HaRav Shmuel Eliahu is Chief Rabbi of Tzfat.
During the celebration of Pesach we are bidden to contemplate on our Redemption from Egypt and on our future Redemption, may it reach completion in our time soon. While the recital of the Haggadah gives us a general overview, there are understandings which benefit from further clarification.
Ingathering of Exiles and Removal of Foreign Rule
From the Gemara it appears that the Days of Mashiach consist of the ingathering of the exiles and the removal of foreign rule over us (literally what has been happening in the State of Israel for 76 years, and literally what is happening in the State of Israel today).
“It was taught: Ben Zoma said to the Sages: Shall the Exodus from Egypt be mentioned in the Days of Mashiach? Behold it is already stated: ‘Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when they shall no longer say: As the Lord lives who brought the children of Israel up from the land of Egypt, but rather: As the Lord lives who brought up the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them!’ They said to him: Not that the Exodus from Egypt will be uprooted from its place, but that the subjugation to the kingdoms will be primary, and the Exodus from Egypt secondary to it" (Berachot 12A).
According to this, in our days we must relate on every Seder Night both the story of our Redemption from the kingdoms and also the miracles of today.
Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah rejoices because he understands that the Redemption will be very great.
According to the opinion of the Sages, in the Days of Mashiach they will also mention the Exodus from Egypt, but it will be secondary to the story of the freedom from the subjugation of the kingdoms. And according to the opinion of Ben Zoma and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, they will mention only the miracles that exist in current times.
To illustrate the dispute, we may say that according to the opinion of the Sages, the departure of the Jews in our generation from 102 countries to reach Israel is ten times the Exodus from Egypt; therefore they mention the Exodus from Egypt as secondary to the Redemption of our times.
According to the opinion of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah and Ben Zoma, they will not mention the Exodus from Egypt at all in the generation of the ingathering of exiles. It will apparently be a hundred or a thousand times greater than the Exodus from Egypt, and therefore it is not mentioned at all.
Accordingly,Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah is profoundly happy when he understands that, according to Halakha, the future greatness of the Redemption will be so great in relation to the Exodus from Egypt - “higher than all blessings, songs, praises, and consolations that are spoken in the world." This is indeed very joyful.
Corresponding to Four Sons
In the Haggadah we read about the Four Sons. The Torah mentions four times the obligation to tell the sons the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Each time the Torah speaks in a different style, and it is evident that it is speaking about four different types of sons.
In the book of Devarim it is written:
“When your son asks you tomorrow, saying: What are the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments that the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son: We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. And the Lord gave signs and great and terrible wonders in Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his house, before our eyes. And He brought us out from there in order to bring us, to give us the Land that He swore to our fathers, etc."
From the question and its style it appears that the wise son is in the Land of Israel.
In the book of Shemot, the Torah commands us to answer the son who asks in a defiant manner: “And it shall be when your children say to you: What is this service to you? Then you shall say: It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Children of Israel in Egypt when He struck Egypt and saved our houses. And the people bowed and prostrated themselves."
The style of the question is like that of a wicked son. He sees the Passover as “your" service and not his own festival, and the answer to him is in a different style. This question is said when they are in Egypt and speaking about the Land of Israel.
The account of the simple son and the son who does not know how to ask is stated on the day of the Exodus from Egypt, after they have already departed.
Regarding the simple son it is written: “And it shall be when the Lord brings you into the Land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you… And it shall be when your son asks you tomorrow, saying: What is this? And you shall say to him: With a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage…"
Also: “And it shall be when the Lord brings you into the Land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a Land flowing with milk and honey, and you shall perform this service in this month… And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: Because of this the Lord did for me when I went out of Egypt."
Even though he does not ask, you initiate and explain to him.
In the Land of Israel There Are No Wicked People
How are we to understand this statement when the reality seems otherwise. The meaning is that the Torah assumes that the possibility of having wicked sons exists only when the Jews are in the difficult exile of Egypt; but when they have already gone out, their level rises, and when they enter the threshold of Eretz Yisrael they share in the blessing of wisdom which hovers over the Land.
This explains what Rabbi Avraham Azulai, of blessed memory, one of the students of the Ari, wrote in his praises of Eretz Yisrael. He states that in the Land of Israel there are no wicked people:
“Know that anyone who dwells in the Land of Israel is called righteous, even if they are not righteous as it appears; for if he were not righteous, the Land would vomit him out, as it is written: ‘And the Land vomited out its inhabitants.’ And since it does not vomit him out, he is certainly called righteous, even though he appears to have the status of a wicked person" (Chesed LeAvraham, Maayan 3, Nahar 12).
As we saw above, the Torah teaches that Hashem brought us up from Egypt to give us the Land of Israel - specifically the Land of Israel. Among the many reasons for this is that the air of the Holy Land grants wisdom and a clearer knowledge of the workings of Hashem. Similar to the belief in Hashem and a person’s love and reverence for Him, which all contain many levels, wisdom also levels upon levels.
HaRav Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook, of blessed memory, told his students at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem that a basic foundation of wisdom today is that the Jewish People realize that all Jews belong in the Land of Israel. May it come to pass soon.