Is it Possible to Really See Ourselves as Leaving Mitzrayim

We are taught in the Mishna in Pesachim and in the Hagaddah, “In every generation a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had come out of Mitzrayim”. The question is how can we fulfill this obligation if we didn’t really come out from Mitzrayim. Are we supposed to trick ourselves into believing that we did?

The Alter of Kelm makes the point that there is a big difference in impact between thinking about something and experiencing it. He brings down the statement of Chazal that the removal of Antichious’ ring to seal the decree against the Jews had a greater impact than all the exhortations of the Prophets to move the Jews towards Teshuva. He also shows from Rabbi Akiva’s statement when he was being killed that all his days he did not understand how he could serve Hashem with his life until he actually experienced it. His third example is the Posuk, “When you will lend money to My people, to the poor with you”, from which Chazal derive that you have to make yourself feel like you are experiencing poverty and then you will help the poor properly.

The Alter is teaching us that you might think that working yourself up and trying to arouse the emotions is not the proper mature approach and that an intellectual approach is more appropriate. But that is incorrect, the effect of a full emotional experience has a much greater impact and we must try to work up to that state to fulfill the mitzvah.

But what is an emotional state? It is interesting to note that in the fields of psychology, philosophy and biology there is no commonly accepted theory of emotions: what they are, how they are measured, how we categorize them. Some of the theorists in these fields do point out that it seems that what defines an emotion is the combination of thought with physiological change. For example feeling embarrassed is more rooted in the intellectual, but when a person blushes, that is the emotion of embarrassment. There is also the feeling of anger, which is different than the gut wrenching physical reaction when we experience with the emotion of anger.

If we take this physiological approach to emotions, we might say that emotions are experiential since there are physical senses that are involved. With negative emotions, like anger, we don’t want to reach the physical phase, but with positive emotions, like love, joy and gratitude, we strive for the full mind/body experience that emotion brings in its place.

This is the goal of experiencing leaving Mitzrayim; we want it to go beyond the intellect to a full emotional experience because that has the greatest impact on a person. This could be why we drink wine and eat the various foods on Pesach, not just for their symbolism, but also to stimulate our physiology with the goal of creating an emotional experience.

Perhaps this can help us understand the Chazal, which states regarding Yom Tov, “There is no happiness, unless you have meat and wine”. Since when did Judaism become a partying religion? I thought that happiness is an inner intellectual pursuit. No, it could be that Chazal are teaching us that the emotion of happiness requires physiological stimuli and meat and wine lead us on the path to reach that emotional state.

On Yom Tov, Hashem wants it to be a full emotional experience and the goal is to have the impact of that experience affect our very being, so that even when the emotional experience has ended, it has made its impact because of the strength of experience. On the night of the Seder we have to think about the exhilaration we would feel when leaving Mitzrayim, and use the various foods and wine that the Torah and the Sages have prescribed to elevate it from an intellectual experience to the more impactful experiential form through the physiology of emotions.

14 comments on “Is it Possible to Really See Ourselves as Leaving Mitzrayim

  1. Mark – The Tzemach Tzedek commented on the verse from the haggada – “afilu kulanu chachamim, kulanu n’vonim. . . kulanu yod’im es kol hatorah. . . mitzva aleinu l’saper. . . ‘ – even if we were able to have that flash of intellectual insight (chochma) or a deeper, reflexive understanding (bina) or a purely intellectual experience (da-as) it would nevertheless still be a mitzva “l’saper” – to tell the story of yetzias mitzrayim because a story has the effect of reaching an individual ona deeper eotianal level and actually bypassing the intellect
    I had a different insight – this past yom tov I had the good fortune to be in Montreal. When I looked at the Torah reading for shvi’i shel pesach I kept seeing the Purim motif peering out (N’vochim, tacharishum, harem es mat’cha, etc) it seems the drafters of the megilla actually used the shira as a template – how odd – what it does suggest is that perhaps they saw the miracles associated with purim as numerous in quanity and as mighty in quality as those by yam suf. Thus , b’chol dor vador might suggest that in each generation, thouch it seems that there is really hester pamin (Hashem’s face , as it were is hidden from view)we have to put our “miracle goggles on” and see the myriads of mirales in our daily lives much as did our ancestor by the sea (It is also a time for introspection and for us to seek ho0w to go “min hametzar” from the tight narrow spces we find ourselves crammed in (Kramden) to the wide openness of a true Torah life

  2. Steve,

    It’s Rav Beinis Pinhas (Bernie) Goldberg. Wife’s name is Ann. He was a rav in London, active in Bnei Akiva there. Made aliyah and was living in Ramot somethingorother (gimmel, I think; back when there was only up to gimmel or daled). Oldest son is Shai (was in Hesder somewhere, later on). I don’t remember the other children’s names. He was doing safrut, among other things; and was a rav of some minyan near his home in Ramot.

  3. Mordecahi-did you mean R Benish Ginsberg? R B Ginsberg was one of my daughter’s teachers in Michlala.

  4. I hope you all will pardon another long-winded contribution from me to the discussion. I have an additional take on Rabban Gamliel’s injunction, that I worked out years ago.

    In the Haggadah we read Rabban Gamliel’s injunction that each person is obligated to see himself as if he (personally) left Egypt. This also appears in the mishnah. The Rambam transmits this idea in halacha with a subtle (and significant) change. He says each person is obligated to *show* or *represent* himself as if he had *just now* left Egypt.

    We’re told by the sages that by the merit of four things we were redeemed from Egypt: that we didn’t change our names, our language, our customs/manners/mores (translation difficult for ‘dat’), and clothing/style/appearance. The names we choose to call ourselves and our children are very personal identifiers. What we define as acceptable behaviour, speech, and ettiquette; the language we prefer for communication among ourselves, and our appearance-these all define our relationships with other cultures, and how much we will or will not assimilate into another society.

    Yet the midrash is puzzling. There is an apparently contradictory midrash which says we were so assimilated in Egypt, that we even stopped circumcising our sones in the covenant between our father Avraham and G-d. (This is especially interesting since in late times such as that of the Maccabees, some of us circumcised our sons even at the risk of death.) Clearly, this midrash says we wanted to fit in; we found ways to get comfortable in Egypt (see the N’tziv’s comments on this in the beginning of the book of Sh’mot).

    I propose a resolution to these apparent contradictions.

    We left Egypt, yet the Torah says we left ‘chamushim’. The sages explain this to mean one fifth. Only 20% of us left Egypt! What happened to the other 80%? They didn’t want to leave, and we’re told that they died there, in the ‘plague’ of darkness.

    In Rambam’s version, Rabban Gamliel tell us we’re obligated to see ourselves, to *represent* ourselves, as if we left Egypt. My then-chevruta (whom I sorely miss!) Rav Beinis Goldberg pointed out this means we must consciously indentify with those who merited *leaving*, not with those who chose to stay, and for whom life as Jews ended in Egypt. We need to see ourselves, represent ourselves, as if this happened just now, as if the message is fresh and clear in our hearts and in our minds; as if we willfully chose life as Jews, rather than death through assimilation in our exile.

    A good task for a chozer b’/baal t’shuvah, no?

    As a postscript to this, I would point out my own habit is to us the pronoun *we* rather than *they* whenever I speak or think about any generation of Jews. That can be a whole other discussion…

    Hag Pesah Sameah to all of Klal Yisrael.

  5. Mark-Thanks again for your clarification. No argument here-intellect and emotions combined and accentuated in a proper and calibrated manner yield an educated, informed and passionate Jew.

  6. Steve, The emotions we are talking here are those guided by the intellect developed through Talmud Torah.

    Let me restate, the combination of intellect and emotion is more impactful than intellect alone.

  7. One more point-RYBS pointed out Hallel is broken up in two portions for a very important halachic and hashkafic reason and purpose. The first two chapters relate to the redemption from the land of Egypt- a metaphysical event of almost unsurpassed proportions that led directlty to a completely unchallenged event-Matan Torah. OTOH, the latter portions refer and relate to the future redenmption from every Egypt-type paradigm whuch we have a long way to go in purging from our midsts.

  8. Mark-Thanks for your clarification. The Meshech Chachmah points out that one is considered as fulfilling many Torah laws of a Biblical nature that lack a “practical application” just by learning about such a Torah law-think about large chunks of Nashim, Nezikin, Kodshim and Taharos.

    The Seder has many strong experiential/emotional elements-the changing of the house from Chametz to Pesaach,Bdikas Chametz,the Seder Plate, Kittel. the Niggun of Kadeh, Urechatz, etc all of which are designed to concretize and enhance our memories and emotions. There is no doubt that the overall element of the Seder and each part of the Seder is designed in that manner to enhance one’s emotions and sense of reexperiencing the Exodus. The use of Matzah, a food that is used for Lachmei Todah and Chazal’s choice of the Torah passage for Mikra Bikurim were intentional ways of enhancing our senses and psyches.

    It is axiomatic that false emotional experiential and intellectual pursuits are all problematic for any serious Ben or Bas Torah. However, I disagree that “the experiential/emotional has a much greater impact than just the intellectual.” I am sure that you are aware that was exactly what Korach’s revolt and all similar revolts against Halacha were and are about-the substitution of emotions and “feel good” common sense for Lomdus and Halachic discipline that can only be acquired from many years of study. IOW, while the experiential/emotional components are important, they cannot and should never supplant the importance of either Lomdus or committment to Halacha and Talmud Torah-which is how we explain the Exodus from Egypt to all present, each according to his or her level.

    Moreover, the mitzvah on a daily level of remembering the Exodus is accomplished on a daily level via Talmud Torah, Krias Shma and many other mitzvos. Sipur or relating the Exodus is a wholly different mitzvah which is a one-night mitzvah with no limits but which requires a rebbe-student type dialogue. I saw a very illuminating Dvar Torah from R A Nevenzal in which he asked why one must reexperience the Exodus even with all of these mitzvos. R Nevenzal suggested that even with all of these daily reminders, our memories and senses of what happened need a yearly jolt to keep them fresh. R Nevenzal suggests that one source for this is the Talmud’s statement that a person’s memories of an event tend to dull and be forgotten in the course of a year.

    WADR,as important as the experiential/emotional elements are, the element of pure Talmud Torah is just as important. Why else would re read about the Gdolei HaTannaim at the Seder?

  9. Steve. Reliving the experience through Talmud Torah is the daily requirement. On Yom Tov and especially Pesach we have an additional emotional/experiental requirement which goes beyond the intellectual.

    Yes there can be false emotional experience just like there are false intellectual pursuits but the experential/emotional has a much greater impact than just the intellectual. That’s what we’re striving for on Leil Seder, going beyond the intellectual to the experiential.

  10. Mark-Reexperience means reliving the experience thru Talmud Torah on many levels for all present and symbolic actions that begin with Bedikas Chametz and continue thru the seder.

    I am sorry but an experiential/approach raises the following issue.The Torah describes in great detail the experiential and emotional level reached as a result of the Exodus and the splitting of the Red Sea. Yet, Klal Yisrael complained a very few days later, thereby requiring that their experience be concretized via Talmud Torah in the nature of Krias HaTorah on Monday and Thursday and their being given some mitzvos prior to Matan Torah for the purposes of (1) telling them that a daily routine, no matter how tiring of learning helps one to incorporate the eternal meaning of the experience and (2) emotional and experiential highs are highs-and thereby susceptible to lows as well as highs and thereby require intellectual sustainence on a daily level.

  11. The question is what does re-experience mean? It seems to mean more than intellectual and that is why I think this experiential/emotional approach works well.

    As far as Mitzvos not being given to Angels, that does not mean some are not difficult, just that they are not impossible.

  12. Mark-We are not commanded to do anything that is impossible because “Lo Nitnah HaTorah LMaalchei HaShares.” RYBS offered the following explanation. The Rambam,as I am sure you are aware, understands that statement in the Talmud to mean that by reacting the Exodus and explaining it via Talmud Torah and symbolic actions ( Pesach, Matzah and Maror)and by understanding that the Seder is supposed to be as close to the Karban Pesach in the Beis HaMikdash as possible-we reexperience the Exodus, thereby bridging the past, present and future-something that only Klal Yisrael, a people that sanctifies time can do.

  13. Getting in the mood is definitely the first step. But I think what Chazal are looking for is a full blown emotional experience accompanied by the physiological changes that the emotion of extreme joy and gratitude entail.

  14. We can ease into the mood by first picturing our future redemption/exodus from whatever place we’re living now. That future is actually the theme of the last part of the seder.

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