As we get ready for the night of the Seder, we have to put ourselves in the proper mindset.
I was once zoche to hear Hacham Ben Sion Abba Shaul give a class on the Seder, and he said, “How can a person speak nonsense and light- talk at the Seder, if God Himself is there listening to our Haggadah?” and he started to cry. That's how emotional he became when thinking of the concept that Hashem is there at the Seder.
We don't have another opportunity to get as close to Hashem as we do on the night of the Seder. Just like it says that” Mora’im Gedolim/The great fear (or visions)” refers to Gilui Shechina, Rav Wolbe says there is a revelation of God’s Shechina every year at the Seder. It’s our opportunity to meet up with the King. The Chafetz Chaim, in his sefer Shem Olam (Vol 2 Chapter 11) says, Imagine meeting up with some human great…. He is referring to a king, but we can imagine sitting down next to some great sports player or famous star, and getting their autograph. You’d get excited and you’d forget about your whatever problems you were dealing with for the moment. Let’s say you just got a signature from Babe Ruth. How would you react?… He says that, If that's the way we react to a flesh and blood person who’s only here for a a minute, how much more so for Hashem- a million times more, he says, because Hashem is here forever. When we do one of his Mitzvot, we say “Baruch Atah,” and talk to Him directly. We're learning His Torah and Hashem’s kavod is there. Our deeds are announced in front of millions of angels and we’re going to have everlasting honor over that
In the Chafetz Chaim’s words, which we can try to fulfill, B’Ezrat Hashem,
“Tell me my brother, and look into yourself- Do you think like that once a week, or once month? Does happen once a year, to be so happy for a mitzvah like this man that met up with such a person (e.g.Babe Ruth)?”
This is what we have to do, he says.
And we should aim for that once a year, on the night of the Seder.
We should say “Wow! What a merit I have! I'm sitting here with the King of the world. I should be jumping up and down!”
The Chafetz Chaim adds that we know the rarer something is, the more expensive it is. And as great as Olam Haba is, in Olam Hazeh we have the opportunity to do Mitzvot , but we can only do them for a fixed amount of time, 120 years. We’re messengers of God, doing His will like one of the angels. We have to appreciate how great that is. It should fill us up with happiness beyond! As we get ready for that great Seder night, we have to make it our jobs to appreciate where we are on the Seder night.
The Sefer Tiferet Shlomo explains, in his Derush on Shabbat HaGadol, that the pasuk Matzot Tochal B’Makom Kadosh/ Eat Matzot in a holy place… refers to the Kohanim. But he says that this also refers to every Pesach, when a person eats the Matzot. It’s as if he’s in the Bet Hamikdash. He proves it with the pasuk, “
וָאֶשָּׂ֤א אֶתְכֶם֙ עַל־כַּנְפֵ֣י נְשָׁרִ֔ים
I will carry you on the wings of eagles.
The Targum says that Hashem took the Jewish people out of Egypt, brought them to Eretz Yisrael, they ate the Korban Pesach and then He brought them back.
And he says, Today also, If you eat Matzah with the right kavana and do it properly, Eretz Yisrael is under you, and your spot is holy, like it says in the above quoted pasuk. Furthermore, in Parashat Bo, it says, “When Hashem brings you into the land, and then you do this service of Pesach…”
Is Pesach only in Eretz Yisrael?
His answer is yes. When we say the Haggadah, it’s like we're in Israel.
We have to appreciate what's going on on the night of the Seder. We have to appreciate the tremendous Kedusha.
As we’ve said in the past, the Matzah is called the Bread of Emunah. When you say Divreh Torah, and you say the Hagaddah, you infuse the Matzot Lechem Oni- Lechem SheOnim Alav Devarim Harbeh- you say words on the Matzot, your Emunah goes into the Matzah and you ingest it. It becomes part of you.
So this is a great opportunity to lift up our Emunah and Bitachon. It comes from the night of the Seder. We have to appreciate what it means to serve in front of Him and so on.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will use the Seder night to its fullest.