This shiur is Liliui Nishmat Shoshana Zissel bat R’ Dov Ber.
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
One of the crucial paragraphs that ties together various parts of the Haggadah narrative and keeps it relevant today is “Vehi She’amdah… /And this is what has stood for our forefathers and for us; for not merely one nation rises up against us to destroy us, but rather in each generation, they rise up against us to destroy us; and Hashem saves us from their hands.” Coming immediately after recounting Hashem’s promise to Avraham Avinu at the Covenant between the Halves that prophesied our enslavement and redemption, and before our Patriarch Yaakov’s history with the evil Lavan, it creates the bridge that explains the entire history of Bnei Yisroel. That promise, and that Hashem would judge the nations that would enslave us has been a recurring theme in Jewish history.
“Vehi/It is this,” Hashem’s presence, that has stayed with our forefathers and with us throughout the generations, writes Rabbi Pruzansky in Night of Emunah. It is the constant, small miracles that have kept us alive, and that Hashem will keep performing for us that we believe will sustain us through all the challenges we continuously face until our final redemption.
Why do we wander from one country to another during our exile? Both Rabbi Zilber in B’Yam Derech and the Novominsker Rav zt”l focus on the wealth Hashem promised Avraham Avinu in His covenant. They suggest that this wealth does not refer to material wealth, but to spiritual wealth. During creation there were sparks of sanctity that were scattered throughout the universe. When Bnei Yisroel was chosen to expose the world to Hashem’s presence and glory, they were tasked with gathering those sparks into the fold of Torah. We can see Torah flourishing in every land of our exile. For example, in Babylon [the current Iraq] our Sages created the great Babylonian Talmud; In France and Spain, we had the great Torah commentators. Once the holy sparks embedded in those countries became part of the greater Judaic identity and mission, Bnei Yisroel moved on, either by expulsion or emigration. That is why when we left Egypt, we no longer need to return, for Bnei Yisroel had already absorbed all its potential sanctity. And Torah has now flowered in America.
Rav Druck provides several different although not mutually exclusive interpretations of our passage. First, it is precisely because other nations have persecuted us that we remain steadfast in our loyalty to Hashem. Alternately, [and this is a strong motivation for the other nations desire to annihilate us – CKS] it is והיא, an acronym for the foundations of Judaism that has sustained us: ו/vov stands for the six books of the Mishnah; ה is for the five books of the Torah; י represents the Ten Commandments, and א represents the One God in heaven and earth. Finally, vehi represents the promise Hashem made to Avraham Avinu. We will notice that in that prophecy, no specific nation is specified, leading our Sages to determine that the prophecy and promise are meant to extend beyond Egypt, to every nation that will persecute us in all future generations. And Hashem will execute judgment on all these nations.
The Novominsker Rav expands our perception by narrowing our focus. It is not only on the major redemption from Egypt and on our future redemption, but on all the small miracles that Hashem does for us during the dark periods of our exile. As the verse in Tehillim says, we relate Hashem’s chesed in the morning and His faith in the nights (Tehillim 92:3). This differentiation is reflected in our morning and evening prayers after we recite the Shema that concludes with remembering our redemption from Egypt. In Shacharis, we recite, Emes veyatziv/True and firm, and in the evening prayer we recite Emes ve’emunah/True and faithful. True, we have been redeemed in the past with open miracles, and we look forward to our future redemption, but while we are waiting, let us not discount the many times Hashem saves us in small ways, every day, in the darkness of our exile. The averted accident, the unexpected refund that came just in time to pay our bill, the “chance” meeting that resulted in a new job or a shidduch. It is easy to attribute these to the natural order of the world, but it is Hashem’s watchful eye over us. Even more should we recognize that Hashem directed the course of so many drones and missiles to empty fields, or to empty schools. We may say they are the result of human error or mechanical malfunction, but these are miracles as part of Hashem’s promise to Avraham Avinu, and our faith in Hashem’s watchful eye should sustain us even in the darkest times. We raise our cup of wine in gratitude and thanksgiving.
Our four traditional cups of wine at the Seder, representing the four phrases the Torah uses for our salvation, also represent the four nations under which we were subjugated. But additionally, writes the Matnas Chaim, the four languages represent four different edicts Pharaoh decreed against Bnei Yisroel, and the reversal of each of these decrees: hard labor, throwing the baby boys into the Nile, killing Jewish children so Pharaoh could bathe in their blood, and forcing Bnei Yisroel themselves to find and gather the straw needed for the bricks. Within the greater salvation there is a process of mini salvations leading up to it.
Herein lies the reason we lift up our cup during the Vehi She’omdah even though we are not reciting a blessing over the wine. The cup represents the retribution within the redemption process. By lifting the wine, we acknowledge the miraculous nature of the process, writes Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon zt”l . Especially this year, we have witnessed myriad miracles; raise those cups high.
Despite such evidence of Hashem’s hand in our salvation, there are still those among us who still believe we can protect ourselves, we can rely on the IDF, we can rely on the USA, or that proper diplomacy will save us, writes Rabbi Ezrachi zt”l. But when the enemy states its goal as lechalosenu, to wipe us out, believe them, and believe also that Hashem will save us from their hand. Rely not on war, on diplomacy, [although we must do our hishtadlus, our effort] but rely on Hashem’s promise to our forefathers. That promise saved us in the past and continues to save us through all generations.
In Darkness to Destiny, Rabbi Bernstein notes that our exile in Egypt contained within it both the root of all our future exiles and of our future redemptions. As such, Hashem’s promise to Avraham Avinu is relevant for all generations, for all our exiles, and we rely on that promise to this very day.
Our job is to open our eyes and see the mini salvations and recognize they come from Hashem. Mitzrayim thought they were in complete control and could predict the future, writes Rabbi Pincus zt”l. Their sorcerers could control nature. All their needs could be predictably provided by the Nile. They foresaw that a redeemer would be born to take Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt, and they planned a preventive strike—throw all newborn boys into the Nile and drown them. But Hashem foils all their plans. The cup represents these mini salvations.
But in all our discussion of miracles, let us not forget that nature itself is the greatest miracle that Hashem does constantly for us, writes The Shvilei Pinchas. The miracle of Jewish survival, hidden within the natural order of the world, is greater than the miracle of the exodus from Egypt. Returning to our Land and transforming it from a desolate ruin to a vibrant, blossoming country is a miracle. Therefore we lift our wine, representing our galus and cover the matzah, for our very survival is cloaked in the exile and in our enemies’ attempts to annihilate us.
That is why we follow with the first example of the wish to destroy us. Go study Lavan who tried to annihilate us by killing us with kindness, with keeping his “daughters” and his “grandchildren” close to him.
Rabbi Druck drives the point home, that salvation comes from the very source of our oppression. A case in point. Haman planned to annihilate the Jews, yet it was Haman himself and his advice that brought Esther, the Jewish queen into the palace to upend his plan. The Shvilei Pinchas makes the point with Lavan. Lavan, the paradigm of evil, wanted to destroy sanctity. Yet it is his four daughters, two from his wife and two from his concubine, that become the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Therefore the Haggadah introduces Lavan immediately after Vehi She’omdah.
In yet another interpretation of our passage, Rav Yosef Zvi Dushinsky zt”l again tying Vehi to the prophecy that preceded it, relates a parable of a king who is angry at his son. Seeing a boulder nearby, he vows to throw the boulder at his son. However, instead of throwing the boulder at his son and killing him, he smashes the boulder and throws the resulting pebbles at his son, thereby fulfilling his vow yet saving his son. Rav Dushinsky explains that Hashem’s vow of enslaving Bnei Yisroel and tormenting them for 400 years had its source in Mitzrayim, but Hashem broke it up into four distinct exiles, giving them respite between the most difficult stages, and ensuring their survival.
Why do we lift the cup of wine while reciting this passage? Rabbi Druck offers yet another reason. Rabbi Druck suggests that we are highlighting the role of wine in our survival, for we are forbidden to drink wine with gentiles, as wine blurs the lines of separation. It was our separation from and uniqueness amid the Egyptians that retained our identity and allowed us to be saved and removed from Egypt..
When do the gentile nations hate us the most? When we try to be like them, to lose our unique identity and erase our mission. Through the laws that separate us from the gentiles, we are saved from their anger, writes Rabbi Schorr. When we see ourselves as different and feel pride at our heightened sense of morality and our mitzvoth, we are saved. Lavan, “Mr. White” who camouflages his antisemitism with platitude of love is as dangerous an enemy to Bnei Yisroel as is the overt antisemite represented by Pharaoh.
The goal of our exodus from Egypt, as demonstrated at the Seder, is to partner with Hashem in guaranteeing our survival through living as proud Jews, servants of Hashem, irrespective of the alien cultures that surrounds us.
Have a kosher and joyous Pesach. Am Yisroel Chai.
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