‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Pesach
“ברוך המקום ברוך הוא – Blessed is ‘the Place’, blessed is He.”
The Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 1:9) explains that Hashem is referred to as ‘the Place’ for “He is the Place of the world, but the world is not His place.”
Rabbi Avrohom Pam zt’l related that Rabbi Shmuel Feivelson, Rosh Yeshiva Nachalas Naftali in Tzefas, once recounted to him a conversation he had with a Russian immigrant from the former USSR while traveling on a bus in B’nei B’rak. The Russian fellow told him the following: “Lenin taught all of Russia that the Jews are not a people. He defined a people as a group who possess a language, culture, and homeland. Since the Jews have no homeland that is proof that they are not a people. However, he was wrong, for in truth every Jew throughout the world has a designated place. No matter where in the Diaspora a Jew is, the omnipresent Hashem is his place! A home is a place where one feels secure and comfortable. A Jew can feel that sense of comfort and security if he has proper faith, for wherever he goes he is still in the Hands of Hashem!”
Rabbi Feivelson noted that this is an added meaning of the verse where G-d says to Klal Yisroel (Shemos 19:5), “Now if you will hearken to My Voice, and safeguard My covenant, and you will be for Me for a treasure from all the other nations, for all the land is Mine.” Hashem was saying ‘The whole world belongs to Me and therefore if you will keep the Torah, then no matter where you will be you will remain a treasured people, for I will be your place’.
We can add that this is why in the paragraph “על אחת כמה וכמה” (after dayeinu) when we express how much gratitude we owe Hashem we also refer to Him as Hamakom. Through the unfolding of Yetzias Mitzrayim we came to the understanding that Hashem loves us and no matter where we are in the world we can feel at home ‘in the lap of Hashem’. Each miracle that Hashem subsequently performed only increased that understanding. Therefore, when we recount all the miracles He performed for us, we express how limitless is our obligation towards המקום- the Omnipresent, who is always with us.
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“נשמת כל חי תברך את שמך ה’ אלוקינו – The souls of every living thing will bless Your Name”
Rav Shimshon Pincus zt’l noted that the greatest chesed of Hashem is that He grants us the ability to praise and extol His Name.
The pasuk (Tehillim 63:4) states, כי טוב חסדך מחיים שפתי ישבחנוך” – For your kindness is greater than life, my lips will praise you. The Malbim explains this verse with a mashal about a man who is extremely ill and is admitted to the hospital for emergency care. There is one particular doctor who takes responsibility for him, performing numerous procedures and surgeries until his health is restored. The doctor is also a very kind-hearted man and the patient develops a deep friendship with the doctor. If someone approached the man after he was discharged from the hospital and asked him what happened while he was in the hospital, the man would reply that the doctor saved his life. He might also add that afterwards he became very close friends with the doctor. If one would ask him what was more precious to him – the new friendship or the fact that the doctor saved his life, the man would surely reply that, although he is really excited about the new friendship, his life is far more precious. After all, what good is having a new friend if you’re dead?!
The Malbim explains that Dovid HaMelech was saying that the closeness he felt to Hashem was even more precious to him than the kindness Hashem bestowed upon him. “For your kindness is greater than life itself”. Which kindness? The mere fact that, “My lips will praise you”. That he was able to daven to Hashem was more valuable than anything else, even life itself. Life is finite and transitory but a relationship with Hashem is eternal and Divine.
On the night of the Seder, the night when “All who increase in recounting Yetzias Mitzrayim is praiseworthy” our souls burst forth with gratitude that we are able to express our inner feelings of joy and to praise His Name. That gift is even more precious than life itself, for it gives our lives meaning and purpose.
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Sources: Rav Pam – Haggadas Marei Kohain; Rav Pincus – Haggadah Tiferes Shimshon