Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:54 — 14.7MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Podchaser | Email | RSS
Seder night is the night in which the greatest light of God, the light of redemption, comes into the world. It is the night in which God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt. And this energy, this great light comes into the world again every year. How will we receive it? How will we relate to it? In this podcast we are going to look at this question in the light of the teachings given by the great Kabbalist of the 18th Century, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, known as the Ramchal.
In his work, Derech HaShem the Ramchal writes :
On each of the special days that we are commanded to keep as festivals, something happened whereby a great rectification was accomplished, and a great light shone. The highest wisdom decreed that on its anniversary, the counterpart of the original light should shine forth, and the results of its rectification renewed to those who accept it. We have therefore been commanded to observe the Passover with all its rituals to recall the coming out of the Children of Israel from Egypt. At the time of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt we experienced an extremely great rectification, and therefore, on the anniversary of this event there shines forth the light that parallels the one that illuminated us then.
Derech Hashem section 7
Indeed, the laws and commandments relating to Pesach, as we keep it today, were given to Moses and the Children of Israel while they were still in Egypt. And thus by keeping these mitzvot, we create the correct vessels for receiving the same light today, just as we did then.
One of the main mitzvot on Seder night is telling the story of the great miracle that God wrought for us. And this we do by reciting the Haggadah. This is a compilation of verses put together by the great Sages at the time of the second Temple and they refer both to the events of the Pesach of Egypt and to our own parallel experiences today. This is emphasized by the verse: “ In every generation a person needs to consider himself as if he or she is coming out of Egypt.”
The Haggadah begins with: “Ha lachma ania, This is the bread of affliction.” In this paragraph we say “ This year we are slaves, next year we will be free.” So we need to ask ourselves the question, how and in what way are we still slaves now? How are we are still in our inner Egypt now?
In this podcast we delve into the question as to what constitutes our inner Egypt, our inner exile, and we also ask how would we experience redemption? We see how the very same vessels within our personalities that constitute our exile , can on their transformation bring us to our redemption.
This podcast is dedicated in loving memory and for the ilui nishmat of Feigi Bat Rivka z”l and Aharon Kotler z”l and Sara Kotler z”l, May their memories be a blessing for us.
Yedidah Cohen is now teaching a new course on the Introduction to the Zohar, by Rabbi Ashlag. The group has already begun, but it is not too late to join. If you are interested, please contact Yedidah through www.nehorapress.com
{ 0 comments… add one now }