[Avodah] Zecher Liytzias Mitzrayim and Shmini Atzeres

Akiva Miller akivagmiller at gmail.com
Sun Oct 15 13:02:06 PDT 2017


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What is the Zecher Liytzias Mitzrayim of Shmini Atzeres?We say it in
Kiddush and in the Amidah. There must be something about this chag that
connects to, and/or reminds us about, Yetzias Mitzrayim.

It sounds like such a basic question that I'm surprised that I don't
remember hearing it in the past. If anyone has an answer, please share it.
Meanwhile, here's what I came up with:

Shavuos is about one particular event in the midbar. Sukkos is about the
whole 40 years in the midbar. Pesach and Shmini Atzeres are bookends:
Pesach is about entering the midbar, and Shmini Atzeres is about leaving
the midbar.If Sukkos is about the Ananei Hakavod and all the other nissim
that accompanied us, then Shmini Atzeres is about re-entering the natural
world.

I played "word association" with six random people: When I said "yetzias
mitzrayim," five of them responded, "Pesach". This is not wrong, but it is
a distortion. Yetzias Mitzrayim was not a short event in Nissan; Shavuos
and Sukkos prove that it was a process that took 40 years. My suggestion is
simply that the last day is no less worthy of a chag than the first.

Rashi (B'midbar 29:35) famously tells us that Shmini Atzeres is a special
time, with just Hashem and Bnei Yisrael together, alone, with no other
nations around. I'm merely pointing out that it is not just the nations who
are gone: The lulav is gone. The sukkah is gone. Nothing remains but us and
Hashem, when we left the comfort of the miraculous sukkah, trading it for
being at home in Eretz Yisrael.

Akiva Miller

Postscript: An easy challenge to this post could be that Tishre 22 was NOT
the day that we crossed from the midbar into Eretz Yisrael. I will respond
in advance by pointing out that Shavuos too is not necessarily celebrated
on the same day as the event it reminds us of. The Zecher can be poetic and
emotional, and need not be so mathematically rigorous.
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