Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Freedom And Liberty

We say in the haggadah (in עבדים היינו) that if Hashem hadn't taken us out of Egypt then we would still be משעובדים לפרעה.  Who says we wolud have still been enslaved, there could have been a revolution and we would have been freed?  In one peshat in the Briskor Hagaddah, Rav Dovid Solevetchik explains that Rav Chayim said besides actually beying enslaved in Egypt, the Jews were a עבדים בחפצא, they had the status of slaves and true the actual slavery might have stopped but their status as slaves would not have been changed.  At the end of Maggid we say in the beracha ונודה לך שיר חדש על גאלתנו ועל פדות נפשינו.  What is the difference between פדות and גאולה?  The Rav cites Rav Chayim that גאולה means a transfer of possession like it says by a filed that returns to the owner in yoval, גאולה תהיה לו.  The word פדות which is used in the context of redeeming maaser sheni and hekdesh means a change in the status of the object, it had kedusha and now it is gone.  Says the Rav in light of the previous Rav Chayim that in yitziat mitzraim Klal Yisroel were נגאלו, they left the domain of being slaves to Egypt and פדות נפשיתו, there status as חפצא of עבדים was lifted.  He says that is what is meant in the לפיכך of the Hagaddah right before the hallel in maggid that we give thanks that Hashem took us out from עבדות לחירות and משעובד לגאולה.  These two praises correspond to the two aspects of being removed from the physical enslavement and the slave status.  What does this mean that one can have the status of a slave even if one is not actually enslaved?  

There are two stories of מתחילין בגנות ומסיימים בשבח which we recount in the hagaddah.  One is the transformation from slaves to free men and the other is the transition form idol worshipers to serve Hashem (see Rambam Chametz U'matzah 7:4.)  Both processes are integral to the story of yitzias mitzraim.  Without yitzias mitraim the physical slavery may indeed have ceased at some point but liberated, Klal Yisroel would not be.  Freedom from slavery does not make one a liberated man.  The liberated man has his own mind, his own perspective, his own culture, his own identity.  The slavery in Egypt stripped the very identity of Klal Yisroel until in their own eyes they became merely Egyptian slaves.  Even if the slave part would be removed they would remain stuck in the paradigm of the Egyptian way of life.  That is how Klal Yisroel would remain עבדים even if the shackles were removed from their feet.  Yitzias mitzraim did not  just  grant Klal Yisroel freedom, it granted them liberty or in Hebrew not merely חפשי but חירות.  Klal Yisroel became a nation devoted to Hashem.  That is the culture, the identity of Klal Yisroel that was defined by yitzias mitzraim and solidified at Mattan Torah.  The praise for גאולה is on freedom, על פדות נפשינו is on liberty.  

According to Ben Zoma (Berachot 12b) in the times of Moshiach there will be no mitzvah of the daily reminder of yitzias mitzraim for the miracles will pale in comparison to the miracles of the future.  So why will the mitzvah of sippur yitzias mitzraim on Pesach remain?  Miracles of freedom can be eclipsed by greater miraclesof freedom and be neglected but the liberty established at yitzias mitzraim is everlasting.  The mitzvah to recount and relive that story will remain (Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi haggadah pg. 99-101.) 

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