5783/2023
By Ethan Mauskopf (‘23)
Pesach has many representations that you can learn. First,
Rabbi Lord Jonathon Sacks BD”H, said that the beginning of
Pesach represents the start of גאולה from being enslaved for 400
years, to ultimately having our own land and freedom. But that
didn’t come quickly or easily- we’ve had the destruction of the
Beit HaMikdash, Pogroms, The Holocaust, and many more
persecutions that have made us lose hope in Mashi’ach. Why
then do we celebrate Pesach and remember the cruelty we
have been through? Don’t we want to remember the good times
we have had?
The Haggadah talks about this at the beginning of the
seder: ‘This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the
land of Egypt.’ This is a reminder of what we had lost- our
freedom, our land, and our culture. But then at the end of the
seder we say, ‘Now we are here but next year we will be in
Israel’. The past becomes the future. We use the bad memories
of Egypt and turn it into hope. Hope for redemption and to be
living in Eretz Yisrael. Yermiah and Yechezkel said, ‘the second
exodus is temporary, while Hashem's promise is forever’.
Also, the fifth cup, the cup of Eliyahu, is for physical
redemption. The cup represents the coming of Mashi’ach and
him taking us to Israel. Therefore, there is some debate on
wether or not we should drink the fifth cup or just leave it
alone, as we have a country. The Rambam says that we should
pour the wine and drink it, while Rashi says we shouldn’t pour
nor drink the wine. Since we now have our own country, we
respect both ways by pouring the wine into the cup, but not
drinking from it. We are supposed to have hope for גאולה during
the pesach seder by retelling the story of Pesach that kept hope
alive, and in turn, we can keep our hope alive.