All of Israel Are Brothers

This year, Passover eve falls on Shabbat...We have another opportunity to delve into the lessons of the past. The Great Shabbat sermon was moved up by a week, and I am already organizing important points to discuss, besides the special laws for this year: moving up the search for chametz to Thursday evening, burning chametz on Friday, keeping chametz in exact quantities only for Shabbat, how to arrange the third meal on Shabbat before Passover according to different community customs, and more.

On Passover, we rejoice and give thanks for the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt. But why did we need to go down to Egypt in the first place? Why did we need to endure this difficult period of slavery in order to rejoice in our liberation? Isn't it like entering a dark, closed room just to rejoice in leaving it?

The answer lies deep in history. We descended to Egypt with a deliberate purpose. The Midrash states: "When Israel was in Egypt, they were all in one group." Thus, despite being a period of suffering and slavery, it served as a melting pot for the people of Israel! It was precisely the trials and hardships in the lowest place in the world that created unity among the tribes. The shared experience of slavery taught us to be one unified people. This is how we learned to overcome challenges and achieve freedom.

Before the descent to Egypt, there were class distinctions between the brothers – the tribes – and perhaps even disrespect toward the children of the handmaids and quarrels among the brothers, culminating in the unfortunate case of Joseph's sale. This is not how a nation is built! The people of Israel needed this preparation and purification as "brothers in distress," in a shared experience of absolute degradation, so that the nation could unite and leave Egypt together, with the deep feeling and recognition that "all of Israel are brothers."

Today, we see around us a divided and fragmented society. Disputes and baseless hatred poison the atmosphere and threaten to crumble our social cohesion. Do we need again, God forbid, to descend into the abyss in order to unite? Wouldn't it be better for us to learn from the lessons of the past and choose unity out of free will?

We left Egypt in order to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai: "When you take the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." In the holy books, it is written that every Jew, in whatever situation, has a part in the Torah – a letter in the Torah. The acronym "Israel" stands for "There are sixty myriads (600,000) letters in the Torah," corresponding to the number of the children of Israel.

Just as a Torah scroll is only kosher when it is composed of all its letters, and the absence of a single letter – even a small yud – invalidates the scroll, so too every Jew is an essential and inseparable part of the entire nation.

Without all of us together, there is no right of existence for the people of Israel – there is no Jew we can "give up" on. We are committed to a society where everyone feels they belong and are valued. Everyone is an equal part.

The verse "Together, the tribes of Israel" is not just a slogan, but a milestone! A call to action. We must remember that each of us is an inseparable part of the whole, and only through cooperation can we secure our future. We must rise above all disagreements and baseless hatred, and find what unites us.

As Passover approaches, let us work and strive for the unity of Israel, internalize the lessons of the past, implement them in the present, for a better future for all of us – together, the tribes of Israel!