In every generation a person must view himself as if he had been redeemed from Egypt

The responsibility to see ourselves as if we were redeemed from Egypt is a serious responsibility. To tell ourselves the story, to reawaken our memory and to be responsible for an authentic Seder night experience every year, is no simple task. In this lesson we will deal with the significance of the personal memory of the Exodus from Egypt.

2-3 minutes: The teacher will offer a short description of the topic of the lesson (2-3 sentences) and will ask the students the following questions:

If you could go back in time to the moment when the Children of Israel left Egypt, who would you like to be? Why did you choose that person? (Allow 4 or 5 students to share their answers out loud). 

We will screen an excerpt from the film “Prince of Egypt” where the Exodus from Egypt is shown (the excerpt can be found here – or beginning at minute 1:17:30 of the film, running until 1:22:22).

Now we turn to Havruta/Study Partner learning (see the source sheet). Each source is followed by questions, and we will encourage the students to think deeply about the sources and to add their own thoughts beyond the questions that appear on the source sheet.

We will come together again in a group. Study partners willing to share their insights from the Havruta study will be invited to speak.

Every Person Needs to Have a Certain Egypt
Poem by: Amnon Ribak

Every person needs to have a
certain Egypt,
To deliver themselves from it
with a strong arm,
or with grinding teeth. 

Every person needs terror and great darkness,
and comfort and promise and redemption,
that they would know to look up at the sky.

Every person needs one prayer, 
that would always be on their lips.
A person needs to bend one time –

Every person needs a shoulder.

Every person needs to have a
certain Egypt,
to redeem themselves from it, from the house of slavery,
to go out in the middle of the night to the desert of fears,
to march straight into the waters,
to see them open before them to both sides.

Every person needs a shoulder,
on which to carry the bones of Joseph,

Every person needs to straighten their backs.

Every person needs to have a
certain Egypt,
and a Jerusalem,
and one long journey,
that they will forever remember
in their feet.

Every student should write about a personal “Redemption from Egypt” that they experienced this year. It could be a challenge that they succeeded in overcoming; a difficulty that they faced, but ended up being strengthened by, and so forth. This can also be presented as a question: What difficulty are they currently facing, from which they hope to be “redeemed” (to which they hope to find a solution). 

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu:
“A person must regard himself as though he had gone out of Egypt.” How can this be accomplished? (from https://www.yeshiva.org.il/).
I was once asked by some students how a person could possibly feel that he left Egypt. After all, he wasn’t there? In response I asked them: Who won in the Six-Day War? Did we win? Or was it the Egyptians, the Jordanians or the Syrians who were the victors? They were certain of the answer – “What do you mean? We won!” they replied. I asked again and again, until they became angry with me. Of course we won the war! We gave them a really good thrashing!
Then I asked them “Did any of you fight in the Six-Day War? Were any of you alive at that time? How can you say that "we" won? Now they had nothing to say. I continued and explained that although there are still people alive who were there and were involved in liberating the Western Wall, surely none of them were there.  They began to make excuses and said: Right! We weren’t alive to fight in the war, but it was the people of Israel who won, and that means that we won. I told them that they really are right, not only with regard to the current generation but also regarding past generations. When we talk about the victories of the Jewish people against their enemies, we can say, "We won."
In truth, this attitude is essential under all circumstances – not only when talking about our successes. Even with regard to tragedies we must feel connected and say "we." When learning about the Holocaust we must feel as though we were burned in the crematoria. That we were exiled and burned at the stake during the Inquisition. That it was our own Temple that was destroyed. That is why we cry on Tisha B'Av. The Gemara tells of Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai who cried on the night of Tisha B'Av as if he had a close relative who died and was not yet buried. This was the case even though he lived in the generation after the destruction of the Temple.
We must extend this sense of connection all the way back to the Exodus from Egypt. When we are asked who left Egypt, the answer should be "we did." As we recite during the Seder, “And he took us out of there.” This feeling should not be reserved only for Passover night. When talking about the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we must relate to them as our ancestors. This is true regarding many matters.