Post by yitzyy on Mar 25, 2018 10:07:06 GMT -5
The Haggadah tells us that Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim "With a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm" and had He not done so, we would still be "meshubad" to Pharaoh in Mitzrayim.
The obvious question is that over the course of 3500 years, at some point Mitzrayim would fall, and we would have gotten out. It is unreasonable to assume that in that amount of time, we would still have remained there.
There is a further oddity in the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim. The entire time, Pharaoh is being asked to let us out for 3 days, to which he finally relents after Makas Bechoros. And the "Great Wealth" with which we left Mitzrayim was "borrowed" from the Egyptians on our way out. Why did we have to get Pharaoh's permission under a pretense that he came to regret, at which point Hashem hit the Egyptians with the coup de grace and took us, against their will through the Yam Suf? And why was it necessary for the Egyptians to believe they were only lending us their things when it could have been a gift just as easily?
R Chaim Friedlander in the Sifsei Chaim explains that had ANY part of Yetzias Mitzrayim been with the "permission", even coerced, of Pharaoh and the Mitzriyyim, we would owe them some amount of gratitude. Had we left owing them that debt, there would have been a permanent spiritual connection between us. Therefore even though we got Pharaoh to let us leave, that was only for three days, which he regretted, and tried to get us to come back. At that point, Hashem Himself, without any acquiescence from Pharaoh, took us the rest of the way out. The gifts that we got from the Egyptians were only given temporarily. They were supposed to be returned. When they chased us, and hoped to get them back, Hashem drowned them, leaving everything to us, no thanks to the Egyptians.
In fact, throughout the Haggadah, we don't even talk about Moshe Rabbeinu. The focus of the night is that Hashem Himself, not through a messenger or an angel, saved us. Our gratitude is to Him alone. We owe Pharaoh and the Egyptians nothing at all. Had any part of the process being with their willing help, we would have been indebted "meshubad" to the Egyptians at least a little bit, which would have held us back forever.
The obvious question is that over the course of 3500 years, at some point Mitzrayim would fall, and we would have gotten out. It is unreasonable to assume that in that amount of time, we would still have remained there.
There is a further oddity in the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim. The entire time, Pharaoh is being asked to let us out for 3 days, to which he finally relents after Makas Bechoros. And the "Great Wealth" with which we left Mitzrayim was "borrowed" from the Egyptians on our way out. Why did we have to get Pharaoh's permission under a pretense that he came to regret, at which point Hashem hit the Egyptians with the coup de grace and took us, against their will through the Yam Suf? And why was it necessary for the Egyptians to believe they were only lending us their things when it could have been a gift just as easily?
R Chaim Friedlander in the Sifsei Chaim explains that had ANY part of Yetzias Mitzrayim been with the "permission", even coerced, of Pharaoh and the Mitzriyyim, we would owe them some amount of gratitude. Had we left owing them that debt, there would have been a permanent spiritual connection between us. Therefore even though we got Pharaoh to let us leave, that was only for three days, which he regretted, and tried to get us to come back. At that point, Hashem Himself, without any acquiescence from Pharaoh, took us the rest of the way out. The gifts that we got from the Egyptians were only given temporarily. They were supposed to be returned. When they chased us, and hoped to get them back, Hashem drowned them, leaving everything to us, no thanks to the Egyptians.
In fact, throughout the Haggadah, we don't even talk about Moshe Rabbeinu. The focus of the night is that Hashem Himself, not through a messenger or an angel, saved us. Our gratitude is to Him alone. We owe Pharaoh and the Egyptians nothing at all. Had any part of the process being with their willing help, we would have been indebted "meshubad" to the Egyptians at least a little bit, which would have held us back forever.