5783/2023

By Ethan Mauskopf (‘23)

Pesach has many representations that you can learn. First,

Rabbi Lord Jonathon Sacks BD”H, said that the beginning of

Pesach represents the start of גאולה from being enslaved for 400

years, to ultimately having our own land and freedom. But that

didn’t come quickly or easily- we’ve had the destruction of the

Beit HaMikdash, Pogroms, The Holocaust, and many more

persecutions that have made us lose hope in Mashi’ach. Why

then do we celebrate Pesach and remember the cruelty we

have been through? Don’t we want to remember the good times

we have had?

The Haggadah talks about this at the beginning of the

seder: ‘This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the

land of Egypt.’ This is a reminder of what we had lost- our

freedom, our land, and our culture. But then at the end of the

seder we say, ‘Now we are here but next year we will be in

Israel’. The past becomes the future. We use the bad memories

of Egypt and turn it into hope. Hope for redemption and to be

living in Eretz Yisrael. Yermiah and Yechezkel said, ‘the second

exodus is temporary, while Hashem's promise is forever’.

Also, the fifth cup, the cup of Eliyahu, is for physical

redemption. The cup represents the coming of Mashi’ach and

him taking us to Israel. Therefore, there is some debate on

wether or not we should drink the fifth cup or just leave it

alone, as we have a country. The Rambam says that we should

pour the wine and drink it, while Rashi says we shouldn’t pour

nor drink the wine. Since we now have our own country, we

respect both ways by pouring the wine into the cup, but not

drinking from it. We are supposed to have hope for גאולה during

the pesach seder by retelling the story of Pesach that kept hope

alive, and in turn, we can keep our hope alive.