2021/5781
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
As we all know, we always celebrate Pesach during the spring, as it says: “Shamor Et Chodesh Ha’Aviv Ve’Asita Pesach LaShem Elokecha Ki BeChodesh Ha’Aviv Hotzi’acha Hashem Elokecha MiMitzrayim Layla,”“Observe the month of Spring and offer a Passover sacrifice to Hashem your God, for it was in the month of Spring, at night, that Hashem your God freed you from Egypt”(Devarim 16:1). We even call Pesach the Chag Ha’Aviv and add an extra month to the year to observe Pesach during the spring. The question is why do we put such an emphasis on Pesach happening during the Spring? Sure, that was the time when Yetzi’at Mitzrayim took place, but is there a deeper meaning to why Hashem took Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt during the Spring?
To answer this question, we must look at the culture of the Egyptians. The Egyptians had a dependence on nature. Their culture was based on the forces of nature and natural phenomena, and humans who were able to control this nature. For example, there is very little rain in Egypt, but the Egyptians created an irrigation system that turned Egypt into an oasis surrounded by desert. This circumstance led to the Egyptians’ idol worship, which was characterized by two features: worshiping the forces of nature and worshiping people who used natural forces for themselves. They also worshiped Pharoah, who symbolized the Egyptian ideal of the god-man. The Egyptians viewed the world as a collection of natural forces (of which the human element was one), they also had the mindset of “Kochi Ve’Otzem Yadi Asah Li Et HaChayil HaZeh,” (Devarim 8:17) that all of their wealth came from their own success. The Egyptians’ view led to their extreme paganism, justification of enslavement of foreigners, and cruelties towards the weak in society.
The Egyptians’ cultic activities rose to a high during the spring. Spring is the time of the reawakening of nature. When Hashem told Bnei Yisrael that he would take them out of Egypt, he said that they must “[w]ithdraw and take for yourselves a lamb for your families and offer the Pesach (sacrifice)” (Shemot 12:21). They had to “withdraw” from the idolatry of Egypt and offer an Egyptian idol, the lamb, as a sacrifice to Hashem. Bnei Yisrael had to show their Emunah openly and without fear. Moshe promised that when Bnei Yisrael would give the Korban, Pharaoh would urge Bnei Yisrael to leave Egypt during the Spring, at the height of the powers of nature. Bnei Yisrael accepted that there wasn’t an assortment of forces of nature, rather there is the one Hashem who rules over the world.
Pesach teaches us to “withdraw” from the idolatries of the land, in whatever form they are disguised. We should do this without fear, even during the time of “spring” when prosperity, technology, and the deification of human achievement are at their height. Unlike the Egyptians, we must remember that prosperity and human achievement come from Hashem.