Pe-Sach and the shaping of Israeli consciousness

Parsha and its Implementation - Pesach - Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - 5779

The Mekuvalim decided the name of the Passover festival is Pe-Sach "mouth-conversation" since the focus of the holiday is speech and discourse. And it contains a special commandment of the story of the Exodus of Egypt. “And You Should Tell Your Children”.

The story of the Exodus from Egypt in each generation is designed to shape the consciousness of the Jewish people for generations in terms of its origin and essence.

The exodus from Egypt was a formative event in the history of the Jewish people from a spiritual, religious and national perspective. Therefore " In each and every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as if he left Egypt, etc”.

The "pe-sach" in the "conversation" of the Seder night in every generation requires precise basic terms that shape consciousness.          "Rabban Gamliel was accustomed to say: whoever does not explain, at the meal, the following three ceremonies, has not done his duty, and these they are: the Passover sacrifice, the eating of matzah and the bitter herbs”. The Pesach [passover] for the sake [to commemorate] that Hashem, passed over the homes of our ancestors in Egypt. This matzah that we are eating, to commemorate that Hashem revealed [Himself] to our ancestors and redeemed them, etc. The marror [bitter greens] to commemorate that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors in Egypt. (Mishna Pesachim 10:5)

This is an exceptional Halacha! In order to fulfill the mitzvah of the holiday, it is not sufficient to eat from the Passover sacrifice, the Matzah and the Marror. Rather, it is necessary to precede and accurately "say" what their meaning is and thus to make their mark as a factor shaping the consciousness. Their meaning is folded in their name.

Korban Pesach - shapes the nation and the individual’s unique faith in G-d, and the consciousness that the nation's beginning and eternal existence depends on Divine Providence above nature (although we cannot rely on miracles only, and must protect ourselves by state and army). The Passover sacrifice comes as a national thanksgiving korban to G-d for having saved the Jewish people miraculously when He passed over their homes in the plague of the firstborns. So they said while eating the Passover sacrifice, which is a special offering.

On the one hand, it is a "single offering" that is eaten by the people who brought it, and on the other hand it is a public offering which has a fixed obligation and time (Olat Reiyah Part 1 page 178). In its laws, there is a similarity to the "Korban Toda - thanks offering": it too is eaten by its owner. You eat it together with matzah. It is forbidden to leave from it until morning, and the people who are forbidden to eat from it are punished by death from Heaven (Karet).

Matzah- is intended to shape the consciousness of the unique destiny of the people of Israel, of the community and the individual. A mission that depends on free, national and personal consciousness. "Matzah is the bread of affliction and the bread of freedom, at the same time that the King of Kings revealed to us and redeemed us, the essence of freedom was created in our soul, the freedom of will" (Orot Hakodesh Part 3: 36). The freedom that was imprinted on us during the Exodus from Egypt is unique. Is the liberation from subjugation to strangers, which prevents our self-realization from being expressed, and allows the inner self-desire of the individual and the nation to manifest itself when it is free of any external enslavement and fulfillment of self-destiny.

The Marror (bitter herbs) - Designed to shape the unique character and morals of the people of Israel and the individual. The bitterness and suffering in the slavery of Egypt was a formative destiny experience from which the people of Israel grew and became what it is. Slavery shaped the moral consciousness of the Jewish people and its sensitivity to the suffering of others, out of humility. As a people that grew out of slavery: זָכַרְתָּ֞֗ כִּ֣י־עֶ֤בֶד הָיִ֣֙יתָ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔֗יִם "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt" (Devarim 5:15).

Slavery and bitterness also tone down the influence that shapes the self-awareness, to the endurance and strength that are concealed in our character, thus enabling us to deal with difficult challenges. And the ability to survive terrible hardships that come upon us because of this faith and uniqueness. Hence the ability to accept voluntarily the yoke of Malchut Shamayim: "Although slavery must have caused some terrible things, etc. But the attribute of submission and enslavement to those who are worthy to be enslaved, to be truly a servant of G-d, to be able to nullify the self-will and self-inclination, that Israel excels in it”. (Olat Reiyah-Haggadah) to receive Ol Malchut Shamayim.

The Old Hillel used to eat Pesach, Matzah and Marror in one “Sandwich”. This leads to the teaching that there is a fruitful integration between the three components of consciousness (ibid.)