Why is This Night Different From all Other Nights? We read in the Hagadah:
“Not only our forefathers did HaShem redeem but also ourselves did He redeem with them”
This statement, it could be said, was said to give us the feeling as if we ourselves went out of Egypt, but why here are we supposed to feel as though we ourselves were redeemed, when there are many other miracles that would seemingly require a similar obligation- had Haman succeeded in his evil scheme, we, the Jews of our generation would surely not exist! So, by saving our forefathers then, HaShem saved us as well. Similarly with the miracle of Chanukah and other national miracles, had our forefathers not been saved then we also would not exist so surely with all such national days of recognition of a past miracle, we should have the commandment to commemorate it as though we ourselves took part.
In what way, then, is the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt unique that only by it do we find this obligation?
We know on the one hand that when it comes to the evil deeds of ones descendants, HaShem judges man according to his own merits, without consideration of the deeds of his future progeny. Thus we find that HaShem judged Yishmael as he was and not based on what he would produce and himself become.
On the other hand, when it comes to the good that a person’s predecessors or descendants has done or will do, a person is often not saved on account of his deeds alone, but on account of the deeds of his future son or an ancestor. As we find with Moshe, who, before smiting an Egyptian overseer, checked among his descendants for a righteous man on whose account he could be saved.
Now, let us determine in whose merit the people of Yisroel were saved from Egypt, as opposed to the other national miracles. With all the others, the miracle was performed on account of that generation, they deserved salvation themselves. Not so with the Exodus from Egypt. There, HaShem tells us, the miracle was not performed in the merit of that generation alone, but in their merit plus the merit of all future generations until the end of time.
With this we can understand why on Passover we have a special obligation to view ourselves as leaving Egypt – it was only this miracle which was performed especially for us.
-Adapted from the Haggadah of R’Shalom Shwadron |
