The mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach and every day

00:02 Let’s talk about the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt. On Pesach, the whole focus of Pesach is the Exodus from Egypt. Now, we know there are two mitzvos: there is a mitzvah to remember the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach, and there is a mitzvah to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day. The Rambam brings this in the laws of Pesach, in Hilchos Chametz Umatzah. Just a few days ago, in the three chapters we were learning, we learned that the Rambam brings the mitzvah to recount the Exodus from Egypt. The Rambam quotes the verse, “Remember this day on which you went out of Egypt.” That is a verse in Parshas Bo. That is in the Rambam’s Hilchos Chametz Umatzah, and the Rambam also counts it in his enumeration of the mitzvos. Yes, in the enumeration of the mitzvos, as one of the 613 mitzvos, there is a mitzvah to recount the Exodus from Egypt. That is at night, on Pesach night, recounting how He brought us out of Egypt. It is one of the 613 mitzvos. Then there is another mitzvah, the mitzvah we fulfill every day. In Hilchos Krias Shema, chapter 1, halacha 3, the Rambam writes that although the mitzvah of tzitzis does not apply at night, we read that passage at night, even though there is no Torah obligation of tzitzis at night. Nevertheless, at Maariv, as part of Krias Shema, we also say the passage about tzitzis, the passage of Vayomer. Why? The Rambam says: because it contains a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. There is an obligation to remember the Exodus from Egypt, and it is a mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt by day and by night. The Rambam says there is a mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt every day and every night, as it says, “So that you remember the day you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.” That is a different verse. In Hilchos Chametz Umatzah, the verse is “Remember this day on which you went out of Egypt,” a verse in Parshas Bo; here it is a verse in Parshas Re’eh, “So that you remember the day you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.” The Rambam concludes: Reading these three passages in this order constitutes Krias Shema. Good. And here it is...

02:21 But the Rambam does not include this in his enumeration of the mitzvos. If you look at the beginning of Hilchos Krias Shema, where the Rambam lists the mitzvos, he lists one mitzvah: Krias Shema. What about the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt? He does not mention it. The commentators discuss this. Well, many discuss it. Why did the Rambam not count remembering the Exodus from Egypt every day as a mitzvah? He writes explicitly that it is a mitzvah. There is something interesting—before I get into the substance of the matter, there is a question I have always had about Tanya. When I learn Chassidus in Tanya—and, by hashgacha pratis, we learned this just in the last few days, in the lesson on chapter 47—the Alter Rebbe begins chapter 47 of Tanya: “And behold, in every generation and every single day, a person is obligated to regard himself as though he went out of Egypt today.” That is what the Alter Rebbe writes. Here, too, the Alter Rebbe takes the wording of the Mishnah. It is a Mishnah in Pesachim, where it is talking about Pesach, and it does not say “every single day.” The Alter Rebbe, with such breadth, as they say, quotes the wording of the Mishnah and adds “in every generation and every single day,” putting them together. What is the Alter Rebbe’s source? The Rebbe writes in Likkutei Sichos, volume 12, for Pesach, that the Alter Rebbe holds that the two Mishnayos are actually connected to each other. There are two Mishnayos. There is a Mishnah in Berachos: “The Exodus from Egypt is mentioned at night. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: I am like a man of seventy years, yet I did not merit to establish that the Exodus from Egypt be mentioned at night until Ben Zoma expounded it, as it says, ‘So that you remember the day you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.’ ‘The days of your life’ means the days; ‘all the days of your life’ includes the nights.” We say this in the Pesach Haggadah. That is the Mishnah in Berachos. From there we learn the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt every single day and at night. Then there is a Mishnah in Pesachim: “In every generation

04:25 and generation.” And the Alter Rebbe holds that these two mitzvos are connected to each other, which is why he writes, “In every generation, every single day.” The Rebbe says that this is a major chiddush: the Alter Rebbe holds that the mitzvah to mention the Exodus every single day is essentially of the same kind as the mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach. I have always thought about this. It is a wonderful chiddush, a major chiddush. What is the reasoning behind it? What is its source? Because these are two different things—two completely different things. The mitzvah to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day is simply a remembrance, just mentioning it. The mitzvah to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt is a telling; it is something entirely different, telling the story at length. Especially since we see that the Rambam cites two different verses. One is a verse in Bo and the other a verse in Re’eh; he does not cite the same verse. So we need to understand this passage in Tanya: how do we learn it, and do the Alter Rebbe and the Rambam follow the same approach, or are these two approaches? They are not necessarily one approach; we will see shortly. Right? Do the Alter Rebbe and the Rambam follow the same approach, or are there two approaches here? I am leaving that as a subject to investigate. Let’s now return to the central question of our topic. The mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt: why does the Rambam not count the daily remembrance in his enumeration of the mitzvos? Why is it not listed there? The commentators ask this. There are several interesting answers. By the way, this is a disagreement among the Rishonim. Some Rishonim say it is not a Torah mitzvah, that it is only rabbinic. Other Rishonim say that it is... I think one of the Rishonim—I do not remember who right now—does count it in the enumeration of the mitzvos. In any case, we want to understand the Rambam’s approach. The Rambam holds that it is a mitzvah, and at first glance you cannot say that it is

06:26 rabbinic, although some want to say that. For example, the Ohr Sameach, Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen, wants to say that the Rambam holds it is rabbinic, and that is how he wants to resolve the question: it is only rabbinic. But it is surprising to say that, because the Rambam’s wording—he writes it in the same passage as all the laws of Krias Shema—implies that the Rambam holds it is a Torah obligation. In other words, he writes it all together: There is an obligation to say Krias Shema in the morning and evening, and it contains a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, and it is a mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt. It is quite a stretch, by the way, to say that according to the Rambam it is rabbinic. It would seem the Rambam should have made that clearer. Although the Ohr Sameach says it, the Rambam’s wording implies that he holds it is a Torah obligation. So there are other answers. There are other answers. For example, one answer says: Why is it not counted as a mitzvah? Because it is written as a reason. It says, “So that you remember.” The Torah does not state a command; the Torah says “so that.” The Rambam writes in the principles governing the enumeration of the mitzvos that when the Torah gives reasons, those are not counted as mitzvos. Things stated as commands are mitzvos, while things stated as reasons are not counted as mitzvos. So apparently that is what the Pri Megadim holds. He thinks that is why the Rambam did not put this in his enumeration of the mitzvos: because the wording of the verse is “so that you remember.” Right? But if so, the Rambam seems to contradict himself. If so, why does he write “it is a mitzvah”? Right? If the Rambam holds that it is not a mitzvah, why does he write “it is a mitzvah”? He should have used different wording. He could have said it without calling it a mitzvah—using words like “one must” or “one is obligated”—but he uses the word “mitzvah.” It is hard to understand the claim that the Rambam holds here that it is not a mitzvah. There was an explanation.

08:31 Nissan 5733. On 12 Nissan, the Rebbe held a major farbrengen. At the farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke about this point and cited an explanation that students of Rabbi Chaim Brisker had given in his name. If I’m not mistaken, the Rebbe didn’t mention his name. The Rebbe said “one of the great later authorities”—I don’t remember. The Rebbe did say his name. Sometimes the Rebbe mentions his name at a farbrengen, but I think that during this farbrengen he only said “one of the great Jewish sages of recent generations.” We’d have to check the exact wording. In any case, his students cite an explanation in his name, and the Rebbe repeated it. His explanation is very interesting. Listen to this wonderful explanation. It’s an insight of Rabbi Chaim Brisker. He says: The Mishnah presents a dispute here about mentioning the Exodus from Egypt at night. Ben Zoma expounded: “The days of your life” means the days; “all the days of your life” includes the nights. And the Sages say: “The days of your life” means this world; “all the days of your life” includes the days of Moshiach. Sorry, yes. In other words, the Sages disagree with Ben Zoma. The Sages hold that there is no mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt both by day and by night. They hold that the mitzvah applies now and in the days of Moshiach. That is, if we rule like Ben Zoma, we hold that the Exodus from Egypt will not be mentioned in the days of Moshiach. And the Rashba indeed holds that way as a matter of halachah. The Rashba writes—he explains why Ben Zoma disagrees with the Sages. The Sages say that “all the days of your life” includes the days of Moshiach. Ben Zoma says it means by day and by night, but that in the days of Moshiach the Exodus will not be mentioned. So the Rashba explains: Do you know why? Because it will no longer be needed. Why do we need to mention the Exodus from Egypt? The Rashba writes: Because we have troubles, there is exile, and the Jewish people suffer. Remembering the Exodus from Egypt gives them strength. But when Moshiach comes, that’s over; we’ll already have miracles.

10:51 For “As in the days of your departure from the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.” What need will there be for it? That is Ben Zoma’s position. So, Rabbi Chaim says, if we hold like Ben Zoma that the Exodus from Egypt will not be mentioned in the days of Moshiach, it follows that this is a temporary mitzvah. The mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt and all of that is a temporary mitzvah. It applies only in the present era. In the days of Moshiach, there will no longer be such a mitzvah. “Mitzvos will be nullified in the future”—that’s a separate matter, a different era. As the Rambam tells us in the Laws of Kings and Moshiach, the whole reason we await Moshiach is so that we can fulfill the mitzvos completely. But this mitzvah will not be possible to fulfill when Moshiach comes, because according to Ben Zoma it will have ended. And the Rambam rules like Ben Zoma. So it is not a mitzvah that will never cease. In the days of Moshiach it will not apply; it is not a mitzvah observed throughout all generations. And the Rambam does not count it among the mitzvos. It’s a wonderful insight, but the Rebbe did not accept it. The Rebbe went so far as to say that it requires examination whether Rabbi Chaim Brisker actually said it. At the farbrengen, the Rebbe expressed it this way: It requires examination whether the students understood what he said, because it’s hard to say that Rabbi Chaim said such a thing. That is how strongly the Rebbe disagreed. Why? Because the Rebbe argued that if you look at the Rambam, you can’t say this. The Rambam begins the Laws of Reading Shema by saying, “Twice each day, Shema is read, in the evening and in the morning.” Right? Then he says what is read: three passages. That is the mitzvah of reading Shema: Shema, Vehayah im Shamoa, and Vayomer. Then he explains: Shema contains the unity of Hashem, love of Him, and Torah study—the great fundamental principle. Right? Vehayah im Shamoa contains the remembrance of all the mitzvos. After that,

12:53 the passage of tzitzis, which also contains all the mitzvos, as well as tzitzis. Then he goes on to say in halachah 3 what we just mentioned: that we recite it at night too, because there is a mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt, and the mitzvah is to mention it by day and by night, as it says, “So that you remember ... all the days of your life.” After saying this, the Rambam concludes: “Reading these three passages in this order is what is called reading Shema.” In other words, the Rambam holds that the whole—how do you say it in Spanish?—combo, the entire package, all these elements together, the three passages, constitutes the mitzvah of reading Shema. So what are you going to say? That in the future they will cut part of it out? Suddenly it won’t be there anymore? Something will be missing? According to the Rambam, it appears that all of it is part of one mitzvah. It is one whole, one matter. And it would be most astonishing to say that in the future only two passages will be recited. Besides that, what is more, the Rambam’s wording calls it a mitzvah. It sounds like a mitzvah like all the others, not a temporary mitzvah. From the Rambam’s wording as a whole, too, it is clear that he does not hold it to be a temporary mitzvah. It is an eternal mitzvah. And here we come to the point the Rebbe explained at that farbrengen. It didn’t end there; the Rebbe spoke about the introduction, and there was a continuation on the last day of Pesach. In short, this was the Rebbe’s point. I later found it cited in one of the later authorities as well. Of course, the Rebbe explained it in his own style, but the basic idea is found among other later authorities too. The Rambam did not list it as a mitzvah for precisely the reason we just discussed: he holds that the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt is a component of the mitzvah of reading Shema. It is not a mitzvah in its own right. The Rambam holds that it is a mitzvah, but not an individual mitzvah; it is a mitzvah within the mitzvah of

15:11 reading Shema. That is the Rambam’s position, and it explains his entire wording. That is why, after mentioning the mitzvah to recall the Exodus from Egypt, the Rambam concludes: “Reading these three passages in this order is what is called reading Shema.” The Rambam himself is answering why he does not count it as an individual mitzvah: he holds that all these elements are included in one mitzvah. There is a mitzvah to read Shema twice each day. What is the mitzvah of reading Shema? It includes the unity of Hashem, love of Him, Torah study, all the mitzvos, remembering the mitzvos, and the Exodus from Egypt. Everything is included in one mitzvah. The mitzvah to read Shema each day includes all these things. Consequently, it is an eternal mitzvah, just as the entire mitzvah of reading Shema is eternal. In the future, too, Shema will be recited—Shema with the Exodus from Egypt. On this understanding, we do not hold as Rabbi Chaim held. There is indeed a dispute among the halachic authorities on this: Do the Sages disagree with Ben Zoma, or are they only adding to what he said? The Sages do not disagree with Ben Zoma, and Ben Zoma does not disagree with the Sages. The question is only what each derives from the verse. But everyone agrees that the Exodus from Egypt will be mentioned in the future as well. So if that’s the point, then we can now return to the Tanya and look at it there. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya: Why was the passage about the Exodus from Egypt instituted as part of the reading of Shema? Seemingly, they are two different things. Why did the Sages institute that the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt be included in the passages of Shema? What does the Alter Rebbe say in chapter 47? “Because they are truly one and the same thing.” That is the entire explanation of chapter 47: the whole meaning of the Exodus from Egypt is to leave the straits and limitations of the animal soul. The Exodus from Egypt happens every day; a Jew needs to know that there is

17:10 Egypt. Egypt is not just a country; Egypt is a reality we live in. It is the constraints and limitations each of us has. And you have an obligation to remember the Exodus from Egypt—the departure of the G-dly soul from its constraints and limitations, as it emerges from the animal soul. That itself is the mitzvah of reciting Shema. When you say, “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One,” you accept the sovereignty of Heaven upon yourself, and you leave your own Egypt. They are truly one and the same. So this fits perfectly with the point the Rebbe derives here from the Rambam: the Rambam holds that remembering the Exodus from Egypt every day does not need to be counted as a separate mitzvah, because it is included in the mitzvah of reciting Shema. And that fits what the Alter Rebbe says there in chapter 47. Wait—that’s one explanation. But there’s a problem here. I don’t know if you noticed. It’s a very beautiful explanation. The Rebbe said it; as I told you, that’s the explanation, the central point. We spoke about 5 Nissan, Pesach. But the problem is that this explanation does not fit what the Rebbe says in the Likkutei Sichos we mentioned earlier. The Rambam holds—the Alter Rebbe, I mean, the Rebbe asks: Where did the Alter Rebbe get the basis for saying, “In every generation and every day, a person is obligated…”? He combined two mishnayos, because the Alter Rebbe holds that this is not part of the mitzvah of reciting Shema; rather, it is the same mitzvah as remembering the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach. The Alter Rebbe wrote the two things together: “In every generation and every day, a person is obligated to regard himself…” From what? The Rebbe explains there in volume 12: Where did the Alter Rebbe get this wording? The Alter Rebbe joined Berachos with Pesachim, producing something entirely new. Why doesn’t the Rambam write this? Why doesn’t he count it among the mitzvos? Not because it is included in the mitzvah of reciting Shema, but because it is included in the mitzvah of Pesach.

19:07 According to the Alter Rebbe, then, why isn’t the mitzvah to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day counted? Because it is included in the mitzvah of Pesach. But that doesn’t fit with the Rambam, because the Rambam cites two verses: one verse, and an a fortiori inference from another verse. Still, there are those who say this too. What’s the reasoning? What’s the reasoning? After all, it’s a mitzvah. As I said earlier, one is a mitzvah of simply remembering, while the other is a mitzvah of telling the story on Pesach night. How can they be made into one mitzvah? So, by Divine Providence, this week I studied the sicha in volume 2 on Parshas Behar, and [unclear]. Suddenly I found the ex—the explanation. In volume 2, Parshas Behar, there is an absolutely wonderful sicha of the Rebbe, an extraordinary insight that applies throughout the entire Torah, based on the Zohar on Parshas Behar. The Rebbe gives a wonderful explanation there and states a principle, a principle that applies throughout the entire Torah: with a Torah-level mitzvah—listen carefully, this is a sicha we need to study—the Rebbe brings a remarkable principle that applies throughout the Torah, throughout the entire Shas: sometimes a Torah-level mitzvah has an ideal way of being fulfilled and a way of being fulfilled after the fact. In other words, the Torah itself gave us two ways to fulfill a mitzvah: ideally and after the fact. For example, for example, counting the Omer. Counting the Omer: “seven complete weeks.” What does the Gemara say? What does “complete” mean? When are they complete? When it falls on Shabbos. As the Sadducees said. We don’t agree with the Sadducees, G-d forbid; we always do it the day after Pesach. But the Gemara there in the tractate—where is it? Yoma? Where is that Gemara that discusses the story with the Sadducees and the Boethusians? Ah, Menachos, Menachos. Yes, in Menachos. So there the Gemara says: When are they complete? When the counting of the Omer begins on Sunday. That is, the Torah itself—it’s not an after-the-fact fulfillment, G-d forbid, or any less of a mitzvah.

21:36 It’s a Torah-level mitzvah. But the Torah itself tells you that in years when Pesach falls on Shabbos, so that you also fulfill “the day after Shabbos” in its literal sense, that is called “complete.” In years when Pesach does not fall on Shabbos, you also count the Omer and fulfill the Torah-level mitzvah, but it does not have the special quality of “complete.” That’s one example. A second example. A second example: Shavuos. Shavuos is the time of the Giving of the Torah. The Jerusalem Talmud asks: How do we learn that Shavuos is the time of the Giving of the Torah? It isn’t written in the Chumash. Yes, the Chumash doesn’t say that Shavuos is the time of the Giving of the Torah. Where do we learn it from? We say, “the time of the Giving of our Torah.” So the Jerusalem Talmud says that on Shavuos, a sin offering is not mentioned. “One male goat for a sin offering” is written for Pesach, Sukkos, and Rosh Chodesh. It isn’t written for Shavuos. In Parshas Pinchas, a sin offering isn’t mentioned. The Jerusalem Talmud asks: Why isn’t a sin offering mentioned? Because the Jews received the Torah on that day, so the Torah did not want to write “sin offering.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu was so happy that the Jews received the Torah that there was no sin offering. That is—meaning that already in the Oral Torah there is a hint that Shavuos is the Giving of the Torah. Now, you know that in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, before there was a fixed calendar, Shavuos could fall on 5 Sivan, 6 Sivan, or 7 Sivan. The Gemara says: sometimes on the fifth, sometimes on the sixth, sometimes on the seventh, because it always had to be fifty days. Right? From Pesach. It depends on the calendar, on whether Nissan has thirty days, whether Iyar has thirty days or twenty-nine days. It depends on the moon. So it turns out that there were years when Shavuos was not on the date of the Giving of the Torah. If Shavuos fell on 5 Sivan, that was not the date of the Giving of the Torah. And even regarding 6 Sivan, there is a dispute between the Rabbis and Rabbi Yosi. They hold it was 7 Sivan, so that too would not be the date of the Giving of the Torah. And yet afterward we do say

23:36 “the time of the Giving of our Torah.” In other words, there are two ways, from the outset, to fulfill the mitzvah of Shavuos. There is a complete form of fulfillment according to the Torah—this is not a rabbinic matter—in which you celebrate Shavuos together with the Giving of the Torah, and there is a way to celebrate Shavuos without the Giving of the Torah. It isn’t on the day the Torah was given. And the Rebbe applies this to practical halachah today as well. It isn’t only a halachah from the past; it is a halachah today. Someone who crosses the International Date Line—a person who traveled to Australia in the middle of the Omer count—would have to observe Shavuos on 5 Sivan because he gains another day. Or the reverse; I’m not sure which way it goes… I’ve forgotten how it works. Yes, because when you travel, in one direction you lose a day and in the other you gain a day. So, according to the calendar, someone who crosses the International Date Line between Pesach and Shavuos does not finish counting the Omer together with the rest of the community. That’s why the Rebbe didn’t want people to travel directly. Yes, the Rebbe wrote very important letters saying not to travel directly to— When we went on shlichus, we traveled to Australia on 5 Iyar, so we had to go via Eretz Yisroel and London and all those… It was a whole complicated business. And the second time as well, when we traveled, we went via France, via—via Amsterdam. In short, a roundabout route. The trip took us five days, just so we wouldn’t lose a day of counting the Omer. So we wouldn’t have that kind of contradiction, that kind of craziness, where you’re with your community and celebrating Shavuos. But according to the letter of the law, if a person does make that trip—and it happens sometimes that someone travels—then he has to observe Shavuos on 5 Sivan. But that isn’t the date of the Giving of the Torah! It doesn’t matter. In other words, on a Torah level, it’s not—the Torah gives you

25:21 Two forms. The Torah tells you: you can fulfill it as— So the Rebbe, in this sicha in volume 22, says that among the examples the Torah gives us, there are two possibilities. The Rebbe gives the example of the mitzvah to remember the Exodus from Egypt. The Torah gave us two ways to fulfill it: by remembering the Exodus every day, and on Pesach, when you do it with matzah, maror, wine, the Pesach offering, and everything else. In other words, what do we learn from this sicha? That these two mitzvos are, in essence, one mitzvah for which the Torah gave two forms: a more complete form on the night of Pesach, and a form of remembrance every day. According to this sicha, what the Alter Rebbe says fits perfectly. As the Rebbe explains there, the Alter Rebbe joined the two Mishnayos because, according to this explanation, at their root they are really one mitzvah. There is one thing Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants us to remember—the Exodus from Egypt, always—and within that, the Torah gave two possibilities: the ideal way and a less complete way. The complete way is on Pesach; in a more limited way, one fulfills it every day. And accordingly, this provides a framework for explaining the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus from Egypt. And here, of course, comes the whole point in Chassidus—the well-known point the Rebbe also brings in the maamar for Pesach Sheini, “There Will Be No Pesach Sheini.” Why will the Exodus from Egypt still be mentioned in the future, when Rashbi says there will be no need? Why do we nevertheless rule that the Exodus will be mentioned in the future? The Rebbe explains that there is a special virtue in the Exodus from Egypt even for the future: the virtue of iskafya, the virtue of eagerness, the virtue of subduing the physical. In the experience of it, there is the whole virtue of

27:11 the fire, the strength, the impact, the enthusiasm—the flight from evil. This is a virtue we take from the Exodus from Egypt. Even in the future, with all its revelations, we will remember it and always speak about it, so that we can draw that enthusiasm into the revelations of the future too. Although the Redemption then will not be in haste, there is still a virtue in haste. That is why we must connect the two redemptions. May we merit the complete Geulah immediately, with Moshiach Tzidkeinu.