As we read the Haggadah itself we cannot spend too much time elaborating, since especially with children, we need to get to the eating of the Matzoth and the meal. However during the meal and after we finish the Haggaddah affords us time which we can use for this discussion.
The spiritual exile throughout the ages .
Many great works, though, bring the exile of Egypt closer to home. They explain, from the mystical works of Kabbalah, that the exile in Egypt was more than a physical enslavement. It was an exile of "Da'at." Although to explain the Hebrew meaning of "Da'at" even on a simple level requires some interpretation, we will suffice that it is the ability to take that knowledge which we learn and understand and apply it. In Egypt their knowledge that there is a Creator and that we need to serve Him was diminishing more and more. They reached what is known as the 49th gate of spiritual impurity.
The Jewish calendar- a revolving wheel .
In Judaism we don't have holidays to remember past events as historical remembrances. The Jewish calendar is a revolving wheel, as taught to us by the masters of Kabbalah. The cylce repeats itself again and again every year.
Passover- a time of hope .
It is a time of hope. We declare in the Haggadah that in every generation there arise among the nations those who want to destroy us. Then we continue and declare that The Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hands! As we are all reading this, we are a living testimony that we, the Jewish nation, are still here despite all the pogroms, wars and attempts to, G-d forbid, try and wipe us out. Even as we read this we all know that the accursed Arabs would love to and are trying to wipe us out; they will never succeed!
The 50th is the total denial of a Creator. The sages taught us that if they would have reached that level they would not have been able to be redeemed. The latter works taught us that this is only before the giving of the Torah, which took place after they actually left Egypt. Now that we have the Torah, through its teachings, even those who have fallen wherever they have, even until actual denial of a Creator, there is still hope!
When we come to the night of the Seder, the night of Passover, we have returned to the same place on this life wheel, which we call time, as our forefathers were at on that night when the first Passover occurred. Just as they, that night, were redeemed physically and spiritually, likewise we can be also.
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