Eretz Yisrael is a central theme in the holiday of Pesach and the Haggadah we read at the Seder. The entire goal of the Exodus was to enter the Land of Israel, as we say at the end of Maggid: “The Holy One, blessed be He, did not redeem only our forefathers. Rather, He redeemed us with them, as it says, ‘He brought us out of there, in order to bring us, to give us the Land that He swore to our forefathers’ (Devarim 6:23).”
Rav Ya’akov Emden (the Ya’avetz) asks a penetrating question about the Ha lachma anya passage. We read, “Now [we are] here; next year [may we be] in the Land of Israel. Now [we are] slaves; next year [may we be] free men.” The Ya’avetz is bothered by the repetition. If we pray to be in Eretz Yisrael, are we not, by definition, praying to be free, i.e., redeemed?
Rav Eliyahu Kitov cites his answer: “One should not say, what is the purpose of all these displays of freedom that we exhibit on this night? Are we not still in exile? What, then, is the purpose of being happy? Therefore, [the Haggadah] tells us that this is not considered true exile. For even if we live in a foreign land today, next year we could be in Eretz Yisrael by our own free will. No one is stopping us! At least the Jews are not imprisoned in exile today as they were in Egypt, from where no slave was ever able to escape. Even if, G-d forbid, the time of redemption has not yet come, the Land of Israel is before us, to go and dwell there at any time. [Our exile] is not like the Egyptian exile, where we were slaves and veritable captives in prison.”
In other words, we first say, “Next year in the Land of Israel” to demonstrate that we hope, at least, to be in the Holy Land next year, even if the final redemption does not yet materialize. Then we pray for the complete redemption to arise – in both a physical and spiritual sense – by next Pesach.
This idea underscores an important concept that many people have yet to fully grasp. Many Diaspora Jews explain their refusal to make Aliyah by saying: “What is so special about Eretz Yisrael today? There are so many problems there. I’ll come when Mashiach arrives.” Rav Ya’akov Emden teaches us that there is merit to living in G-d’s chosen Land, even if things are not yet perfect.
There are three levels of exile. One extreme is “Absolute Exile” – when the Jewish people are physically banished from their Land and spiritually exiled as well. They are in galut (a state of exile) and in the golah (the lands of exile). The other extreme is “Absolute Redemption,” which will occur when Mashiach arrives and brings us back to Hashem, both physically (to His Land) and spiritually (complete repentance). However, there is a middle ground, in which the Jewish people – or individual Jews – are in a state of exile but do not live in lands of exile. This is certainly not the ultimate redemption, but it is also not absolute exile, because at least they are physically, and, to a large extent, spiritually, closer to G-d. Jews who live outside the Land of Israel are in both a state and place of exile. Jews who live in Israel, on the other hand, are one step closer to redemption, because they do not live in the golah.
There is one more lesson to be learned from the Ya’avetz’s words of wisdom. Rav Emden gave this interpretation almost three hundred years ago, when it was extremely difficult to travel to and settle in Eretz Yisrael, and when the Land was not yet in Jewish hands. Nonetheless, he said: “Next year we could be in Eretz Yisrael by our own free will; no one is stopping us…”
What are we to say today, when conditions in the Holy Land are immeasurably better? We have the almost unprecedented opportunity to answer our first plea in Ha lachma anya – “Next year in the Land of Israel.” Perhaps if we make the effort to really be in Eretz Yisrael next year, Hashem will intervene and fulfill our second request – “Next year may we be free men.”
Excerpted from Rabbi Lichtman’s book “Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah.”
Rabbi Moshe Lichtman is the author of Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah and A Drop in the Ocean, and has translated several classic works of Religious Zionism into English, including Eim HaBanim Semeichah, An Angel Among Men (a biography on Rav Kook), A Question of Redemption, and Rise from the Dust. He teaches in several gap-year yeshiva and seminary programs.