Thousands of years ago, the father of humanity inclined himself to speak with a small group of men and women. This group might have been the most downtrodden and oppressed nation on Earth. Upon birth their children were drowned. Their marriages were forcibly broken up. The nation’s back was bent; they were a people without hope.
There is a Mishna in tractate Pesachim which declares that in each generation every person is required to regard themselves as if they themselves were taken out of Egypt. When I consider how downtrodden and oppressed the Jewish people were before they were taken out of Egypt, I don’t feel like I can ever fulfill the obligation to view myself as having been taken out of Egypt.
The redemption they experienced was an immediate relief from hundreds of years of oppression. Suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere, the Father of all humanity performed incredible miracles, and brought the most powerful nation on the face of the earth to their knees just to redeem this tiny, pathetic group of people and make them his treasured nation.
It is impossible for me to relate to the experience of slavery. I feel inadequately prepared to feel the feelings and experience the experience of redemption like the generation who came out of Egypt. I’m sure that I’m not alone; In fact, the Brisker Rav (Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik 1886-1959) commented that this requirement is probably the most difficult of all the various obligations we are commanded to fulfill at the Seder.
There are many interpretations of what the Mishna could possibly mean by making such a difficult demand on us. This has led some to argue that it is just a mental exercise; we only have to try to perceive ourselves as slaves who have just experienced the joy of redemption from bondage. Some say that this exercise is impossible to do on our own, and it is the format of the Seder which functions to trigger these emotions for us.
Maimonides’s understanding of this Mishna is not to simply try in vain to regard oneself mentally as a personal participant in the exodus, but to demonstrate this attitude with a personal relevance. Therefore a person must do certain actions in order to demonstrate their awareness of their personal participation in the exodus. Which is why, he explains, we recline in the manner of people of leisure, and are required to drink four cups of wine.
I believe that the message of Parshat Hachodesh can be a possible insight into how to fulfill the words of the Mishna, that in every generation each individual is required to view themselves as if they personally were brought out of Egypt.
Just like Maimonides, I believe that Parshat Hachodesh introduces to the preparation for Passover an element of personal relevance. The Mishna does not say that each person is obligated to consider themselves exactly like they were personally freed, rather, it says as if they were personally freed. The Hebrew for that term is כאילו (Ke’ilu), literally means, similar to but not exactly. Therefore I think that the Mishna is teaching us that we need to personally relate similar feelings to those of the generation of Egypt, and not necessarily to emulate their exact emotions.
The emotions which the Jewish calendar attempts to evoke in us do not always coincide with what we are feeling naturally. As with all mitzvoth, in order to fully experience their beauty and impact on our lives, we need to have Kavannah, spiritual intention. We must prepare ourselves to fully experience a mitzvah, and we must prepare ourselves to achieve a meaningful experience of a holiday.
Passover is also called חג האביב, not only because it comes at the beginning of spring, but because the spiritual experience of Passover mirrors the physical experience of spring. With spring we experience the renewal of life in the world. Flowers bloom, trees come to life, birds begin to sing, it’s like the world is re-awakening. In spring the world comes to life after a long dreary winter. Similarly, Passover commemorates the springing to life of the Jewish people after the cold lifeless winter of slavery.
The command of the Mishna to regard yourself as if you had come out of Egypt is saying attach your personal experience to the reality around you. For the world, for the Jewish nation, the feelings of renewal, rebirth, and awakening are occurring whether you, the individual, are apart of it or not. Be part of the world around you, latch on to this reality as a time for rejuvenation in your own life.
The spiritual elation we may have felt in the wake of the Jewish New Year, with the back to back holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succoth, has long been forgotten. At this point of the year we have become habituated to the routine cycle of our lives. With this external experience of winter, and the internal experience of the monotony of the Jewish calendar without a single Yom Tov for almost 6 months, it is difficult for the Jewish person not to be feeling a lack of spiritual passion. Parshat Hachodesh comes as a wake-up call to move past winter and experience spring.
For the ancient Israelites, many springs came and went. Seasons changed many times over, but their redemption never came. The people were a nation without dreams, and without the hope of freedom. They were the lowest most disgraced nation on earth, the last people anyone would ever expect the Master of the Universe to enter into a close relationship with.
Before they could experience a full redemption, God paved the way by giving the Jewish people the very first mitzvah of ראש חודש (the new month). By making the sanctification of the month the first step in the continuous relationship with the Jewish people, God was saying to them, everything has its renewal and rebirth, even you. For generations you have had no ties to the elation and rejuvenation most people feel when spring comes, from now on, you will have reason to rejoice with this change. When the world awakens at spring, you will remember that you were brought out of Egypt by the strong hand of God, and you too will awaken.
That was the lesson then, and it is the lesson today. Now, when you are feeling most uninspired, lost in the humdrum monotony of daily life, it will be very difficult for you to break that feeling without any preparation. Therefore before you can feel the liberation of Passover, you have to awaken from the spiritual rut you might have fallen into.
As I mentioned earlier, the commandment to view yourself as if you were taken out of Egypt is incredibly difficult. With all mitzvoth, there must be preparation. Parshat Hachodesh is your refreshing wake-up call, it is a reminder that spring is coming and the world is about to come to life. It also a reminder that the Jewish people began their redemption during this season, and it’s almost time for you to work towards an experience a personal redemption as part of the Jewish people. The Jewish people were stuck in a rut way deeper than you can even imagine, but they were rejuvenated.
Parshat Hachodesh is telling us to use Passover, the celebration of the rejuvenation of your people as an opportunity for your own personal rejuvenation. May each of us heed the call of Parshat Hachodesh; so that each of us can experience liberation at the Seder, and the ultimate redemption may it come soon.
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