We Jews have been making a similar claim:

"ישועת ה' כהרף עין"

“Divine salvation happens in the blink of an eye.”

I looked for a source, but couldn’t find an origin of this phrase in our sacred writings (I believe a version may be from the book of Maccabees, which was never canonized into Tanach, and remains part of the apocrypha literature). To me, that was far more interesting than identifying its source.

This aphorism really finds it source in the kishkes of the Jew. It’s an addendum to our Ani Ma’amin list of articles of faith; an obvious extension to what has kept our people believers for millennia. Sometimes in the often-legalistic Talmudical polemical tradition, the rabbis will drop the jurisprudence and simply state, svara hi or pshita, literally meaning it’s obvious or logical.

In life, if we’re honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge this principle. In a flash, our lives and fate can change. As we approach our festival of salvation, we find more and more references to Judaism’s hopefulness, that our transformation takes place in the blink of an eye through the most unlikely sources.

First, let’s look at the parsha.

An individual fears he has tzora’as. As scholarly as he may be, or an expert in WebMD’s diagnosis of tzora’as, he still must go to a kohen. Only the kohen can facilitate his convalescence. Imagine the feeling of the individual afflicted with the skin disease. You are about to be cast out of the neighborhood, separated from family and friends. Your fate is in the hands of a nameless Kohen. An unknown Temple functionary – i.e. a kohen assigned to your case – will determine your residence for the week and your status. Just when someone can feel so vulnerable and low - despite the fact that they may have contracted the tzora’as as a consequence of slandering another person and causing them separation from others - the kohen becomes a rehabilitative coach and advocate. Rav Soloveitchik commented (Kol Dodi Dofek, pp. 79 as cited in the Neuwirth edition Chumash, pp. 95): “the Kohen who declares a person unclean must go outside the camp to the afflicted individual in order to purify him. It is incumbent upon us to purify those who are ‘outside the camp,’ who dwell in the great camp of ignorance.” Salvation from an unlikely source can come in the blink of an eye, even after experiencing one of life’s very low moments.

While it is rare that we read Tazriyah and Metzorah before Pesach, the two Haftaros also present this concept. In the first episode, the Aramean general Naaman contracted tzora’as and the Jewish prophet Elisha cured him (Melachim II 4:42-5:19). Although Na’aman was an enemy general, we can feel bad for the guy. Despite his military and political success, he must have been a wreck physically. He was so desperate, he was willing to call a Jew for help. It must have been a last straw. How did the powerful Na’aman hear about Elisha?

"וארם יצאו גדודים וישבו מארץ ישראל נערה קטנה ותהי לפני אשת נעמן. ותאמר אל גברתה אחלי אדני לפני הנביא אשר בשמרון, אז יאסף אתו מצרעתו" (מלאכים ב' ה:ב-ג)

“Now the Arameans went out in bands and captured from the land of Israel a young girl, who ministered to Naaman’s wife. And she said to her mistress, ‘the supplications for my mater should be that he go before the prophet who is in Samaria; then he would cure him of his tzara’as” (Melachim II: 5:2-3).

Na’aman’s salvation came in the blink of an eye, via a Jewish slave who intervened and recommended a course of action, which proved effective.

When Parshas Metzorah falls out on a regular Shabbos we read another unique Haftarah (Melachim II 7:3-20). The narrative begins with 4 metzorahs (whom the Talmud identifies as Geichazai and his sons) who are sequestered from the camp of Israel, possessing very little hope. They had descended to such a state of despair that they opted to go to the Aramean camp, in the hope of finding some salvation. They reasoned, perhaps they would be spared there. They understood they were in a state of perpetual and irreversible social ostracism back home. When they came upon the Aramean camp, they found it abandoned. God had miraculously caused the Aramean armies to flea due to their fear of an impending phantom attack. The 4 outcasts entered the camp freely, ate to their hearts’ content, and looted the bootie that remained due to the sudden departure. They opted to send a message to the King about their findings. They could not present their message in person since they were forbidden to enter the camp. After assuming the Arameans set a trap for the Israelites, the King sent sentries with the 4 men to scout the area.  During their return trip to the camp, the road was littered with spoils, which the Aramean troops cast aside in haste. Indeed the Israelites were saved by a miracle.  The most unlikely protagonists enabled the Jews to learn of this great salvation. Yeshu’as Hashem k’heref ayin.

The Haftarah of Shabbos Hagadol, the coda of the prophecy of Malachi and that of all the Jewish prophets, ends with a promise that Eliyahu the prophet will eventually herald the ultimate salvation. Eliyahu was a firebrand, who spoke the truth despite the real fear of deleterious personal consequences. He suffered as a result of the message he needed to impart and, like a metzorah, spent a lot of time in hiding and away from civilization. Eliyahu’s “thunder and lightning” also caused him to besmirch the Jews, challenging their faith and commitment at times. Interestingly, when Moshe did the very same thing at the Burning Bush, he was punished and afflicted with temporary tzora’as. According to our tradition, Eliyahu needed to learn his lesson in a very different way. Hashem declared that Eliyahu would attend the two main events which attest to our fidelity: namely the bris milah (circumcision) and the Pesach Seder. Thank God he is a very busy prophet! He too will herald the ultimate redemption.

Eliyahu’s soul is identified with two other Biblical characters. First, Eliyahu appears in Midrashic literature as the future incarnation of Pinchas. Pinchas is described in some Midrashim as a timid scholar, a passive scion to his grandfather Aharon, who also led with love and peace. The shock that such an individual would act in such a violent way, halt a plague and receive a blessing of peace underscores how salvation can come from the oddest of places at the oddest of times.

The second appearance of the transmigrated soul of Eliyahu takes place at the end of the period of prophecy, in the palace of Achashveirosh, in the city of Shushan. Immediately after Esther reveals her true identity and dramatically accuses Haman, Achachsveirosh’s Prime Minister, of a plan of mass genocide against her people, it is the palace servant Charvonah who brings to Achashveirosh’s attention the gallows that Haman for the expressed purpose of executing Mordechai. Charvonah’s comment leads to the immediate hanging of Haman on those very gallows. Jewish law mandates that after reading the Megillah on Purim, we need to acknowledge Charvonah’s role in the Purim deliverance and offer our gratitude to this fairly behind-the-scenes character. It is precisely the Charvonahs who can alter our destinies and in a blink of an eye, changing our lives forever. This is the spirit of Eliyahu who heralds redemption.

Pesach, our holiday of redemption, is replete with references to speed and immediate changes of course.

The most visible sign of Pesach is matzah, which we ate because “the dough did not have time to rise.” They are meticulously made with a stopwatch lurking in the background. We all know the 18 minute rule. But Jewish mysticism identifies Matzah as the bread of hope. In a flash we were freed and granted an optimistic future.

My revered teacher and Rebbe, Harav Avigdor Nebenzahl asks an important question about matzah. The command to eat matzah on the night prior to the liberation from Egypt was conveyed to the Jews two weeks prior to the event. If that is the case, he asks, why the rush to make the bread? Why not order rich French croissants? Eating the paschal offering with matzah was not some spontaneous decision made by Moshe. It was engineered weeks prior to the event. So where was the rush, asks Rav Nebenzahl?

He answers that the rush was not on the side of the newly freed slaves. It was the Almighty who was rushed for time. He explains, based on the Midrash, that the Jews had descended into a spiritual muck which literally threatened their souls. They had arrived at the 49th level of impurity. Had they crossed over into the 50th gate, they would be irredeemable. God was in the rush. He saw that in a blink, they could lose everything. He needed to act fast. The thriftiness and speed associated with the matzah reminds us how close we came to descending to the other side. Our sages teach that in the 49 days after liberation from Egypt, the Jews climbed back up the spiritual ladder, arriving at the 50th rung of spirituality at Revelation 50 days later.

There are “minor characters” who we find playing enormously significant roles in our ancestors’ twisty path from patricians in Canaan, to slaves in Egypt, to free men and a Chosen nation. From the un-named man who gave directions to Joseph to find his brothers in Dotan, which led to his unseemly journey to Egypt; to little Miriam, who chastised her parents when they declared that Jews should no longer have children in light of Pharaoh’s morbid and evil declaration against Jewish babies; to Serach, the daughter of Asher, who helped Moshe identify Yosef’s remains, which he dutifully carried to the Jordan river, prior to re-entrance into Canaan, a privilege Moshe never had.

Our own personal salvation can be traced to “minor” characters and seemingly insignificant moments that impact us in ways that are transformative. But those eye-blinks change everything and create a new destiny and meaning for all of us.

At the Seder we are all important. Every type of participant is celebrated. We focus on family, on the fateful genetic union of very different people. Our redemption can come from any one of the Seder’s characters. This writer can firmly say that a middle aged group home resident, saying the right thing at the right time, was critical in enabling me to meet my wife and create my beautiful family (a long story for a different time). I imagine we all have such stories.

Redemption may come blazing from heaven amid pomp and extravagance. But an alternative opinion compares Jewish salvation to a ride on a donkey. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin once asked his audience if they ever rode a donkey. “It takes three steps forward, two steps backwards and a few steps to the side. The journey forward is hardly direct. This is a likely scenario for our redemption. Let us be prepared for it.”

My friends, I believe this too is the secret to Pesach. So keep your eyes open at your Seder, which not only retells our rich history, but prepares us to ready ourselves for our ultimate redemption. If you blink you may miss everything!