from him.” This guy was a little older than me. He said, “You have to know Briskers are daykanim. If you changed one word from what he said, then it’s not what he said.”

I went back to my rebbi. I said, “Rebbi, did you ever speak about this subject?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Did I make a mistake in a word?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Don’t you think that’s a little, maybe, exaggerated? A little guzma to hold me down to one word?” He said, “It’s a sheker.” I said, “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?”

He said, “Let me tell you the chinuch that I got from my father. A Yid came to my father, the Brisker Rav, and he told him that he met Rav Chaim Soloveitchik back in the day. Rav Chaim was talking about the Yidden in Yerushalayim and Rav Chaim said a description. He described it. He said they’re this, they’re that. Rav Chaim used three or four different adjectives to describe them. My father listened to him klor, and chazered it over. Ten years later, the same Yid came back to my father. He forgot he told the Brisker Rav this story. “I’ll tell you a story. I’ll tell you what I heard from your father.” The Brisker Rav said, “It’s nisht emes.” He said, “I heard it from him.” “Nisht emes.” It’s not emes. He said, “What do you mean? I’m telling you what I heard.” He said, “Ten years ago you told me the story. You changed it now. Description number two, you said as three. Now you said description three as number two. It’s nisht emes. Which one is not emes?”

My rebbi said, “You understand how it’s not emes?” I said, “Rebbi, it’s too much for me. Forget about it.” This is way above and beyond my paygrade. To even see and be exposed to such a thing was mind-blowing to me!

Look For the Middah K’neged Middah

In emunah, it has to be perfect. In middah keneged middah it has to be perfect. My rebbi didn’t forget anything. Now, one time he said a vort and his father liked it. When he said a vort and his father liked it and praised it, that meant it was gold. But then he forgot it. He remembered the Rashi that he based it on, but he couldn’t remember what the question and the answer were. It bothered him to no end. The only ones who knew it were his father and a famous Yid in Yerushalayim, Rav Matisyahu Davis. Rav Mattisyahy knew it because one day, Rav Matisyahu asked him to say a vort, and he said, “I’ll tell you a vort, a frisher vort.” That was when he told him. But both his father and Rav Matisyahu were niftar. Rav Meir said, “I can’t tell you how much time I spent trying to resurrect the vort. But he thought, “Why did Hashem make me forget it? What’s the sibah? Other things I don’t forget. How come I forgot this?”

We would say, “Listen, you’re allowed to forget something. It’s pretty normal. Forgetting things is the ABC of humankind. I always forget things.” But with my rebbi, there was no such thing. He forgot? “There’s a middah keneged middah here. There’s a reason why Hashem took it away from me.”

So, he thought about it and replayed in his mind the whole story of how the vort came about. He said, “I was serving my father as was my minhag. I was being meshamesh him, bringing him food. My father said to me, ‘Meir ich hob a kasha,’ so he tells me a kasha.”

My rebbi said, “My father asked me a kasha. I thought about it for a second and then I shot out the answer. My father was very impressed by the answer. He liked it a lot. I thought afterwards, ‘What right did I have to open my mouth? My father wanted to say something. Let me hear what he had to say.’ Because I didn’t listen to hear what my father had to say, I spoke out my vort first, so it must be that Hashem is now taking away my vort.” That’s how he understood middah keneged middah. There wasn’t a zach that wasn’t middah keneged middah by him.

Pesach Strengthens Emunah

That’s what a person has to realize. If you go through a Pesach and your emunah is not uplifted, you missed the boat. If all you have is indigestion from too much matzah or wine in your system, you got headaches from the wine or the sugar in the grape juice, or you’re tired from the cleaning – then that Pesach went over your head and you missed it. You have to prepare yourself. Prepare yourself to get some level of emunah this Pesach. Every year Hashem gives me a chance to get more emunah, to get more and more emunah. Hopefully, in your lifetime of Pesachs you’ll be zocheh to maybe get a little bit of emunah.

Now, the reason why the lesson of Mitzrayim is obvious is because of the shpitz kofer in the story. Who was the shpitz kofer? Pharaoh, of course. Pharaoh was the shpitz guy who thought that he’s in charge. Every month has a mazal. What’s the mazal of Chodesh Nissan? Taleh. What’s taleh? A sheep. Sheep is what the Egyptians worshiped. It’s a very interesting thing. When the makkos were coming, at one point, Pharaoh became broken. You know when? After barad. He said ה’ הצדיק ואני ועמי רשעים. And then afterwards came makkas arbeh. You know what he did by arbeh? He drove Moshe and Aharon out (Shemos 10:11). Get away from me! And then during the makkas choshech he opened his big mouth and he was meschatzef to Moshe Rabbeinu. You know what he told Moshe Rabbeinu? אַל תֹּסֶף רְאוֹת פָּנַי, “I don’t want to see your face again” (Shemos 10:28).

Now, where did he get his newfound manliness? Where did he get this koach atzum? Didn’t he say  וַאֲנִי וְעַמִּי הָרְשָׁעִים following the makkah of barad?! (Shemos 9:28) Where did he get this chizuk? You know why? Because he knew Chodesh Nissan was coming and Nissan’s mazal was telah. He said if I can get into that month of telah I’ve got it made. My astrologers told me you’ve got to connect with the sheep. If you connect with the sheep, you’re going to be in good shape.

Haman also made a similar mistake and thought Purim was the month for him. So Pharaoh figured, if he could just hold on a little bit more, the scales would tilt to his favor. That’s why he told Moshe, “Get out of here! I don’t want to see you. Don’t come back to me! I don’t want to see you! Come back in Nissan. In Nissan, we’ll talk.” That’s what Pharaoh’s whole trick was.

What happens is that Pharaoh gets duped. Hashem shows him all his mazalos, you joker, you comedian, you fool what you are! With all your astrologers, all your chachamim, all the degrees that they have – don’t you know who the real Boss is?! אין עוד מלבדו בשמים ממעל ובארץ מתחת אין עוד. And that’s whyראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה.

You should sit and think this over, and think how Hashem took care of you all your life, and how Hashem controls you and how Hashem guides you, and then you walk out of Pesach with step one that the Ramban told us about, שנאמין בו.

Now you have to understand the following. Hashem wants me to believe in Him. You know what that means to say? If I believe in Him, that’s my insurance program. That’s my life insurance. If all Hashem wants from you is that you should believe in Hashem and talk about emunah in Hashem, if that’s all He wants from you, then doing that will of His is what’s going to give you life insurance. Forget about car insurance. You need life insurance. (Part 2 of this shiur is next) 

^[i] וּלְפִיכָךְ אָמְרוּ (אבות פ”ב מ”א) הֱוֵי זָהִיר בְּמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְּבַחֲמוּרָה שֶׁכֻּלָּן חֲמוּדוֹת וַחֲבִיבוֹת מְאֹד, שֶׁבְּכָל שָׁעָה אָדָם מוֹדֶה בָּהֶן לֵאלֹהָיו, וְכַוָּנַת כָּל הַמִּצְוֹת שֶׁנַּאֲמִין בֵּאלֹהֵינוּ וְנוֹדֶה אֵלָיו שֶׁהוּא בְּרָאָנוּ, וְהִיא כַּוָּנַת הַיְּצִירָה, שֶׁאֵין לָנוּ טַעַם אַחֵר בַּיְּצִירָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה, וְאֵין אֵל עֶלְיוֹן חָפֵץ בַּתַּחְתּוֹנִים מִלְּבַד שֶׁיֵּדַע הָאָדָם וְיוֹדֶה לֵאלֹהָיו שֶׁבְּרָאוֹ, וְכַוָּנַת רוֹמְמוּת הַקּוֹל בַּתְּפִלּוֹת וְכַוָּנַת בָּתֵּי הַכְּנֵסִיּוֹת וּזְכוּת תְּפִלַּת הָרַבִּים, זֶהוּ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה לִבְנֵי אָדָם מָקוֹם יִתְקַבְּצוּ וְיוֹדוּ לָאֵל שֶׁבְּרָאָם וְהִמְצִיאָם וִיפַרְסְמוּ זֶה וְיֹאמְרוּ לְפָנָיו בְּרִיּוֹתֶיךָ אֲנַחְנוּ, וְזוֹ כַּוָּנָתָם בְּמַה שֶׁאָמְרוּ זַ”ל (ירושלמי תענית פ”ב ה”א) “וְיִקְרְאוּ אֶל אֱלֹהִים בְּחָזְקָה” (יונה ג ח), מִכָּאן אַתָּה לָמֵד שֶׁתְּפִלָּה צְרִיכָה קוֹל, חַצִּיפָא נָצַח לְבִישָׁא (עי’ ערוך ערך חצף).

^[ii] הֲדַר אוֹקֵים רַבָּה בַּר רַב הוּנָא אָמוֹרָא עֲלֵיהּ, וּדְרַשׁ: ״וְהַמַּכְשֵׁלָה הַזֹּאת תַּחַת יָדֶיךָ״ – אֵין אָדָם עוֹמֵד עַל דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן נִכְשָׁל בָּהֶן.

^[iii] מכת דם ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על המים. וכן בקריעת ים סוף שמימי הים נצבו כמו נד, והמים להם חומה מימינם ומשמאלם [שמות י”ד כ”ב]. במכות צפרדעים ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על בריות שבמים (כדכתיב [שמות ז ‘ כ”ח] ושרץ היאור צפרדעים). במכת ערוב ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על חיות הארץ.  במכת ארבה ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על בריות המעופפים, שכולם עושים רצונו יתברך שמו וגזירתו, נגזר שיבאו בהמוניהם להשחית במצרים, באו, ולגושן מקום מושב בני ישראל, לא העיז אף אחד לבוא, את הגבול שמרו כולם, כי כן פקד בורא עולם יתברך שמו. במכת ארבה מלבד שראו שהקדוש ברוך הוא שליט על הבריות המעופפות, ראו גם כן שהשם יתברך שליט על הרוח, כי הארבה בא ברוח קדים עזה [שמות י’ י”ג], וכשהעתיר משה רבינו להסירו, נעתק והלך על ידי רוח ים חזק מאוד, כמבואר בפרשה [שמות י’ י”ט]. במכת דבר ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על חיי הבעלי חיים, נגזר על מקנה מצרים שימותו, מתו ,וממקנה בני ישראל לא מת אחד [שמות ט’ ז’]. במכת בכורות ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על חיי האדם, בכורות מצרים מתו כולם בשעה אחת כמו שהתרה משה רבינו עליו השלום בשם ה’, ובכורי ישראל חיו. במכת כנים ראו שהשם יתברך שליט על האדמה והבריות המתהווים ממנה, כי עפר הארץ נהפך והיה לכנים, ופגעו רק במצריים ולא בישראל [שמות ח’ י”ב]. במכת שחין ראו שבריאות האדם ותחלואותיו הכל ביד השם יתברך, נגזר שילקו בשחין מצרים ולקו, ולבני ישראל לא פגע השחין, כי הכל בגזרתו יתברך שמו. במכות חושך ראו שהבורא יתברך הוא המאיר לארץ, בגזרתו יתברך שמו המאורות מאירים, ובגזרתו יתברך שמו לא יאירו, וימש חשך [שמות י’ כ״א]. במכת ברד שהיו שלש דברים, מטר, ברד, ואש מתלקחת, ותהלך אש ארצה [שמות ט’ כ”ג]. ראו שהשם יתברך הוא השולח עננים להמטיר על הארץ, ובגזרתו נהפכים לברד, וראו שהאש והמים עשו שלום לקיים גזירתו יתברך כדפירש רש”י ז”ל [שם כ”ד ].

^[iv] מִצְוַת סִפּוּר יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם – לְסַפֵּר בְּעִנְיַן יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם בְּלֵיל ט”ו בְּנִיסָן, כָּל אֶחָד כְּפִי צַחוּת לְשׁוֹנוֹ, וּלְהַלֵּל וּלְשַׁבֵּחַ לַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ עַל כָּל הַנִּסִּים שֶׁעָשָׂה לָנוּ שָׁם. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות יג ח) וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ. וּכְבָר פֵּרְשׁוּ חֲכָמִים, (מכילתא בא שם) דְּמִצְוַת הַגָּדָה זוֹ הוּא בְּלֵיל ט”ו בְּנִיסָן בִּשְׁעַת אֲכִילַת מַצָּה. וּמַה שֶּׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב לְבִנְךָ, לָאו דַּוְקָא בְּנוֹ, (פסחים קטז, א) אֶלָּא אֲפִלּוּ עִם כָּל בְּרִיָּה. וְעִנְיַן הַמִּצְוָה, שֶׁיִּזְכֹּר הַנִּסִּים וְהָעִנְיָנִים שֶׁאֵרְעוּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, וְאֵיךְ לָקַח הָאֵל יִתְבָּרַךְ נִקְמָתֵנוּ מֵהֶם, וַאֲפִלּוּ בֵּינוֹ לְבֵין עַצְמוֹ, אִם אֵין שָׁם אֲחֵרִים, חַיָּב לְהוֹצִיא הַדְּבָרִים מִפִּיו, כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּתְעוֹרֵר לִבּוֹ בַּדָּבָר, כִּי בַּדִּבּוּר יִתְעוֹרֵר הַלֵּב (עי’ סהמ”צ להרמב”ם מ”ע קנז). מִשָּׁרְשֵׁי מִצְוָה זוֹ. מָה שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּקָרְבַּן הַפֶּסַח. וְאֵין מִן הַתֵּמַהּ אִם בָּאוּ לָנוּ מִצְוֹת רַבּוֹת עַל זֶה, מִצְוֹת עֲשֵׂה וּמִצְוֹת לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה, כִּי הוּא יְסוֹד גָּדוֹל וְעַמּוּד חָזָק בְּתוֹרָתֵנוּ וּבֶאֱמוּנָתֵנוּ. וְעַל כֵּן אָנוּ אוֹמְרִים לְעוֹלָם בְּבִרְכוֹתֵינוּ וּבִתְפִלּוֹתֵינוּ זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, לְפִי שֶׁהוּא לָנוּ אוֹת וּמוֹפֵת גָּמוּר בְּחִדּוּשׁ הָעוֹלָם, וְכִי יֵשׁ אֱלֹהַּ קַדְמוֹן חָפֵץ וְיָכוֹל, פּוֹעֵל כָּל הַנִּמְצָאוֹת הוּא וּבְיָדוֹ לְשַׁנּוֹתָם, כְּפִי שֶׁיַּחְפֹּץ בְּכָל זְמַן מִן הַזְּמַנִּים, כְּמוֹ שֶׁעָשָׂה בְּמִצְרַיִם, שֶׁשִּׁנָּה טִבְעֵי הָעוֹלָם בִּשְׁבִילֵנוּ, וְעָשָׂה לָנוּ אוֹתוֹת מְחֻדָּשִׁים גְּדוֹלִים וַעֲצוּמִים, הֲלֹא זֶה מְשַׁתֵּק כָּל כּוֹפֵר בְּחִדּוּשׁ הָעוֹלָם וּמְקַיֵּם הָאֱמוּנָה בִּידִיעַת הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ, וְכִי הַשְׁגָּחָתוֹ וִיכָלְתּוֹ בַּכְּלָלִים וּבַפְּרָטִים כֻּלָּם, וכו’.