By the Grace of G‑d
Erev Pesach, 5712 [1952]
Brooklyn

Blessings and Greetings!114

With1 the approach of the Pesach festival that we, as part of the entire Jewish people, are about to celebrate, I wish you a kosher and happy — a truly happy — Pesach festival.

As you no doubt know, the Midrash teaches that it was in the merit of the righteous women of that generation that the Jewish people were taken out of Egypt.

One aspect of their righteousness was the fact that regardless of the difficulties and darkness of that exile, particularly in its last decades, they constantly retained their firm trust in G‑d — that He would fulfill His promise of redemption. They did not know when it would arrive. Moreover, as time went on, Pharaoh’s decrees increased in harshness and severity, especially those against Jewish children, culminating in the decree that all newborn sons were to be thrown into the Nile. Yet despite all that, the hope of those women did not wane. Furthermore, they undertook the responsibility of setting up a new generation, ignoring the decrees, and disregarding the fact that they could [see] no way in which the infants to be born would be saved nor how they would escape Pharaoh’s decree that the newborn sons were to be hurled into the Nile.

Through that trust and fortitude — not to be overawed by mortal understanding, because G‑d is the master of the entire universe and no one can defy Him — they brought up a whole generation of children in their tens and hundreds of thousands. It was those very children who were the first to recognize G‑d at the Splitting of the Red Sea, who later received the Torah at Mount Sinai, and who perpetuated the Jewish people.

From everything in the Torah, a lesson must be derived for every Jew. This also applies to us and to yourself. One must be firm in his trust that G‑d alone is the sole master of the universe and that no one can act in defiance of Him. Even when one does not see how this operates within the realm of nature, G‑d will carry out His [Will], so that He will fulfill the needs — in every particular — of all those who are bound to Him through their trust in Him and who live a life of Torah and mitzvos, especially with regard to the blessings of healthy, viable and long-lived children.

This trust resembles the situation in Egypt, where those [women] maintained their trust in G‑d even though they could not foresee any natural means by which the redemption could transpire. Nevertheless, this did not weaken their trust that they should have children and raise them, and that those children would be blessed with long life. It is to be hoped that in our days, too, through our firm trust in G‑d, we, too, will all be found worthy of witnessing the true and complete Redemption through our Righteous Mashiach.

With blessings for a kosher and happy Pesach, and abundant nachas and good health for many long days and good years,

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