Pesach (2 Divrei Torah)

1) A commonly asked question at the seder is "Why do we eat the matzo, which
represents Hashem's taking us out of Egypt, and afterwards eat the maror,
which symbolizes the hardships of Egypt?".

A possible answer is that our sages were teaching us an important
lesson : Never take G-d's gifts for granted--we have to be worthy of keeping
them or else we can lose them.

2) The Haggada quotes "And the king of Egypt died. The Jews were groaning
because of their subjugation. When they cried out because of their slavery,
their pleas went to Hashem, and He heard their cries..." (Shemos 2:23-24)
Why did the Jews only cry out to G-d AFTER the king died, the slavery
started during his reign ?? Some commentaries explain that the Jews had
assumed that when the first king would die the slavery would stop. When that
didn't happen, then they prayed.

Prayer should always be in the first line of defense, not just when
"all else fails".

Have a Chag Kasher veSameach !!

Rabbi Chaim Flom
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