We read in the Haggadah with regard to the rasha, the wicked son - L’fi shehotzi et atzmo min a haklal, caphar b’ikar – “because he excluded himself from the community, he denies God.”   

Why is excluding oneself from the community necessarily a denial of God?  Why can’t a Jew believe in God, but live on his own, without being part of the Jewish community? 

What about non-Jews?  They are not part of the Jewish community.  Does that mean they deny God?  There does not seem to be a logical connection.

There are two parts that need to be explained. 1. What does it mean to take oneself out of the community?  And  2. Why is this considered a denial of God?

With regard to taking oneself out of the community, this is not talking geographically or to non-Jews.  It refers to Jews who deny their Jewish identity.  By choosing to abandon their Jewish identity (not due to compulsion) they are in fact denying God.

What is the connection between a Jew denying his Jewish identity and a denial of God?  In order to understand this, we must understand the basic message of the seder.

We say in the Haggadah, b’chol dor v’dor chayav adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatzah mimitzraim – in every generation each person (Jew) is obligated to see himself as though he came out of Egypt.  It is not enough for us to remember what happened to our forefathers, we have to regard ourselves as if we had come out of Egypt. 

How do we actually accomplish this? How can we see ourselves as leaving a place that we have never been to?  

The Haggadah within the context of the seder offers the solution.  The Haggadah is replete with the idea that God has a special relationship with the Jewish people: 

  • We say God took us out Himself and not with an angel, Ani v’lo Malach.
  • We also quote the verse in Devarim, “Has God ever attempted to come and take unto him a nation from the midst of another nation with signs and miracles. . .?” (Devarim 4:34) 
  • We do not mention Moshe’s name in the Haggadah because we want to remember that it was God Himself who took us out.  
  • We say V’hi Sheamda, which proclaims that it is God who saves or rescues us in every generation.

This unique and special relationship between God and Israel is clearly explained by the Rambam. He states, “for our eyes saw (the revelation at Sinai) and no one else did.  Our eyes heard and no one else did, the fire, the voice and the flames.” (Mishneh Torah, Yesodei Hatorah 8:1)

So, to fulfill the commandment of seeing oneself as if he had left Egypt, does not mean primarily to pretend that we actually were physically in Egypt; but to acknowledge and proclaim that God’s special Providence over the Jewish people is exactly the same today as it was in Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

So when someone says that he believes in God, but he no longer wishes to be Jewish, what he is really saying is that there is no need to be Jewish because Jews do not have a special relationship with God.  Denying that special relationship is tantamount to denying God Himself.