Sicha 2

Whenever we have a
gathering on Passover,

because Passover has eight days,

one specific day is chosen,

so the rally is being held today,

the fourth day of Passover.

From this factor we learn,

that it contains a
order of the day,

not only as a regular
day of Passover,

but also as the
fourth day of Passover.

The question arises,
"How is it different?"

How is the fourth day of Passover
different than all the other days?

We take a look in Torah:

Torah relates what transpired on
the fourth day of the first Passover,

"in the days that you left Egypt,"
when the Jewish people left Egypt:

The Exodus itself took place
on the 15th of Nisan,

then they journeyed through
the 15th, 16th and 17th,

and when the fourth day
arrived, the 18th of Nisan,

the Midrash relates that a
special occurrence took place.

This is obviously an event

to be remembered each year
on the eighteenth of Nisan,

along with the events
we recall at the Seder,

the events of the Exodus which we
must recall "all the days of your life."

So we must remind ourselves
what happened on that day,

during the days of the Exodus
on the eighteenth of Nisan,

and we must learn a lesson,

the order of the day
for every Jew,

and especially for
the Army of God.

What happened?

Torah relates,
as mentioned earlier,

that when Pharaoh told the
Jewish people leaving Egypt,

that it was for "three days --
we shall go in the desert,"

they were going to leave
Egypt for only three days.

Yet when the fourth day arrived,

the Jews continued to proceed
onward to Mount Sinai.

Traveling with them were
Egyptian messengers

whom Pharaoh had
sent along with them

to remind them, and hasten
them to return to Egypt,

to return to their
slavery, God forbid.

Those messengers called out:

"Listen up, Jews!
Your three days have passed.

Now it's time for you
to return to Egypt.

Go no further or
closer to Mount Sinai!"

The Jewish people responded:

"We left Egypt because God
redeemed us from there;

we are not at the mercy
of Pharaoh's command,

nor Pharaoh's command
via his messengers."

The messengers responded,

"Pharaoh will force you, and
you'll have to return anyway."

But the Jewish people
banished them;

they didn't even want
to speak with them,

and the messengers
left in great disgrace,

returning to Pharaoh to report

that the Jewish people
did not want to return --

on the contrary, they
were marching onward.

Moses told the Jewish people:

"It's possible that
Pharaoh will assume,

when he hears the
messengers' report,

that we are afraid of him,

that we are still willing to
discuss it and reconsider,

and that all options are open.

We must show Pharaoh

that we are not intimidated by
him nor by his messengers.

How can we show this?
By halting our journey.

Instead of running away
from Egypt and from Pharaoh,

we'll do the opposite:
We'll go back a bit,

and we'll stop there -- but
we won't return to Egypt.

Pharaoh will then see that the
Jewish people are steadfast,

that we refuse to
return to Egypt,

and that we aren't
intimidated at all,

that he has no impact
upon us whatsoever,

that we are only stopping to
rest or to prepare ourselves

to march onward to receive
the Torah at Mount Sinai."

That occurred on the first 18 Nissan
after the Exodus from Egypt.

What is the lesson to us,
the "Order of the Day"?

Even after we were rid
of the Evil Inclination

during the first three
days of Passover,

it foolishly fails to realize

that because it is dealing
with a "Wise Son,"

it will never succeed
in its attempts.

So it comes again
with its foolishness,

and begins to tell
a Jewish child

that Pharaoh is so strong…

The Evil Inclination uses all kinds
of tricks to fool the Jewish child:

He tells him,
"The food is tasty,

so go ahead and eat it;

don't waste time, you don't
need to recite a blessing.

You don't need to
check if it's kosher…"

And similar arguments
for other mitzvot.

You should know

that it was also this way
when we first left Egypt.

And how did the Jews react?

First, they expelled
Pharaoh's messengers,

and forced them to return
to Egypt in disgrace.

And they were not worried that
Pharaoh himself would see this,

nor did they try to hide it;

on the contrary, they demonstrated
to him their "outstretched arm" --

that they were completely unafraid,

so much so that they halted
their journey for a while,

and even took a step back,

to show the Evil Inclination

that they feet no threat,
God forbid, at all,

and that there is no chance
that he'll be successful

in enticing the wise son,
or even the other three sons,

to even think about Pharaoh,

and certainly not
to return to Egypt.

And they did this openly,
as mentioned,

they weren't ashamed

knowing that the messengers would
immediately report to Pharaoh,

and Pharaoh will say, "Perhaps their
stopping indicates that they are afraid."

"On the contrary," we declare,
"we are not afraid at all,

that is why we have stopped."

And the proof is that when the foolish
Evil Inclination comes once again

and tries to start up with a Jew,

the Jew sees to it that
no trace of him remains,

and he marches onward to
Mount Sinai to receive the Torah.

This is the first
lesson we can learn

from the uniqueness of the 18th day of
Nisan over the other days of Passover;

in addition to the
general order of Passover,

this is the special order for
the eighteenth day of Nisan.

This day is also connected to
the Torah portion of the week,

and is also connected to the
Torah portion which is read

in honor of Chol Hamoed,
in honor on the festival.

They also teach us a
special order of the day:

The holiday Torah portion,
the reading of Chol Hamoed,

begins with the commandment,

"Lend money to the
poor among you."

The passage then concludes

on the topic of
the three festivals,

and the first among
them is Passover.

What is this order of the day?

That the first priority
a Jew must know

-- beginning with young children --

is that one must "lend money
to the poor among you."

If you are aware of a child
or an adult who is a pauper

and you have some extra
pennies, nickels or dimes,

or even more money,

the first priority, the very
beginning of the Torah reading

is that you must
locate the pauper

and provide him with a loan.

And as the verse says,
"the poor among you":

Because the pauper is in the
same place as the Jewish child,

and together with God Himself,

you must provide him with
the entire necessary sum.

This precipitates the redemption

which occurred then --
the Festival of Matzot,

and also the one
that will soon arrive --

the true and complete redemption
through our righteous Moshiach,

as Torah says, "Great is charity
for it hastens the redemption,"

it will arrive sooner.

There is also a lesson from
Tuesday's Torah portion,

the third segment
of Parshat Shemini:

The passage begins,

"And the nation saw,
and they praised God,

and they fell on their faces."

Torah teaches us at the very
beginning of today's Torah portion,

that whenever a Jew so desires,
he could see Godliness,

he could feel that "Behold,
God stands over you,

and scrutinizes your inner
recesses and heart."

And that will bring
you to "Vayaronu"

to "praise God,"
as Unkelos explains;

you will thank God,

and celebrate with a joyful tune,

that God chose you

to reveal Himself to you, and
to give you all the various mitzvot

-- this causes "Israel to
rejoice in their Creator,

to find genuine joy.

There is also a lesson from the
daily study of Maimonides.

This year, we finished the
first cycle of Maimonides.

We study the mitzvah,
the order of the day

as Maimonides spelled it
out in the Book of Mitzvot,

and this also applies to children

-- the track in the
Book of Mitzvot.

The first of today's mitzvot

tells us not to desecrate God's name.

A Jewish child must
know that his behavior

impacts the sanctity of God,

because the children around him,
and the nations around him

observe his behavior,

and they know that
he is a Jewish child;

if he behaves inappropriately,

it's not his own mistake
or his own personal thing

and nothing more --

today's mitzvah says that we must take
heed not to desecrate God's name.

If a non-Jewish child will see
that he said a lie, God forbid,

or he sees that he stole a
penny from another child,

or he sees that he doesn't obey
to his teacher, father or mother,

even though he was commanded,
"Honor your father and mother" --

the non-Jewish child or adult
observing him will assume,

that if a Jewish person
behaves in such a manner,

that must be the
nature of Judaism,

and that must be the
nature of the God

who commanded the
Jew to act Jewishly

-- whether or not, God forbid,
he follows God's instructions.

Contemplate the fact

that if you will, God forbid,
steal a penny from another child,

it's not just something
between the two of you;

it's between you and God.

God "scrutinizes your inner recesses and
heart to see if you serve Him properly."

When you state an untruth,

or take a penny that
belongs to another child,

you are not
"serving Him properly."

You are lacking in
your service of God,

the Commander-in-Chief --

it shouldn't be possible for
a member of God's Army

to fall through and do the opposite
of a sanctification of God's name.

It's a desecration of God's name.

This is the special
order of the day:

Although we are already
a few days into Passover,

we might forget that we were
slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt,

and conduct ourselves
in the ways of Egypt.

We are told, "Remember:

Your behavior can
sanctify God's name,

or the opposite."

This is an order of the
Commander-in-Chief

who, although He "scrutinizes
your inner recesses and heart"

He also "rejoices in His creations,"

and derives joy and
pleasure from every Jew,

and especially from
Jewish children,

so it is obvious that
when He gives an order,

He asks only
within our abilities,

and we will surely
be able to fulfill it.

It depends only on
your own goodwill,

and the main thing is,

don't ever, God forbid,
obey the Evil Inclination,

who is the representative
of Pharaoh, King of Egypt

-- he is the Pharaoh of our day.

This also relates to a teaching of
my father, whose birthday is today:

He explains regarding Passover,

regarding the customary wish,
"A kosher and happy Passover,"

that our observance
be a kosher one,

and a joyous one

-- he explains,

that kosher's acronym is "Kimotzei
shalal rav--Finding great spoils."

When a Jew is careful
to eat only kosher items,

and he never just assumes
that the food is kosher,

rather, he first verifies
its kosher status,

and in addition to
food and drink,

likewise, in other aspects
of a Jewish child's behavior;

before he does anything,
he contemplates,

"Is this activity appropriate for God,

and for a soldier
in God's Army,

or, is it not nice,

and it will give a bad
name, God forbid,

to the Commander-in-Chief,

and is therefore
considered 'unkosher,'"

and in that case, he is certain

that he will conduct himself
only in a kosher way

-- he should know,

he hasn't merely desisted from
partaking in a non-kosher candy, etc.

He has discovered "great spoils."

When an army goes to
war and is victorious,

they conquer "shalal rav,"

they take the spoils of
war from the enemy.

And when there is a big war,
there are great spoils,

and we receive it without labor --

we won't need to
wage a physical war;

we will find ready spoils,

through withstanding
God's spiritual tests,

and not obeying the
"Old and foolish king,"

the Evil Inclination, the fool,

and by conducting himself as a
member of God's Army should,

and likewise influencing
the children around him.

And we are told that we don't
lose out through this conduct;

to the contrary,
by living a kosher life,

and receiving
these great spoils,

he will also be very joyful,

and, as you recited before,
you will always be in a state

of "Israel rejoicing
in their Creator,"

with a true joy.

And that hastens the arrival
of "the joy of days bygone,"

with the true and
complete redemption

through our righteous Moshiach.