B’TZAYSI MIMITZRAIM - B’TZAYSIMIYUSHALAIM
Certainnational events and experiences in our history have exerted a fundamental,defining impact upon us – both as individuals and collectively. Halacha insists that we not permitquantitative time to distance us from such significant experiences, lest wetrivialize them and thereby lose touch with essential aspects of ourself-definition. As a result, we would ultimately forgett who we are and ourpurpose in history.
A”T– Ba”Sh is a popular mnemonic which correlates each of the seven days of theweek upon which the seven days of Pesach occur in a given year with theoccurrences of the first days of thevarious other holidays in that year. A”T, for example, informs us that thefirst day of Pesach [=A] always falls on the same day of the week upon whichthe following Tisha B’Av [= T] will take place. This correlation between theExodus and Tisha B’AV may be understood as follows:
Boththe Exodus (בצאתיממצרים)and the Churban (בצאתי מירושלים) constitute events which define who we are – collectivelyand as individuals. On Pesach, we were irreversibly redeemed as Hashem’sChosen People. Due to the events which we commemorate on Tisha B’Av, we yearnfor full self-actualization - not only for ourselves, but also for all ofhumanity - which requires the termination of our exile and the realization ofthe Messianic promise.
Onthose two days, therefore, Halacha insists that we “fly back” in time. Wejoyously re-enact and relive the Exodus at the Seder table, and we themournfully recite elegies on Tisha B’Av as we sit on the Synagogue floor. Thus,we temporarily re-live and, as a result, re-experience these radically oppositeevents – thereby generating authentic memories, values and visions whichconstantly inform our daily lives.