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As You delivered a nation and its G-d...
so deliver us.
From the “Hoshaanot” prayers
In our prayers, we refer to Passover as the “season
of our freedom.” The plural “our,” of course,
refers to us, the people of Israel. But on a deeper level
of interpretation, “our freedom” is the freedom
of G-d and of Israel.[1]
As our sages point out, G-d’s promise to Moses, “I
will bring you out from under the hardship of Egypt...,”[2] also reads (by an alternate vowelization), “I
will be brought out with you from under the hardship of Egypt...”[3] For the essence of man is “literally a
part of G-d above”[4];
as long as man is imprisoned, his deepest yearnings stifled
and denied actualization, G-d, too, is not free.[5]
In general, the Torah’s commandments fall under two
categories: laws that govern relations between man and man
(“good for man”), and those that outline the duties
of man to his Creator (“good for G-d”).[6] On Passover, as befits the “season
of our freedom,” the two categories fuse into one: “good
for G-d” is synonymous with “good for man,”
and vice versa.
This is most poignantly demonstrated in the organization
of the seder, conducted each year on the night of our
liberation from Egyptian slavery. The purpose of the seder
is to “remember the day on which you left Egypt”[7] and reaffirm our commitment as
G-d’s people. To this end, we eat the matzah and the
maror and review the story of the Exodus. Yet the entire
seder is constructed as a dialogue, as answers to questions
posed by the “four sons”—the wise son, the
wicked son, the simple son, and the son who does not know
how to ask. One remembers the Exodus not in meditative communion
with G-d, but by fulfilling the commandment to “tell
your child”[8]—including “your child”
in the broader sense of the term: any individual whom you
are in a position to teach and enlighten,[9] including “children” who are antagonistic
or indifferent to the essence of Passover.
The freedom attained at Passover emphasizes the superficiality
of the dividing line between the “social” and “religious”
spheres of life. On the day that G-d became free through the
redemption of the human soul, it is most obvious that no relationship
can be forged with G-d that does not include a commitment
to one’s fellow man.
Based on two public letters issued by the Rebbe for Passover,
5735 (1975)[10]
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[1]. Cf. Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeret 88d.
[3]. Siddur, Hoshaanot prayers. The Hebrew alef-bet
consists only of consonants, and is vowelized with nekudot—vowel
points beneath and above the letters. The Torah is written
without these nekudot, allowing for various readings
of the same words. Thus, vehotzeiti etchem (“I
will bring you out”) can also be read vehutzeiti
itchem (“I will be brought out with you”).
[5]. See Isaiah 63:9; Psalms 91:15; Sifri, Deuteronomy
32:34.
[6]. Cf. Talmud, Yoma 85b; ibid., Kiddushin 40a; et
al.
[9]. “Your children are your disciples” (Rashi,
Deuteronomy 6:7); “Whoever teaches another’s child
Torah, it is as if he had fathered him” (Talmud, Sanhedrin
19b).
[10]. Rebbe’s Haggadah, pp. 660-667.
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