A Very Pesach Quarantine

Let's try to learn something about Pesach that can help us in our current situation. The most basic message of the Pesach story is: Hashem wants something from us. Indeed, this point is so crucial that Hashem first so to speak 'introduces' Himself to the Jewish people as a whole at Har Sinai by the title of "I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of Egypt."1 That was Hashem's choice, as opposed to Creator of the universe, or the King of Kings, or The Omniscient. He wants to be known as the one who miraculously broke through nature to set us free from the worst situation. Why? because our mission is more important than all of creation.2

And there is a Mitzvah to relive the redemption once a year, and to recall it every day. It cuts to the core of our humanity and requires constant reinforcement. Everyone, without exception, feels that it's easier to believe Hashem is out there somewhere, in an abstract sense, than when it comes to our personal lives and the way we use our time on this earth; there it's a different story.

But we are supposed to have this issue. Man was created to experience his personal world as hidden from Hashem's objective reality. That personal space is undetermined, giving a sense of power and independence, and also of longing or even desperation. It is what drives us to create.

Here's one source for this idea. In Bereshis,3 after each day's creation, the Torah says "it was good", טוב. Only after the creation of Man something is added: "Behold, it was very good" והנה טוב מאוד. The Torah doesn't use the word "very" too often. When Hashem calls something good, it means exactly and absolutely good as much as it's possible for the subject described. So when He does say "very good," it requires extra explanation. The Midrash says the following:4

 'והנה טוב מאוד' - זה יצר הרע. וכי יצר הרע טוב מאוד. אתמהה. אלא שאלולי יצר הרע לא בנה אדם בית ולא נשא אישה ולא הוליד ולא נשא ונתן
('And Behold, very good' - this is the evil inclination. Is the evil inclination really very good? Rather, the intent is, if it were not for the evil inclination, Man would not build a house, Man would not marry and have children, Man would not engage in business...)

Perhaps as perplexing as it is explanatory, the Midrash says that the words "very good" appear after the creation of Man, not because of his intellect, talent, or sociability, but because of his יצר הרע, commonly translated as "evil inclination."

The root word יצר means to create. So יצר הרע actually means a creative power in Man for evil. As we began to explain above, Man's desire to create comes from the unique experience of his personal world as something undetermined and independent of everything else. Without conscientious direction, this limitless freedom to create leads to evil. In a world totally open to influence, you can change any rules or priorities, put yourself in the center, etc.

But it's actually a double-edged sword.5 We create our own reality, so it can be virtual and ephemeral, or sublime and heroic. That's what is "very" about Man. In Man there is more, so to speak than the good solely from Hashem's creation because there's also room for Man's creation.

The key to using this sword the right way lies in the message of Pesach. The Jewish people had been enslaved for several generations, immersed in a culture that negated their most fundamental principles, under circumstances where it was impossible to see Hashem's guiding hand. In that world, Hashem peeled away every layer of the screen that separated us from Him and clearly demonstrated His complete investment in us.

But we have a choice. We can choose to see our personal world as impenetrable, that given our issues we can't be held responsible or be expected to rise to the occasion, and that what matters for us is only relative to our perspective. But we can also consider the consequences of those choices, and we can ask what the significance of our little personal world is if it's isolated from the bigger picture.

We are taught that the word for man, אדם is purposefully the same letters as the word for very, מאד. In addition, אדם in gematria is 45, equivalent to the word מה, meaning 'what'. To be "very," to be מאד is essential to being human.6 But in order to live up to our mission, we must ask, as Hillel does in Pirkei Avos,7 כשאני לעצמי מה אני, "When I am just to myself, what am I?" When Man sees his independence and his power to create with humility and asks "מה?" what am I, what significance does my little world have? Hashem tells him, I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of Egypt, I am invested in you. And then he can truly create.

Rather than scrambling to ask 'Why is this happening?' 'What does Hashem want from me?' and becoming anxious and ineffective (or whatever your tendency for dysfunction may be), let us ask 'Does Hashem want something from me?' and כשאני לעצמי מה אני, "When I am just to myself, what am I?" The stronger our answers to those questions, the more we'll use our quarantine to become a different אדם.
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1. שמות כ ב
2. מהרל דרוש נאה לשבת הגדול/כוזרי
3. בראשית א לא
4. בראשית רבה ט ט
5. "עיין מהרל באר הגולה, באר שני "חרב שתי פיפיות
6. מהרל דרוש נאה לשבת הגדול
7. אבות א יד