The story of Yetziat Mitzrayim is specifically told around the second cup, to teach us that the true mission is not to give up on any Jew.
Among Chassidim, it is customary to consult the Rebbe on any important matter. For example, if someone wanted to travel overseas, from the United States to Eretz Yisrael, for a wedding or to visit Mikomos Hakdoshim, they would ask for the Rebbe’s approval. If the Rebbe responded positively, they would go. But if the Rebbe answered that “the Torah is concerned with the money of the Jewish people,” meaning the reason was not sufficient to justify the trip, they would not go. Even if the Rebbe did not respond at all, that alone was enough reason to cancel the entire plan.
Everyone Is Traveling
In 5739, about 45 years ago, at a farbrengen on Parshat Mishpatim, the Rebbe addressed this issue. He said that many people want to travel to weddings, bar mitzvahs, and similar events. They look for discounts so the trip will be cheaper, but in the end, no one travels for free.
So wherever there is a bris, a wedding, a bar mitzvah, or an engagement, people immediately begin asking questions. This is my cousin. This is my friend. I want to travel to participate in his simcha. The Rebbe continued and said, “Am I supposed to be the one who takes that pleasure away from them?”
But then the Rebbe asked, is this really the correct approach? We have never heard that one needs to travel across the ocean for a bris.
He spoke especially about yeshiva students. When one travels to a celebration or a wedding, immediately everyone wants to be like him. Why should he be the only one not going? Why should he be less than his friend? They go to the yeshiva administration, and it has compassion on them and gives permission. These are young men of 17, 18, 19, who are in yeshiva in order to learn Torah.
Yes, if his cousin is making a bris, it is a great joy, that another Jewish child has been added to the Jewish people. But his father, who works and needs to support his family, does not travel. So he, the yeshiva student, should travel? We have never seen such a thing, that yeshiva students, whose entire purpose is to learn Torah, should be moving from place to place, especially overseas.
Then he goes to the yeshiva administration, and they give him permission. He takes that permission and sends it to the Rebbe, wanting the Rebbe to approve it and say that it is a good thing.
Those same people know that the Rebbe says he is not pleased with this conduct, and that it also costs money. So they come up with a solution. They say that the chassan and kallah will pay for the travel expenses. They want their friends to come to the wedding, so they will fund the trip.
And to this the Rebbe responds, is this the role of a chassan and kallah? They are just beginning their lives, and already they do not have much money. Should they now take on additional expenses in order to bring people from overseas?
Then another argument is presented. The yeshiva administration says that if they do not give the student permission to travel, he will sit by the Gemara but he will not learn. He will be preoccupied with the fact that he missed the trip, that he did not travel abroad, that he did not participate in the simcha. So in any case, he will not be happy, and he will not learn properly.
On the other hand, they add a promise. When he returns, he will be the most diligent student in the yeshiva. And to this the Rebbe says simply, that has not happened.
The Rebbe then continued and said that the same question applies to those who want to travel to Eretz Yisrael to visit holy places. These are indeed holy places, visiting the resting places of tzaddikim is meaningful and good. But this is not the role of a yeshiva student.
The role of a yeshiva student is to be in the yeshiva, in order to learn Torah, to use his time well, and to accomplish as much as possible in the few years that he is in yeshiva.
The Rebbe says that when they travel overseas, it is not that they go to one place and that is it. Along the way they stop in four or five other countries. And then they also promise, we will be involved there in spreading Judaism. And to this the Rebbe says, their first responsibility is to learn Torah. Only in their free time can they engage in spreading Judaism.
The Rebbe concluded his words. “I do not want to force this on anyone. But do not send me requests. Do not send me letters in order to receive my approval. Ask a rav. Ask yourselves. Ask the yeshiva administration. But I am not going to approve such things.”
All of this serves as the introduction and background to the story I want to share.
The Visit to Bologna
This week, in the JEM magazine Living Torah, Rabbi Yossi Boimgarten relates that when he was a yeshiva student in 770, a friend of his was about to marry a girl from Italy. The father of the kallah offered the chassan to bring four friends to Italy for the wedding at his expense. He was one of those four fortunate friends that the chassan invited.
Of course, he went to ask the yeshiva administration, and they gave him permission. (It seems that this story took place before that farbrengen of the Rebbe.)
By Divine Providence, at that time his father merited to enter for yechidus with the Rebbe. Yossi asked his father to give the Rebbe a note in which he wrote that he had permission from the yeshiva administration to travel to Italy, and that he was asking for the Rebbe’s approval.
His father entered yechidus, and among other things, he handed the Rebbe the note. The Rebbe responded that since the yeshiva administration had already given permission, he should travel. But he should use the trip for spreading Judaism.
This was close to Purim, and he took with him mishloach manot in order to distribute them to Jews he would meet in Italy, and in this way he would fulfill the Rebbe’s directive.
He traveled to Milan for the wedding. The wedding was very joyful and everything went beautifully. Then, after the wedding, Rabbi Gershon Mendel Garelik, of blessed memory, the Rebbe’s shliach to Italy, approached him and said that there is a town called Bologna, about two hours from Milan by train. There is a university there, and many Jews who are interested in Judaism, but there is no one to work with them in matters of Judaism. Now that you are here, perhaps you can travel there and spend Shabbat with them.
He told Rabbi Garelik, “we came here to celebrate with the chassan at the wedding and for the Shabbat of Sheva Brachot. We are not going to run away and leave him.” Rabbi Garelik answered,”I cannot force you, but it would be a good thing if you did it.”
Then Friday morning came, and he decided that he must travel. The shliach arranged food for him, ordered a taxi to take him to the train station, and he was about to leave. Then his friends decided that they would join him.
Boimgarten recounts, “we arrived there, and in practice we transformed the place on Friday night. There was a tremendous awakening, joy, dancing, questions, living Judaism. I am not sure we even managed to sleep. The entire night was filled with activity. It was a remarkable Shabbat.
And that is how it ended, or at least that is what I thought.
Twenty seven years passed. One day I was visiting my daughter and son in law, who are on shlichus in Long Island, and my son in law told me that someone wants to meet me.
A tall man approached me and asked, “do you remember me?” I looked at him and said that I do not remember. Then he said, “do you remember the Shabbat in Bologna?” “Of course,” I answered.
He said to me, “You should know, we are the result of that Shabbat. He introduced me to his wife and his children, and said, this entire family was born from that Shabbat that you made there.”
Four Cups, Four Sons
This coming Wednesday night, we will all sit down to the Seder. At the Seder there are elements that come in three, such as the three matzot on the Seder plate. And there are elements that come specifically in four. Four questions, four cups, and four sons.
The Rebbe brings, in the name of the Arizal, (Likutei Sichos, Vol. 1, Pg 248) a very interesting idea. Each of the four cups corresponds to one of the four sons. The first cup corresponds to the wise son. The second cup corresponds to the wicked son. The third cup, after the meal over Birkat Hamazon, corresponds to the simple son. And the fourth cup corresponds to the one who does not know how to ask.
And here is the key point. When do we say the main part of the Haggadah? The first cup is drunk immediately at Kiddush. But the entire section of Maggid, from Mah Nishtanah until the eating of the matzah, is said before the second cup. It turns out that the Haggadah is said over the second cup, which corresponds to the wicked son.
Because if we look at reality, how many Jews actually reach the third and fourth cups? Not necessarily everyone. But the first part of the Haggadah is said by almost every Jew. That means the Haggadah is specifically said over the cup of the wicked son.
What does this teach us? That the primary investment is specifically in the wicked son.
The wicked son asks, “What is this service to you?” Why do I need this? What does this give me?
At first glance, the simple response is what is written in the Haggadah, “Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.”
But the Rebbe explains that this was true in Egypt, before we were chosen as a people. But after Mt Sinai, after we became one nation, “all of Israel are responsible for one another.” Therefore, it is impossible to give up on any Jew.
On the contrary, the main part of the Haggadah is dedicated to him. All the effort is invested in him. We do not grow tired. We do not give up. We draw every Jew closer.
In the end, the entire story is for him.
And in order to reach the future redemption, we must merit the blessing, “Barcheinu Avinu kulanu ke’echad.” Therefore, the main telling of the Haggadah is directed to the most difficult place. And specifically through this, we will merit very soon the true and complete redemption, speedily in our days.
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