One of the central mitzvot of Seder night is to recount the story of the Exodus to our children, as the Torah commands: “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, It is because of this which the L-rd did for me when I went out of Egypt” (Shemot, 13:8). To help us carry out the all-important mitzvah of passing on our heritage to our children, our Sages composed the Haggadah, which we joyously recite on Pesach night. We are commanded not only to relate to our children the wondrous events that G-d brought to pass in liberating us from bondage and making us His chosen Nation, but also to incorporate the lessons of the story into our lives today.
What are the lessons of the story that we are to pass on to our children? Certainly, one of the messages is our faith that no matter how many troubles beset the Children of Israel, G-d is constantly directing the show and a happy end is promised. Another lesson is that Israel’s role is to teach the world that Hashem, and He alone, is the King of the world, master of all nations and the grand conductor of history. And we are also to teach our children that we can only carry out this Divine Mission in Eretz Yisrael, as the Torah says: “And He brought us out from there that He might bring us in to give us the Land which He swore to our forefathers” (Devarim, 6:23).
We are to teach our children that the purpose of the Exodus was to bring us into the Land of Israel, the only place in the world where we can be a free independent Nation, as it says at the very beginning of the Haggadah: “This year we are here (in the exile of Brooklyn, Toronto, and Paris) – next year in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves (in Florida, California, and Lakewood) – next year free men (in Eretz Yisrael.)”
On Pesach night, we are to teach our children that our real place is in the Land of Israel, not in the Diaspora, no matter how comfortable it may be, just as Hashem tells Moshe the very first time He appears to him at the Burning Bush: “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of Egypt, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large Land, to a Land flowing with milk and honey…” (Shemot, 3:8).
Believing that we have found a haven in foreign countries is as big an illusion as the disasters we invariably suffer there, as Rabbi Yaacov Emden points out in the Introduction to his siddur, Beit Yaacov:
“When it seems to us in our present peaceful existence outside the Land of Israel, that we have found another Eretz Yisrael and Jerusalem, this to me is the greatest, deepest, most obvious, and most direct cause of all of the awesome, frightening, monstrous, unimaginable destructions that we have experienced in the Diaspora.”
It is our duty as Jewish parents to explain to our children that we don’t belong in foreign lands. On Pesach night, it behooves the father of the family to explain:
“Children, because of the tragedy of the exile, I am here in Brooklyn, Toronto, Paris, Melbourne, or Mexico City. For 2000 years, the Jewish People longed to return to our Homeland, to the Land of Israel, but we lacked the means. Then, when G-d in His great kindness established the State of Israel, and all Jews could finally return, my parents, your grandfather and grandmother, found it too difficult to pick up all of their belongings and immigrate to Israel, and they raised me as if I were an American, or Canadian, or Frenchmen, and that’s how I grew up. And that’s why, when I became of age, I believed that America or Canada or France was my home, and the thought of moving to Israel seemed so impractical, since I would have to learn Hebrew, and serve in the Israeli army, and start all over again in a new profession, and leave my parents behind, and now I’m stuck here in this foreign land, with a mortgage to pay, and your college tuition, and your grandparents are getting older, so how can I leave them? But I want you to know on this Seder night that the words and teachings of the Haggadah are true – America is not our real place. France is not our home. America is exile. America is Egypt. France is for the French, and Berlin is for the Germans. G-d wants us to be in the Land of Israel. Only there can we be a free independent Jewish Nation. Only there can we truly be ourselves. Only there can we really keep the Torah. So you, my beloved children, while you are still young with all of your lives ahead of you, before you become weighed down by commitments and obligations and bills to pay; before you become addiction to a life of materialism, and before the rioting mobs begin attacking Jewish neighborhoods, I want you to know that your real place is in the Land of Israel. Your mother and I want to encourage you to build your lives there. We want to help you realize the dream of 2000 years, so that the hope of “Next year in Jerusalem” will become a reality. Don’t worry about us. What will be will be. Today, through G-d’s goodness, all Jews can return to our Homeland, and if, because of whatever circumstances and reasons, your mother and I haven’t been able to merit the supreme blessing of carrying out the teachings of Seder night by leaving this foreign land to start a new, true Jewish life in Israel, we want you to live out the mission for us. Do it while there is still a chance, while airplanes are still flying to Israel. This year, make “Next year in Jerusalem” a reality. Go. There are excellent universities and graduate schools in Israel. The Israelis excel in all professions and fields. And Israel’s economy is strong, blessed by Hashem. Go. That’s where you belong. Go to Israel. Your grandfather and grandmother will be proud of you, along with your great grandparents, and all the generations of our family who didn’t have the golden opportunity that is awaiting you. Build your lives in the Jewish Land and give your talents to the rebuilding of our Nation, as we have dreamed and prayed for 2000 years.”
This is what every parent should teach his children this year at the Seder. This is what every Rabbi should teach his congregation. This is what every head of every Jewish organization should make his number one priority, to let the Jews of America, Canada, and France, all know that the time has come to abandon the exile, no matter how attractive it might seem, and go up to the Land of Israel. And if the adults and elders of the community are too ensconced to make a new beginning, they must rise up in valor and truth, and tell their children to go in their stead, to break free from the chains of exile and alien lands to become builders of the Jewish Nation in Israel, just as G-d commanded the Jews of old, and just as our Sages teach us at the conclusion of the Seder, by leaving us with a message they never wanted us to forget – “Next year in Jerusalem!”
