Post by Akiva on Mar 29, 2009 3:56:32 GMT -5
Reading Festival of Freedom, a collection of the Rav's essays on Pesach, sparked the idea that grew into this D'var Torah
The Haggadah sets the stage for the formal Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim – which starts with “Mi’tchila Ovdei Avoda Zara Hayinu” - with a strange thought/question. Maybe, it asks, we should have been obligated in Sippur from Rosh Chodesh Nissan. And the Haggadah answers, with proof from a Pasuk, that no, as we all know, the obligation of Sippur is imposed on the Seder night, the night of the 14th of Nissan. But where did the Hagaddah's question come from? What is the connection between Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Yetziat Mitzrayim that would make us think to start Sippur on that day?
The obvious connection between Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Yetziat Mitzrayim is the very first mitzvah in the Torah. On the Rosh Chodesh Nissan, just 15 days before the Jews left Egypt, God says to Moshe “Hachodesh ha-zeh lachem rosh chadashim, rishon hu lachem l’chodshei hashanah” – “this month is to you the head of the months, it is the first to you of the months of the year.”
This pasuk raises a few questions:
(1) The second half of the Pasuk seems to just repeat the first. Why the double language?;
(2) Relatedly, if this is the first Mitzva in the Torah, what is the Mitzva and where is it in the Pasuk?;
(3) Why, with the Jews still stuck as slaves in Egypt and in the middle of the plagues, is God taking time-out to instruct Moshe on the calendar?; and
(4) What does this have to do with Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim?
I think each of these questions can be answered based on the Rav's understanding of what he called "the two aspects of slavery" - the external, legal/sociological aspects (which the Rav refers to in his essay Slavery and Freedom as the "juridic-political") and the internal, psychological impact of slavery (which the Rav calls the "typological-personalistic"). Almost instinctively, most of us focus on the former, external aspect (whether thinking about the Jews in Egypt or other instances of slavery) - slaves are forced to work, lack the rights and privileges enjoyed by the slave masters, can be beaten, even killed . . . all of these things are true, and all are horrible. In fact, for many people, our rescue as a people from these conditions (and our gratitude to Hashem for that rescue) is, in many respects, what Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim is about.
What is less focused on, but is no less important, is the impact of slavery, and particularly the slave's inability to control his daily life, on the psyche and psychology of the slave. As the Rav points out, slaves have a different relationship to time than free people (and that is why, according to the Rav, slaves are exempt from Mitzvot Aseh She'hazman Grama). Perhaps most importantly, slaves are not in control of their daily existence, and in fact time is almost irrelevant to them.
As a free man, time matters to me. I have work that needs to be done, family to enjoy, tv to watch - and time allocated to one is time I can't spend on the other. The more work I get done today, the less I need to do tomorrow, or the day after. Or, if what I'm working on isn't pressing, I may decide to leave work early, go home and play with my kids, and simply work more tomorrow. However much it may feel like there isn't enough time in the day, a free man is the master of his own time.
A slave, on the other hand, is not in control of his own time. He works when his master tells him to work, rests when his master tells him to rest, does today what his master tells him to do today, and will do tomorrow what his master tells him to do tomorrow. Indeed, for a slave, the passage of days, of weeks, of months and of years is irrelevant. Today was like yesterday, and tomorrow will be like today, and next year will be like this year. For the slave, as the Rav notes, there is nothing to look forward to, and nothing to look back on.
Understanding this relationship between slaves and time, I think, is the key to answering our questions.
First, the Pasuk is not repeating itself. The first clause, "Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim," is conveying something very different than the second, "rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashana." The first clause is not a commandment. It is a statement of fact. Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim: this month is for you the first of the months, because it is the first time since the slavery in Egypt began that the Jews as a people were able to reclaim their relationship to time. Tomorrow was not going to be the same as today, next week not the same as the last. Rather, the Jews could finally look forward to something changing, to their approaching freedom. Indeed, immediately before this pasuk, Hashem had told Moshe to direct the Jews to ask the Egyptians for their valuables in advance of leaving - this was the first time that the Jews took an active step in the process of their own redemption from Egypt, the first indication that they had reclaimed their relationship to time and were looking forward to changed circumstances.
Reading the Pasuk this way, the answer to our second question becomes clear. If the first clause is a statement of fact - for the Jews, that Nissan was, indeed, the first of the months - then the second clause states the conclusion to be drawn from that fact: rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashana. In recognition of that fact, the Jews were to count their months and years in relation to Nissan, with Nissan as the first month of the Jewish year.
The answer to the third question seems equally clear. Far from being a nonsequitur to the process of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the timing of this commandment now makes perfect sense. The Jews had just reclaimed their time-awareness, and though their physical bonds were still in place, that reclamation marked the beginning of their freedom from the internal, psychological badges of slavery. As such, Nissan's place in the Jewish calendar is an integral part of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
And that, of course, provides us our answer to the fourth question. What is the connection to Sippur, and why would we think the commandment of Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim would apply beginning on Rosh Chodesh Nissan? Because, in a very real sense, Rosh Chodesh Nissan was the beginning of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the date on which we truly began to be freed from slavery. Thus, it would make sense for the obligation of Sippur to be imposed as of that day, and we need a Pasuk to specifically tell us that no, we should wait to do Sippur until the 14th of Nissan, the day when the Jews physically left their slavery in Egypt.
The Haggadah sets the stage for the formal Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim – which starts with “Mi’tchila Ovdei Avoda Zara Hayinu” - with a strange thought/question. Maybe, it asks, we should have been obligated in Sippur from Rosh Chodesh Nissan. And the Haggadah answers, with proof from a Pasuk, that no, as we all know, the obligation of Sippur is imposed on the Seder night, the night of the 14th of Nissan. But where did the Hagaddah's question come from? What is the connection between Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Yetziat Mitzrayim that would make us think to start Sippur on that day?
The obvious connection between Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Yetziat Mitzrayim is the very first mitzvah in the Torah. On the Rosh Chodesh Nissan, just 15 days before the Jews left Egypt, God says to Moshe “Hachodesh ha-zeh lachem rosh chadashim, rishon hu lachem l’chodshei hashanah” – “this month is to you the head of the months, it is the first to you of the months of the year.”
This pasuk raises a few questions:
(1) The second half of the Pasuk seems to just repeat the first. Why the double language?;
(2) Relatedly, if this is the first Mitzva in the Torah, what is the Mitzva and where is it in the Pasuk?;
(3) Why, with the Jews still stuck as slaves in Egypt and in the middle of the plagues, is God taking time-out to instruct Moshe on the calendar?; and
(4) What does this have to do with Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim?
I think each of these questions can be answered based on the Rav's understanding of what he called "the two aspects of slavery" - the external, legal/sociological aspects (which the Rav refers to in his essay Slavery and Freedom as the "juridic-political") and the internal, psychological impact of slavery (which the Rav calls the "typological-personalistic"). Almost instinctively, most of us focus on the former, external aspect (whether thinking about the Jews in Egypt or other instances of slavery) - slaves are forced to work, lack the rights and privileges enjoyed by the slave masters, can be beaten, even killed . . . all of these things are true, and all are horrible. In fact, for many people, our rescue as a people from these conditions (and our gratitude to Hashem for that rescue) is, in many respects, what Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim is about.
What is less focused on, but is no less important, is the impact of slavery, and particularly the slave's inability to control his daily life, on the psyche and psychology of the slave. As the Rav points out, slaves have a different relationship to time than free people (and that is why, according to the Rav, slaves are exempt from Mitzvot Aseh She'hazman Grama). Perhaps most importantly, slaves are not in control of their daily existence, and in fact time is almost irrelevant to them.
As a free man, time matters to me. I have work that needs to be done, family to enjoy, tv to watch - and time allocated to one is time I can't spend on the other. The more work I get done today, the less I need to do tomorrow, or the day after. Or, if what I'm working on isn't pressing, I may decide to leave work early, go home and play with my kids, and simply work more tomorrow. However much it may feel like there isn't enough time in the day, a free man is the master of his own time.
A slave, on the other hand, is not in control of his own time. He works when his master tells him to work, rests when his master tells him to rest, does today what his master tells him to do today, and will do tomorrow what his master tells him to do tomorrow. Indeed, for a slave, the passage of days, of weeks, of months and of years is irrelevant. Today was like yesterday, and tomorrow will be like today, and next year will be like this year. For the slave, as the Rav notes, there is nothing to look forward to, and nothing to look back on.
Understanding this relationship between slaves and time, I think, is the key to answering our questions.
First, the Pasuk is not repeating itself. The first clause, "Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim," is conveying something very different than the second, "rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashana." The first clause is not a commandment. It is a statement of fact. Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim: this month is for you the first of the months, because it is the first time since the slavery in Egypt began that the Jews as a people were able to reclaim their relationship to time. Tomorrow was not going to be the same as today, next week not the same as the last. Rather, the Jews could finally look forward to something changing, to their approaching freedom. Indeed, immediately before this pasuk, Hashem had told Moshe to direct the Jews to ask the Egyptians for their valuables in advance of leaving - this was the first time that the Jews took an active step in the process of their own redemption from Egypt, the first indication that they had reclaimed their relationship to time and were looking forward to changed circumstances.
Reading the Pasuk this way, the answer to our second question becomes clear. If the first clause is a statement of fact - for the Jews, that Nissan was, indeed, the first of the months - then the second clause states the conclusion to be drawn from that fact: rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashana. In recognition of that fact, the Jews were to count their months and years in relation to Nissan, with Nissan as the first month of the Jewish year.
The answer to the third question seems equally clear. Far from being a nonsequitur to the process of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the timing of this commandment now makes perfect sense. The Jews had just reclaimed their time-awareness, and though their physical bonds were still in place, that reclamation marked the beginning of their freedom from the internal, psychological badges of slavery. As such, Nissan's place in the Jewish calendar is an integral part of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
And that, of course, provides us our answer to the fourth question. What is the connection to Sippur, and why would we think the commandment of Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim would apply beginning on Rosh Chodesh Nissan? Because, in a very real sense, Rosh Chodesh Nissan was the beginning of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the date on which we truly began to be freed from slavery. Thus, it would make sense for the obligation of Sippur to be imposed as of that day, and we need a Pasuk to specifically tell us that no, we should wait to do Sippur until the 14th of Nissan, the day when the Jews physically left their slavery in Egypt.
