Points To Ponder- Peasach

Why is it that most of the mitzvos of the Sedar are related to the mouth. We eat matzah, drink wine, say the haggadah etc.
Furthermore when we talk about the Korban Peasach (Reb Gamliel omar...) we talk about the point of eating it and not that of the korban aspect.

Why is it that the number four is so significant by the Sedar? Four sons, questions, cups, four expressions of geulah. Any more?

Why is it that we say Hallal at night?

My Zaideh- Moshe Ben Yosef Hillel zatza'l

Late last night 9 Nissen, my grandfather- Moshe Ben Yosef Hillel zatzal, was nifter. A yid that lived through the fires of the holacust and all of his life, with great misiras nefesh for Hashem and his mitzvos. For the six years of the war under the most horrific conditions he and his brother almost never missed a day of wearing Tefilin. That mesiras nefesh never left him. My brother was once carrying his Tefilin casually Zaidy started to scream at him "I was willing to give my life for the mitzva of tefilin- you should at least carry it with respect!". To him mitzvos wasn't something you 'just do' rather he put his very life into doing Hashems will. He wasn't from the six million that died 'Al kiddish Hashem'. He was from the endless number of Yidden that lived their lives al kiddish Hashem. Hopefully we will never have to serve hashem with all our being. How sad is it that we will never reach that level of serving Hashem.

A New Blog

Coming soon a new blog.
The story of two brothers (the same ones of the 'peasach story') during the Holocaust.

The story is written in Yiddish, I will try to translate it and share it with the world.

brothersthroughfire.blogspot.com
Just click the new link to the right.

Peasach Story

It was the year 1942 the ghetto of Krakow was judenrien already, but there were two brothers hiding and trying to stay alive amidst all the insanity. The Yom Tov of peasach was approaching and those two brothers had to find a way to eat matzah. They found a way to make matzah, but with great mesiras nefes and found a little borscht that they would use instead of wine.
They sat down to their makeshift seder- To celebrate Klal Yisroels going out of Mitzraim. Instead of a beautiful laid table with the nicest silver, they sat down in an attic running from the Nazi beasts with Matzah that they sacrificed their lives for. The younger brother- a mere 21 year old calls to his brother that there is no way he can have a seder tonight. The sedar is to celebrate our freedom, our going out of exile- but here we sit, our lives in danger the tragedy unspeakable- our family is all gone, what kind of freedom are we celebrating tonight? The older brother answered that the 'cheiris olam'- the everlasting freedom that we gained on Peasach wasn't a physical freedom. Rather it's the spiritual freedom that was recognized. Peasach is the birth of a nation- not just any nation but the birth of a nation that Hashem could call his own. We celebrate something that no one can take away from us, a going out of slavery into the embracing hands of our father in heaven- having the zechus to be called 'eved Hashem'. With those words two brothers sat down to a Sedar that only had matzah and borsht but most probably was the most magnificent sedar ever experienced.

Parshas Hachodesh

There are two opposite ways that Hashem runs the world. One is 'hashgachah klallis' That the world runs just like a worldly kingdom. The king sits on his throne taking advice from his aides and making decisions for his kingdom. When a decision comes forth from the king he relays it to the minister in charge of that aspect and the minister thus relays it to the local governors and so on and so forth until everyone that is affected by the kings decision knows about it and the police enforce it. So too Hashem runs his world e.g. that rain should fall in New York- Hashem decrees that it shall rain and sends forth his decision to the angels in charge of the region of New York they 'arrange' that the rain ministers should send rain. Those ministers thus gather the clouds who make the rain. Everything is run in the most orderly fashion.
The second way hashem runs this world is that Hashem alone is in charge of every aspect. Hashem makes and carries out all his decrees personally- without any intermediaries.
The world in general runs according to te first way. The second fashion is reserved for Klal Yisroel- and that started at Yitzias Mitzraim when Hashem himself- not thru a angel - took the Jews out of exile.
The two approaches are exhibited in our yearly calendar. While most most of the world (There is an obvious question someone please ask it) goes according to the sun-the solar calendar, Klal Yisroel counts the months according to the lunar calendar- but is still influenced by the solar calendar which leaves us with leap years.
The seforim explain that the sun's cycle is just a natural go around, every year it goes around the earth. This would symbolise the first way that Hashem runs his world. A world in which Hashem stays behind the scenes and everything is carried out through different emissaries. As apposed to the moon which is not just a natural cycle but rather Hashem actually recreates the moon every month. (Hence we say Kiddush Halevonah every month). This is an exact parallel to the relationship between Hashem and Yisroel. Hashem is actively recreating and intimately involved in our every move.
With the above in mind we understand why the mitzva of Kiddush Hachodesh was given right before Yitzias Metzraim- and that we read Parshas Hachodesh this week. For the moon is an exact example of the relationship Klal Yisroel forged with Hashem at Yitzias Mitzraim.