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THOUGHTS ON SHABBAT HAGADOL & PESACH BY RABBI WILKINSON

This week is Shabbat HaGadol and then, after all the preparation, it is Pesach: the festival of our Freedom, yet is seems like only yesterday that it was Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah the 7th October 2023, the day that changed so much. The traumatic day when so many Jews were taken hostage and others brutally killed or injured. How do we move on from that Shemini Atzeret to this Pesach?

There is a Midrash that says when the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, Moshe’s parents separated from one another rather than have the possibility of a son being drowned in the river Nile. Miriam urged them to get back together as she intimated that they were worse than Pharoah.  Pharoah only wanted to drown the boys but by separating her parents were precluding the possibility of a girl being conceived. Miriam’s message was crucial. How ever bad things look you mustn’t give up, you mustn’t despair. They got back together, and Moshe was conceived.

There may be other answers in the Haggadah itself.

It happened once [on Passover] that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were reclining in Bnei Brak and were telling the story of the exodus from Egypt that whole night, until their students came and announced, “The time for [reciting] the morning Shema has arrived.”

A story we have all read but what is its purpose? Is it just to tell us that even the most learned must talk about the exodus? Is it to tell us to speak at length? Why doesn’t it just say that it is dawn and time to end the seder? Maybe there is a different contemporary message.

Rabbi Akiva lived at a time of persecution and destruction but he displayed faith, Emunah, and optimism. According to the Gemara in Sanhedrin this particular seder was in his home. Why there? The others were his seniors: Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya was the religious head of the community, Rabbi Yehoshua was his deputy; Rabbi Tarfon was Rabbi Akiva’s first teacher and Rabbi Eliezer was an elder statesman. Furthermore, according to the Gemara in Sukkah Rabbi Eliezer said that everyone should spend the chagim at home with their own family. Why go to Rabbi Akiva for seder?

Rabbi Yehiel Epstein, the Aruch HaShulchan, explains that it was because Rabbi Akiva was the optimist, the one with Emunah, the one with hope. One example of this is in Makkot which describes Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva, reacting to evidence of the Temple’s destruction. The first three Rabbis cry and tear their clothes in mourning, but Rabbi Akiva smiles. When asked why Rabbi Akiva explains that if we have lived to witness the prophecies of destruction, surely the prophecies of redemption will come true. The Rabbis exclaimed, “Akiva you have consoled us.”

Rabbi Akiva was able to smile in the face of adversity for he lived according to the belief that “whatever the All-merciful does is for the good”. He maintained this faith to his dying day when, as the Romans flayed the skin off his face, he used his last breath to say Shema.

Again, we have a reference to the Shema. Why? What is the significance of the Shema? Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsh explains that the Shema (“Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Ehad”) is too long to simply declare that Hashem is One. We could just say “Hashem Ehad, Hashem is One.” If we wanted to say that Hashem acting in mercy (signified by the name Hashem) and Hahsem acting in judgment (signified by the name Elokeinu) which are both aspects of the same One G-d, we could have just said “Hashem Elokeinu Ehad; Hashem, our G-d, is One.”  By saying the entire phrase as we do we declare our faith that, whether we see Hashem acting in mercy or acting in judgment, we accept it is all coming from Hashem’s mercy.

The message from Rabbi Akiva, therefore, is that even when we are in the deepest darkness, it is still correct to express our faith that Hashem’s Judgment is an expression of mercy.

This is not easy to do, so we cover our eyes while saying its words, indicating that while we may not see how this is in our world, we accept it nonetheless. It is this statement of faith that concludes that Seder in Rabbi Akiva’s home. We may be experiencing dark days  but we have to be firm in our conviction that everything comes from Hashem’s mercy and “whatever Hashem does is for the good.” Just as certainly as dawn follows night, our redemption will follow dark and difficult times.

The events of Shemini Atzeret were not comparable to the destruction of the Temple but we still feel despair. That despair is heightened because we thought that our return to the land of Israel would provide protection, an assurance that previous persecutions and murders would never happen again. For this reason, we must focus on Rabbi Akiva’s optimism. We must realize that even when Hashem relates to us in Judgment, He is acting mercifully, Everything Hashem “does is for the good.”

We may have thought that the establishment of the State of Israel may have heralded the redemption. We may have thought that the Six Day War heralded the redemption. We have to learn, however, that we need patience. As Rabbi Yehuda Amital ztl taught, the complete materialization of the redemption takes time. The Gemara explains that redemption comes, “little by little, like the dawning of the day”. Through the long night we must remain faithful. The time for the morning Shema has arrived.

IY”H in this month of miracles and at the time of our festival of freedom we will see true peace and a safe return of the hostages from their captivity.

Ruth and I wish you and your families Shabbat shalom and a chag kasher v’sameach.