Coincidence and Divine Intention The MishnahPesahim 10:4 states: One begins an account of the Exodus with shame and one concludes with glory, and expounds from “My father was a wandering Aramean” until he completes the whole passage. The Talmudcomments: "What is meant by shame?" Rav said: one begins: ‘Originally our ancestors were idolaters’; while Samuel said: we begin: ‘We were slaves.’" (Pesahim 116a) It is not appropriate to begin the story of the Exodus with glory without first speaking of Israel's degradation. If one immediately speaks of the glory, it might appear the Exodus was a matter of good fortune and that it wasn’t the intention of the One who acted to perform this kind act. There are two types of acts: those that happen by coincidence and those that happen intentionally. An example of coincidence would be the following: one's house caught fire and coincidentally, it began to rain, putting out the fire. When the rain fell at the right time, it is a lucky coincidence. An intentional act would be the following: a person is passing by when he sees a house on fire and immediately runs over and puts out the fire. This is an intentional act on the part of the person who made a decision to act. ¹, a coincidental act, while number two is a poel baetzem, an intentional act of will. If one began by speaking of the Exodus without first mentioning Israel's misfortune, one might think that the redemption of the people of Israel came about through a coincidence. One begins by speaking of Israel's misfortune so that others understand it was through the will of the Holy One that the act of redemption was carried out to save Israel from misfortune. An intentional act (poel ba'etzem) is an act of God which is performed with the intention of saving Israel from shame or misfortune. When an act of glory is preceded by an act of shame, then the glory is that much greater, just as the night that precedes the day makes the day seem so much brighter. Perfection is not found at the beginning in this world and only afterwards does it become apparent. It is impossible at first for there to be wholeness; in the beginning there does not appear to be the exalted divine level. Therefore, divine intervention is preceded by degradation (genut) and in the end it rises up to the level of divinity. We now can understand the reason for the controversy between Rav and Samuel. According to Rav who said, "At first our ancestors worshipped idols," this is the genut, degradation, since the worship of idols cleaves to the soul. The body is not made inferior by worshipping idols but the soul is. According to Rav the soul is degraded by idolatry and this causes the annihilation of the soul. The soul comes from the realm of holiness and it loses its holiness through the worship of idols, as is stated, "the same soul will I destroy from among his people." (Lev. 23:30) Since idolatry leads to complete destruction of the soul, it should be considered the greater form of genut, degradation. Samuel is of the opinion that the greatest form of shame is the physical shame which clings to the body. Such degradation is that which is connected to one’s physical being. Therefore, he says the worst degradation is contained in the passage, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt." Because the body is material and degradation is more likely to cling to it while the soul is spiritual so genut, degradation, cannot cling to it. Actually, God redeemed the people of Israel from the degradation of the body and the soul. At first, they worshipped idols (so they experienced degradation of the soul) and then God redeemed them from slavery (the degradation of the body). Rav and Samuel did not disagree about this but they differed about which form of degradation was worse. They felt that whichever was the worst form of degradation should be mentioned first. One might argue that even though Rav believed the spiritual degradation was the worst form of genut, one should still begin, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt," since one should begin with the Exodus. Everything up to "At first our ancestors worshipped idols" was an introduction explaining why we are obligated to tell the story of the Exodus. We see, then, the Haggadahaccords with the opinions of both Rav and Samuel.

footnotes: ¹ Which is the greater miracle or at least a sign of a divine act?1. Your house catches fire. At just that moment it rains, putting out the fire.2. A house catches fire. The fire department responds and in time to put out the fire.Conventional wisdom is that the rain was a miracle. According to the Maharal the rain was not a miracle; it was lucky coincidence. The second act, on the other hand, was intentional and a sign of God's loving concern and compassion. This sounds counterintuitive. The Maharal differentiates between coincidence and a conscious act of will by God. The first is a poel bamikra

Punishment and Threat “The Lord our God took us out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” A mighty hand can mean with great strength, while an outstretched arm could mean continuing threat. That is, the Egyptians would continue to be threatened even after the plague took place for quite some time. God took the Israelites out of Egypt by smiting the Egyptians and by continuing to threaten them afterwards. Each time the plague ended, Pharaoh immediately began to sin once again so that it wasn’t possible to take the Israelites out of Egypt. The only way to free them was to threaten the Egyptians long enough to make sure the Israelites had a chance to leave Egypt. The plague of the first born lasted only a single moment at midnight; it was only the possibility that the plague might continue that the Israelites were able to leave Egypt. Explaining the passage, "He called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up and get out from among my people,'" (Ex.12:31) the Midrashstates,¹ "The Israelites said, 'Are we thieves? We will leave in the morning.' Pharaoh said to them, Shall all Egypt die, as it is stated, The Egyptians urged the people that they might send them with haste for they said, 'We shall all be dead men.' (Ex. 12:33) The Israelites then said to Pharaoh: 'Do you want to end the plague? Declare that we are now free and are now servants of God.' Pharaoh then declared, 'In the past you were the slaves of Pharaoh; from now on you are the servants of God.'" In this Midrashwe see that Pharaoh was terrified because he thought that the plague would continue and everyone in Egypt would die. That is why he agreed to send the Israelites out of Egypt. The continuing threat was an example of the outstretched arm. Pharaoh feared that if he went back on his word the plague would return.

footnotes: ¹ The verses in the Torah suggest that after the tenth plague, the Egyptians were terrified that the tenth plague would continue. If they had not been afraid of the Israelites they might have changed their minds immediately after the death of the first born. It was the continuing threat that allowed the Israelites to wait until morning to leave. The Israelites argued that if they left in the middle of the night they would appear to be no better than thieves who run away after robbing someone. Remember the Israelites went around collecting silver and gold before leaving Egypt.

Birthing a Nation: From Potential to Actuality “If the Holy One had not taken our ancestors out of Egypt then we, our children and our children's children would still be subjugated to Pharaoh.” One should not say that even if God had not taken us out of Egypt we might have been freed in some other fashion in future generations. This would not have been the case. If God had not taken us out of Egypt, we would have been subjugated to them forever. The reason that we could only be redeemed by the Holy One is a deep matter. This matter is explained by a passage in the Talmud: "Rabbi Jochanan said: There are three keys that the Holy One blessed be He has retained in His own hands and not entrusted to any messenger, namely, the key of rain, the key of childbirth, and the key of the revival of the dead." (Ta'anit 2a) A verse is brought for each to prove that only God can free them from these three things. Regarding the key of rain, Scripture states, "The Lord shall open to you His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in its season." (Deut. 28:12) Regarding childbirth Scripture states: "God remembered Rachel… and opened her womb." (Gen 30:22) And regarding resurrection, Scripture states, "And you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves." (Ezek. 37:13) This proves that these extraordinary matters would not have come about without the One who had the power to act: the Lord. What do these three things have in common? They are all matters in which there is movement from potential to actuality. Something cannot go from potential to actuality¹potential or becoming, and poal, actuality or being. Without God's active involvement in the creative process, everything is in a state of potential; it is in a state of becoming whole but has not reached the state of wholeness. except through that Being who is completely ‘being.’ Only the Divine is absolute being. Childbirth cannot happen without the divine because it represents a move from potential to actuality. Similarly, resurrection is a similar process that leads from death to life. Rain brings about the vitality of the world upon which human life depends and so represents the move to actuality. That is why in these three cases Scripture uses the language of "opening" for these creative processes. Other things, such as the blossoming of a tree and other natural phenomena, are not complete creations (they are constantly in a state of becoming and are never fully created). Since they are not whole, they are never in a state of actuality (poal). Only those things in this world which the Divine brings forth can be in a state of actuality and wholeness. That is why each of them has its own special opening through which it moves from potential to actuality through God. When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, the Holy One took the people from a state of potential to actuality so that they could go forth of their own volition. They were similar to a fetus in its mother's womb, as the Midrashstated elsewhere. When Israel went forth from Egypt they were like a new born baby who entered the world. Therefore, this process was only process could only happen through the will of the Holy One. This was not the case with all the other times of exile of the Jewish people. Even before the Jewish people went forth from Babylonia they were no longer in a state of potential (koach). This was only the case when they were in Egypt and were not yet a nation. While they were in Egypt they grew more populous just as a fetus grows in the womb.¹ The Exodus from Egypt was considered a move toward actuality and reality. These matters are extremely deep….

footnotes: ¹ There are two key words in this passage: koach, ¹ The fetus grows in its mother’s womb but it is not yet an infant until it emerges into the world. Similarly, the people of Israel were not yet a nation as long as they were in the womb of Egypt.

Four Types of Knowledge “Even if we are all wise, all discerning…” The Haggadahuses four terms for the four types of knowledge: wise, discerning, experienced (elders), and those who know Torah. The first type of knowledge, referred to as chacham, contains basic principles, such as, "two opposites cannot coexist in a single subject," or, "the whole is greater than the parts." This is called wisdom. The second type of knowledge consists of secondary principles. These principles are derived from axiomatic ideas. This is referred to by the term navon, discerning, as in the statement, "Who is discerning; one who derives one matter from another." (Chagigah 14a, Isa. 3:3) The third type of knowledge, referred to as zaken, is acquired through experiences that are repeated many times. For example a person might state, ‘when A happens then B will result.’ Or, ‘When a person eats certain herbs they cause a person to experience heat or coolness. ¹ This person acquires knowledge through experience. Elders tend to have this type of knowledge; through their age, they are able to deduce certain facts. And there is received knowledge which one receives from a trustworthy person whose knowledge one trusts. One receives such Torah knowledge through the words of Moses our teacher who is called the faithful one of the Holy One. This is referred to by the expression, "those who know Torah." This is the explanation of our version of the text, "Even if we are all wise, if we are discerning, if we are elders and if we know the Torah…" There is another version of this text that only mentions three, "Even if we are all wise, even if we are discerning, and even if we know in the Torah." It does not mention, "if we are elders." This is the correct version of the text. Certainly the Haggadahonly mentioned three types of knowledgeable parallel to the three types of knowledge mention with regard to Bezalel, "And I have filled him with….wisdom, understanding, and knowledge." (Ex. 31:2) 'Wisdom' refers to axiomatic principles; 'understanding' refers to information that is derived from these principles; and 'knowledge' refers to information that one attains according to his ability. Thus when the Haggadahsays, "even if one knows the Torah," it is referring to the truth of Torah that has been taught to us according to our capacity.

footnotes: ¹ These are not quotes from another work but rather statements based on the scientific process of observation and conclusion.