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APRIL 3, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Think, Feel, Grow
Passover Passing Over Time By Shmuel Reichman
Y
ou can learn a lot about a person based on how they use their time. When we get home from school or work, how do we view our free time? Do we ask ourselves how we can waste the night away, how to most easily and enjoyably make it to tomorrow morning? Or do we take full advantage of every moment, aiming to gain as much as possible from each and every day? When the alarm goes off in the morning, do we jump out of bed like a lion, ready to conquer the day, or do we hit snooze again, again, and again? As human beings, we find ourselves stuck within time. How do we use our time? While events and decisions occur within time, there is an aspect of reality that transcends time. The Vilna Gaon explains, fascinatingly, that while events occur within time, ideas transcend this construct. Ideas don’t “happen”; they simply are. They exist beyond the process of time. When thinking about and relating to ideas, we step outside the present moment and connect to something outside the movement of the clock, beyond the passing of time. With this in mind, let us explore a fascinating idea related to time and its essential connection to Pesach.
Timely Exodus Time is a predominant theme of Pesach but expresses itself in a unique and somewhat puzzling manner. On Pesach, we are commanded to eat matzah (unleavened bread) and are absolutely forbidden to eat chametz
(leavened bread). This is an incredibly strict prohibition, as the punishment for eating chametz is kares (spiritual excision). This seems extreme, as the difference between matzah and chametz can come down to a matter of seconds. This means that a single second can determine a person’s spiritual reality, dictating whether one performed a mitzvah or violated the most severe of prohibitions. Why is time so central to Pesach, and how can a second of time have such significant implications? Let us trace this theme of time through the story of yetzias Mitzrayim, the exodus from Egypt. The Torah commands us to eat matzah on Pesach because the Jewish people left Mitzrayim bi’chipazon, in great haste (Devarim 16:3). The Jewish people were forced to eat matzah because they did not have enough time to make bread. Although this is the most well-known reference to time in the Pesach story, there is another. The Arizal (famous 16th century kabbalist) makes an intriguing statement about time and its significance in the Pesach story. He states that had the Jewish People remained in Egypt for even one more second at the point of the Exodus, they would have reached the fiftieth level of tumah, a point of no return. Chazal explain that the Jewish people in Mitzrayim were on the forty-ninth level of tumah, the very lowest level of spiritual impurity. Had we sunk even one level lower, we would have been lost completely, beyond the point of rescue. The Arizal emphasizes that it was necessary for us to leave with such
speed in order to save us from falling to this lowest level. The speed with which we left Egypt was of fundamental importance. The Arizal says that had the Exodus been delayed for even one more second, we would have been completely lost within the depths of impurity. However, the moment of the exodus seems to be the farthest thing from a spiritually dangerous moment. In fact, it appears to be the moment at which Klal Yisrael was at an ultimate spiritual high, far from spiritual harm. The Jewish People had just witnessed Hashem unleash His wrath on the Egyptians through the performance of the Ten Plagues, a systematic process of openly revealing Hashem to the world. On the night of the Exodus, Hashem performed makkas bechoros (the Plague of the Firstborn), devastating Egypt and causing even Pharaoh to react in alarm. Makkas bechoros was unique in that Hashem Himself performed this makkah (see Rashi). The Ramban explains that all the principles of hashgacha pratis (Divine providence) were displayed through these events. We were clearly then on an immensely high spiritual level. On this same night, the Jewish People brought the Korban Pesach and painted their doorposts with blood, instilling within their hearts the knowledge that Hashem watches over and protects us. This night contained some of the loftiest moments imaginable – one would expect the Jewish People to be on an equally lofty level. This was the very birth and creation of Klal Yis-
rael, the root of their journey to Har Sinai to accept the Torah. How, then, could one more moment in this intensely holy atmosphere possibly have caused the destruction of the Jewish People? If the Arizal’s statement was not already difficult enough, he takes it one step further. The Arizal says that not only would going out one second later have placed us beyond hope, but even if we had gone out just the slightest bit slower it would have been too late. Not only did we have to leave right away, but the pace itself had to be quick. Not only when we left, but how we left was important. What is the meaning of all this?
Perspectives on the Physical These questions come down to the concept of time. In order to understand time, we must take a step back and look at the nature of physicality in general. Time is a dimension of physicality and, in some ways, is even emblematic of the physical. Therefore, our approach to physicality will illuminate our understanding of time. Most spiritual schools of thought view the physical world as lowly and dangerous; it should therefore be avoided to whatever extent possible. In order to live a spiritual life, one must simply escape the physical. Spiritual systems such as Buddhism prescribe meditation, abstinence, and transcendence of any hint of physical desire. In such a system, the ideal is to sit isolated on a mountaintop and meditate on your navel.