The Good Times & The Bad Times

The Mishnah in Masechet Pesahim (116a) establishes the halachah of מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח – which means that when we tell the story at the seder , we must begin with the negative side to the story, and end with the positive side of the story. We do this in two ways. First, we announce, מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו ועכשיו קרבנו המקום לעבודתו – our ancestors millennia ago were idol-worshippers, but now Hashem has brought us into His service. We begin with our unfortunate spiritual history, our having been idol-worshippers, and then end with the privilege we have to now serve Hashem. Secondly, we proclaim, עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים ויוציאנו ה' אלוקינו משם ביד חזקה – that we suffered as lowly, oppressed slaves in Egypt, and then we were miraculously brought to freedom. We do not spend the seder speaking only of our miraculous redemption. We first describe what we went through, all the troubles we endured – both spiritual and physical – from which we were saved. One way of understanding this halachah , as the Malbim explains, is that in order to experience real gratitude, we must remember and reflect upon the prior situation. To fully appreciate Yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt), we must realize how bad the bondage was. And the same is true of us and our lives. All of us have gone through hard times and faced problems that were eventually resolved. Many people struggled to find their marriage partner. Many struggled to have children, or had struggles while raising their children. Many people have faced financial challenges, or medical challenges, which were, baruch Hashem , overcome. We need to ensure that we never take these personal “ Yetziat Mitzrayim ”s for granted, that we always appreciate what Hashem did for us. And so we must be מתחיל בגנות – we must always remember how difficult the crisis was, how distraught and frightened we were, so we can be truly thankful for Hashem’s kindness. But I also saw an additional insight into this aspect of the seder . The concept of מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח is important for us with regard to those problems which are still not resolved, for those parts of our lives which aren’t going right. We learn at the seder that the שבח , all the glory that we have, all our beautiful accomplishments as a nation, began with גנות , with hardship and struggle. It wasn’t always pretty. We had some very low points. But eventually the גנות turned into שבח . When we learn about the process our ancestors underwent, we are reassured that no matter what it is that we’re going through, we, too, can experience redemption. We remind ourselves that the good times were preceded by bad times so that during our bad times, we don’t fall into despair, and we instead maintain our faith that the situation can and will get better. As mentioned, this is true both physically and spiritually. Just as we must rely on Hashem during our health struggles or financial challenges, so must we rely on Hashem during our spiritual struggles, when we’re finding it tough to motivate ourselves and be who we know we are supposed to be. Rather than despair or feel discouraged, we need to remember the message of מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח , that our challenges are temporary, that through our emunah and trust in Hashem, we can overcome our hardships and emerge even greater than ever before.