In the Hagaddah we recite that matzah is eaten because they were literally chased out of Mitzrayim and were unable to wait for their dough to rise. Why, indeed, did they have to leave in such a hurry? The Meforshim, quoting the Arizal, explain that Klal Yisroel were teetering at the brink of the fiftieth level of tumah. Had they reached that threshold, they would have reached a point beyond return. Therefore, their exit had to be bichipazon- in great haste. Although Hashem had promised they would eventually be taken out of Mitzrayim, this depended on them still maintaining viability to be taken out. Had they sunk to the abyss of tumah, there would not have been anybody left to fulfill the promise to be taken out of Mitzrayim. They were in a most desperate situation. They were sullied with tumah and spiritual filth, and that made recovery nearly impossible. Hashem, in His incredible rachmanus, wrenched them out in the nick of time to eternally save them.
There is something very troubling about this oft-quoted Arizal.
In reality, the process of geulah began much before their actual exit from Mitzrayim. Klal Yisroel were awakened from their ruchniusdike slump when the possuk testifies, “Va’yamein ha’am”- “The nation was invested with great emunah”. As they experienced all the astonishing makkos, they fortified their belief in Hashem’s dominion over the entire creation; the air, all living kind, and vegetation.
The possuk tells us that they divested themselves of all of their avoda zora and acquired the pascal lamb. They set aside the korban Pesach at great risk to their lives. They sacrificed it and placed the blood on their doorways openly displaying their steadfast adherence to the Torah and its’ mitzvos. They ate the korban Pesach with the greatest bitachon that they would be leaving Mitzrayim momentarily. This was an assertion of teshuvah for their prior associations to the Mitzri gods.
They witnessed the final makkah, makas bechoros, and were privy to the awesome yad Hashem skipping over houses to eliminate His targets and acknowledged it. They set out into the unknown without food or supplies, totally reliant on Hashem and His providence. Mind you, there were millions of people, many of them children, following blindly and confidently.
We are even told by Chazal that those who vacillated in their bitachon and emunah, died during makas choshech. Evidently, the survivors were ba’alei madreiga, worthy of being redeemed.
If this was indeed their situation, how do we understand the words of the Arizal that at this moment they were on the brink of falling into the lowest step of tumah? Did their behavior truly exemplify that of low-end people?
To gain a deeper understanding, here are the words of the Arizal to Rav Chaim Vital. “A small action in this generation, is equal to many mitzvos of earlier generations. This is because there is so much tumah and klipah in the latter generations that did not exist previously”. Similarly, Rav Yisroel Salanter commented, “In these later generations, a person can accomplish more than was able to be accomplished in the times of the Tanaim”.
All of the years that they were enslaved in Mitzrayim, they had been distanced from avodas Hashem and off the proper derech. However, considering their dire circumstances, there was plausible cause for their difficulty to cling to the appropriate derech. After they were privy to the massive divine revelations, they were uplifted spiritually to great heights. First-hand experiencing of Hashem’s great strength and His great love for them, further advanced their commitment and devotion to Torah and mitzvos.
The greater one grows; the higher the bar of behavior is raised. As they continued to rise in their ruchnius, their responsibility to improve increased manifold. The demand to perfect their behavior amplified intensely. Lack thereof, severely flawed them and plummeted them to precarious declines from the new, high expectations required from them. Their spiritual elevation created a new sub-standard, therefore there was a great urgency to remove them from Mitzrayim lest they hit the new threshold of beyond repair.
Following a wonderful Yom Tov of uplifting romemus, must effort must be put forth to maintain the new set of expectations befitting our newly-acquired plateaus of avodas Hashem.