Our Dual Relationship with Hashem
There is an undeniable bond between the mitzvah of offering the korban pesach and the mitzvah of bris milah. They are the only two positive commandments whose violation elicits the punishment of kareis, and as perhaps alluded to by the grave consequences levied against those who neglect these two mitzvos, they are both arguably indispensable ingredients to the Jewish experience. The pasuk states in Parshas Bo, "And should a convert reside with you, he shall make a Passover sacrifice to Hashem," (Shemos 12, 48) from which the Medrash cited by Rashi initially infers that aside from the bris milah and immersion in a mikvah, every convert must offer a korban pesach immediately upon his conversion, no matter what time of year the conversion occurs. The Medrash ultimately rejects this suggestion, but the Meshech Chochma concludes nonetheless that a convert can substitute the korban pesach in place of the typical korban offered by every convert upon their conversion. The relationship between korban pesach and bris milah is further underscored when we consider the unique exclusion "but no uncircumcised male may partake of it", that no uncircumcised Jewish male may participate in the korban pesach. Perhaps these two mitzvos are so intertwined and so central because they represent two critical dimensions to our relationship with Hashem.[1]
The bris milah represents a personal commitment to serving Hashem, modeled after Avraham Avinu who was the first person to perform bris milah, and who independently discovered and forged a relationship with Hashem amidst a polytheistic culture. Whereas the korban Pesach corresponds to the birth of the Jewish nation and is a response to our shared experience of leaving Mitzrayim as a people. This is the platform through which we relate to Hashem not as individuals but as a member of the Bnei Yisrael. Every Jew as well as every successful convert must subscribe to these two notions. It is not sufficient to create a personal relationship with the Almighty represented by the bris milah, but we must also intimately identify with the history of the Jewish people signified by the korban Pesach. Additionally, the Gemara (Yevamos 47a) mandates that we question interested candidates for conversion, "'What reason have you for desiring to become a convert; do you not know that Israel, at the present time, is persecuted and oppressed, despised, harassed and overcome by afflictions?" Rav Soloveitchik once suggested that perhaps we inform all potential converts of our standing within the world not because we seek to discourage them, but rather to give them the opportunity to connect with our national identity and destiny, which is a critical component of the conversion process and our relationship with Hashem.
The Blood of the Korban Pesach and the Blood of Bris Milah
Indeed, it was in the merit of the these two mitzvos, and these two aspects to our relationship with Hashem, that we were redeemed from Mitrzayim. Rashi (Shemos 12, 6) cites the Medrash which interprets the pasuk "but you were naked and bare" (Yechezkel 16, 7) as reflecting the Jewish people's inferior spiritual status and their unworthiness to be redeemed. In order to elevate Bnei Yisrael and justify their redemption, Hashem provided us with these two mitzvos, "And I passed by you and saw you downtrodden with your blood, and I said to you, 'With your blood, live,' and I said to you, 'With your blood, live" (ibid 6), referring to the blood of the korban pesach and the blood of bris milah. Targum Yonasan continues that for this reason the blood from both these mitzvos was mixed and placed on the doorpost during the plague of the firstborn. This is perhaps alluded to in the language of the pasuk, which repeats the word "blood" twice, "And the blood will be for you for a sign upon the houses where you will be, and I will see the blood and skip over you," (Shemos 12, 13) referring to both the blood of the korban pesach as well as the blood of bris milah. The Alshich Hakadosh adds that for this reason the blood was placed "on the two doorposts and on the lintel" (12, 7), the two doorposts representing Moshe and Aharon, the leaders of the Jewish nation and our relationship with Hashem as part of the Bnei Yisrael, and the lintel corresponds to Hashem, representing our direct, individual, and personal commitment to Hashem.
However, the blood of these two mitzvos was mixed and placed on the doorpost together, perhaps indicating that these are not two separate notions and dimensions to our relationship with Hashem but one in the same. Each aspect of this relationship informs and compliments the other. In that sense, we must personalize our commemoration of yetzias Mitzrayim through our participation in the korban Pesach and by extension the entire seder experience. We must take the national story of yetzias Mitrzayim and make it our own individual narrative as well, by peppering it with instances of divine intervention and divine providence that we have personally witnessed and benefited from in our own lives. It has been widely observed, that the text of Haggadah has more commentaries than almost any other Jewish text, rivaled only by the Torah itself. Every group, every sect, and every yeshivah, within the Jewish community, has their own observations and interpretations of the Pesach story and the text of the Haggadah. Perhaps this reflects the measure of personal input that we are required to bring to bear on the night of the seder. Through the lens and inspiration of retelling and reexperiencing the story of yetizas Mitrzaym on the night of the seder, every one of us is enjoined to reflect on our own personal encounters with the hand of Hashem, the yad Hashem, and how that has facilitated our own personal arc and destiny.
Moshe's Unique Story
After the plague of hail, Moshe threatened Pharoh that if he did not immediately release the Jewish people he would suffer a plague of locusts. The Ramban and Baalei Hatosfos note that prior to all the other plagues Hashem informed Moshe as to the nature of the ensuing plague. However, with regards to the plague of locusts, we don't find any such prior notification. How was Moshe able to correctly predict that the next plague would be locusts if Hashem didn't inform him beforehand? The Ramban claims that just like the other plagues, Hashem must have informed Moshe earlier even though it is not recorded in the text itself. The Baalei Hatosfos suggest that all the plagues were alluded to on Moshe's staff through the abbreviated inscription, detzach, adash, beachav. Rav Shimshon from Ostropol brilliantly suggests that the plague of locusts, arbeh, is foreshadowed in the words "come to Pharoh", "bo el Paroh" (Shemos 9, 1). The word "bo" is spelled beis aleph, and the letters beis and peh as well as aleph and ayin are interchangeable since they are formed with the same part of the mouth. Therefore, he suggests that the pasuk "bo el Paroh" was instructing Moshe to switch the letters beis and aleph of "bo" for their counterparts in the word "Paroh", spelled peh reish ayin heh, which if rearranged yields the letters aleph reish beis heh, or arbeh, locusts. The Chasam Sofer takes an even more novel approach when he submits that the plague of locusts was in fact Moshe's own idea! After the first seven plagues were successfully dictated by Hashem and implemented by Moshe, Moshe was given the latitude to concoct his own punishment for the Egyptians, and he chose locusts. This provided Moshe with a personal and unique perspective on yetizas Mitrayim, and a part of the story that was not shared with anyone else.
Perhaps, for this reason that pasuk states, "in order that you tell into the ears of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians ... and you will know that I am Hashem" (Shemos 10, 2). The pasuk begins in the singular, "your son," and concludes in the plural "you will know." The Belzer Rebbe explains that this is because in the generation of those who left Egypt the only person whose children did not experience yetizas Mitzrayim firsthand was Moshe, whose children who were still in Midyan at the time. Therefore, the pasuk begins in the singular, because initially the only person out of all of the Bnei Yisrael who had a mitzvah to recount the story of yetzias Mitzrayim to their children was Moshe. (This might explain why Moshe's name does not appear throughout the entire text of the Haggadah, because Moshe himself was the original narrator of the story). Nonetheless, the pasuk concludes in the plural, because in subsequent generations all Jews are bound by the duty to teach their children the story of the exodus. However, just like Moshe not only told his children the generic story of the yetzias Mitrzayim, but also his own personal individual account, so too, each one of us must share with our children as well our own unique perspective and personal insight. Only if we color the story of yetzias Mitrzyaim with our own individual experiences and encounters with the yad Hashem, thereby fulfilling the first part of the pasuk, "tell into the ears of your son", can our children be successful in attaining the conclusion of the pasuk, "and you will know that I am Hashem."
Shabbos Hagadol
The Tur explains that the Shabbos prior to Pesach is known as Shabbos Hagadol, the Great Shabbos, because it was on the Shabbos prior to yetzias Mitrzayim that the Bnei Yisrael designated their sheep for the korban pesach, thereby fulfilling the pasuk "draw forth or buy for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter the Passover sacrifice" (Shemos 12, 21). This was indeed a great miracle because the sheep were worshipped as a deity in Egypt, and yet the Egyptians did not protest when the Bnei Yisrael designated thousands of sheep for slaughter. However, the Medrash observes that the pasuk begins "draw forth", because even amongst the Bnei Yisrael, there were still individuals who were worshipping avodah zara. Therefore, before designating a sheep for the korban pesach Moshe instructed them to withdraw their hand, and to cease and desist their practices of avodah zara. However, this is somewhat difficult to understand, after all, Bnei Yisrael were now standing at the culmination of the process of the redemption. How could it be that Moshe waited until this late stage before instructing them to abandon their practices of avodah zarah?
Rav Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (Eish Kodesh) explains that of coarse Bnei Yisrael had renounced their practices of idol worship long ago, but upon their introduction and exposure to the mitzvah of korban pesach, Moshe was encouraging them not to view the mitzvah as someone else's mitzvah, or as someone else's religion, as avodah zarah, a foreign service, but rather to embrace and make the mitzvah of korban pesach their own. Similarly, we must embrace and transform the national story of the seder night represented by the korban pesach, into our own personal narrative. The Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer comments that the pasuk repeats twice, "and I said to you, With your blood, live,' and I said to you, 'With your blood, live," because just like the redemption from Mitzrayim was precipitated by the unification of the mitzvos of bris milah and korban pesach representing the individual relationship with Hashem and our national relationship with Hashem, so too the final redemption will only materialize when we successfully integrate these two experiences and commitments. Therefore, on the Shabbos before Pesach we are reminded to personalize the Pesach story, to make it our own, because only in this way can we merit to transmit the story to the next generation and to ultimately be zoche to a geulah once again, bemheirah beyameinu amein!
[1] See also Korban Pesach: A Symbol of Faith and Commitment