And If Hashem Had Not Freed Our Ancestors from Egypt

Mr. Leo Eigen '25

There is one line of the Haggadah which has always been a bit unclear to me:

And if Hashem had not freed our ancestors from Egypt, then we and our children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt.

On a simple level, this makes sense to prove the point that Hashem’s miracles and strength were central to yetziat Mitzrayim. But on a more practical level, is it not all the more likely that some human force would have freed the Jewish people from slavery by now if not for Hashem? Why do we expressly say that without the impetus of Hashem, we would still be slaves today?

There are two reasons to emphasize the importance of Hashem’s influence in yetziat Mitzrayim: because Bnei Yisrael themselves wouldn’t be able to break free of their lifestyles in Egypt, and even further, because they wouldn't want to embrace a new life out of Mitzrayim.

To understand the idea that the Jewish people could not themselves be redeemed, it is interesting to bring up the idea of Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik. In a book called Festival of Freedom, Rav Soloveitchik introduces the idea of the “slave personality.” He explains that slaves have no sense of time or control over their own time—they themselves cannot even consider time as a factor of life. If the Jewish People were to leave Egypt simply because of human intervention, it would not guarantee that they would be able to entirely re-integrate into a free life. But with Hashem’s providence, the Jewish People were able to take upon themselves the mitzvot and the Torah. With this, they were also tasked with managing their own time, which, in turn, led to the end of their nationwide slave personality. Now, they were a freed people, charged with a new set of commandments

In terms of Bnei Yisrael’s own hesitance to leave Egypt, it might seem unreasonable that we would even consider staying after hundreds of years of physical and mental torture. But, in fact, at multiple points during the wandering in the desert, Bnei Yisrael indeed advocated for returning to Egypt. The nation complains about everything from the quality of food to Moshe’s leadership capabilities, and even goes as far as to ask Moshe: “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt?” (Shemot 14:11). To Bnei Yisrael, Egypt meant slavery. But it was also a place of familiar comfort and security. And even as Hashem performs miracles and wonders—even providing the nation with food directly from the sky—there is still doubt expressed by the Jewish People. Since the Jewish People still yearn to return to Egypt even after having been the subject of such open miracles, then they would certainly give in to returning back if they were to have been freed due to some political reason. It is not until the Jewish People are in the midst of the forty years of wandering—and after the sin of the Golden Calf—that they are willing to fully accept upon themselves the commandments and commit to their new national future.

Using both of these ideas, it is clear that Hashem’s divine providence is needed at all points. Whether because of how entrenched in slavery the Jewish people were, or because of the warped sense of comfort and security that Egypt provided, Bnei Yisrael would not have been to have been redeemed any other way. Hashem is the ultimate driving force for the redemption of the Jewish people from Egypt, to the point that, if it was not Hashem who had not freed our ancestors from Egypt thousands of years ago, we would still be slaves today—just not in the brick-and-mortar sense of the word.

Thank you to Rabbi Ritholtz and Ms. Benus for your help in preparing this dvar Torah.