HaRav Dov Begon is head of Yeshivat Machon Meir.
At the Exodus from Egypt we were born, redeemed, and set apart from among the nations. We began the long journey over thousands of years with the goal of reaching Jerusalem. Although we were born in Egypt, our nature and our goodness are revealed in all their strength in Jerusalem, as was already said to our father Abraham: “Go for yourself… to the Land that I will show you, and I will make you into a great nation, and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed." As Rashi explains: “Go for yourself - for your benefit and for your good, and there I will make you into a great nation… and I will make your nature known in the world."
And we know that the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children. Along the entire long path from Egypt to Jerusalem, the nations plot against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand, as we say in the Haggadah: “And it is this that has stood for our fathers and for us, that not only one has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand."
At this time, on the night of the Seder, we will remember and exalt our past, how the Holy One, blessed be He, performed for our fathers and for us miracles and wonders and brought us out from slavery to freedom and from darkness to light. But we must also look and reflect, with faith, with confidence, and with joy, toward our future. Although we were born and set apart in Egypt, our soul and our light and our purpose and our uniqueness - these are revealed in their full strength in the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. The promise to our father Abraham, “and I will make you into a great nation," through whom the light of the world is revealed, is specifically in Jerusalem, as it is said: Jerusalem is the light of the world.
In our generation we are at the end of a course of thousands of years, and as is known, at the end of a course, like in a marathon race, the greatest difficulties are revealed, such as the terrible Holocaust, and all the wars since the establishment of the State, which are accompanied by threats from our enemies to destroy us, Heaven forbid, up to the war of the “Roar of the Lion" against Iran that stood just a few weeks ago at the head of our enemies.
But we are believers, the children of believers, and we are confident that just as we have overcome all the obstacles and difficulties until now, so, with the help of Heaven, we will also overcome these difficulties, and it will be fulfilled for us: “As in the days of your coming out from the land of Egypt I will show him wonders." Moreover: “In every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand."
And may we all merit together, all the people of Israel, to return to our Land and to Jerusalem our capital, as we say at the conclusion of the night of the Seder: “Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem." Through this we will merit, we and the entire world, complete redemption and eternal freedom.
With the blessing for a kosher and joyful Passover.