Pesach - From Blood to Tears: The Hidden Secret of Redemption

2:03 And that this war should end speedily with the coming of Mashiach. As we begin our preparations for the Pesach Seder, let us turn to a question in the Manastana. Manastana, we all know the questions of the Manastana. Our Hashem, many of us have children, grandchildren, perhaps even great-grandchildren already that are going to say the manishtan at our Pesach Seder. One of the questions that we have is: on all other nights we do not even dip once, and on this night we dip twice. Even every other night we only dip once. Now we dip twice. It's a very strange question. Much ink has been spilled on the nature of this question. Why are Chazal highlighting with all of the wonderful, beautiful, stunning, gorgeous relevant themes that are in front of us? The fact that we dip. I know dips today are a very big deal in Klal Yisrael. I guess even in the times of the Hagada, dipping was a very big deal. But it seems strange. It seems strange to highlight such a small motion on such a big night. So that's our first question.

3:12 And we're going to take the approach of the Ben Ish Chai for the most part tonight. But we will veer off and do our own thing for a little bit. Along those lines, let us turn to what appears to be a different section in Chumash for a moment. Let us return to the story of Yaakov and Yosef. We know that Yaakov Avinu gives Yosef a ksones pasim. He gives him a very special coat. Exactly what made that coat special is the subject of a lot of different mamary chazal. I'd like to share with you a medrash in Bereshis Rabba tonight. The medrash in Bereshis Rabba says, 'What is the lashon of pasim? What is this ksones pasim? What does pasim mean?' So it says, Rav Yossi bar Yehuda said that we know that there's a relationship between pasim and kriyas yamsof. What is the relationship between Pasim and Kriyas Yamsof? The Medrash says as follows: Why did the sea actually split?

4:08 Because of the ksonas pasim, pasim from Loshan of pas yam Which is an allusion to the splitting of the sea. And the Medrash says why did the shvatim. Hate Yosef HaTzaddik, so that one day the sea would split. That the Shvatim hated Yosef HaTzaddik. Somehow that leads to the splitting of the sea, which is very strange. These two things don't appear to have anything to do with each other. So our second question for tonight is: What is the relationship between Ksonas Passim and Kriyas Yamzuf? Another question, a more fundamental question. Is we know ve'yikchu as ksonas Yosef that the brothers ultimately took this coat of Yosef HaTzaddik, viyishchetu siir isim and they slaughtered a goat, viyitbulo as ksonas badam and they dipped the coat in blood and we all know the story that they showed it to Yaakov Venu. Yaakov Venu inferred that Yosef HaTzaddik had been killed and that he was absolutely inconsolable.

5:08 The question is mimanavshach. Did the brothers do something wrong, or did they not do something wrong? If the brothers did something wrong, that's terrible. How could they have done such a thing? On the other hand, it's not obvious to us that the brothers did the wrong thing. Chazal say Rashi alludes to this that the brothers made a bezdin, meaning these were very big tzadikim. So you know the stories that we grow up with that the brothers were jealous. These things all need to be understood on their level. The brothers were very big tzadikim. They convened the bezdin. Meaning they followed a halachic process, and they poskim for whatever reason that Yosef HaTzaddik was chayiv misa. There are other midrashim chazal that indicate that Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself sat on the bezdin. So if that's the case, what exactly did the brothers do wrong? If they made a bezdin And if Hakadosh Baruch Hu sat on that bezdin, so then what did the brothers do wrong? What exactly was the mistake that the brothers made?

6:11 Because it's clear that the brothers, on some level, made some mistake. Even Reuven, as we'll see later on, holds the brothers accountable, and he says, 'You guys didn't listen to me. I told you not to do this.' So obviously there was some mistake. But what exactly is the nature of that mistake? So I want to share with you something, an approach for tonight. Hopefully it'll be a meaningful approach to all of us, and especially in the times that we're living in. That when we look at the story of Yosef and his brothers, we'll see a very interesting thing. Who cries and who doesn't cry? So let's look at the brothers. Let's first look at the Shvatim. Yosef HaTzaddik is looking for his brothers. He's sent by Yaakov Avinu to go find his brothers. As Achai Anochim Ivakei, he runs into a man when he's looking for his brothers, and he says, 'I'm looking for my brothers.' There's a bikush. There's a desire that Yosef HaTzaddik has to connect with his brothers. What's the response of the brothers? Let's look at the pasuk together. It says, 'Vayiro also merachok u'betere m'yikra v'aleim viyasnaklu osam la miso.' So what happens? The brothers see Yosef HaTzaddik from afar; he has not yet drawn near to them.

7:21 And they plotted against him to put him to death. This is when they convened bezdin. What does it mean, "Vayiro also merachok u'betere m'yikra v'aleim"? It means there's a distance. There's a distance between Yosef Hatzadik and his brothers. It almost appears from the pesukim that there's a certain Cold judgment that occurs here. There's like we need to keep him at a distance. We need to do what we need to do. This lashon of the yisnaklu What does it mean? They plotted against him. That's what Rashi says. The text is filled with plots. They were filled with cunning, Rashi says. This is not the only time we see the brothers behaving in such a way. In fact, after Yaakov Avinu dies, again the brothers seem to be plotting. What do we do now? Because it could be that Yosef Hatzadik is going to come after us, and maybe the only reason that Yosef Hatzadik didn't kill us the entire time was because Yaakov Avinu was alive and he didn't want to pain Yaakov Avinu.

8:26 So they come to him and they tell a story that Yaakov told us that you shouldn't do anything. And Yosef is very bothered by this. This seems to be the way of the brothers, and this is what Rashi is referring to. Nesmalu Nechalim that they were full of these plots. There's a certain distance, a certain coldness that we see between Yosef HaTzaddik and the brothers. And we know that even when Yosef HaTzaddik is sitting in the pit Vayeshvu Lachol Lachem. That the nature of the brothers, we don't find that the brothers are upset by what they've done at all. In fact, just the opposite. We find that the brothers are sitting down to eat a sudda. They're sitting down. They're breaking bread with one another. This is what they're doing when their brother is sitting in a pit. And the Sfarno points this out. And the Sfarno says that none of this to them was seen as like a misfortune. None of this was like something that should get in the way of them having a sudda. And because they were big tzaddikim, the Sfarno says to do something like this and to have a suddah.

9:28 It's a very strange thing. In other words, there's a certain distance that they have that they're able to eat a suddah at such a time. In contrast to the shvatim, who don't appear to have any emotionality here We find Yaakov Avinu. In fact, Yaakov Avinu is crying not only right away, but he's crying for a very long time. The pasuk says, 'Va'yakumu kolbana ve'kolbanosav lenachama,' that all of Yaakov Avinu's sons and all of Yaakov Avinu's daughters arose to console him. 'Va'yimaein lehisnachim,' and he refused to be consoled. 'Va'yomer ki'ered elbini aver she'olah va'yevko so aviv' He said, 'because I will descend on account of my son as a mourner to the grave,' and his father wept for him. The Aruch HaYam Hakadosh explains very beautifully what it means. Vayyefk also that he wept over him. Kish amar dvavar chazer livkos. Yaakov Avinu was so upset by this that when he was talking, he would begin to cry. Chazer livkos, I love. He would begin to cry again. V'dictek lomer aviv lishlo kol banav shelo bachu b'haskaraso kiim aviv. Rabbeinu Amru, shehu Yitzchak Aviv Shal Yakov who darash. What was going on? The Aruch HaYam Hakadosh is explaining as follows.

10:55 Yakov Avinu said he just kept crying. Why does it call him Aviv? It's to make a distinction. The Aruch HaYam Hakadosh says between the father and the children. Meaning Yakov Avinu is crying as a father. He refuses to be consoled, but his children are not crying. It's a fascinating thing. The Aruch HaYam Hakadosh is pointing out over here. Yakov Avinu is inconsolable, and he's crying, and he loses nivuah for all of the years that Yosef Hatzadik was in Mitzrayim. Yakov Avinu doesn't have nivuah; he's broken. He's been broken for 22 years. He's crying the entire time. There was somebody who knew, by the way. Yitzchak knew. Yitzchak understood that Yosef Hatzadik was still alive. He didn't lose his nivuah, as Chazal say. The Medrash in Bereshis Rabba points out that Yitzchak understood that it was being withheld from him this information because that was the Hashgacha. So Yitzchak is in pain, but he can't tell Yaakov what's going on. Yaakov is in terrible pain; he's crying. The brothers, the shvatim, are not crying at all.

11:57 So we know now Yaakovinu is crying tears for 22 years. He's tzibrach and mamish. The shvatim seem to be absolutely fine with what they've done. Where's Yosef HaTzaddik in all this? Where's Yosef HaTzaddik? So it's interesting. The first instance where Yosef Hadad cries in the Torah is not until much later Where it's when he hears the brothers talking, right? When the brothers have come down to Mitzrayim, the pasuk says, and he turned away from them and he wept. It says, "VaYisov me'alem vaYef." That Yosef Hadad was there and he hears the brothers talking, and he can't hold himself back. He starts crying but turns away from them so they shouldn't see. And then the second time that Yosef HaTzaddik cries is when Binyamin comes down to Mitzrayim, and now he sees Yosef HaTzaddik. So what happens? Yosef sees that he has so much He has so much mercy for his brothers, and he wants to cry. So quickly, he goes into a room and cries there.

13:04 And then the third instance—that's the dramatic moment of meeting between Yosef HaTzaddik and his brothers. It says, "V'lo yuchol Yosef lehes apik." Now Yosef HaTzaddik can no longer hold on to his tears. V'lo yuchol Yosef lehes apik, lichol initzavam alav. Ve'yikra hutziyu kol ishme alai. He says, "Get rid of everybody here. Get everybody out and remove everybody from the room." V'lo amed eshiton. Be his father Yosef alachiv. At that moment, he's going to make himself known to his brothers. V'ayitain eskolo bevri. The Yisroim beis Paro. What happens? Yosef HaTzaddik, he finally can't hold back the tears anymore. The tears are streaming out of him. He's crying so loudly, all of Mitzrayim hears, all of beis Paro hears, everybody hears. And it's an unbelievable moment. And then we find again that Yosef HaTzaddik is crying. Why? He's with Binyamin. Va'ipol al tzavari Binyamin, achev ayeif. And now there are these beautiful tears that are crying at the reunion of Yosef and Benjamin.

14:09 And again, the next time we see Yosef Hatzadik crying is when Yosef meets up with Yaakov. Then later on, also in the Torah, several times Yosef Hatzadik cries. So it's very interesting. Yosef Hatzadik is a crier. Everywhere we turn in the story, we see the Shvatim don't cry at all. Yaakov Avinu, he's definitely crying. Yosef Hatzadik is a crier. Eight times in the Torah it says that Yosef Hatzadik cried. But what's interesting is when do Yosef's tears begin? So Yosef's tears do not begin when we would have expected. We expect that the Torah would have narrated the story of Yosef Hadadik in the pit. We would have expected that the Torah would have told us that Yosef Hadadik was in the pit and he was crying bitter tears, but we don't hear anything like that. We don't hear. Later on, we hear that. It's true that the brothers said we're guilty. We didn't. We witnessed that our brother was mitzayir. We witnessed that our brother was in pain, and he begged us to be taken out of the pit, and we didn't listen, and that's why everything is happening. That's why we're in Mitzrayim and we're in this problem to begin with. But that's only afterwards that we find that out. It's noticeable that the Torah itself does not tell us that this is what's going on.

15:27 It's interesting. Yosef HaTzaddik doesn't cry when he finds himself in the house of Ayesha's potter. Yosef HaTzaddik doesn't cry when he finds himself in an Egyptian jail. Yosef HaTzaddik doesn't cry when he is promoted to be the viceroy of Egypt, and even though you'd think that's a good thing. It's a terribly lonely place to be if you're literally in Erevus Arutz. You're in the lowest place in the world, and you're mamish lonely. You know who you are. You're a tzaddik, and you have nobody there. We find no mention of Yosef HaTzaddik crying. So it's a fascinating thing. On the one hand, Yosef HaTzaddik is—he cries all the time. Eight times in the Torah he cries. I don't know if there's anybody in the Torah that cries as much as Yosef HaTzaddik. But when does he start to cry? He doesn't start to cry until his brothers come down to Mitzrayim. Before that, Yosef HaTzaddik isn't crying at all—not when we would expect him to be.

16:17 What's the pshat here? Perhaps the pshat is as follows: There are three different experiences. There's an experience of emotional distance—that's the experience of the Shvatim. There's an experience of Yaakov Avinu, who is so deeply in touch with his pain. That he's crying the entire time inconsolably for 22 years But there is a third dimension. This is the dimension of Yosef HaTzaddik. Not that he's not in pain But the pain is sometimes so great in our lives that we can't access the tears that we have. There's such a thing as a person being so broken. And they have no vessel to express the pain they're in. It requires tremendous work in a person's life to be able to access their tears, not only to be able to access their emotions, but to be able to give language to the tears that we have inside of us. There's a beautiful line that I sometimes use when I'm speaking to someone, a talmud, whoever it is, a client. A line that I heard from a very dear friend of mine. Sometimes we notice that when somebody is speaking to us

17:38 That they'll sometimes stop speaking and their eyes will well up with tears. And what we often notice is that people choke down those tears. I think that's the best expression to choke down those tears. Have you ever seen people gulp and swallow? They're literally swallowing their tears. They bring their tears back into their eyes. And a beautiful line that I heard from my friend is, "If those tears could speak, what would they say?" And you'll notice if you ever share this line, and it's a beautiful line to share with someone that you love. If you ever share this line with someone, you'll see the tears just start pouring out, and it's like at that moment they have a Yosef HaTzaddik, that Yosef HaTzaddik can't hold back anymore, and the tears pour out. Then after the tears come, the speech comes. Then they can tell you what the tears mean.

18:32 But you have to be able to give language, to give a vessel for these tears to pour out, before a person can actually give language to what's going on. Yosef HaTzaddik, for us, we're speaking for us. Obviously, Yosef HaTzaddik was an unbelievable tzadik. We have no idea who he was. But for us, what message is the Torah communicating to us? Perhaps the message the Torah is communicating to us is as follows: It's not that Yosef Tzaddik was not in pain when he was in the bar. For sure, he was in pain, and that's why the brothers even recognize later he was an unbelievable tsar, he was an unbelievable distress, and he begged us. That's what the lesson says. Beis Chanunot. He begged us to take him out, but in what way did Yosef HaTzaddik beg? What did that look like? So perhaps we can suggest as follows: He wasn't crying; he was begging.

19:29 But he wasn't crying. He was saying Please, don't do this to me. But there wasn't a he wasn't really communicating what he was going through in that moment, not because he wasn't going through something But because it takes a tremendous amount to actually communicate what you're going through in such a moment, to be deeply in touch with your pain in the moment that you are searching for your brothers, and your brother's response is to throw you in a pit. Yosef Hadadik did not yet have the language for that. That was something that the brothers, Yosef Hadadik would need to develop, and that the brothers would need to develop also over time. We know that the brothers could not speak with Yosef Etzadik. They hated him. They hated him so much. The pasuk says, "Vayiru Echov ki oso av avi mi kol echov vayisnu oso v'lo yachlu davar l'shalom." Yosef Etzadik, his relationship with his father was so beautiful, and Yaakov loved Yosef so much that the brothers were very jealous and they couldn't speak with him.

20:35 When a person learns to access their own tears When a person learns to give language to what's going on in his inner world That is the restoration of speech, not only for yourself but also for others. Which is why, at the very end of the story, the Yosef HaTzaddik kisses his brothers, and what does he do? Yosef HaTzaddik cries with them And now the brothers are able to speak to him. It's a fascinating thing. In the beginning of the story, the brothers are exceptionally jealous. They can't bring themselves to speak. Why? Why couldn't these big tzaddikim sit down and talk to one another? The answer is because they were not deeply in touch with what was going on. If you had asked the brothers in that moment, 'Are you jealous of Yosef HaTzaddik?' They would have said, 'Absolutely not. We don't have a jealous bone in our bodies.' And they weren't lying to themselves. They were being as real as they possibly could have been in that moment. The Torah is telling us that they were jealous. They did not know that they were jealous. They sat on a bezdin. They said, 'We can sit on a bezdin about our brother.'

21:53 We're not involved in this in an emotional way. We're able to paskin this. That's the way the brothers thought of themselves. They didn't know. They said, 'We can't speak to him. It's about Yosef HaTzaddik.' There was so much unspoken. There was so much unspoken between them. They didn't know. They couldn't speak to each other. There was no language to speak to each other. Why not? Because they were not in touch with what was really going on. It requires a Yosef HaTzaddik, someone who comes deeply in self, with access to his emotional world. And then the Acharechin dibru echavito. Yosef HaTzaddik was so in touch with himself. He cried with them, and because they saw someone who was so deeply in self, there was a tikkun of all of those words that had never been spoken, all of the things that they had inside of them. It finally came rushing out. The relationship was restored. Why? Because he kissed them. Because he cried with them.

22:51 Says the Ben Ish Chai, an unbelievable word. I'm sure many of you have heard it before. We're going to try to take it a little bit deeper tonight. The Ben Ish Chai says an unbelievable thing. There are two dippings. We know there's two dippings at the seder. There's the dipping of karbas. There's the dipping of mar. There's the dipping of karbas in salt water. There's the dipping of mar in haroses. The first dipping of the seder is the karbas, is that vegetable in salt water? Says the ben ish chai. That dipping is a symbol. It's a recognition of the first dipping that ever happens in the Torah. Namely, it's the dipping of the k'sinus pasim in the blood. That's what's happening over here. Karpas is a reference to the dipping. He says of the k'sonas pasim from the brothers into the blood that would ultimately trick Yaakov Avinu. Where do we find a reference to this? Where do we see that karpas is related to the k'sonas pasim? Rashi says, what does pasim mean? Lashon kli melas como karpas utchelas. It's a fine woolen garment. And what is it made of? Green wool. Green wool, like we see in Megillas Esther.

24:02 Karpas utchelis. Karpas means it was made of green wool. Karpas is a reference to the Ksinos Passim. Says the Ben Ish Chai. We need to restore. We need to be metakin. We need to rectify the sin of Mechiras Yosef. That's what's going on at the Pesach Seder. The sin of Mechiras Yosef is present at the Pesach Seder. Now it's fascinating. We generally think of the Pesach Seder as having nothing to do with Mechiras Yosef. If we think of the Pesach Seder as Klal Yisrael leaving Mitzrayim, it's true. But where did Galus begin? Galus did not begin when Klal Yisrael was already in Mitzrayim. Galus began when Yosef HaTzaddik was sold down into Mitzrayim. The beginning of the Pesach Seder, the Karpas, is a reference to the Ksyanus Pasim. The fact that the shvatim dipped the ksinas pasim in blood is what's being recognized here at the very beginning of the seder when it comes to carpas.

25:03 And the salt water, the Ben Ish Chai says, is a reference to the tears of Yaakov Avinu That Yaakov Avinu was crying over the fact that they dipped the ksinas pasim in blood. But I'd like to share with you, perhaps, jumping off the approach of the Ben Ish Chai, which obviously is exceptionally beautiful and certainly not my place to say anything. The Ben Ish Chai said everything that needs to be said. But ain beis medish v'lo chidush. There is no base medish that doesn't have a chidush. So perhaps let's, following in the ways of the Ben Ish Chai, try to take this a little bit deeper. We know that the Torah tells us, 'Vayikchu vayishluchu.' Also, 'Habora v'habarik ain ba'mayim.' That Yosef HaTzaddik was thrown into a pit by his brothers, and there was no water in the pit. And we know Chazal darshan. Mayim embo, avon nuchashim veakravim yeshbo. There were some mistakes in the text, but there was no water.

25:54 Many ask the question, a stunning question. Just because there's no water in the pit, that means there was nuchashim and akravim. Maybe it was an empty pit. Many of us have walked by empty pits. What's the pshat? I would like to add on to that question. Every bar has to have mayim. Every bar has to have ma'ayim. Not every bar has to have ma'ayim. Maybe it was just a deep, empty pit. What does it mean that there was no water in the pit? So I'd like to suggest: What does it mean there was no water in the pit? It means there were no tears. It doesn't just mean that there was no water for Yosef Hatzadik to tread water in. It means there was no tears. There was no tears from Yosef Hatzadik in that moment, and there were no tears of the brothers in that moment. And that's how Chazal could say, "Nechoshem ve'akravim yeshpo." The pit of light. When a person finds themselves in a pit, when a person finds themselves in a place where they're trapped, in a certain way, Mitzrayim means to be trapped. We're trapped in the constriction of Mitzrayim. The first person to be trapped is Yosef Hatzadik. He's trapped in a miniature Mitzrayim. Before he goes down into Mitzrayim large, he's trapped in his own little Mitzrayim. He's trapped in a pit, and there's no mayim in that pit.

27:05 The Shvatim are not crying over what's happening. Yosef HaTzaddik is not crying over what's happening. What happens in such a place when a person is trapped in their life and they have no access to their emotional world? They have no access to what's going on. Nechoshem v'akravim yeshbo. You should know that's a very dangerous pit. That's a pit that has an unbelievable amount of snakes and scorpions in it. When a person does not have access to their inner world, when a person doesn't know emotionally what's going on, when they can't connect deeply with all of their faculties, intellectually and emotionally, when they can't speak it out, it's a very dangerous place that a person is in. There, mamish, there's a sense of I'm under attack from the world. Yosef HaTzaddik may have very well been in an empty pit, but to be in an empty pit where a person is trapped by the brothers that he seeks to connect to without emotional language, nechashem v'akravim yeshbo, that's mamish a very dangerous pit.

28:04 I want to share with you a stunning vort from Avodas Yisrael when the brothers recognized that they had done something wrong. Look what it says: Avodas Yisrael points out that's six alifs in a row. That's a very unusual thing in the Torah. Ish el achiv aval ashemim anachnu. That's six alifs in a row. Says the Avodah of Yisrael. We'll do a little bit of Chassidus over here. Beautiful Chassidus. Six Alephs in a row. We know that Yosef Hatzadik is the Mida of Yisod Tzadik Yisod Olam. Yosef Hatzadik is the paradigmatic Tzadik, and so Yosef Hatzadik is connected deeply with the Mida of Yisod. When we look at the Spheros, there's Chesed, Gevura, Tiferes, Netzachod, Yisod. Yisod is the sixth of the Spheros. So the sixth midah is the midah of Yisod. Yosef Hatzadik is begeimatria 156 Which is six times the sheim havayer, six times the sheim yud kevavkei.

29:07 What are the brothers recognizing here? Says the Avodah Zisrael, we know that an aleph is made up of two yuds and a vav. An aleph is begeimatria 26. It's made up of two yuds and a vav. The brothers understood. What did they do when they sold Yosef Hatzadik down to Mitzrayim? What did they do when they threw Yosef Hatzadik in the pit? I'm not sure what happened there on my end. The brothers understood that they broke the letter Aleph. That's what they had done. They had, on some level, broken the level Aleph. What is the word Aleph? What does it require? It requires a tikkun. Why dafkas six times? Because six times Yud Kevavke is Vegematria Yosef HaTzaddik. So Yosef, which is 156 Which is six times the Sheim Avayah. There has to be a restoration of those six Alephs. This is a recognition that when we cause pain to our brother, we're breaking the aleph. How do we break the aleph? An aleph is made of two yuds and a vav. That vav hakibbur, that vav in between. That's where we're. That's what we break. When we don't cry with our brother, when our brother is in pain and we're not along, we're not able to access his pain along with him. When we're not able to access the pain inside of ourselves.

30:35 Mamelo, we understand. We started off with a question: What does the Ksinos Passim have to do with Kriyas Yamsuf? And we said Passim is Pass Yam. The Medrash says the Ksinos Passim created the rift. It's true. When Yaakov Avinu gave that Ksinos Passim to Yosef Hatzadik, it created a tremendous rift between the Shvatim. But it also did something else. It gave them the opportunity to heal that rift, to bridge the divide. It gave them the opportunity to heal that aleph, to reconnect those two yods with that vav. This was the whole yisoid of the story. The story of Yosef Etzadik and his brothers is not just the story of brothers moving apart from one another. It's yes, there's an initial movement of moving apart, but ultimately there's a restoration of that aleph. Ultimately, the brothers must come back together. This says the medrash is what's really going on over here. The Ksinos Passim tore them apart, but ultimately, when they healed that rift, it created a different type of rift—a rift that would bring them to Matan Torah. Because when there was a rift in the sea

31:38 When there was a splitting of the sea, that's how Klal Yisrael was able to get across. There was a holy rift. The Ksinos Passim was initially an unholy rift; it created an unholy divide. But when they were mending that rift, when they were able to cry with each other, it allowed for another rift to be brought into this world, and that was the rift of Kreias Yamsuf that brings Klal Yisrael to Matan Torah. With this in mind, I think we can start to understand the very interesting order that the Seder has. We know that it goes carpas, yachatz, magid, ra'chza, motzi matza, and then maror. So what's going on over here? We already said carpas is the sale of Yosef. What is Yachatz a reference to? Perhaps we could suggest that Yachatz, the breaking of that broken matzah, the breaking of that bread is the bread that Yosef HaTzaddik, the bread that the Shvatim ate while Yosef HaTzaddik was being thrown into the pit. Meaning Yosef HaTzaddik is sitting in the pit and they're breaking bread with one another. This is Yachatz. That's a very unholy breaking of the bread.

32:44 But we also know that there was a rectification. We also know that eventually tears were cried with each other, and we said that tears give us the ability to speak. Once we're able to access our emotional world, what comes next? Then we're actually able to speak words to each other. We're actually able to articulate what's happening inside of ourselves. That's the next step, which is magid. Magid means that we're having recognized the tears that were not cried. And rectifying those tears, now we're able to speak to each other. That's Pesach. Pesach is the liberation of speech. That's Yosef and his brothers ultimately being able to speak again. This brings us to Motzi Matza. We know that we have Lechem Mishna. Lechem Mishna is that there were two lechems. There's not one lechem. There's two lechems. What are the two lechems? We said VeYeshvu Yechol Lechol Lechem. That was the first breaking of the bread. When Yosef HaTzaddik was sitting in the pit, but there is another time that Yosef and his brothers ate bread. When was that? When the brothers came down to Mitzrayim, the pasuk says, "Va'yachinu es a mincha ad bo Yosef b'tzahrayim kishamu kisham yochlu lechem." That the brothers prepared a gift until Yosef would come by lunchtime, because they heard what they would be doing with Yosef HaTzaddik.

34:02 They heard that they would be eating bread. There's two lechems in our story. There's the lechem that the brothers eat when Yosef HaTzaddik is sitting in the pit. But then there's also another meal. There's a meal that the brothers eat together. Listen to this unbelievable Torah from the Megala Amukos. We know we're chayev to have lechem mishnah every single Shabbos. Says the Megala Amukos, lechem is begematria seventy eight. Two lechems, because we're talking about lechem mishnah. Two lechems. Is 156 Which is the same gematria as Yosef. It's an unbelievable thing that there's two lechems. Every single Shabbos we get together, we sit at a Shabbos table together. By Pesach, by the Seder, we sit at the whole family sits together at the table. And what do we do? We have lechem mishnah. Yosef Hatzadik is called the mishnah lemelek. We have a bread that recognizes the pain that we caused to Yosef Hatzadik. And what does that bring us to? That brings us to the next step. That brings us to the step of maror.

35:03 What is maror? Maror is we dip again, but this time we dip our pain in something sweet. Listen to the words of the Ben Ish Chai. Unbelievable words. Ule kachtem agudas ezov utvaltem badam. There is a second dipping. The first dipping we said was the dipping of the sinas pasim in blood. There's a second dipping where Klal Yisrael is instructed to take a bundle of hyssop and dip it in blood. Again, we have a dipping in blood. What's going on over here? Something changed this time, so we know that David HaMelech. We say David HaMelech says Tichtaeni be'ezov vetar. That David HaMelech sings in Tehillim. He says Tichtaeni means cleanse me. Cleanse me with this ezov, ezov this hisap. It's a detergent. It's something that's meant to clean you. So why are Klal Yisrael instructed to take an Agudas Eizov? Because we're instructed to cleanse ourselves. To cleanse ourselves from what?

36:05 To cleanse ourselves from the dipping of the Ksinos Pasim in blood. And how do we do that? Aguda. It has to be a bundle. It's not enough to take a little bit. You have to gather it together and make a bundle out of it. Why? Because how does a Yid cleanse himself? What does it mean that we cleanse ourselves? To cleanse ourselves of Mechiras Yosef means that we have to join together. That we have to be willing to see each other. This is why Rav Chaim Wasserman says that. How could it be? Famous Kasha of Rav Chaim Wasserman. How could it be that there's blood libels throughout history? What's the midah kineged midah? Why do we have blood libels throughout history? Says Rav Chaim Wasserman, we mamish a yid stays so far away from eating blood. We check our eggs. We do everything we can not to eat any blood. We salt our meat. We're so careful about this. Where was there a makom for a blood libel? What have we done wrong? Says Rav Chaim Wasserman, we're still suffering from mechiras yosef. We're still suffering from dipping the shaynus pasim into blood. We're still not acting as a goodas eizov.

37:09 We have to gather ourselves together if we want to rectify the ksinus pasim. Then there has to be marror. We have to take one bundle, agudas eizov. We have to dip it in something sweet. We have to sweeten that which is currently bitter. The chait of mechir rasiyosef continues to hound us until today. The Yerushalmi says kol yisrael is guf echad. The nature of a Jew is that we are one body. Gulus is a reality where we exist in a fractured state. Because we exist in a fractured state, things aren't the way they're supposed to be. If we existed in our normal state, which is goof echad, then we would naturally return to a state of geula. When do the brothers cry? Because we know Yehakivinu was crying the entire time. Excuse me. Yaakov Avinu is crying the entire time. Yosef HaTzaddik eventually gets his tears.

38:08 When do the Shvatim get their tears? Says the Svarno, an unbelievable thing. The Svarno says later on in Nach when there's a civil war between Klal Yisrael and Shevet Binyamin. Once again, we have somebody from Mamre Rachel, and there's a fight between Klal Yisrael, between the Shvatim and Binyamin because of Pileges BeGiver. And they go to war and they win and they destroy Shevet Binyamin. But listen to what the Navi tells us. What happened? They came to Beit El and they sat there before Hakadosh Baruch Hu until the night and they wept. They wailed. They were crying inconsolably. They turned to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and they said,"Why is this happening? Why is it happening that one tribe is missing from Klal Yisrael? Meaning, ultimately, the Shvatim do find their voice. Also, they do find their tears, even though once again they have to paskin and they have to say,'We have to wipe out Shevet Benyamin. We have to because of Pileges BeGivah.' But they cried this time. What was the problem? We asked earlier in the Shir, what did the Shvatim do wrong? They sat on a bezdin." Hakadosh Baruch was on a bezdin. What was the problem? The problem was they didn't cry.

39:33 The problem was not that they paskened. The problem was that they didn't cry. You have to pasken. You have to pasken your brother for misa. That's okay. But say there's sometimes we have to do that. But you have to cry when you're doing it. I want to read to you a letter. I want to read to you a letter. I'm going to tell you afterwards who wrote this letter. But I want to read to you a letter. I wish to publicly express my terrible pain about this issue. Maybe there will be found people who will take this matter to heart, and my effort will not have been in vain. I am greatly pained that argumentation has proliferated among the Jewish people. Jews, talmidei chachamim, are fighting with one another. Every day there are new factions and factions of factions that emerge to contest with one another. All of this is done publicly.

40:21 They print articles, they print kolkhoze proclamations, each backing up their particular points of view. They spread these articles, pamphlets, and posters to every corner. This person gathers the signatures to support his position, and this person gathers signatures to support his position. Each side heaps scorn on the other side of the dispute, back and forth. The result of all this is that the entire exile has become one huge bonfire, lit up with the fire of dispute. Not a single day passes where such publications do not reach my hand, bashing one side or the other. Papers and publications Each heaping scorn and shame on the opposing position. This greatly pains me that also in our holy land these actions of the satan have been successful. It too has fallen into the trap of machlokes. Each side feels that they have the truth with them, and that is only the opposing camp which is causing machlokes. Each side feels they are totally righteous and will not in any way be punished for causing such machlokes. This is a great mistake.

41:25 Every machlokes, even one which starts out l'shem shamayim, is vulnerable to having the human element of "I need to win" take over. This is the inevitable nature of machlokes. You're not going to believe who wrote that letter. It's not a modern letter. You could read such a letter today from a gadol be yisrael. You wouldn't be surprised. You'd think such a letter was written in 2026. The Chafetz Chaim wrote this letter. The Chafetz Chaim wrote this letter And I imagine that there were Gedolim that wrote such letters before the Chafetz Chaim. We continue to do this over and over again. And we don't understand what's happening. We turn around and we say, how could this be happening in Klal Yisrael? How could we be sitting there? And missiles are falling down on our teino Hakadosh. How could it be that the rebbeinu shalom allows one missile to fall? How could it be that yidden are running to mamadim, to miklato? How could it be that we're living in such a universe?

42:26 We know the answer. The gedolei have told us the answer for generations. It's mepurish and psukim. It's not a problem that the brothers pass and lemiso. There are times when we have to do such things. But says the Chafetz Chaim, don't think you're doing it l'shem Shamayim. It starts off l'shem Shamayim, and then it moves from there. And we write these kalkores, and you think you're on your side, and you think you're on your side. Are we crying for our brothers when we issue such a kalkore? Do we cry? First of all, we shouldn't issue them. But when we take a stand against our brothers, do we cry? It's easy to sit there and go that's the left That's the left, that's the Zionist, that's the Charedim. It's very easy to sit in our separate camps and heap scorn upon one another. It's very easy to do it. Are we crying when we take our position? Are we crying over the fact that I have a position that's different than my brother? Are we talking to each other? We're living out Mechiras Yosef every single day. We're not crying for each other.

43:23 And we need to do a better job of crying for each other. Because if we don't do a better job of crying for each other, this is going to continue. The Chid of Mechiras Yosef traps us in every single generation. We're waiting to get to a place where, like the Shvatim, we can cry for the fact that. If I have to take a position against one of my brothers, if I have to stand up and say I'm sorry. Mila Hashem Eli, and I have to draw a line in the sand and I have to say I'm sorry. L'shem Shamayim, we can't do this. Are we crying over the fact that our brother is in pain? Are we crying over the fact that I have to stand separate from my brother? The Gemara in Brachos 32b. I'm Rav Elazar. From the times the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed, the gates of Tefillah have been closed.

44:18 But even though the gates of Tefillah have been shut The gates of tears have not been shut. I'd like to suggest And I don't think that this is too much gaiya to suggest. Maybe a little bit of geiver, but I don't think too much. We're definitely davening. There's no doubt we're definitely davening to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the matzav here in Eretz Yisrael. But are we crying? Tefillah will not work. The bais hamikdash is destroyed. And why was the bais hamikdash destroyed? Because of sanaschinim. The gates of tefillah are closed. What does that mean? Does that mean a yid shouldn't daven? Of course a yid should daven. A yid should always daven. What could be more precious than a yid that's davening? The chareidim are not closed. And who do we cry for? Do we cry for ourselves? We have to cry for each other. The same way that the Gemara says that a person who davenes for somebody else will be answered first.

45:19 Someone who cries for somebody else will surely be answered first. This is what's waiting. This is the only thing that's left. Is the cry, like Yosef and Binyamin, crying on each other's shoulders over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and the Mishkan in their respective territories. They weren't crying for themselves. They were crying for each other. A lot has been made, and I think justifiably so, about some of these ads that have gone out. I understand parents want their children back in America. They want to bring them home from yeshivas and seminaries. I understand. There's there's a there's a dangerous massive right now in Israel. I understand But some of these ads are despicable. To portray, I don't know if you've seen the ads. To portray, I don't know if they were portraying Iran burning or Israel burning. But flights taking off. A little sensitivity to those of us who live here.

46:12 A little sensitivity that Beseder, you want to bring your child home? I understand But that's my home that you're running away from. Where my children will still be here, where today on my way to cheder with my little boy, because they don't have cheder in school, because they have cheder in apartments now, because we have to make sure that there's a miklat, that there's a mamad that every child could run to. We're running chadarim because we want the boys to continue to learn Torah, because what could be more beautiful than that? And we want the boys also to be able. It's not healthy for them to be home without any friends for weeks at a time. So Baruch Hashem, they're running the chadarim. In homes where there's enough space for all of the children to go into a mamad, and the rebbe is being ma'aser nefesh to come. And I'm walking my little son. Not making this up. I'm walking my son this morning to cheder. We were a little bit late to cheder this morning.

47:00 And a siren went off. And I said to my son, "We're not going to run. It's more dangerous to run. We're close enough to the home. We're going to walk." So we walked for another 30 seconds, and then we made it into the base into the building, and then we made an executive decision to walk upstairs to walk into the apartment where all the children were already gathered in the mamad. A little sensitivity for those of us that are still living here. A little sensitivity for those of us that 90 seconds means something different. And I know that nobody chas v'shalom had any insensitivity about 90 seconds. If you know what I'm talking about, Graden. If not, not. I'm sure nobody had any insensitivity. But maybe that's part of the problem. There was no insensitivity, but maybe there was no sensitivity either. If you need to take your kid home, be there.

47:47 That's I understand that. Maybe I would do the same thing if I was in your position. But a little sensitivity to those of us that live here. Are we crying tears for each other? Even within Eritrea, are we crying tears for each other? That we hear that a missile landed, and is it just like we have to continue to go about our day? We do have to continue to go about our day because that's how we live here. But how could it be? That in moments like this, we won't cry for each other. How could it be that we continue eating our cereal? We have to deeply connect to each other. We have to understand that we are. We can take responsibility again. We don't take responsibility for Hashem's plan, but we can take responsibility for ourselves. We know that we've continued the sin of Mechirah Yosef. We know that we did. We did that. We knew that we divided ourselves up into separate camps, and we made kol kaires, and we were very proud of ourselves, and we had big positions, and we put yidden in pits. We said, 'You, you go into that pit. You're not like us. You go into that pit.'

48:43 And we know that we didn't cry And maybe we were justified, and probably we weren't. But maybe even if we did feel we were justified, did it kill us? Did it pain us? That we can't sit together at one table? That we sit there at our Shabbos suda, and that there are yidden that don't come to our Shabbos suda? I'm reminded of the famous word from the Labavitcher Rebbe. The Labavitcher Rebbe was upset. In the 80s and 90s, I think it was maybe in the 80s that there was some movement from the federation that they wanted to leave a chair open at the Pesach Seder for Russian Jewry. And the Lubavitcher Rebbe said How could you have a chair, an empty chair, at your Pesach Seder? How could you not invite another Jew to participate at your Pesach Seder? Our Pesach Seder is lacking. We're not yet sitting at one table. We're eating bread, but we're not eating lechem mishna.

49:30 We haven't invited those who are not like ourselves yet to our shtaram. And I don't just mean into our Pesach Seder, and I don't just mean to our Shabbos table. I mean into our lives. And in the meantime, while we've created these factions and divisions, it's reasonable that we've divided ourselves up because there are difficult conversations that we have to have. We've divided ourselves up into opinions, and that makes sense. But since when do varying opinions mean that we can't sit at the same table? That's 2026 nonsense. Yidden have always been able to argue with each other and to be able to sit at the same table and to love each other. Sometimes it takes October 7th to shake us up. But sometimes I wonder What happens when an October 7th isn't enough? That you could have missiles raining down from Iran, and there's a sense of okay, but stay there. There's the Iron Dome.

50:21 The Iron Dome is not going to give us any protection. The Iron Dome is not going to give us even one little, not even a fraction of protection. It's going to give us protection al derech ateva, and that's chashev. I'm not saying that it's not chashev. It's pashev, but if we continue to sit at separate tables, the Iron Dome is not going to be able to do anything for us because the Iron Dome is just the representation of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world. We have tremendous hakaras tov for the Iron Dome. We have tremendous hakaras tov to every single soldier, but we also know that there's a spiritual battle that's being fought over here, and we have to win the spiritual battle as well as the physical battle. The spiritual battle requires from us a second dipping. A dipping of the maror into the charoset, to sweeten that which is bitter. There's a bitterness that exists in Eretz Yisrael today, that we're still sitting across from each other. We don't yet know how to sit at the same table.

51:09 We have to stop because it's nonsense and it's narishkeit. There is no difference between us. We're guf echad. We have varying opinions, but Seder let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's be deeply in touch with ourselves. We can't talk about it because we can't cry for each other. A yid can only go out of Eretz Yisrael when they're yotzei the mitzvah of magid. We have to tell our stories. We have to be able to talk. Pesach, the redemption of speech. Yiratam of Ne'avinu Shabashamayim, be a Kadosh Baruch Hu's will that this year More than any other year, as we're getting closer and closer to the coming of Mashiach That our speech should be liberated And that our speech will be liberated through the crying of tears, not for ourselves but for each other. And beez Hashem to be zeich to sweeten that which is bitter, and to finally rectify the sin of Mechiras Yosef. Have a beautiful Pesach. May we be zaychur to greet Mashiach that came with this Pesach together. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. It was amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Alto everyone. Rabbi Breitman People ask a question.