By the Grace of G-d 11th of Nissan, 5725 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

The Exodus from Egypt was ordained¹ by G-d to take place in the Month of Spring. Moreover, the Torah has ordained² that special care should be taken in order that Pesach should always occur in the Month of Spring, as it is written: Observe the month of spring and keep the passover unto G-d your G-d, for in the month of spring G-d your G-d has brought you out of Egypt by night. (Deut. 16:1)

In order to ensure that Pesach should indeed occur in the Month of spring - in view of the fact that our Calendar is based on the moon, and the lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, while the four seasons of the year are determined by the sun - our Calendar provides a leap year once every two or three years, with the addition of a whole month, Adar, as this year. In this way the lunar year is "reconciled" with the solar year, and Pesach always occurs in the spring. All the other months of the year, and all our festivals, are thus regulated accordingly, so that they, too, occur in their due season.

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The circumstance of the Exodus from Egypt being in the month of spring is explained³ by our Sages as a special Divine benevolence in taking the Jews out of Egypt during the best time of the year. However, as in all matters of Torah, there are here also many significant aspects and lessons, both for the community and for the individual. One⁴ of the aspects, which I wish to bring out here, will become clear in the light of the circumstances preceding the Exodus from Egypt:

For hundreds of years the Jews had been enslaved by a mighty nation which had subjugated⁵ all surrounding nations, imposing its dominion upon them not merely by brute force (its "chariots and horsemen"), but also by its overwhelming preponderance⁶ in science and technology, in all matters which are now termed "culture" and "civilization."

The culture and civilization of the Egyptians were based on the forces of nature and natural phenomena, especially the Nile⁷ river. It hardly ever rains⁸ in Egypt; but human ingenuity⁹ developed an elaborate irrigation system which had turned Egypt into a flourishing garden, surrounded by deserts.

These circumstances brought about a profuse idolatrous culture, which was characterized by two main features: the deification of the forces of nature, and the deification of the powers of man who was able to utilize the forces of nature. From here it is but a short step to the dedication of Pharaoh,¹⁰ who was personified the Egyptian ideal of the ”super man."

This system, which viewed the world as a conglomeration of many "natural forces," of which the human element was a component, coupled, as it was, with the philosophy of "my might,¹¹ and the strength of my hand,¹² have made me this wealth" - led to the lowest spiritual, moral and ethical depravity, which also "justified" the most shameless enslavement of, and most vicious atrocities toward, the physically weaker individual and nation.

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The cult and superstition of the Egyptians reached their zenith¹³ at the time of the annual reawakening of the forces of nature - in the month of spring, the month which was under the zodiacal sign of the Ram (Aries) and the ram was one of the main sacred symbols of the Egyptian cult.

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Suddenly appears Moshe Rabbenu with the Divine tiding: "I have surely remembered you" (Ex 5:16); the time has come when the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has willed the liberation of the Jews from Pharaoh’s hands and from Egyptian exile.

Two hundred and ten years had elapsed since the Jews were subjected to Pharaoh; some of them¹⁴ already were totally immersed in the Egyptian "culture"; no help whatsoever could be expected from the surrounding nations; no single slave¹⁵ had ever succeeded in escaping from Egypt; there simply was no prospect in the natural order of things, of liberating the Jewish people from Egypt - and yet Moshe Rabbenu assures them that the time of liberation has arrived! However, there is one condition:¹⁶ "Withdraw and take unto yourselves a lamb for your families and offer the Passover (sacrifice)!." (Ex, 12:21).

Withdraw - withdraw from the idolatry of the land; and take unto yourselves¹⁷ - take unto yourselves a lamb (that which was held sacred and deified by the Egyptians), and offer it as a paschal sacrifice unto G-d. It is not enough to deny the Egyptian idolatry in the recesses of one’s heart, nor even in the privacy of one’s home, quietly and stealthily; but it has to be done openly,¹⁸ without fear, in accordance with all the details which were connected with the paschal sacrifice in Egypt.

If that is done - Moshe Rabbenu assures, in the name of the Almighty - not only will liberation from Egypt be achieved, but Pharaoh himself will urge them to leave Egypt; and the liberation will not come at a time when the forces of nature are dormant and concealed, but precisely in the month of spring, in the very middle of this month, when nature reveals its greatest powers.

In this way it is emphasized that our world is not a composite of separate worlds - a world of nature, and of natural forces, and a world of the ”supernatural" - wherein now one, now the other, attains supremacy. There is but One and Only G-d, Who is the absolute Master of the whole world, and Who unifies the whole world into one.

This recognition came to the highest expression¹⁹ at the Giving of the Torah, the culmination and goal of the liberation from Egypt, which began with the words, "I am G-d your G-d, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; there shall be no other G-ds”, etc.

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Just as in Egypt of old, so also nowadays, there are such who fashion their life on the basis of the deification of the so-called forces of nature, coupled with the philosophy of ”My might and the strength of my hand." Some have found a "solution" in that in their homes they make a room also for G-d; however, in their social life they ”follow the Joneses,”²⁰ and even outdo them.

Comes the festival of Pesach, with the reminder once again: I have surely remembered you” - you have no choice in the matter.²¹ The Almighty remembers you, and you must obey the order of ”withdraw” - to reject the idolatry of the land, in whatever form it expresses itself; and to do so openly, without fear, and with dignity. Then you must also fulfill the "take unto yourselves" - to take yourself and all that you possess, all your capacities and powers, and dedicate them to your true, eternal Jewish self.²²

Moreover, you must do all this in the month of spring. You must not allow yourself to be confused by misleaders, who would have you believe that since there is a flourishing world around us, with man in its center, endowed with supremacy of might and power - then "these are your gods, O Israel!"; this is your idol to which you are enslaved, and there is no room (Heaven forfend) for G-d. Rather the contrary.²³ "In the month of spring G-d your G-d has brought you out of Egypt"²⁴ - G-d, who is your G-d, takes you out of slavery in the month of spring, while the world in blossom with all its wonders upon wonders, helps you to see the truth even more clearly, and this is that G-d is the source of all life and being, or - to quote the blessing which we recite in the spring²⁵ - that "G-d our G-d (Who is) King of the universe, has not made the world deficient of Anything."

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May G-d grant that Pesach, the Season of Our Liberation, should bring to every Jew and Jewess, in the midst of all our Jewish people, real liberation from all hindrances and limitations, in order to serve the Almighty with a perfect heart,

And that the liberation of the individual should lead to the liberation of the whole Jewish people, to the true and perfect redemption through our righteous Moshiach, speedily in our time.

With the blessing for a Kosher and Happy Pesach,

/Signed: Menachem Schneerson/