Hallel at the Seder: The mixed emotions and resiliency embedded in our traditions

We are obligated, in every generation, to visualize ourselves as if we were there too exiting Egypt, as a part of the miraculous redemption, for the purpose of bringing us to and vesting us in the Promised Land of Israel. The Haggadah continues with our reaffirmation that we, therefore, have the sacred duty to thank and praise G-d, profoundly and exceedingly, for all these miracles that benefited our ancestors and us, including bringing us from slavery to freedom, from despair to joy, from mourning to a festival day, from darkness to light and from servitude to redemption. The net result, according to the Midrash, was that only approximately 20% of the Jewish people left Egypt, as a part of the Exodus; the rest died in the Plague of Darkness.

Author: Leonard Grunstein

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