An important take-away lesson from shevi’i shel Pesach/ the 7th day of Pesach is the ability to to look at a situation and reframe it.
Ideally, we should be able to reframe a situation while we’re in it, but sometimes we need to wait until afterwards.
On the night of the Seder, we discuss Pesach, Matzah and Maror, the terms that Rabban Gamliel uses when discussing the three important things we are supposed to discuss. The age-old question is that maror, which symbolizes difficulty and bitterness, should be at the beginning of the list- Maror, Pesach, Matzah would be the correct chronological order because first they had difficult lives, then they slaughtered the Korban Pesach, and then ate the Matzah on the way out. So why is Maror last on the list?One of the answers offered is that you can’t celebrate the Maror/difficulty until after you’re out of it.
Most people can’t celebrate while in the challenging situation. They have to wait until afterwards.
As we mentioned, the Avot were on the level that they were able to celebrate the Maror, but that is a much higher level than most people are on. Most people are on the level where they need to look back and then say, “Ohhh, now I understand, Gam Zu L’Tova!”
When Rabbi Akiva went on his famous trip with his donkey, his candle, and his rooster and they all got destroyed, while it was happening he said Gam Zu Tova. And then afterwards, when he found out that bandits had come through the neighboring town and would have seen his candle or heard his rooster or seen the donkey, he realized that it was good they had all been destroyed, because that was what saved him.
So although the higher level is it be able to reframe and see the good while it’s happening, most people can’t realize it until after the fact. Therefore, for the average person, we say Pesach, Matzah, (and then) Maror.
So too, when it came to Sheve’i shel Pesach. There is a famous Bet HaLevi that explains:
Moshe Rabbenu told Hashem, From when I came to Paroah, everything got worse.”
And Hashem said, “You used the word Az/From to complain, so you will use the word Az in Az Yashir, the Song of the Sea” (that they sang as they crossed the Yam Suf).
How does one Az fix the other? The rabbis explain that Moshe Rabbenu didn’t realize that the hard work, the maror was really good for them. It got them out faster. Hashem complained to Moshe Rabbenu that he should have realized that. Az Yashir sent that message to the Jewish people. At the time of the splitting of the sea, they did not understand what was going on.
They had been told by God (though Moshe) to borrow utensils of silver and gold from the Egyptians. Moshe himself did not understand why they were told to borrow. They knew they weren’t coming back, so why weren’t they told to take ? And if it was because the Egyptians might hesitate to give away their valuables, then they could’ve received another ten makot until they gave it over willingly.
So why were we, so to say, sneaking and saying that they going to “borrow” when we were actually taking?
The Gaon of Vilna says that it was Middah k’neged Middah- Paroah had tricked us into working. With a “soft mouth,” he said that everybody would be working, that there was a work tax, and eventually he got us into slave labor camps, So, measure for measure, we would trick him into getting our money, which was our payment for all of that hard work. Since he made us work in a conniving way, we would get the money back in a conniving way.
That is one explanation.
Another, from the Or HaChaim HaKadosh and others, is that Hashem wanted the Egyptians to chase us, because He wanted them to drown. Hashem can make anything happen, so how would He get them to chase after they had let us go?
Imagine if you looked out the window and noticed your housekeeper leaving your home at 3 o’clock in the morning. She decided to quit. It was too much work. Would you chase her? Not at 3 o’clock in the morning. But if you noticed that your candlesticks were missing, you would chase her.
So that is what Hashem did. After three days went by, and the Egyptian saw that we did not return, they decided to chase us to get their money back. They reasoned that it couldn’t be from God, because God would not make us lie like that. So they thought it must be that we were leaving on our own. The Egyptians thought that God said that we could leave for three days but when we were gone for longer than that, they decided to chase us.
Furthermore, it says that when the Jews started moving backwards toward Baal Tzafon, which was the Egyptians’ god of hidden treasures, they thought it was a sign that although all their other gods had been destroyed, this god was demanding justice.
When the Jews saw that they were being chased, they started to get scared and question Moshe Rabbenu, “Moshe, what did you do to us? We wanted to leave without borrowing money. Why did you make us borrow the money? Look what happened! Now they are chasing us!”
And Moshe himself had no answer, because he did not know what was going on either.
Then, when the sea split for them, and the water came crashing down on the Egyptians, they realized God does know what He’s doing and, “and they believed in God and what Moshe said,” even though they did not understand.
Then they looked back and realize that every step made sense.
But the ultimate level is to realize it while you’re in the problem, to be able to come up with reframes in your mind; to come up with ways to figure out that maybe this is good. How and why could this be good? Why did I miss the plane? Maybe I wasn’t supposed to be there. We have to try and make up stories in our heads to explain why it’s good.
We have to somehow makes sense out of it, even though it doesn’t make sense.
That is the end goal -when we are in the difficulty, we should be able to sing and praise and appreciate the challenge….Easier said than done.
But after all the stories that we hear, we have to try to be able to create our own stories, even though we don’t yet know that happy ending.
Have a wonderful day and a hag kasher V’ Sameach.