Vaeira-Reflections on Free Choice-IV
Transcribed by Michael Beller: Meshech Chochma: “ there are 4 terms of redemption and I will take you out the sages extrapolated on the verse to take one nation out of another nation such as the fetus comes out of the woman to take out of the womb why is the term vehoztezi used to describe the exodus? Because they were steeped in idol worship and corrupt ideas.” Vehoztezi is to take you out of an environment in which you’re fully steeped in the corruption of that environment. “ And I will save you this is because the Egyptians were torturing them to finish them off. Such as we find in the verse “any boy who is born shall be thrown in the Nile”. vehitzalti is the term used when you are saving someone when someone else is chasing him to kill him. And I will redeem you from slavery to be free and no longer slaves. And I will take you to Me to be a nation this is for a nation well organized and placed dedicated to me. Four cups of wine represent these for terms of redemption; vehoztezi, viyitzalti, vigaalti, vilacochti.
How do find a connection between the four cups of wine and where they are in the seder to the four terms of redemption?
The first cup is the cup of Kiddush the Jews sanctify their time as the sages said this month shall be to you when will the Jews have this power to sanctify time, when they themselves are holy. And the portion of kiddoshim to you shall be holy is close to the commandments of adulteress relationships because every place you find were people put boundaries around sexual issues you find sanctity, and such people that are able to put up such boundaries are greater than the angels because of human beings and you will be holy and angels only have one level of sanctity. Therefore it was like in Egypt. In Egypt they put up very strict laws about with whom they could have relationships and those laws they kept while they were in Egypt. That was vehoztezi.
How was it that God was able to take them out from this environment in which they were steeped? Only because they kept these boundaries, meaning only because they had kiddusha. Because if they had relations with the Egyptians God would not have been able to separate one nation from the other.
Such as we find the problem that Ezra had when he led the construction of the second temple and when you’re able to maintain at least this aspect then you’re called kodesh. Therefore vehoztezi is done in the cup of Kiddush, Kiddush meaning that at least we kept our families kaddosh, with boundaries.
“vihitzalti” And I will save you, when God says I want to save you from people that want to kill you it means non Jews who want to kill you, but not when you want to kill each other. One of the reasons the Jews were redeemed from Egypt is because they would not speak lashon hara about each other.
This is parallel to the cup of wine we have during benching. Why do people speak lashon hara? It is the strongest statement of lack of faith in God, lack of faith that God controls the world, and a feeling that I don’t have enough and therefore I have to tear down someone else. When you bench its an expression of faith that all of us are fed by God and from feeling satisfied with life, meaning I have enough.
Why do we bench over such a small piece of bread? The pasuk says you’re only supposed to bench when you’re fully satisfied. Why do we bench over such a small piece? To tell God even this is enough, meaning I do not have any jealousy.
And I will redeem you. A servant is depressed and he’s used to being embarrassed. How does this happen? Because a person seizes to feel that he is a part of something. But the Jewish people they never changed their name; they always remembered the merit of their fathers. That’s why it says that Reuvan and Shimon kept their names.
And this keeps the second kos which we say in the first cup of wine the first part of hallel which is really focused on our relationship to earlier generations and early memories. That’s the third cup of wine.
The fourth term of geula is I will take you to me to be a nation. They didn’t change their language. They were hoping for redemption and future nationhood they learn this from yosef, because even though he was so great in Egypt, he was always waiting for the future and he is the one that said God will redeem you. That’s the second half of hallel, which is focused on the future nationhood. So now you have the general four cups. “
Why on wine? “It all symbolizes difference, there is nothing that reflects our commitment to remain separate from other nations than wine.” Even as Haman says to Achashveirosh, “if a fly would fall into the cup of wine of a Jew he would take out the fly and drink the wine, but if a non Jew were to touch the cup of wine would he drink it? No” so wine symbolizes difference, and that’s why these four are on the four cup of wine because each one represents one of the four things we did. We protected ourselves from sexual sins, we didn’t speak lashon hara, we didn’t change our names, and we didn’t change our language, meaning we kept our selves separate.
0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false Ha’amak Davar: “these are the four terms of geula and we know that the sages decreed against them the four cups of wine. We have to explain why four terms. Isn’t the question of the Mordechai, why did we do it on four cups of wine, why not four types of matzah, or four types of meat? The four leshonos of geula were done in such a way to lift the Jews step by step. They couldn’t leap frog from one status to another, because then it isn’t stable, they had to be lifted step by step. What other food other than wine can you consume that has an immediate effect on your mood? That’s why we use wine.”