General Introduction

1. God revealed himself at the Exodus by interfering in human activity so as to return humanity to the right path.
2. God's purpose in the Exodus was an important educational one, to publicise his name and his ability:
   1. so that the Egyptians should know that I am GOD (Exodus 7:5).
   2. and so that you should tell your son and grandson ... so that you know that I am GOD (Deuteronomy 4:10).
   3. so that you should know that GOD will discriminate between Egypt and Israel (Exodus 11:7).
3. Pesach has a special status among the festivals, since the main content of Pesach is the Exodus, which is a large base and a strong pillar in our Torah and in our faith. (Sefer Haninnukh.)
4. The Exodus together with all its associated miracles announces to the whole world the presence of God who rules over the forces of nature and runs the world as he wishes.
5. Had God not brought our fathers out of Egypt, then we, our children and our grandchildren would have been mortgaged to Pharaoh in Egypt.
6. Two reasons given in the Ten Commandments for the Sabbath:
   1. because in six days GOD created Heaven and Earth, ... and on the seventh day he rested (Exodus 20:9).
   2. and you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and GOD brought you out of there ... therefore GOD has commanded you to observe the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:13).
7. You are the ones GOD took and brought out from the iron furnace, from Egypt, so as to be his people, his heritage … ' (Deuteronomy 4:20).
8. When your enemy falls, do not be happy ! - Yalkut Shimoni. God is not happy at the fall of the wicked, because they too are his creatures,
9. On the seventh day of Pesach, when Israel saw the great arm (power) that GOD had used against Egypt (Exodus 14:31) - they recognised that all that had happened in Egypt had been from the arm of God.

Key Words and Phrases