Q:
Why does it say that בניסן נגאלו ובניסן עתידים להיגאל – that in Nissan we were redeemed from Egypt and that in Nissan are going to be redeemed again?
A:
About Hakodosh Boruch Hu it says: זכר עשה לנפלאותיו – He makes a memorial for His wonderful deeds; He wants us to remember the wonderful deeds He did for us. And therefore just like He tells us that every 15th of Nissan we should celebrate Pesach because that’s when it happened, so too He will make another great Pesach, a great geulah, when He will take us out finally from golus and redeem us.
And according to this ma’amar, when it happens, it will happen in Nissan. Why? Because it will be a new form of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Of course, coming out of Mitzrayim is one of the biggest things in our history, but in the future, when Moshiach comes and Hakodosh Boruch Hu takes us out of this golus, it will be another geulah and it will be even greater than the geulah of Yetzias Mitzrayim. The posuk says that in those days they will no longer say, חי השם אשר הוציא את עמו מארץ מצרים. They won’t praise Hashem anymore about Yetzias Mitzrayim. They will remember the old Yetzias Mitzrayim of Nissan and they will compare it to the new Yetzias Mitzrayim of Nissan and they will say חי השם who took us out of all the lands together. So it will be a new kind of Yetzias Mitzrayim, a going out from the goyim altogether, forever.
And this geulah will be the greatest happiness because living among the goyim is a tremendous misfortune for us. We don’t understand how much we are losing by being among the gentiles. Even in Eretz Yisroel you’re living among Jewish goyim. And therefore today, the golus is weighing on our minds and on our neshomos; we’re imprisoned by gentile attitudes. Of course, we learn Torah and that helps; you’re a ben chorin if you learn Torah because it frees your mind from all the wickedness and foolishness of the goyim. But no matter, all around us the avira, the atmosphere, is saturated with shtus and with lies and it has an effect.
Christianity, Islam, evolution, liberalism – it’s all foolishness; there’s nothing to it. You see how wicked and how silly their ways are, and how they are ruining themselves because of all of these lies. They are ruining their lives, these wicked people. And the problem is that we live among them and we are being spoiled by them too.
Being among the goyim is a tremendous loss for us; that’s what the golus means – suffering from the goyim. But not only suffering physically – even if the goyim will be good to us and will tolerate us, that’s even worse. When the goyim persecuted us that was the wall between them and us. But when the goyim gave us liberty and tolerance, that is the worst gezeirah; worse than the gezeirah of Hitler. Millions went lost because of the toleration and equality.
In the good old days when the Jews were in ghettos we couldn’t mix. When a Jew went out into the street, they spat on him and they threw him into the gutter. And the result was that the Jew had no desire to mix with the goyim. And therefore the golus today is worse than it was once upon a time. We’re more in a golus today than ever before.
And once upon a time we only had golus among goyim; today we are in golus among yidden too. In Eretz Yisroel, we are in golus among the resha’im. In America too – we’re in golus not only among the gentiles, we’re in golus among the Reformers and the amei ha’aretz. It’s a golus.
Of course, we do our best to fight back against wrong influences, but we’re waiting to go free again in Nissan: והקב”ה יקבצנו מן הגוים והצילנו מן הגויים – “Hashem, please save us from the goyim, להודות לשם קדשך – so that we can praise Your holy name, ולהשתבח בתהילתיך – and we will make ourselves better by praising You.“ By praising You, Hashem, we become better. So please save us from the goyim so that we should be able to do that – give us the opportunity to praise You again in Nissan for Your miracles of the geulah.
And therefore we have to say: הושיענו אלקי ישענו – ”Come help us Hashem, וקבצנו והצילנו מן הגוים – and rescue us from the nations, להודות לשם קדשך – so that we should be able thank You even more.” We ask Hashem: “You take us out of golus again in Nissan like You once did and we will show our gratitude to You.” How will we show our gratitude? By becoming better, improving ourselves. להשתבח means we will make ourselves better; we will improve ourselves, בתהילתך – by our praise of You. And how will we praise You and show our gratitude to You? By emulating You and walking in Your ways forever.
TAPE # E-103
