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presumably all future generations—must tell the story as though they were the ones who
left Egypt.

But, wait! Does this really make sense? The first generation experienced the actual
redemptive events. So it makes sense that they would tell the story whether in the Land or
not. Meanwhile, the second generation could see themselves as those who went out from
Egypt because the Exodus was the relevant backstory for their entering into the Land.
Their descendants in the land could do the same. Living in the land was the culmination
of the Exodus from Egypt and proof that it was truly a redemptive event.

But, what about us who do not live in the Land? For whom the Exodus is not the reason
for where we live? Is it still incumbent upon us to tell the story? Does Rabbi Epstein’s
answer make the story relevant to our lives in exile?

I’m not so sure.

One way to resolve the question is to realize that in our current condition we resemble
neither the second generation on the cusp of entering the Land nor the first generation
after the Exodus.

Instead, we most resemble the first generation in Egypt before the Exodus.

Our Sages tell us that there are fifty levels of purity and fifty levels of impurity. The
th
generation in Egypt was on the 49 level of impurity. They were far-gone. One more
level and maybe even God wouldn’t have been able to salvage them. They were almost
totally assimilated to Egyptian culture. Their families had been fractured by the decrees
of the Pharaoh. Everyone was traumatized; they had lost sight of who they were and how
to be in loving relationship. Even Moses bore these traits in neglecting to circumcise his
son and in his strained relations with his wife.

For them, redemption was not a story or a treasured aspect of the Jewish calendar.
Neither was the Exodus the relevant pre-history for how they came to live in the Land of
Israel.

Most simply, redemption hadn’t happened to them yet.

That, to my mind, is the best way to connect with the redemption of Pesach this year.
Many of us are isolated or assimilated. Many of us have lost loved ones. Many of us are
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