Emunah at the Seder

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

On the night of the Seder we are commanded to relate the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim and thereby imbue into our families the emunah that Hashem runs the world. The Haggadah tells us we have to relate the story even if everyone at the table are חכמים . Which means, even if everyone has a wellspring of emunah that they have already learned from their parents and rabbis, they still need to hear the story. And even if everyone at the Seder are נבונים , which means they are able to see Hashem just by analyzing the world and creation and how everything works. And some texts say אפילו כולנו זקנים , even if everyone at the Seder is an elderly person who has lived a full life and has seen with his own eyes countless episodes that clearly show that Hashem is running the world. As I'm writing this lesson, a man just came over to me and said, his relative was told by a doctor that he is about to lose his eyesight in one eye, lo alenu . The man was broken and asked if there was perhaps someone who could give him chizuk . His relative made him an appointment with a big rabbi who's a dayan and a posek who he felt would give him the proper chizuk . At the meeting, the rabbi revealed to this man something he never told anyone in his community about, that he himself has only one eye that works. He proceeded to tell him how much he's able to accomplish with one eye and how everything about his life is completely normal. The man got so much chizuk from that meeting. The relative told me he had no idea that this rabbi only had one eye. What were the odds that the one person he sent his relative to for chizuk would have the same issue as him? Only Hashem can orchestrate such a meeting. The Haggadah continues and says, אפילו כולנו יודעים את התורה . Even if everyone at the Seder knows Hashem through delving into His Torah. The greatest proof of Hashem's existence is the wisdom inside of the book that He gave us. Even if someone has emunah in Hashem from all of these different sources, he still has a mitzvah on the night of the Seder to relate the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim . Once a year, we are commanded with a מצוות עשה מן התורה to gain emunah in Hashem specifically through relating the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim . That is the mitzvah of the night. A person may know with such a clarity אין עוד מלבדו - there's nothing in this world with any power besides Hashem. Yet on this night, he must strengthen his emunah by speaking about the wonders and miracles that Hashem performed in taking us out of Mitzrayim . And the better a person does this mitzvah, the more praiseworthy he becomes. The story he tells this year about Yetziat Mitzrayim will not be the same as last year. The Chatam Sofer writes, when a person yearns to do a mitzvah properly, he merits a special heavenly assistance in doing it. The greatest rabbis who ever lived, who seemingly knew the entire Torah backwards and forwards, came up with the new chiddushim every year in their sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim . The Torah is endless. The Chafetz Chaim said that after thousands of years of the greatest Torah scholars learning day and night, we haven't even scratched the surface of the Torah yet. It was known that every year the Chatam Sofer would have an entirely new approach of analyzing Yetziat Mitzrayim . Obviously, this requires preparation. To do this mitzvah properly, a person has to open books and listen to classes and be ready to teach his family about Hashem taking us out of Mitzrayim . All we have to do is make the effort and then Hashem will take over. The Panim Yafot in Parashat Bo writes, there's a great light that Hashem reveals on this night and each person, according to his level of preparation and purity, will receive benefit from this light. It's the same light that Hashem revealed on the night of Yetziat Mitzrayim, that is infinite, that can connect a person to Hashem in the deepest way. On this night, there may be a large variety of people at a person's Seder or there may be a large age gap between people anywhere from 20 to 30 to 40 years. The pasuk tells us to tell the story באזני בנך ובן בנך - in our children and grandchildren's ears. The Kol Yehudah writes, it doesn't say ears twice, to teach us that with the help of Hashem that He gives that night, we will be able to give the exact same message to everyone at the table and they'll all be able to gain in their own way from it. There's a special segula on the night of the Seder to give emunah to anyone who participates and may Hashem give us the siyata d’Shamayah to do it the best way possible.