02 Apr PESACH- A NIGHT OF INSPIRATION

At the very end of the
maggid section of the
Haggadah, after we’ve
gone through and
discussed the story of
our ancestors’ bondage
in Egypt and the great miracle of Yetziat
Mitzrayim, just before we drink the second
cup of wine, we make a special berachah.
This berachah begins: “Blessed are You,
Hashem…who has redeemed us and
redeemed our forefathers…”
The sequence of this berachah seems
BACKWARDS.
Quite obviously, Hashem redeemed our
ancestors before He redeemed us. They
lived many centuries ago; we live now.
Why do we mention OUR redemption
before the redemption of our ancestors?
To answer this question, let us briefly
examine a well-known halachah mentioned
in the Gemara.
The Gemara teaches that when a person
enjoys good fortune, he recites a special
berachah to thank Hashem for the great
blessing he just received, the berachah
Hatov Vehametiv, praising G-d “who is
good and performs goodness.” But if,
Heaven forbid, one suffers a loss, then he
recites the berachah of Dayan Haemes,
humbly acknowledging that Hashem is “the
true Judge.”
The Gemara then adds that in the future,
after the redemption, over all events we
will recite the joyous berachah of Hatov
Vehametiv. At that time, we will recognize
how EVERYTHING is good, even that
which appears as misfortune. We will have
perfect faith and perfect clarity, to the point
where we will recognize everything as
good, and so we will praise for Hashem for
everything.
We might ask, though, if we believe already
now that everything Hashem does is good,
then why don’t we recite Hatov Vehmetiv,
even now over events which seem
unfortunate?
The answer is that Hashem wants us to be
honest. And in our imperfect world, with
our imperfect emunah, we cannot honestly
say that we experience everything as good.
We just can’t. This is not possible. We live
with faith, but still, we cannot truly believe
with all our heart that everything that
happens is good. And so now, in our
world, we recite, Dayan Haemes instead
of Hatov Vehametiv.
There are, however, certain times in a
person’s life when he is able to experience
a higher level of faith and clarity. We’ve
all had occasions when a situation
seemed hopeless, but then it turned
around. We’ve all had times when we
saw and felt Hashem’s hand guiding us
and helping us. We’ve all had moments
of inspiration when it became clear to us
that Hashem is taking care of us.
The night of Pesach is to be such an
experience. The purpose of the seder is to
make an impact, to give us inspiration.
Each day, we are required to remember the
event of Yetziat Mitzrayim, but on the night
of Pesach, we are supposed to spend time
discussing and reflecting on its significance,
to build our faith in Hashem, our awareness
of the fact that He controls the world and
can bring us out of any predicament and
any difficult situation.
And so by the time we reach the end of
maggid, we can truly say “who has
redeemed us and redeemed our
forefathers…”We can thank Hashem for
the times He helped us just as we thank
Him for the times He helped our ancestors.
We have been moved and inspired, and so
we truly feel “who has redeemed us” that
WE – and not just our ancestors – have
been redeemed, that Hashem is always with
us and always helping us.
May we all gain the inspiration we need
this Pesach, and may we all soon experience
miraculous redemption just as our ancestors
were miraculously redeemed from Egypt,
amen.