לרפואת אבי מורי ר' יצחק יונה בן חנה ור' מרדכי דוד בן קריינא בתוך שח"י

1] The Gemara [פסחים ע"א] says that there is no mitzva of simcha on the first night of Yuntiv. But the Chazon Ish says that there is a special simcha on the first night of Pesach. What is the nature of this unique simcha? 

2] A Bechor is only sanctified if he is the firstborn of his mother which is straaaaange b/c מכת בכורות upon which the קודשה of the בכור is predicated upon, affected all בכור's of the Egyptians - both from the mother AND father. So why are our בכור's only from the mother?

3] A בן נח is liable to capital punishment for performing an abortion whereas a Jew is not. Why this distinction? The source for the חיוב מיתה is the pasuk "שופך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך" - Who is the person within a person for whom one's blood is spilled? A fetus. The pasuk concludes "כי בצלם א-להים עשה את האדם". Man is created in the image of G-d. Shouldn't that apply to Jews as well?? 

4] Why is a stillborn called a נפל? Since the fetus wasn't viable, it "falls" out. When there is a birth of a viable child, it is a יציאה - an active exit. 

5] The pasuk says about Chava "הרבה ארבה עצבונך והרונך בעצב תלדי בנים" - To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply the pain [lit. sadness] of your pregnancy; with pain [lit. sadness] will you bear children. We see two things in this pasuk: a] We distinguish between pregnancy and birth. b] When it comes to pregnancy the pasuk says "עצבונך" - YOUR sadness but when referring to birth it say "תלדי" - not "your", but a more general reference.  

6] The Mishna [Eduyos 2-9] says that the Geulah is based on the מספר הדורות - number of generations. "ודור רביעי ישובו הנה". 

7] The Mishna in Avos [3-14] says that man is beloved b/c he was created in the Image of G-d - בצלם א-להים. The Jews are beloved b/c they are called sons of Hashem. בנים אתם לה' א-להיכם. People mistakenly think that the Mishna is saying that the בני נח are created בצלם and we are even better b/c we are בנים. Not true. There is NOTHING greater than the מעלה of the צלם. The Mishna is saying something else, as we will explain.   

8] Adam was in Gan Eden, created by Hashem Himself. Very holy. But then he sinned and his spiritual stature was significantly diminished. The Jewish people have the capacity to restore man's original glory which we work towards until that happens at תחיית המתים. That is what Chazal say "אדם אתם" - only YOU the jews are אדם. We will restore the splendor of man's original glory. The only way the בני נח can be part of this is if he converts - either becoming a גר תושב or גר צדק. We are called בנים b/c we are an advanced, heightened form of צלם א-להים b/c we will restore the צלם of אדם הראשון. 

9] We have a tradition that the מספר הדורות that brings the גאולה [see #6] only counts when a viable child is actually born. A נפל - stillborn, doesn't count for this count.    

10] Back to Chava: The reason the pasuk distinguishes because pregnancy and childbirth is b/c pregnancy alone does not impact the ultimate Geulah. Only childbirth does b/c that is a link in the Geulah. מספר הדורות. 

11] We also understand why pregnancy is referred to as עצבונך והרונך - YOUR sadness, YOUR pregnancy, while when referring to birth it say "תלדי" referring to the birth but not "your" birth. The discomfort of pregnancy belongs to the woman alone. It is HERS. The birth relates to the entire world b/c that birth [in Klal Yisrael] is a link in the chain of Geulah. 

12[ We can now understand why only בני נח are liable to capital punishment for abortion. One is only חייב מיתה for killing someone on the same rung on the ladder of importance. As far as בני נח are concerned, fetuses are on the same level as people. Both are only potential i.e. the potential to latch on to the Jewish people and thereby fix their צלם א-להים. So when a בן נח kills a fetus, he is חייב מיתה. But for a Jew, a fetus is on a lower level. Only the actual בנים who are born are involved in the process of restoring the צלם to what it once was. So for killing a fetus there is no חיוב מיתה. 

13] From when did the process of restoring the צלם א-להים begin? From the night of the 15th of Nissan when we were called בני בכורי ישראל and now had the status of בנים אתם לה' א-להיכם. It was an active יציאה. The birth of a viable child. Not a נפל. 

14] The Geulah came via the tenth מכה and not before. Through the exodus from Mitzrayim which was the birth of Klal Yisrael [Chazal say that it was like extracting a fetus from the womb of the mother] we were called בנים למקום. The Geulah meant the the Jewish people were born. Now we understand why קדושת בכור applies only to the firstborn of the mother while the בכורים of the Egyptians were killed regardless of whether they were בכור from the mother or father [as we will see momentarily]. That is what we mean when we say "בכוריהם הרגת ובכורך גאלת" - You killed their בכורים and redeemed Yours. Meaning - Since Paroh wanted to prevent the birth of the Jewish people by not releasing them from Egypt - he was punished with the כוח ההולדה - birth power, of the Egyptians, and their firstborns were killed. The depth of Paroh's refusal to release the Jewish people from Egypt was b/c he was opposed to the distinction between the pregnancy and the birth [which for Jews is a critical transition]. And that is why he commanded that the Jewish boys should be killed while in utero. 

15] Now we understand that only when smiting the כח ההולדה of the Egyptians all בכורים were killed. The father is called "father" already from pregnancy while a mother is called "mother" only after birth. [It says about Esther "כי אין לה אב ואם" and the gemara says that her father died while her mother was pregnant. So we see that one is already a father during pregnancy. Her mother died after birth. So the pasuk only calls her mother after birth]. As far as the Egyptians were concerned - there was no difference between pregnancy and birth. So both בכור from the father and בכור from the mother were smitten. They don't have a סדר הדורות that depends on birth [as we saw]. 

16] Only the בכורים of the mothers are holy for the Jews b/c the significance of the baby being born applies only to the mother because only now she becomes a mother [the father is already a father from pregnancy]. From the moment of birth, another generation of Jews beings which is a link in the chain of מספר הדורות that will bring the restoration of the צלם א-להים and the Geulah [#6]. [עי' פחד יצחק על פסח מאמר כ' וצרף לכאן]

17] The curse of חוה is couched in the term of "עצב" sadness, meaning dissatisfaction from her situation. Since this is the first time the word appears - this is the true meaning of the word everywhere else. The root of עצבות is HERE. When Hashem was going to create mankind, the angels said "Don't do it!!" There was a קטרוג [prosecution] against the creation of man. Hashem paid no heed and created man nonetheless. But after the sin of Adam and the diminishing of his spiritual stature, the קטרוג against the creation of man is aroused once again and women feel it in their עצבות at birth. The root of man's sadness in life is from the קטרוג against his birth already when his mother was pregnant with him [!!!!!!!!!!!!].    

18] אֲנִי אָמִית וַאֲחַיֶּה מָחַצְתִּי וַאֲנִי אֶרְפָּא - I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal [Dvarim 32-39]. Chazal say that Hashem will heal the wound of the world which is death. On every holiday we say ושמחת בחגך. There is happiness. We put the sadness aside and are happy. The first night of Pesach is different. The Jewish people are born. בנים אתם לה' א-להיכם. We heal the sadness at it's root. The sadness of the קטרוג against the birth of man is silenced. Hashem brought the Jewish people into the world which started the process of eventually restoring the צלם א-להים of man to its original glory and fixing the sin of Adam Harishon. That explains the special joy of the first night of Pesach. 

19] פלאי פלאות!!

[עפ"י תורת מרן ראש הישיבה זצ"ל]