Q&A: Mentioning the Exodus from Egypt in the Days of the Messiah
Mentioning the Exodus from Egypt in the Days of the Messiah
Question
Happy holiday,
Apparently Jewish law follows Ben Zoma, that we mention the Exodus from Egypt at night, but not in the days of the Messiah. On the other hand, the inference made by the Sages also seems convincing: that the Exodus from Egypt will not be uprooted, but will only become secondary. So what is the halakhic ruling? Does this also have implications for reading the Haggadah on the Seder night? And are we in the ingathering of the exiles that Jeremiah spoke about? If not now, then when?
Answer
Maimonides, Laws of Shema 1:3, ruled like Ben Zoma. I don’t know on what basis you decide which inference is more convincing. I don’t see considerations either way.
I don’t know whether we are in the ingathering of the exiles or not. Theological interpretations of history are not my area (nor anyone else’s). And I certainly don’t know when it will be. Futurism also isn’t my area (nor anyone else’s). You caught me in my weak spots 🙂
Discussion on Answer
It seems to me that if all the Jews are in the Land of Israel, then technically this is the ingathering of the exiles, and we should stop mentioning the Exodus from Egypt, no?
Why?
The halakhic ramifications are known. And indeed, several halakhic decisors have already written that in terms of the number of Jews in the world today, we are already fairly close to “the majority of its inhabitants are upon it” (for the matter of the Sabbatical year, etc.).
The return of the leprosy-plague could indeed be evidence, though that too depends on the fact of “the coming of all of you,” and not on whether that coming is the promised ingathering of the exiles.
A few questions that occurred to me בעקבות the Rabbi’s answer:
A. Will we stop mentioning the Exodus from Egypt even on the Seder night, or only every day?
B. Will we stop saying the section of “And the Lord said”?
C. Will we stop saying the section of “Who redeemed Israel” in the blessings of the Shema altogether, or will we change its wording to mention the ingathering of the exiles and the establishment of the State of Israel?
(If the Rabbi wants inspiration for changing the wording, you can take it from the Haggadah Ben-Gurion composed for his kibbutz here:
I don’t know. That is a halakhah for the messianic era.
For the messianic era in its personal sense, or in its collective sense?
Both.
I once thought of an empirical way to identify whether we are in the era of the ingathering of the exiles:
Leviticus 14:34
“When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I place a plague of leprosy in a house in the land of your possession.”
The Sages expound regarding the pair of words “when you come” — it requires the coming of all of you. That is, when we reach a state of “the coming of all of you,” the Holy One, blessed be He, is supposed to begin placing leprosy-plagues in houses.
This has additional halakhic implications beyond mentioning the Exodus from Egypt at night; for example: the commandment of Jubilee applies only at a time of “the coming of all of you,” and then the Sabbatical year would also be Torah-level, and likewise dough-offering and terumah.