B"H
Monday, Nissan 10, 5782 / April 11, 2022
Q.At the time of the Exodus, the Jewish people came out of Egypt with great wealth, as G-d promised Abraham many years earlier. At the Seder we make all kinds of symbolic gestures to remember the Exodus. Why don’t we make any symbol for the great wealth we took from Egypt?
A.On the lighter side.. because there was nothing left of that wealth.. it is long gone…
On a serious note: The Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, who was born on the 11th on Nissan 120 years ago, writes, “Jewish wealth is not houses and gold. Everlasting Jewish wealth is, being Jews who keep Torah and mitzvot and bringing into the world children and grandchildren who keep Torah and mitzvot."
This is a powerful understanding of what our true wealth is. In this context the answer is simple. The fact that we sit at the Seder together with family members, surrounded by our children and grandchildren, who participate in the customs and traditions of the Seder and the great Nachas we derive this night. This is our greatest wealth!
In the Talmud we find the following story: When Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East, the Egyptians came before him and demanded that the Jews return the gold and silver which they "borrowed" from the Egyptians a thousand years earlier, at the time of the Exodus.
Alexander called the sages and told them to appear before his court to answer the Egyptian claim that they return all the gold and silver they took with them out of Egypt. It was an enormous amount, as 600,000 plus came out of Egypt. The sages were very worried. A simple man by the name of Geviha ben Pesisa volunteered to argue the case and the Rabbis agreed. They had nothing to lose.
At the trial, the Egyptians presented their claim before Alexander, requesting that the Jews return the value of what they they took from the Egyptians. Geviha asked the Egyptians, "Do you have proof to substantiate your claim?"
"Yes we do, from your Torah," they replied. They quoted the passage from the Torah: "The children of Israel did as Moshe told them and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold. And G-d gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and they lent them".
"In that case," Geviha replied, "I will also repudiate your claim from our Torah. The Torah states that over 600,000 Jews left Egypt at the time of Exodus. This means that 600,000 labored for you over 100 years without any pay. If you will pay us the wages owed to 600,000 Jews for over one hundred years of hard labor, we will return the gold and silver we borrowed!"
Alexander told the Egyptians to reply to Geviha's suggestion. The Egyptians requested three days to respond. In the end, after much calculation, they realized that having to pay for the labor of 600,000 people for all those years would be a much greater amount.. and they dropped the case.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY