Chag Kosher ve Sameach from the Jewish Russian Telegraph! Happy Passover!
May this Holiday of freedom bring speedy redemption for the Jewish people and the whole world!
About Passover from Sichos in English (talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe):
The ultimate goal of the exodus from Egypt, when Jews became a nation, was the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The three names given to the festival which celebrates the exodus - Chag HaMatzos, Z'man Cheiruseinu and Chag HaPesach -
correspond to the three stages necessary to achieve the birth of a Torah nation.
Pesach celebrates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt after many years of enslavement. Its importance has earned it the title "head of festivals."[1] Three names are given to this festival:
- In the Torah[2] it is called Chag HaMatzos, the Festival of Matzos.
- In the festival liturgy it is also called Z'man Cheiruseinu, the Season of our Freedom.
- Our Sages termed it Chag HaPesach, the Festival of Pesach.
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Central Theme Of Pesach
These three names are interrelated, for this festival has a central theme, comprised of three concepts expressed in its three names. Because Torah is precise,[6] these three names and their associated concepts follow their order of importance: First, Chag HaMatzos, which is the festival's Torah name; then Z'man Cheiruseinu, which is the name given by the Men of the Great Assembly[7] to be recited in prayer; last is Chag HaPesach, the name used by our Sages.
The central theme of this festival is that the exodus from Egypt marks the birth[8] of the Jewish nation. But it was not simply the emergence of the Jews as a nation; other peoples also become nations at one point or another. The singular distinction of the Jewish birth was that then Jewry assumed a new identity.[9] They became a Torah nation.
The Jews were not taken out of Egypt simply to free them from slavery, but primarily to receive the Torah, thereby enabling them to fulfill their raison d'?tre of introducing G-dliness into a spiritually barren world. Thus an integral part of the exodus, indeed, its ultimate goal, was the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, as stated:[10] "When you have brought out the people from Egypt, you shall serve G-d on this mountain."
A Torah nation means that the very fibre and being of Jews - as individuals[11] and as a nation - is Torah;[12] everything else is peripheral. Torah and Jew are indivisible and one without the other is unthinkable.[link]
Torah Nation
These three stages are represented by the three names of this festival: Chag HaMatzos, Z'man Cheiruseinu, and Chag HaPesach.
Matzah is "bread of poverty,"[28] and poor people are humble and free of arrogance. In contrast to chometz (leaven) which makes the dough rise, matzah is flat, symbolizing selflessness and humility.[29] Chag HaMatzos therefore corresponds to the first stage in the birth of the Torah-nation, the acceptance of Torah with total submission.
Z'man Cheiruseinu, the Season of our Freedom, represents the way this submission and service to G-d is assimilated into the very fibre of a Jew - that a Jew is truly free only when occupied in Torah.
Pesach means "leaping over".[30] The slavery of Jews in Egypt should have really extended for a longer period of time, both because their exile had a definite time span which had not yet elapsed, and because the Jews did not merit to be redeemed then.[31] Yet G-d "leaped over" these considerations and took them out earlier.[32] The Jews, in turn, celebrated the first Pesach also by "leaping over"[33] - they transcended their innate limitations and reached levels previously inaccessible. Thus the name Chag HaPesach corresponds to the third stage of the "birth": service in Torah and mitzvos transcending the temporal-spatial limits of the world.
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posted by: jrtelegraph
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