Happy Pesach!
Eiruvin Daf 15
What does Pesach have to do with Eiruvin?
And where can we find יציאת מצרים in our daf learning on this erev chag?
Interestingly, the gemara goes on a slight tangent from discussing קורה and לחי on Shabbat, and introduces the idea of divorce. Rabbi Yossi Hagalilee says that you can't write a 'get' on something live, rather it has to be inanimate, basing himself on the phrase 'v'ktav la' - write it like a book. Others argue, defining 'sefer kritut' not as the book but as sefer, or sippur, a document that tells the story of their separation.
Our Pesach holiday is one of freedom, of spring, of new beginnings. But it starts as a tale of separation - the painful lengthy departing of the Jewish nation from Egypt. And it is a written story - one that we read inside the Haggadah and retell each year, each generation.
It would seem that G-d wants us to remember not just the rebirth but the first separation - as He takes us out of Egypt, we are confronted for the first time with life on our own, as a nation in charge of our own destiny. As newly released slaves, our ancestors must have wondered at this new life, albeit in the desert, yet taking action as free men for the first time.
Eiruvin's public and private domains - how we conduct ourselves personally and as a people - these are all questions that originate for the Jewish people as we leave Egypt. Now, embarking on a journey that would lead us home, we have to find our way. Divorced from slavery, we take this written tale and repeat it, putting ourselves back onto the path of our very public and private lives as we build ourselves as a nation, first in the desert and then in our Land.
חג חרות כשר ושמח!
What does Pesach have to do with Eiruvin?
And where can we find יציאת מצרים in our daf learning on this erev chag?
Interestingly, the gemara goes on a slight tangent from discussing קורה and לחי on Shabbat, and introduces the idea of divorce. Rabbi Yossi Hagalilee says that you can't write a 'get' on something live, rather it has to be inanimate, basing himself on the phrase 'v'ktav la' - write it like a book. Others argue, defining 'sefer kritut' not as the book but as sefer, or sippur, a document that tells the story of their separation.
Our Pesach holiday is one of freedom, of spring, of new beginnings. But it starts as a tale of separation - the painful lengthy departing of the Jewish nation from Egypt. And it is a written story - one that we read inside the Haggadah and retell each year, each generation.
It would seem that G-d wants us to remember not just the rebirth but the first separation - as He takes us out of Egypt, we are confronted for the first time with life on our own, as a nation in charge of our own destiny. As newly released slaves, our ancestors must have wondered at this new life, albeit in the desert, yet taking action as free men for the first time.
Eiruvin's public and private domains - how we conduct ourselves personally and as a people - these are all questions that originate for the Jewish people as we leave Egypt. Now, embarking on a journey that would lead us home, we have to find our way. Divorced from slavery, we take this written tale and repeat it, putting ourselves back onto the path of our very public and private lives as we build ourselves as a nation, first in the desert and then in our Land.
חג חרות כשר ושמח!
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