Rabbi Horowitz now returns to the theme he offered earlier in the Haggadah: the redemption took place so that we can tell this story. The Exodus is always present for us – it did not happen long ago but is an event that shapes our lives now. Its significance was for our sake. In a sense Rabbi Horowitz suggests that the Exodus becomes less real if we forget about it and do not recount it to our children and our children’s children. The wicked child who does not recount the story of the Exodus is unworthy of redemption because he minimizes the story of the Exodus by not recounting it. Had he been in Egypt, he would have been unworthy of redemption – not only because of his wickedness but because he would have failed to tell the story in the future It is because of THIS that God did for me when I went forth from Egypt: We now can understand scripture, “In order that you may recount in the listening of you children and your children’s children.”¹⁵⁸ All of this happened in Egypt for the sake of telling generations and generations the story of the Exodus. God took you out of Egypt so that you would be able to tell the story to your children for generations to come. This is what we mean when we say, It was because of THIS…all that happened in Egypt happened so we could sit here together and tell this story tonight! God did all this so that we could feel as if we personally went forth from Egypt. Scripture says, “Remember this day when you went forth from Egypt.” The verse does not say, “Remember the day you went forth from Egypt;” it says “THIS DAY” Each year we experience “THIS DAY” all over again. On Passover, the same great light is aroused which was aroused on the day of the Exodus from Egypt. “He shall be the stability of your times, a store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, the fear of the Lord is his treasure.”¹⁵⁹ This verse applies to the Jewish holiday cycle. Each year the days of Passover are a “store of salvation.” We re-experience salvation on this day. Wisdom and knowledge refers to Shavuot when we receive the source of all knowledge and wisdom - the Torah. And, “fear of the Lord” is a reference to the Days of Awe. Each year in the month of Tishri, the light is aroused again on Yom Kippur when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the second set of the tablets of the covenant. “And you shall know that I am the Lord.” Everyone is obligated to instruct his children to tell the story of the Exodus to his children in times to come, so that he in turn will tell the story to his children… just as we find it in the Haggadah, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in the Land of Egypt.” This is just as we are commanded to do in the Torah: “You shall tell your child on that day.” Thus, King David, of blessed memory said: “That a future generation might know – children yet to be born – and in turn tell their children that they may put their confidence in the Lord.”¹⁶⁰ All the miracles and wonders performed in Egypt were for the sake of the commandment that would be performed by the generations in telling the story of the Exodus, and as we learn at the beginning of Genesis: the child gives merit to the parent according to the number of generations before him. God performed all these miracles and wonders for the people in Israel even though they were not worthy of them. Rather He performed these miracles so that others (in the future) might be able to fulfill the mitzvah for many generations. It was for “THIS MITZVAH” of telling the story that God took me out of Egypt! Thus, we say to the wicked child who does not tell the story, “God did this for me and not for you because I am the one who is still telling the story of the Exodus.” He would not have been redeemed since the only reason that God redeemed us all was so that they would tell the story. And when the Haggadah say, “Anyone who expands on the story is praiseworthy,” it means that the story is full of praise for the Holy One. Telling God’s wonders is praise for God and for the one who repeats the story since it was for this very reason that there were wonders. Since he causes such praise there is nothing more praiseworthy than this.

footnotes: ¹⁵⁸ Exodus 10:2 ¹⁵⁹ Isaiah 33:6 ¹⁶⁰ Psalm 78:6