THE PESACH FAQ’S REVISITED

That child-like innocence that hasn’t yet been tainted by our intellectual nature may be lying dormant. We must do something drastic, unorthodox and unconventional to awaken it.

WHAT MAKES THIS NIGHT DIFFERENT 

One of the highlights of the Passover Seder is the Ma Nishtana, The Four Questions concerning the things that are unique to the night of Passover. These Four Questions are prefaced with a general question: “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

Some commentators interpret this introductory question as it relates to the present exile. Night is a metaphor for exile and the question therefore is: Why is this exile different from all the other preceding exiles?

The Rebbe Rashab follows that approach with one slight variation: Instead of the word “Ma” translated as “why,” he renders it more literally as “what.” The question now reads: What is it that distinguishes this exile from all the others? Or, “How is this exile different from all the others?”

And the Four Questions that follow are actually four answers to this question; four explanations as to what makes this exile different from all the others. (See HaYom Yom for the Rebbe Rashab’s novel interpretation of the four questions/answers in detail. In short, the dipping, Matza, Maror and reclining are expressions of ultimate purity that will transform our bodies, and animal souls, elevate us to unprecedentedly higher levels of spirituality and the experience of the essence of G-dly delight that will occasion the Geula from this galus.)

The following is an attempt to adapt the Rebbe Rashab’s approach to the Ma Nishtana and apply it to the current phase of exile, which is arguably different from all preceding phases.

SANDWICHED

In the end of the Biblical Book of Daniel, it is stated: “Happy is the one who waits.” Rashi, based on the Midrash, comments that the praise extended to the one who waits for Moshiach refers to the period when Moshiach is hidden after he had already been revealed. The scenario for Moshiach according to the Midrash is that Moshiach is first revealed (nigleh) and then he is concealed (nichseh) and then revealed again (nigleh), after which time he will inaugurate the final redemption. Moshiach is revealed even before the actual redemption, just as Moshe was revealed as the redeemer even as Jews were still languishing in Egypt and suffering from their enslavement. 

The Rebbe stated that Moshiach has already been revealed. Subsequent to Gimmel Tammuz we thus entered into the interim period of concealment, waiting impatiently for the time Moshiach will take us out of exile.

When Rashi applies the words “happy is the one who waits” to this interim period of concealment (and not to the period that precedes Moshiach’s initial revelation) it indicates that this period of interim concealment carries with it a unique challenge. 

It may therefore be suggested—following the approach of the Rebbe Rashab—that the question Ma Nishtana can be interpreted in a way that reflects the unique phase of exile in which we presently find ourselves:

“What is it about this phase of night/exile/concealment that is different from all other phases of exile?”

The question is important because it challenges us to look for the approach we must take in this period of exile that is commensurate with its unique status of “sandwiched” concealment.

The first response to the question is: 

DOUBLE DIPPING

“All other periods of night/exile we do not dip even once; this phase of exile we dip twice.”

The phrase “other nights” is in the plural; “this night” is obviously in the singular form. In past periods of exile there was no singular focus. There were many forms of darkness. By contrast, this post-Gimmel Tammuz concealment phase is punctuated by its singularity. As the Rebbe told us, our task is to prepare ourselves and the entire world to welcome and internalize Moshiach. This we do by intensifying all aspects of Judaism permeated with the objective of ushering in the Redemption. After Gimmel Tammuz we are obsessed with revealing Moshiach and reuniting with our Rebbe. 

We then refer to the “double-dipping” that occurs on this night of Passover. The reason for the dipping is simply to do things differently from the way we usually do them. We start off by changing the narrative so that it would arouse the curiosity of the child. 

The child that we have to stimulate is the Moshiach innocence within us that is covered up. The first step—even before we cultivate the adult and mature aspect of our efforts to bring about the Geula—is not to lose the virtue and innocence of the child within (whom our Sages refer to as Meshichoi) even as we try to grow in our mature understanding of Moshiach and Geula.

But that child-like innocence that hasn’t yet been tainted by our intellectual nature may be lying dormant. We must do something drastic, unorthodox and unconventional to awaken it. We therefore do unusual things because it reveals the “differences” within us, those elements that make us different and unique, our yechida (the essence and “Moshiach” of our soul) that is different and unique.

But dipping once is not enough. The Rebbe did “revolutionary” things until they became mainstream and then he “dipped” again. The Rebbe’s frequent blessing was Kiflayim L’Toshiyah-double strength, because Redemption is connected to the idea of repetition, as in the repetitive expression employed in reference to the first Exodus: “Pakod Pokaditi-I have indeed remembered,” etc. 

The message is that even after we did something unconventionally positive, once it becomes the norm, we “dip” again; we keep on beating our own record of transcendence. 

The Rebbe expressed this idea when in the historic talk of the 28^th of Nissan he declared that we should introduce the “light of Tohu in the vessels of Tikkun.” Tohu is transcendent light. Now is not the time to be content with conventional approaches. But once they become internalized and comfortably ensconced within the vessels of Tikkun as the Rebbe demanded, we have to introduce new unfettered light until it too is internalized. 

Alternatively, we might add: Dipping twice means we should first stop being fixated on the conventional Oros d’Tikkun and start acting with Oros d’Tohu. The second message (“dipping”) is we should stop being fixated exclusively on Oros d’Tohu and start working on Keilim d’Tikkun. In other words, we cannot just focus on what is a radical departure from what we’ve done before in one direction only. We must take our serene Tikkun personalities and imbue them with the fiery passion of Tohu. And when that passion begins to remove us from the reality of the world that we left behind because of our flight to the “stratosphere,” we must “dip” again and plant our feet on the terra firma of Tikkun only to take off again to a yet higher place.

This is what awakens the Moshiach spark within us.

THE GPS: GEULA POSITIONING SYSTEM

Once we’ve successfully boarded the rocket that propels us into Tohu space and back again to earth, we are ready to focus on the actual mission.

“In all other periods of Galus we eat Chametz or Matza; in this phase of galus we eat only Matza.”

Matza, Chassidic philosophy teaches us, is the symbol of Bittul, self-effacing submission to G-d and His Torah. 

In other periods of galus we were allowed to pursue our own metzius (subjective interests that satisfy our egos) even as we had times when we would experience the self-surrender of matza-bittul. 

A child, the Rambam says, may be bribed to get him or her to do a Mitzvah. As he or she matures, their notion of reward becomes more sophisticated, but one may still lack the ability to totally put aside one’s own interests. 

Today we have only bittul; i.e., even our ego is harnessed to bringing the Geula. Every part of our personality must revolve around Geula. Now the emphasis is on bittul—having our eyes on the goal is more urgent than ever before.

In the past, when we were still on the road towards Geula, it was easy to get sidetracked and go off on a tangent into our own personal ambitions and goals that were not totally in consonance with our ultimate goal. And that was okay, as long as we did not violate any of the teachings of the Torah. 

Thus, our Sages state, the traveling disruptions are more difficult for a man than for a woman. This can be explained in a spiritual fashion. Our goal is to make the world into a dwelling place for G-d. That is what Moshiach and Geula are all about. Women, who create dwelling places for G-d in their own homes, are much more “plugged in” to the goal. They do not easily stray from it. Men who do the preliminary work of paving the way might forget as to what is the ultimate objective of their work and may take a detour.

In the age of GPS’s, we must recognize that we too must be guided by the Geula Positioning System and dwell on it while we are engaged in the Geula-Pesach-Seder.

In this phase of exile, we have to be exclusively matza; everything we do must revolve around fulfilling G-d’s agenda of making the world a dwelling place for Him and not our own—even spiritual—agenda.

CRUSHED!

“In all other nights/exiles we eat all types of greens, this night/phase of exile we eat Maror.”

No matter how difficult galus is, there are times when we can eat greens, we get satisfaction with our growth; now, however, we are shattered, because we are still in a period of concealment. As the Rebbe stated in his landmark discourse—the last one he distributed to us—this is the meaning of the Torah’s requirement to crush the olives for the Menorah to elicit the source and essence of light. While in the past we focused on the manifestations of G-dly light, now we cannot tolerate anything less than G-d’s essence.

As the Rebbe explained in that discourse, days before he entered into the stage of nichseh, never before were we as crushed as we are today, because the ultimate goal of reaching the “fiftieth gate of understanding” still eludes us. Our feeling of being crushed is even more palpable now because we cannot hear or see the Rebbe. The concealment that comes after the initial revelation is in many ways more crushing than the concealment we experienced throughout the painful journey of exile.

UNITY!

“In all other nights/exiles we eat sitting or reclining; in this phase of exile all of us eat reclining.”

Reclining is the expression of Geula.

In all other periods we could compartmentalize galus and Geula; now we are obsessed with Geula.

In addition, the idea of “we are all reclining” conveys the idea of unity of the Jewish people. In the past, unity was not as crucial. There was room for division; now we have to all be sitting at the same table and partake of the feast associated with Geula, even if we disagree about methodology.

We ought to focus, as the Rebbe told us, on the things that unite us, and not on that which divides us. And there is one thing we all agree on: That we are preparing ourselves and the entire world for the Geula Shleima.