B"H

Thursday, Adar2 21, 5782 / March 24, 2022

Pesach (Passover) is in exactly three weeks, beginning Friday night April 15. Pesach we celebrate ourliberation from Egypt, which is why it is called, Z’man Cheiruteinu – Season of our Freedom.  The following are questions and answers about the holiday.

Q.   Who, many years before the Exodus, was the first one mentioned in the Torah to bake matzot?

A.   Abraham’s nephew, Lot. The Torah (Genesis19:3) relates that he served matzah to the angels who came to his home, as they were about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The story with the angels and Lot took place 400 years before the Exodus, on the same day as the Exodus.

Q.   We wash our hands before eating bread.  Yet, at the Seder we wash our hands twice.  In addition to washing our hands before making the blessing over the matzah, we also wash before dipping the vegetable into the salt-water.  Why?

A.   It is customary to wash our hands when we eat something dipped in liquid.  Thus, we wash them before dipping the vegetable into the salt-water.

Q.    How old were Moshe and Aaron when they led the Jewish people out of Egypt?

A.   Moshe was eighty years. His brother Aaron was eighty three.

Q.   How many people left Egypt at the time of the Exodus?

A.   The Torah relates that over 600,000 men over the age of twenty left.  In addition, there were women, children, and a multitude of people from other nations that left with them.  It stands to reason, that a few million people left Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

Q.   Did all the Jews who were enslaved in Egypt leave at the time of the Exodus?

A.   No.  According to our sages only one fifth left. The other four fifths didn’t want to leave. G-d punished them, and they died during the plague of darkness. Also, 200,000 men of the tribe of Ephraim miscalculated the time of the liberation, which G-d promised Abraham 400 years earlier.  They escaped thirty years before the Exodus and were killed by the people of Gat.

Q. Why were those who refused to leave, punished during the plague of darkness?

A.  G-d didn’t want the Egyptians to witness this unfortunate event. Thus, He did it during the plague of darkness when the Egyptians couldn’t see it.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY