This Shabbos we will take out three sifrei Torah. From the third of the sifrei Torah we will read Parshas HaChodesh from the book of Shmos. It is in these psukim that we find details of the mitzvah of eating the Korban Pesach: "they shall eat the flesh on that night - roasted over the fire - and matzos; with marror shall they eat it" (Shmot 12:8). At our Pesach Seder we explain that we eat marror in order to remember the bitterness of the bondage in Egypt. This may explain why in our generation we are required to eat marror, it does not explain why the generation which left Egypt had to eat marror - did they not experience the bitterness themselves? Why were they in need of a reminder?

The Gemara explains that the actual physical bondage in Egypt ended the previous Rosh Hashana. This means that for a period of six months the Jewish people remained in Egypt without having to work as slaves. There existed the danger that after six months they may forget just how bad things were in Egypt. Half a year without any work may even evoke positive memories, as we see the Jewish people stating shortly after leaving Egypt: "we sat by the pot of meat, we ate bread to satiety" (Shmot 16:3). When the spies returned with their negative report about Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish people said to one another: "let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt" (Bamidbar 14:4). Apparently at that point there were those who felt that it was better in Egypt.

The people were commanded to eat marror prior to leaving Egypt because of the strong possibility of them forgetting just how bad things were and actually believing that life in Egypt was good. I am not sure whether they had the mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, retelling the story of the exodus, for certain portions of the Haggadah had not yet taken place. They had experienced only nine of ten makkos and had not yet experienced the exodus. Today there is certainly a mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. There is a dispute in the Gemara whether, as is the case with marror, is it only a Torah commandment when the Korban Pesach is offered or is it independent of the Korban Pesach in the manner of matzah. The argument for stating that its D'Rabbanan would state, similar to what we declare in the Haggadah - "'baavur zeh', lo amarti ela beshaa sheyesh Pesach, Matzah, uMarror lefanecha" and today we cannot show the Korban Pesach.

The halacha is in keeping with the view that today we have a Torah commandment to relate the story of the exodus. Although it is important that we read the text of the Haggadah, we may and are encouraged to add and elaborate on the story of yetzias Mitzrayim, as we say in the Haggadah: "kol hamarbe lesaper biYetziat Mitzrayim harei zeh meshubach" "the more one relates the story of the exodus, the more praiseworthy is he". It is important to keep in mind that elaborating does not mean pilpulim and chiddushim on the wording of the Haggadah. It may be true that gedolei Torah have written such commentary on the Haggadah, but we must keep in mind that they did not write it during their Seder.

Our Pesach Seder should be relating to ourselves and those with us about what took place in Egypt, just how bad the situation was, what Pharaoh did to us, and the great miracles which took place in Egypt including the ten plagues. This is relating the story of the exodus from Egypt. What makes the person praiseworthy? The simple explanation is that elaborating on the story of the exodus is an act which is praiseworthy. Elaborating on the story of the exodus is a praiseworthy act and fulfilling the mitzvah in a more mehudar fashion.

There is, however, an additional interpretation for "the more one dwells on the story of the exodus from Egypt, the more praiseworthy is he". One who spends more time and energy relating the story of the exodus has shown us that HE is a praiseworthy person. The pasuk states: "A refining pot is for silver and a crucible for gold, and a man according to his praises" (Mishle 27:21). In other words, a refining pot is used to ascertain the level of impurities in silver, while a crucible will uncover the same with gold. What about a human being, how do we determine how pure he is? The pasuk teaches us "and a man according to his praises". Man's level is determined by what he praises. If he spends his time praising Talmidei Chachamim or great baalei mussar, then he is a praiseworthy and valuable person. On the other hand, if he praises football players, movie stars, or gangsters, then we know where his head and heart are. Therefore, one who spends more time relating the story of the exodus has shown HIMSELF to be praiseworthy - he has shown that what interests him is cleaving to Hashem and not to trivialities.   If he spends the whole evening discussing the victory of "Beitar Yerushalayim" then he has shown that his head is in football - such a person is not praiseworthy. If, however, his head and his heart are in relating the story of the exodus, then he has shown that his head and his heart are where they should be and they are not filled with nonsense.

At the Seder we discuss the questions posed by the four sons. The rasha asks ma haavoda hazos lachem - what is this service to you, what purpose do Torah and mitzvos serve? We answer that had he remained in Egypt he would not have been redeemed - he would have died along with the other reshaim during the three days of choshech.   Many commentaries have written that a person without any intelligence can be more dangerous than an enemy. By the same token, a Jew devoid of Torah is worse than a non-Jew.   For this reason, one like the rasha who sees no need for Torah would not have been redeemed.

We refer to Pesach as zman cherusenu - the festival of our freedom. We also state nightly at Maariv: "Who struck with His anger at the firstborn of Egypt and removed His nation from their midst to eternal freedom." In what sense did we emerge from the bondage of Egypt to eternal freedom? Did Hashem not simply remove us from the bondage of Egypt and make us His servants, lehavdil? We can learn from here that being a servant of Hashem is in fact "eternal freedom."

We may ask in what way a servant of Hashem has achieved eternal freedom. Are there not many more demands placed on an eved Hashem than on a slave of Pharaoh? We were only slaves to Pharaoh for six days a week (see Shmos Rabba 1:28 where we learn that the Jewish people did not have to work on Shabbos), and we were given some semblance of freedom at night in order to sleep (ibid. 12).

A true eved Hashem serves Hashem day and night. His every move is subject to the laws of the Torah twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week! Halacha dictates how we must sleep at night, how we must arise in the morning, how we must wash our hands, how we get dressed, how and what we must eat, and much, much more. It is true that after all is said and done, we would rather be servants of Hashem than of Pharaoh, but can we truly classify this as eternal freedom?

In order to answer this question, let us first try to understand the distinction between a slave and a free man. A slave is subject to the will of his master. Even if the master is kind and considerate, and does not overburden the slave with hard labor the way Pharaoh did, in the final analysis, it is the master who determines the course of the slave's life, not the slave himself. A free man, on the other hand, dictates his own path in life and is not subjugated to the whims of anyone else. Accordingly, we can say that one who follows the dictates of his yetzer-hara is nothing more than a slave. He may consider himself free, but in truth he is a slave. Why? Because the wish of my yetzer-hara is not necessarily my wish. My yetzer-hara is not me, but another entity outside of me. It is my soul, the Godliness in me, which is my true self. What my soul wants is the opposite of what my yetzer-hara wants. Therefore, if I allow my yetzer-hara to dictate my life, I am nothing more than a slave to it, and it is my master. When I follow the needs and desires of my soul, the true me, then I am truly a free man, in complete control of my actions.

The Chovos HaLevavos (Shaar Yichud HaMaase 5) writes that a person must realize that the yetzer-hara is his biggest enemy. "When you are asleep, he is awake. (You may not notice him, but he is eagerly waiting to trip you up.) You may try to ignore him, but he is certainly not ignoring you. He gives the outward appearance of being your good friend as if he loves you; in truth he is your biggest enemy who is only masquerading as your friend."

In my humble opinion, this idea posited by the Chovos HaLevavos can be extended. Let us use the following analogy - a man undertakes a mission to spy on another nation, for example, Syria. In his attempt to uncover Syrian military secrets, the spy disguises himself as a good friend of the Syrian President or the Chief of Staff. The spy may succeed in convincing the president that he is indeed his good friend, yet he will never succeed in convincing him that he (the spy) is the real President of Syria. The yetzer-hara, however, has far more sophisticated methods - he not only disguises himself as your good friend, but he disguises himself as you! He persuades you that he is you and that what is good for him is good for you. In reality what he wants is the polar opposite of what you want. What does the yetzer-hara truly desire? He wishes to remove you from the world; not only from the Next World, but from this world as well.

Although total devotion to Torah is referred to as shibud and the person devoted to Torah is called an eved Hashem - "a servant of Hashem," in reality it is the ultimate freedom of which a person is capable. The Baraisa teaches us: ein ben chorin ela mi sheosek baTorah - "The only free man is one who is involved in Torah." (Avos 6:2). In the words of Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi: "Slaves to their time - are truly enslaved, a slave to Hashem - he alone is free."

Our holy forefathers amassed Torah knowledge without it being given to them, as we learn: "Avraham Avinu fulfilled the entire Torah before it was given" (Kiddushin 82a), presumably this applies to Yitzchak and Yaakov as well. From where did they know the Torah prior to its being given? Chazal tell us: "Avraham's two kidneys became as two pitchers of water and were flowing with Torah" (Bereishit Rabba 95:3). What is the meaning of this? This means that the Torah is the natural desire of the soul from the time of its creation. Man was created in the image of G-d and the Torah is Hashem's wisdom and desire. As much as the "image" resembles the original, the more this physical "image" is able to absorb this G-dly wisdom - the wisdom and the desire of the "image" resemble that of G-d. For this reason Avraham Avinu who was a true image of Hashem was able to attain the Torah on his own, as were Yitzchak and Yaakov.

(This idea sheds a different light on Akeidat Yitzchak. The difficulty in this test of Avraham's faith did not lie in his great love for Yitzchak, which was the love of any father for his son, because this love was insignificant in comparison to his love for Hashem. The difficult lay in the fact that Avraham's soul could not reconcile itself with the action he was commanded to carry out. Hashem commands Avraham to slaughter his son, but Avraham Avinu is unable to find in his soul desire to do this as he usually did in response to Hashem's commands. Why did Avraham not feel a desire to carry out Hashem's wish? Because Hashem did not really wish for Avraham to slaughter Yitzchak! Avraham however did not yet know that this was not Hashem's wish, he therefore felt a contradiction between his natural desire which was an expression of Hashem's true desire, and the commandment that he had heard explicitly from Hashem. It is here that we find the difficulty in the test of the

Akeida).

Why have we not been able to achieve knowledge of the Torah on our own, as our forefathers did, why did we need Moshe Rabenu to bring it down to us? Were we not also created in Hashem's image? The answer is found in the pasuk: "G-d has made man simple, but they sought many intrigues" (Kohelet 7:29). Hashem created man straight and simple. If man were to remain with the same straightness, he would have arrived at a mastery of the Torah on his own, as did Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Our forefathers in fact were referred to as "Yesharim" - straight ones (see Avoda Zara 25a), they were careful to remain on this straight path their entire lives without ruining it. They were therefore able to attain the Torah on their own and within themselves without the need to receive it externally.

Other people are on that level - they were created in a straight manner, but afterwards they start seeking "many intrigues". It was not the pure Torah they are after, they do not honestly wish to know what is Hashem's will, but rather what is good and worthwhile for me.   The Rambam explains that this is the distinction between Adam HaRishon before and after he sinned. Prior to his sin, he was interested in truth, while after the sin he wanted to know what is good for him. The story is told of a merchant who was asked: "what is two times two?" To this he responded: "that depends - if I am purchasing then it is three, if I am selling then it is five!".   When one calculates in this fashion, with prior intent to reach a particular conclusion that is good for me, then of course it is impossible to arrive at the truth.

Hashem took us out of the bondage of Egypt to become His servants, receive the Torah, come to Eretz Yisrael, and observe the Torah - this is true freedom.

We are commanded to drink four cups of wine at our Seder. One of the reasons offered is that it is a fulfillment of the mitzvah of simcha. On Pesach we rejoice over our transition from slavery to freedom, over Pharaoh receiving the punishment he deserved, that we received the Torah, and came to Eretz Yisrael. An integral part of our Pesach Seder is to understand that Hashem took us out from Egypt to give us the Torah and bring us to Eretz Yisrael.

On the second day of Pesach we begin counting down the days until Matan Torah - the seven weeks of Sefiras HaOmer. They were counting the days until they reached the ultimate freedom - receiving the Torah. The difficulty in understanding this mitzvah is why we count from one until 49. When one is awaiting a particular occasion he generally counts down the days: "one week until my wedding, six days until my wedding, etc. I believe that it is to commemorate the fact that the Jewish people left Egypt without being told when they were to receive the Torah. Moshe only told them that they would reach Har Sinai and receive the Torah there. It is highly possible that Moshe Rabenu himself did not know the precise date they were going to receive the Torah.

Hashem brought us into Eretz Yisrael as a place to observe Torah and mitzvos: Eretz Yisrael's uniqueness is not in its wheat and barley. It is in being a land that "Hashem doresh ota". When one realizes this, then one truly understand the character of the Land of Israel. Hashem's eyes are always on Eretz Yisrael, rain will be provided based on whether the people deserve it. Eretz Yisrael is a land for learning Torah. It is true that many of the other lands were graced with the presence of many Torah giants throughout the centuries. The Talmud Bavli in its entirety was written in Bavel, Rashi was written in France and Ashkenaz. The Ri"f and Rambam were also written in Chutz la'Aretz. Despite all this, the land of Israel is one more suited for learning and growing in Torah. Had the Ri"f lived in Israel he would have been even greater than he was. Since it was decreed that we be scattered throughout the lands and amongst the other nations, we needed to have the Ri"f in Spain and not in Israel. Had we been more meritorious, the Ri"f, Rambam, Rashi, and Rabeinu Tam all would have lived in Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Dessler testified about himself that he attained more, in an easier manner in Israel than he did in Chutz la'Aretz. A great man can feel that he has achieved more and of a different nature in the land of Israel. Regarding the differences between being in Israel and Chutz la'Aretz, the Gemara tells us: "Abaye said: and one of them is as good as two of us, Rava said, when one of us, however, goes up there he is as good as two of them" (Ketuvot 75a). The Gemara does not say that one from Israel who goes to Bavel becomes like two in Israel, only the opposite is true - the act of Aliyah - ascending to Israel is different in essence.

The Gemara states that one who is guilty of a capital crime and runs away from Chutz la'Aretz to Eretz Yisrael, will have his sentence revoked. Perhaps this is due to the merit of being in Israel, perhaps the courts there will find sufficient evidence on his side to cancel this judgment, something they did not find in Chutz la'Aretz. Although he is not being judged on his fulfillment of Mitzvot associated with the land, yet perhaps the strength of the Torah in Israel is such that a merit will be found on his side, that was not discovered in Chutz la'Aretz. This is the character of Eretz Yisrael, a place designated for Torah and holiness. There were many holy people in Chutz la'Aretz such as the Gr"a and others, yet in Israel it is easier to attain that level. This is the land of prophecy. The Kuzari writes that all the prophets prophesied either in the land of Israel or about it. This is the land designated for serving Hashem and performing the services of the Beit Hamikdash.

The Ramban tells us, and Rashi alludes to it, that the true service of Hashem can only be fulfilled in the land of Israel. Mitzvot in Chutz la'Aretz are only a matter of "hatzivi lach tziyunim" "Make road markers for yourself" (Yirmiyahu 31:20). This does not mean to say that in Chutz la'Aretz one is not obligated in Mitzvot. There is a Torah commandment to observe Shabbat and the first day of Yom Tov even in Chutz la'Aretz. The true cleaving to Hashem that comes from serving Hashem, however, can only be attained in the land of Israel.

This week marks the beginning of bein hazmanim which should not be viewed as cherus from Yeshiva, this is not true cherus. A free person is one who learns Torah and fulfills mitzvos. It is important that these next few weeks not be devoid of Torah learning.

I would like to wish everyone a Kosher Pesach and a freileche Yom Tov and am looking forward to meeting all you on top of Har HaBayis on Erev Pesach.