G-d foretold to Avraham that his descendants would be enslaved for many years, and then He promised that He would redeem them. One might ask, why did G-d place us in Egypt in the first place?
Perhaps G-d wanted to prove through the miraculous plagues and the exodus that He exists and is in control over everything. However, one could still ask, couldn’t our belief in G-d have been based on Avraham’s wisdom and intellectual conclusion that G-d exists without having to go through this challenging experience?
Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Chaver o.b.m. explains that had the Jewish people coasted along based on their intellectual knowledge without going through the Egyptian experience, it wouldn’t have had such a lasting effect on the future generations of the nation.
G-d strategically placed our nation in Egypt so that through our experience of the Egyptian bondage and witnessing the miraculous redemption, His control and guidance over the world would be clarified and sharpened forever.
The story of the exile of the Jews in Egypt began when Yaacov headed down to Egypt with his entire family of 70 people to settle and join his son Yosef in Egypt. The Jews remained in Egypt for 210 years and were enslaved for over one hundred years.
The process of G-d taking us out of Egypt is so important that the Torah mentions it fifty times! We also mention it numerous times each day during our prayers.
Seder night has an additional element to it. The Torah tells us that on the anniversary of our exodus, we are to speak about the story of the events and miracles that G-d performed for our ancestors in Egypt.
It is thrilling for us when our grandchildren visit. I have noticed that with all the distractions of electronic games and hi tech gadgets, children sit in rapt attention when someone reads a story to them from a book. Children connect beautifully with the reader while they look at the images of the book.
This is not a phenomenon reserved for young children; it has the same effect on adults as well.
The Torah commands us to retell the story of Passover to our children on Pesach, because there is a high spiritual energy that is present at the Seder, and the father (or the leader) has the capacity to speak and get through to his children and the others present about the basics of our belief in G-d and His awesome powers that are always present in our lives.
Ask any salesman and he will tell you that he has to do research and know his product for it to be saleable. The same is true with our presentation and effectiveness of leading or participating at our Seder; some preparation makes all the difference in the world, it transforms the story into something real and makes it interesting, intriguing and maximizes its affect.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller o.b.m. points out a simple but astounding idea. If someone is trying to pawn off a non-truth, he will be vigilant not to give too many details, for the more he speaks, the more he is susceptible to get caught in his lie.
The Torah documents in stunning detail our ancestors’ situation in Egypt; how they came to Egypt, how long they were there, who ruled, who the leader of the Jews was, that there were 600,000 males between the ages of 20-60 who left Egypt, the warnings, exactness and awesomeness of the ten plagues, that the Jews slaughtered the pascal lamb, roasted it and ate it together with Matza and Morror the night before they left, that all Jews were miraculously freed and simultaneously propelled out of Egypt to a place called Succos in broad daylight, that the Egyptians chased after them and that the Red Sea split for them and drowned the Egyptians. All this elaboration points to the truth of the events.
The Torah commands us that we, an intelligent and prudent people, are to ask our parents for details about the Exodus period. A father is to answer his son with the information he received from his father and other sources, regarding this time in our history, which was 3330 years ago. This is most compelling and integral for each of us. We experience this each year during the course of the Holiday of Pesach, and it serves to inject in ourselves the proof of belief in G-d’s awesome Hand in all events of our lives, and enables us to carry it with us throughout the year!
