Pesach
Taking It Personally
By Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden
Pesach (Passover) is filled with opportunities to renew and fortify our
relationship with G-d. The Torah has sixteen mitzvos (Divine commandments)
to perform throughout this holiday and the oral Torah includes hundreds of
details clarifying these commandments. The primary purpose of all these
observances is to relive the miracles that took place during our Exodus
from Egypt. Secondarily, as fulfilling these charges makes the events of
3316 years ago real to us, we are aroused within with feelings of
freedom. Since all of these commandments operate within the same
framework, why does G-d instruct us to do all of them? Could we not
remember the Exodus and teach it to our children with just one of these
commandments?
Sefer Hachinuch (1) elaborates this mitzvah utilizing a concept
foundational to the study of Torah and the observance of the
commandments. A person's heart and mind always follow his actions,
whether they are good or bad. And actions are much more easily and readily
consciously regulated than thoughts and feelings. The most evil person
who pushes himself to do acts of kindness - even if he does not feel love
or motivation to do chesed in his heart - will, slowly over time, change
into being a kind person. One can also train himself in the opposite as
well. A righteous person forced into doing evil acts will find his mind
follows and he turns to being evil.
The Pesach Hagada narrative informs us, "A person is obligated to see
himself as though he himself came out of Egypt." It is not enough to simply
remember and discuss the events; we need to feel elated with the genuine
feeling of freedom as though we are being rescued right now. How do we, so
many years later, especially those of us living in the Diaspora, relate to
the feeling of emancipation from slavery? The wealth of mitzvos that
contain opportunities to relive the experiences and experience the
emotions enable us to transform Pesach. The Exodus will not longer be
merely an event of the past, but a living experience in the present that
will metamorphose our future.
Have a Chag Kosher v'Samayach.
(1) The Book of Mitzvah Education, mitzvah 16
Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden and Torah.org.
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