Pessa'h 5769 in English
Rav David Daniel Hacohen שליט״א
Summary
Ahead of Pesach, the Rav asks why we keep remembering the Exodus from Egypt every year, in many mitzvot and in Friday night Kiddush, when we have gone through other exiles since. He gives the example of a man who wins the lottery, spends it on education and then loses the money: he keeps celebrating the day every year, because the knowledge he gained remains. In the same way, the Rav explains, when Israel left Egypt it became a people for the first time, and in later exiles only the body was exiled while the soul and the mitzvot remained Jewish, until Mashiach comes. He compares the night of Pesach to a birth, when the newborn shows he is alive by crying and speaking, and says this is why we are required to speak on this night. The automatic transcript is somewhat inaccurate in places, so the summary stays close to the clearly understood points.
Highlights
- 0:06 Pesach recalls that we were slaves in Egypt and that Hashem took us out Exile Passover
- 1:53 Why remember the Exodus when we returned to exile afterwards Exile Passover
- 3:52 The lottery winner: the money is gone but the knowledge remains Torah study Passover
- 6:13 Before leaving Egypt Israel was not yet a people Exile Passover
- 6:32 In later exiles only the body goes into exile, not the soul Exile The soul
- 7:41 The Exodus made us Jewish in the sphere of the mitzvot Mitzvot Passover
- 8:22 Pesach as a birth: the newborn shows he lives by speaking and crying out The soul Passover
- 9:12 Starting a new life every year on Pesach Passover Repentance