Rabbi Yakov HaberHistory and the Jewish People

The main part of the Haggadah begins with the paragraph Avadim hayinu. There it is stated that had Hashem not taken us out of Egypt, we and all of our descendants would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. The commentaries note the obvious question. The pattern of history is one of constant changes on the world scene. Who is to say some subsequent Pharaoh would not have freed the Jews? Furthermore, Pharaoh and the Egyptian kingdom are long gone. How can the Haggadah claim that we still would be enslaved to Pharaoh? Many answers have been presented over the centuries of studying the Haggadah, some giving conceptual explanations, some allegorical ones.[1] The Netziv in his Haggadah commentary, Imrei Shefer, presents a far-reaching answer interpreting this statement of the Haggadah quite literally.

The Gemara (Yevamos 63a) records the statement of R. Elazar b. R. Avina: "ein pur'anus ba'a laolam ela bishvil Yisrael - all punishments come to the world because of Israel." At first glance, this means that all tragedies such as wars or natural disasters are meant to awaken Klal Yisrael to return to their Father in Heaven. Indeed the Gemara quotes as a proof text: "I have cut off nations, their edifices have been laid waste; I said (hoped) that you would fear me, and take chastisement!" (Tz'fania 3:8). The Netziv interprets this passage in a more extensive manner. Ever since Klal Yisrael received the Torah at Har Sinai, Divine Providence managing not only Jewish history but World history would revolve around the Jewish people. The rise and fall of nations, persecutions, emancipations, scientific discoveries and all aspects of World history and its advances and setbacks would forever be bound to the preservation of the Jewish people and bringing them to their ultimate Destiny based in turn on their behavior. In turn, Am Yisrael serves as the kohanim of the world bringing all the nations to their perfection as well. I have read that Rav Kook (a student of Netziv) expressed a similar idea describing wars as Hashem's way of making massive changes on the world scene in a relatively short period of time in order to advance Jewish history.[2] Had Hashem not redeemed the Jews from Egypt and brought them to receive the Torah at Har Sinai, this specialized Divine Providence guiding history would not operate. The world would stagnate and would not progress toward its ultimate Destiny for its main actors would be missing from its stage. The Egyptian empire would still exist, since the pattern of the rise and fall of nations would not be operative and the Jews quite literally would still be slaves there!

Mori v'Rabi Rav Hershel Schachter shlita presented a related idea. The first mishna in maseches Rosh HaShana relates that the reign of Jewish kings is reckoned from Rosh Chodesh Nissan. By contrast, the reign of non-Jewish kings is counted from Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, Rosh HaShana. Elaborating on the comments of Ran, Rav Schachter explained why this should be so. Nissan, the month of the Exodus, represents the miraculous, Providential intervention of HaKadosh Baruch Hu on the world scene. Tishrei, the month during which the world was created, represents the "natural order". The nations of the world follow the natural patterns of history. Jewish history follows a supernatural pattern. Consequently, the corresponding kingdoms count the years of their reign from the month that best represents the mode of their history. For the other nations of the word, this is Tishrei, the "natural month"; for the Jewish people, this is Nissan, the supernatural month. According to Netziv, although it seems that the history of the umos ha'olam is following a natural pattern, the reality is that it is linked to the supernatural history of the Jews.

The Netziv's words demonstrate to us the intensity of the love Hashem has for his nation. He not only tends to them lovingly throughout history but machinates the entire world for its benefit and ultimate mission. His words should also awaken within us a sense of awesome responsibility indicating the enormous effects our actions have not only on our immediate selves and communities but, indeed, on the entire world. Perhaps, Pesach can be described then, as the holiday celebrating not only the birth of the Jewish nation but as the holiday commemorating the beginning of Jewish and World history!


[1] Elsewhere (see Save Us for Your Sake), we explored a different answer from the one we present here.

[2] Specifically, I believe he noted that is was in the context of World War I that the Balfour Declaration, the first international breakthrough in the foundation of what was to become the State of Israel, was issued. The War also led to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain's seizing control of then Palestine. Ultimately, it was under the latter's rule that the Land was returned to the Jewish people. Others have added that it was in the aftermath of World War II and the awesome havoc it wreaked on the Jewish nation that the State of Israel was born serving as the framework for the massive rebuilding of the Land both physically and spiritually to the extent that currently almost six million Jews (kein yirbu!) have been enabled to return to their ancestral homeland and re-establish Torah observance including the mitzvos hat'luyos ba'aretz there.