LEAD TIDBIT
From Initial to Final
The celebration of Pesach is quite full, in and of itself. The Seder only takes a few hours, but that’s because most people try to eat the Afikoman before halachic midnight, and because a lot of people are too tired to go longer. Imagine how long our Seder would be if we were able to share the stories and explanations without any limiting factors. We’d definitely go way beyond the time for reading the Sh’ma in the morning that stopped the Sages in Bnei Braq. And look at the large number of Torah readings that we use each day of Pesach.

lenty of passages in the Torah devoted to Y’tzi’at Mitzrayim (the Exodus). And remembering the birth of the Jewish Nation goes way beyond Pesach; there are elements in every Chag, on every Shabbat, and every day that focus us on the Egyptian experience and its miraculous conclusion. G-d’s opening words to us at Sinai identified Him as the One who took us out of Egypt. Many mitzvot in the Torah are explicitly linked to our sojourn in Egypt and our being taken out from there by G-d.

The Gemara records a dispute as to when certain events occurred - in Nisan or Tishrei. Without getting involved in this dispute, let us relate to the quote in the box on the front page: “In Nisan we were redeemed and in Nissan we are destined to be redeemed.”

This is an important concept for us, for more than one reason. It helps us broaden our focus, which tends to narrow to events that took place more than 3300 years ago, to include that which is yet to happen - may it be so speedily in our time.

It is important not to view Y’tzi’at Mitzrayim as an end, in and of itself. And even to include Matan Torah and entry into Eretz Yisrael as part of a package deal with Matan Torah is not enough. It might have been, had the people stayed faithful to Torah and mitzvot. But with the ups and downs - especially the downs - of Jewish History, it is essential that we include in our perspective of things, the Final Geula.

esach was only the beginning of Nationhood. Our birth as a People. That deserves to be celebrated and emphasized, but we need to take the Geula into the picture so we can see what G-d plans for us and expects of us. Shabbat HaGadol with its haftara prophecy of the Great Day of Hashem does that. So does the Dayeinu poem, going beyond Y’tzi’at Mitzrayim and the Splitting of Sea - which are certainly appropriate topics for a Seder night song, into the wilderness, to Har Sinai, to receiving the Torah, to Eretz Yisrael, and the building of the Beit HaMikdash. It’s a matter of giving us a perspective. So is Next Year in Rebuilt Jerusalem. So is a fifth cup, which most people do not drink. It is called Eliyahu’s Cup and points us toward the Geula. Rav Steinsaltz in his Hagada says that YACHATZ. breaking the middle matza, keeping the smaller piece for now and saving the larger piece for later, makes the same point. There was Geulat Mitzrayim and there will be IY”H the Final Geula in the future. The Afikoman represents the future. It’s later. And what do we do when we’ve just finished the first day of Pesach? We start counting. That too focuses us towards a future time. May we soon go from a roasted chicken wing that we only look at on the Seder Plate to a delicious portion of roast lamb eaten with matza and maror, in luxury, and in a state of ritual purity and K’dusha, BIMHEIRA B'YAMEINU AMEN.