Chag HaPesach (5785) - the Yom Tov of faith and trust

00:00 Reb Yitzchak—I don’t remember his name—told a story about the Baal Shem Tov, particularly in connection with Pesach. It is generally known that Pesach was a time of great joy for the Baal Shem Tov. After Pesach, when there was finally a little time to rest, he told them what had happened. Of course, the Seder night was filled with great joy. But once, the students noticed that before Erev Pesach the Baal Shem Tov was deeply troubled and distressed, and during Pesach he seemed even more troubled. There was a decree against the Jews, and it caused the Baal Shem Tov great anguish and sorrow. They went to prepare the matzos, and it was very difficult. The preparation of the matzos, in particular, was especially painful for him. There were great difficulties on Erev Pesach, and when Seder night arrived, the Baal Shem Tov came in with his students, but without his usual joy. He shut himself in his room in great sorrow. The students heard him crying there, and the Baal Shem Tov sat in his room with a book of Tehillim. The students gathered and said Tehillim in great distress. But then came

01:49 a great deliverance, and the decree was annulled. Throughout Erev Pesach, things had continued this way with the matzos: every part of their preparation was difficult and painful. So it went until the night of Pesach. They say the Baal Shem Tov was very weak that night. At the Seder, too, they saw that his holy face looked drawn, shaken and pale. He barely recovered during that Seder. The students were extremely worried and shaken, and understood that something momentous was happening above in Heaven. What could they do? But suddenly, in the middle of reciting the Haggadah, everything changed. Amid all his sorrow, the Baal Shem Tov suddenly burst into joy and laughter. They could see that a weight had been lifted from his heart; his mood had changed completely. The students did not know what had happened. They continued reciting the Haggadah until they reached Shulchan Orech. Then the Baal Shem Tov told his students what had happened. He told them about a severe decree against the Jewish people before Pesach. Every effort had been made to annul it, but it was not working; the decree against the Jews remained in place. They tried to ease the preparation of the matzos, but that, too, was unsuccessful. Preparing the matzos remained difficult, very difficult, right up to Erev Pesach. The Baal Shem Tov saw above that the decree was about to be carried out, G-d forbid, and that it was not going to end

03:46 well. It was not going to end well. Then the night of Pesach arrived. The Baal Shem Tov related: In a remote town lived a couple, a husband and wife, very simple Jews. They sat together and held their Seder. As they sat, they began talking about the Seder they were having. The husband was deeply upset and began to say: “I don’t know what we’re celebrating at this Seder. How can we go through all this? In the Haggadah we read about the miracles and wonders Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed for us. But what do things look like now, here? Look around—the situation is nothing like that. Where are the miracles? Where are the wonders? Jews are suffering in exile, we struggle to make a living, and we’re surrounded by non-Jews. What are we talking about, with all these difficulties facing us? What is going on?” The man broke down. His wife stood up and said: “What’s happened? We need to rejoice. Surely Hakadosh Boruch Hu will improve our situation and do good for us, just as He did in the past, as He always has. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will save the Jews and help them. Let’s strengthen our faith and trust. Surely, surely Hakadosh Boruch Hu will have mercy on us, help us and save us from all these troubles.” She began speaking words of faith and trust. Little by little, the husband, too, came back to himself. Encouraged, he got to his feet and began,

05:11 and within moments, the two of them began singing and dancing with tremendous joy. The Baal Shem Tov said that these mitzvos—what had taken place between the husband and wife, and how they then lifted themselves up, strengthened their faith and trust, and began to sing and dance—were precisely what broke the entire decree. There was a great commotion in Heaven: Come and see, “Who is like Your people Israel?” These were simple Jews, not great people [unclear], but utterly simple people. Yet look how firmly they held to their faith and trust! That broke the entire decree and turned the situation completely around. The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that the holy Baal Shem Tov asked his students to place their hands one on top of another’s, until the holy Baal Shem Tov placed his holy hand on top. In this way, they were privileged to see it. For the Baal Shem Tov would do this from time to time: he would show his students what was happening elsewhere. And they were indeed able to see those simple Jews celebrating the Seder night with tremendous joy. That was what annulled the decree in Heaven. The Baal Shem Tov concluded: Such is the power of a Jew’s faith and trust. Through them,

06:29 when he strengthens his faith and trust, he can change things completely, even things that the greatest tzaddikim cannot affect. When we come to the Seder night—and indeed, Pesach as a whole is the festival of faith. The matzos we eat are “the food of faith,” as the Zohar says, “the food of healing.” The whole point of Pesach is, after all, as the verse says, “Your following Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land”: the Jewish people went forward trusting in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Among the things we say and do on Seder night—and there are many themes, many things—let’s speak about at least one point connected with the Haggadah. In the middle of the Haggadah is the passage “Vehi She’amdah.” As it says in the text of the Haggadah brought by the Alter Rebbe: Cover the matzos, lift the cup and say “Vehi She’amdah.” The passage reads: “And it is this that has stood by our forefathers and us: For not only one has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands.” What are we saying here? Yes, “it is this that has stood by us”—that throughout the ages Hakadosh Boruch Hu has saved the Jewish people from all these troubles, from all these things, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us

08:08 from all these decrees, from all the enemies of the Jewish people who seek to persecute us. But we begin with the words “Vehi She’amdah”—“And it is this that has stood by us.” First, we need to understand: What is the point of covering the matzah and taking the cup of wine in hand? What reason is given for this custom? And second, what is “this”? Why do we say “Vehi She’amdah”? What does it refer to? Those words—who or what are they talking about? Some suggest that this follows the principle that “song is recited only over wine.” That is why we take the cup of wine in hand: we sing to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But we have not yet reached the song. The song comes only later, at the end of Maggid: “the song of our redemption and of our forefathers’ redemption”; that is when we take the cup. Or what we say then, “He brought us out of slavery to freedom,” and “we shall sing a new song before Him”—that is part of the end of Maggid. That is where the song is. Here, though, in the middle of telling the story, what is the point of taking the cup? And indeed, the Likkutei [unclear] writes that this is a matter understood according to Kabbalah. What is the Kabbalistic significance here? It says that when we take the cup of wine in hand, it reflects the verse “I shall lift the cup of salvation.” And we lift the cup.

09:46 We say, “I shall lift the cup of salvation and call upon the name of Hashem.” That is what taking the cup of wine in hand alludes to when we say “Vehi She’amdah.” What does it mean? First, the plain meaning of “this”: When we look at the Haggadah and the sequence of its passages, it is clear that “Vehi She’amdah” refers, in its plain meaning, to the promise. For just before “Vehi She’amdah,” the Haggadah says, “Blessed is He who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed is He”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu fulfilled His promise. Which promise? First, the Haggadah cites the promise Hakadosh Boruch Hu made to Avraham Avinu: “Your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will enslave and afflict them,” and “afterward they will go out with great wealth.” So that promise—Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who “keeps His promise to Israel,” made it and fulfilled it, and did indeed bring the Jewish people out of exile. And similarly, more broadly, the promises given through the prophets, all the prophecies we know, the prophecies of Yeshayahu, the prophecies of the Geulah—for “all the books are filled with this matter”—all these prophecies of the Geulah: the promise Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us through the prophets is the “this.” That is the continuation of the Haggadah: “this”—the promise Hakadosh Boruch Hu made to Avraham Avinu in his time concerning Egypt, and afterward all the prophets and all the promises. That is what sustains us in exile. When a Jew is in exile and things become bitter and dark, and everything [unclear]

11:25 Through all of this—the darkness doubled and redoubled, all the concealments of exile—when a Jew reflects on the words “And it is this,” that promise Hashem made to us, “that has stood by us and our fathers,” this also includes the words of the prophets in general, whom Hashem sends to tell us His promises and prophecies of the Geulah. That gives us the strength to get through the darkness of exile. But according to Kabbalah, as explained by the Arizal, “and it is this” means faith. Not the promise, but faith. In the language of Kabbalah, “it is this”—faith—“that has stood by us.” The fact that the Jewish people have the power of faith within them is what gives us strength. In other words, although there are so many troubles, so many concealments, and exile itself is a darkness doubled and redoubled [unclear]—yes, entirely surrounded by kelipos and [unclear]—nevertheless, the Jewish people stand firm through the power of faith and mesiras nefesh, even in the most difficult circumstances. This faith is what sustains us. That is what we mean when we say, “And it is this that has stood by us”—this faith. Accordingly, this is why we lift the cup of wine. As is well known, and as explained in the works of Kabbalah and at length in Chassidus, this is based on the verse “I will lift the cup of salvation.” The Zohar says that Dovid Hamelech spoke this verse in connection with his spiritual level, Knesses Yisroel. Dovid Hamelech represents the sefirah of

13:00 malchus. Dovid Hamelech is “Dovid, King of Israel, lives and endures,” and he is connected to all Jewish souls, for “all Jews are children of kings.” All Jews are drawn from the sefirah of malchus, the holy Shechinah, which is called Knesses Yisroel. As is known, Knesses Yisroel is the sefirah of malchus, the source of souls. And that is the cup. Knesses Yisroel is the cup. Just as the cup, the vessel, receives the wine poured into it for the cup of blessing, so Knesses Yisroel is called a “cup of blessing” in the Zohar, because it receives all the blessings and influences from Above [unclear]. “I will lift the cup of salvation”: Dovid Hamelech takes Knesses Yisroel and raises it. He brings it out of the bitter, difficult exile and lifts it to a higher state. And this cup of salvation is the vessel. In serving Hashem, this cup is faith—the point of faith within every Jew. That is the cup, the vessel that receives all the blessings from Above. This is the cup of salvation: the faith that sustains Jews in exile so they can get through every difficulty. And “Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands”—in the merit of faith, Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves the Jews from all the trials, difficulties, and concealments. These two interpretations are not separate from each other. When the Rebbe explains at a...

14:32 farbrengen on Pesach—when the Rebbe would explain the Haggadah—in one of his other explanations, he said that these two interpretations depend on each other. The interpretation that “and it is this” refers to the promise, and the interpretation that it refers to faith, depend on each other. One depends on the other. This is the vessel: when a Jew remains strong in faith and trust in Hashem, even in the hardest moments of the darkness of exile and under the harshest decrees, and Jews nevertheless hold fast to their faith and trust in Hashem—that faith and trust are the vessel for “He who keeps His promise to Israel.” In the merit of faith, Hashem reveals His promise, keeps His promise, and brings salvation and the Geulah in actual fact. So it was with the first redemption from Egypt: in the merit of faith, our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt. As Rashi says regarding the matzah: when the Jewish people left Egypt, they had nothing to eat, and the matzah was not yet ready. Nevertheless, they hurried out of Egypt, relying on Hashem. “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your marriage, when you followed Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land.” The Jews did not ask questions: What will we eat? What will we have? Where will we get clothes? They were ready to leave immediately. When

16:01 the moment of redemption arrived, they all left Egypt together without raising objections, knowing that Hashem would certainly take care of them. The faith and trust the Jews had—“when you followed Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land”—made them vessels able to receive everything [unclear] that Hashem gave them, all the miracles and wonders that took place during the Exodus from Egypt. And just as it was with the first redemption, so it is at every time and in every situation. And this is what [unclear] in Shaar Haahavah [unclear]. [unclear] the Pesach, and we lift the cup of wine and say over it, “the cup of salvation” [unclear] Knesses Yisroel, the power of faith. And through the power of faith, “and it is this” is the power of trust—the promise Hashem makes, as we say in the Haggadah, that in every generation, even when there are those who rise up to destroy us, Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands. The Bnei Yissaschar brings another interpretation of “and it is this” here. He says: We lift the cup, the cup of wine, and say over it, “And it is this that has stood by us.” And he says something wonderful: As we know, Jews are living in exile and waiting for the Geulah. A Jew asks for Moshiach to come already, for the complete Geulah to arrive already. But we know that our deeds are not worthy of redemption. A person knows his own failings. Seemingly, the whole exile is connected to “Because of our sins, we were exiled from our land.” Exile came because of sins, and if we want

17:39 the Geulah, we need to correct those sins, do teshuvah, observe mitzvos, and be good Jews; then we can merit it. But a Jew knows that throughout the long exile, there have been all sorts of things that were not as they should be and have not yet been corrected. So with what strength and on what grounds does a Jew come and ask for the Geulah? In response, a Jew says to Hashem: There is the bitterness of exile. The bitterness of exile, with the troubles and suffering that have befallen us, has brought us to a state of being “drunk, but not from wine.” We have become drunk as though we had drunk wine. Even though there was no wine there, we have become like drunk people. “Let him drink and forget his poverty”—wine intoxicates a person and confuses all his thoughts and affairs. And we point this out, for as is known, when a person is drunk, he cannot be judged. You cannot come to the child with complaints at such a time. So Knesses Yisroel says to Hashem: We lift the cup of wine and say to Hashem: You see that we are “drunk, but not from wine.” We have had more than enough of this wine that intoxicates us—the wine of the troubles, suffering, and pain of exile. And we say: We have had enough maror already; the time for the Geulah has come. And Hashem looks at this cup of “and it is this,” at this wine, this bitterness and suffering of exile, and that means Hashem cannot judge us by strict judgments,

19:12 reckonings, and calculations of whether we deserve it or not. Instead, Hakadosh Boruch Hu redeems us from exile and immediately brings us to the complete Geulah. And that is the theme of this Yom Tov, the festival of Pesach, the festival of faith and trust. As we see, Pesach corresponds to Avraham. As is known, the three festivals—Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos—correspond to the Patriarchs, and Pesach corresponds to Avraham. Avraham Avinu’s attribute was love. His love was such that “he believed in Hashem”: although he saw all the miracles Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed for him, his love of Hashem was so strong, and he stood with complete faith and trust in Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “And he believed in Hashem, and He considered it righteousness for him.” And Hakadosh Boruch Hu told him, “I am your shield,” in the merit of your faith. We therefore see that all the blessings are present on Pesach, when Avraham’s attribute, the attribute of love, awakens within every Jew, and from it the faith and trust of Jews in Hakadosh Boruch Hu are revealed. Eating matzah strengthens faith, and because it is the “food of faith,” it also becomes the “food of healing.” It strengthens and heals us, takes us out of our inner exile, and takes us out of the general exile and physical exile. In the merit of faith, our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt; and in the merit of our faith and trust that Moshiach will certainly come immediately, we too will be redeemed from

20:42 physical exile and spiritual exile. And surely, this very year, the complete Geulah will already come. “He redeemed us and redeemed our fathers; so may He bring us”—may Hakadosh Boruch Hu bring us to the festivals and pilgrimage festivals, with all [unclear] and the Pesachs and Sukkos, and then [unclear] a new song [unclear] Who redeemed Israel. May we indeed have [unclear] Pesach, and may the complete Geulah come already.