[Avodah] shidduch statistics

[Saul Mashbaum]

RMB

>>
Seriously, though, every time I
hear of someone making a se'udas hoda'ah for this yesh'uah or that, I
thank HQBH for saving me from even needing a yeshu'ah. Every time my
child crosses the street and there were no hidden cars, I got a bigger
berakhah than that of the neighbor who thanks G-d their son healed.
>>
Logic and emotions lead us in different directions in this matter. By logic,
the
position RMB describes here is of course valid. Emotionally, salvation from
an
actual danger engenders in us a feeling of gratitude which is impossible
to attain by contemplating a case in which "nothing bad happened".

This is the basis of the Talmudic principle that the mitzva of haggada on
leil haseder
requires "matchil b'gnut u'mesayyem b'shvach". The "gnut" shows that the
exodus was from
an intolerable situation, a genuine geula. Lacking this, our emotional
response
to the exodus experience would not be nearly as intense.

The emotions engendered by Pesach and Shavuot, corresponding to yetziat
mitzraim and Matan Torah,
are very different. The latter, although the central historical religious
experience of all time, lacks
the emotional intensity of the former, because of the element of salvation
in the Pesach experience.
Shavuot engenders intellectual gratitude, Pesach emotional.

Saul Mashbaum
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