Pesach: Why The Suffering?

Sicha, 2nd day of Pesach 5726

A. This is the Bread of Affliction

The paragraph “Ha Lachma Anya” opens the Maggid section of the Haggadah (Source 1). The Rebbe raises questions on the three statements in this paragraph:

1. Why does the story of the redemption begin specifically with mentioning the “bread of affliction” that was eaten during the Egyptian exile (“this is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt”)? Seemingly, it would be more appropriate to open with a redemptive aspect, speaking about the matzah that was baked במהירות in preparation for leaving Egypt.
2. Why do we mention that this year we are in exile and enslaved? On the Seder night we recount the redemption and celebrate entirely in a manner of freedom (Source 2). Why bring up that we are currently in exile?
3. Why is the invitation “whoever is hungry, let him come and eat” said in the middle of the Seder and not at the beginning? The appropriate time to invite the poor is before the Seder starts.

B. The Big, Burning Question

For readers of the Haggadah, even children, a fundamental question arises that disrupts the entire flow of the Seder: since the Exodus from Egypt was carried out by G-d, Who is eternal, and His actions are eternal, the redemption should have been eternal. Why then are we still in exile?

Another question: G-d promised that the Jewish people would leave Egypt with “great wealth.” Since G-d’s actions are eternal, that wealth should also be eternal. Why then are there poor people?

C. What was the Goal of the Egyptian Exile?

To answer these questions, we must address a more basic one: what was the reason for the decree of the Covenant Between the Parts (Brit Bein HaBetarim), that Avraham’s descendants would be enslaved for 400 years (Source 3)?

The Rebbe explains that the exile was meant to rectify the sin of the Tree of Knowledge. What does this mean?

The sin of the Tree of Knowledge, along with the six sins that followed, caused the Divine Presence (Shechinah) to withdraw from the world up to the seventh heaven. Avraham and the six righteous individuals after him were meant to draw the Shechinah back down, from the first heaven to this lowest world (Source 4).

In other words, in the Covenant Between the Parts, Hashem gave Avraham and his descendants the mission to repair the sin of the Tree of Knowledge and bring the Shechinah down below. He told him that this mission would involve oppressive labor, including enslavement in a foreign land.

Based on this, we understand why the 400 years are counted from the time of Avraham and not only from the physical stay in Egypt. The essence of those 400 years was the mission of bringing the Shechinah down, and that began already in Avraham’s time.

The later generations were meant to continue this process. The Jewish people were supposed to reveal the Shechinah within Egypt, which symbolized advancement and wisdom, until in the time of Moshe they would complete drawing the Shechinah down below.

D. The Failed Plan

In practice, the rectification that was supposed to occur during the Egyptian exile was not completed. The Jewish people did not carry out the required spiritual work. On the contrary, they sank into impurity and nearly assimilated into Egypt. Therefore, the attribute of justice argued that there was no basis for redemption, since the purpose of the exile had not yet been fulfilled.

However, G-d saw that if the Jewish people remained even one more moment, they would sink into the fiftieth gate of impurity and never leave. Therefore, He hastened to redeem them through an awakening from above.

Since the redemption did not come through their own effort in refining the world, but from above, impurity and evil remained in the world. And within them as well, there remained a connection to evil.

This explains the verse “the people fled.” Why did they need to flee? Pharaoh had permitted them to leave. Rather, they were fleeing from the evil within themselves. Since they had not completed their internal refinement, and on their end they even wanted to remain in Egypt, they needed to flee with the help of the Divine revelation that shone upon them.

Therefore, the drawing down of the Shechinah did not happen as planned, through their own refinement, but through an awakening from above.

One might ask: if so, did the Exodus accomplish anything? Certainly it did. The Divine revelation at the time of the Exodus gave them awareness of what is expected of them, and they will accomplish it in the future through teshuvah.

E. Answering all the Questions

Now all the questions are answered:

1. The opening of “This is the bread of affliction” comes to answer the child’s question: why are there poor people among the Jewish people, and why are we still in exile?
   The words “This is the bread of affliction” themselves provide the answer. It is called “bread of affliction” because the redemption did not come through their own effort, but through a revelation from above. Therefore, the redemption was not complete. As a result, we are still in exile, and there are still poor people.
2. The statement “whoever is hungry, let him come and eat” is not meant as an actual invitation to the poor; that was already done earlier. Rather, it is said here to emphasize this point to the children: the existence of poverty stems from the fact that the redemption was incomplete.
3. The statement “now we are here, next year we will be free” answers the question: what did we gain from the Exodus? The answer is that although now we are still in exile, the Divine revelation at the Exodus gave us awareness, ability, and opened the channel, so that now we can properly refine ourselves, and next year we will be free.