Shabbos HaGadol Drasha

 I said this in shul this week, and it is simple and perhaps קרוב לאמת, so perhaps someone might find it useful. Please don't point out the Minchas Chinuch in 21 about the makor for the mitzva of zechira and sippur, and Reb Chaim, and that the ikker of the Seder is to be mechazeik emunah, and fifty other things. This is about making an important and memorable point without distractions.

We are commanded to recall Yetzias Mitzrayim every day of our lives, morning and evening. In what way is the mitzva of recalling Yetzias Mitzrayim during the seder different? 

The passuk from which we derive this special mitzva is Vehigadeta le'vincha. While the everyday mitzva derives from (Shemos 13:3) זָכוֹר אֶת הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר יְצָאתֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים, the special mitzva of the seder is from (Shemos 13:8) וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא. The Targum Onkelos there translates וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ as וּתְחַוֵי לִבְרָךְ, not just "tell your son," but rather "show your son." 

The special mitzva of Haggada involves re-enactment. As the Mishna says, and we say at the seder, 

בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות יג), וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר, בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה ה' לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם.

 In each and every generation a person must view himself as though he personally left Egypt

The Rambam makes  a slight change. Instead of  לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ, to view himself, he says

בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לְהַרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ יָצָא עַתָּה מִשִּׁעְבּוּד מִצְרַיִם

In each and every generation, a person must present himself as if he, himself, has now left the slavery of Egypt,

I suppose the reason the Rambam changed the language of our mishna from "to view himself" to "to present himself" is because it is hard to imagine something that we never experienced, but one can re-enact. 

What, then, is the pshat in our mishna? I think it is that in order to feel as if we ourselves left Mitzrayim, we need to think deeply about the foundation, the basis, of Yetzias Mitzrayim, and that is the feeling of Hakaras Hatov. This middah, this powerful awareness of how grateful we should be for all the blessings we have, is the single most important root of the Yetzias Mitzrayim experience, from its very beginning to it ultimate goal.

When Hashem appeared to Moshe Rabbeinu and told him the time had come for the geula, and that he must go to Mitzrayim to lead the people toward their redemption, Moshe did not go immediately. The Medrash Tanchuma says 

בְשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמֹשֶׁה, וְעַתָּה לְכָה וְאֶשְׁלָחֲךָ אֶל פַּרְעֹה. אָמַר לוֹ מֹשֶׁה: רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָם, אֵינִי יָכוֹל, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁקִּבְּלַנִי יִתְרוֹ וּפָתַח לִי אֶת פֶּתַח בֵּיתוֹ וַאֲנִי עִמּוֹ כְּבֵן. וּמִי שֶׁהוּא פּוֹתֵחַ פִּתְחוֹ לַחֲבֵרוֹ, נַפְשׁוֹ הוּא חַיָּב לוֹ. 

At the time the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh (Exod. 3:10), Moses replied: “Master of the Universe, I cannot leave, for Jethro welcomed me and opened his home unto me, and I am like a son unto him.” If one opens his door to his fellowmen, the latter owes him his very life. 

Moshe knew exactly what the Jews were experiencing in Egypt, and when Hashem told him to go redeem them, he should have jumped to go. But he did not. Because he knew that there had to be a way to doing his work without showing ingratitude to his father in law, so he went to ask Yisro's permission before leaving.

Moshe Rabbeinu knew that the foundation of Yetzias Mitzrayim is הכרת הטוב, and you can't catalyze that miracle with an act of being כפוי טוב.

The Makkos involving the water of the Nile,  the water that bore Moshe as an infant, and the one that changed the sand to vermin, the sand that hid the body of the man Moshe killed, Moshe could not be the instrument of those makkos because of his hakaras hatov - hakaras hatov to inanimate, insensate objects! 

In truth, Chazal find the seed of the entire enslavement of the Jewish people in the trait of כפיית טובה. Rabbeinu Bachya says that as soon as Pharaoh demonstrated his ingratitude to Yosef, despite all that Yosef had done for Egypt and the house of the Pharaoh, it foreshadowed his denial of the existence of God - 

ובמדרש אשר לא ידע את יוסף, כל הכופר בטובתו של חברו סופו שיכפור בטובתו של הקב"ה שהרי כתיב (שמות א ח) אשר לא ידע את יוסף ובסוף אמר (שמות ה) לא ידעתי את ה'.

This theme continues all the way to the denouement of the redemption, Mattan Torah. As the Ramban says, the Aseres Hadibros do not begin with "I am your God who created heaven and earth." It begins אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹקיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל פָּנָי.  You were slaves, without a past, without a present, without a future, and I took you out and chose you to be my emissaries on earth, it is because of Hakaras Hatov to Hashem that we accepted the Aseres Hadibros. 

With this in mind, we understand why Matza is so important. We didn't leave Mitzrayim ourselves. But by thinking deeply of all the gifts we received from so many people, and most importantly, the great gift of life and opportunity we received from the Ribono shel Olam, we can imagine what it must have been like to be redeemed from slavery. Everything precious in our lives is a gift from the Ribono shel Olam, and that is something we share with the generation of Mitzrayim. By cultivating that middah tovah, we can see ourselves as if we ourselves were redeemed from Mitzrayim.  Matza represents that middah. An arrogant person, a person that is puffed up like bread, can not be makir tov, not to his parents or his friends or to God Himself. He feels that he is a self made man, and he only has what he deserves and created by himself. There is no room for Hakaras Hatov in such a miserable man's poisonous philosophy; all he asks is for God to stay out of his way, and he'll do just fine. That is what Chametz represents. Humility and simplicity is the only possible way for a man to recognize what the Ribono shel Olam has done and continues to do for him, and that is what Matza reminds us. 

Hachaver Mike Nussbaum pointed out that the song 'Dayenu' is entirely about the concept of Hakaras Hatov. If Hashem had only given us this, how grateful we would be, we couldn't expect anything more - and then He showered greater and greater gifts upon us! What a perfect expression this is of the most important theme of Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim.

The idea that the most important theme of the seder is hakaras hato, is Reb Yerucham's approach.

Reb Chatzkel Levenstein held that the main theme is Emunah.