The Jewish (Babylonian) Months
(12:2) This month will be for you the first of the months…
The Ramban here discusses the fact that we use the Babylonian names of the months for our calendar. He notes that, when we came back to Eretz Yisroel from the first dispersion of Bavel, we brought these names along, to remember Sham E’madnu u’misham he’elinu HaShem Yisbarach - that we stayed there and were brought up from there by G-d. This requires analysis, for it seems illogical to maintain foreign names in our language, especially when one of these is the name of a foreign Pagan god Tamuz.

Indeed, during the Second Temple period, the major tongue among Jews was Aramaic. How strange, when we recall that one of our special merits in Egypt was that we clung to our own language? In response, let us first note the Talmudic comment (Yoma 21) that, among the five items lacking in the Second Temple, was the Holy Ark. Simply understood, it was gone and missing. Yet, in Sh’kalim (6:1) there is a tale recorded that clearly indicates they knew it was hidden under a floor in the Temple, but did not take it out. Apparently this was by design. Why?

It appears that the builders of the Second Temple knew it was not intended or destined as the final Temple but only a passing phase in Jewish history. They understood this phase was only meant to prepare the people for a very lengthy dispersion of many centuries. The major preparation, in addition to their repentance and rebuilding of faith, was by studying and strengthening Torah sh’bal peh - the Oral Torah. In order to emphasize the temporary nature of this era, they specifically did not raise up the Ark from its hiding place. They also instituted the use of Aramaic as the daily tongue and the foreign names of the months as signs that this period was not truly the final redemption. [This may also explain the use of the term “brought up from there” rather than the seemingly more appropriate Go-alainu - “redeemed.”]

This explains many other puzzling facts:
1. The strange anomaly that even the Jerusalem Talmud was written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew;

2. Why the Rabbis of the Second Temple period did not violently object when the Hasmoneans of the priestly family took the throne which all knew belongs to the tribe of Judah (for the Rabbis knew it was only temporary).

3. Why the prophet Yechezkel who preceded Chaggai in history wrote a major prophecy about the Third Temple, while Chaggai strove to convince the people to build the Second Temple. For only after Yechezkel had recorded the prophecy of Klal Yisroel for the ultimate redemption did Chaggai in his time rally the people to build the one of the passing phase. [Could this also explain the loud weeping and lamenting of the elders who had seen the First Temple as they watched the Second one in construction, as described in Ezra (3:12)?]

4. In the Shirah in Shmos (15:16), the phrase “under your people cross over, HaShem; until the people whom You acquired cross over” is interpreted in the Talmud (B’rachos: 4) as referring to the first and the second arrivals, which should have been all that were needed but, “sin caused (a second dispersion).” The meaning is: the second arrival was meant to be the arrival of Moshiach, but because of the spiritual decline of the people, an interim Temple was needed to provide us with the stamina and resources to exist as Jews in the long, bitter Golus.

[Note: Years ago, I noted that in the prophecy of Zecharia which we read on Shobbos Chanukah, his vision of the Menorah of the Second Temple dwells excessively on the number seven. Based on Maharal’s well-known principle that seven is the natural number and eight is the supernatural, this could itself have been an additional hint that the Second Temple would only have a natural life-time, unlike the Third Temple, which will last forever.]

5. Shimon HaPakuli, who lived in the period of the Second Temple, codified the text of the daily Amidah, yet he included: “Return mercifully to your city Jerusalem” as one of the brachos, implying that he (and all the Rabbis of his time) knew full well that the situation as it was did not properly reflect the presence of the Shechinah.

Based on a discussion of Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, Emes L’Yaakov.
The Ultimate Test of Our Faith (13:8) … you shall tell your son on that day “for the sake of this, G-d acted for me when I left Egypt.”

We may explain this expression with a parable: A man married off his daughter to a young man with splendor and gave them a fine apartment with all the necessities of life. His wife rejoiced at the wonderful life her daughter would have. The husband told her, “Not quite yet. When will I see that all my effort has paid off well? When the young man himself will begin to pursue a living and strive to care for her, only then will I see that my efforts are rewarded.” So, too, in our case: Although we were commanded to observe immediately the various Mitzvos of Pesach, the great goal of Am Yisroel was not attained at that time when we were being carried out on the wings of eagles, surrounded by the Cloud of Glory and eating mannah and drinking from a magical well. But, once we come to Israel, work and sweat to raise the grain for the Matzah and all other Pesach necessities and continue to observe all these statutes with care and love, then G-d will know that all His efforts for our exodus were rewarded well. This is what we mean by “for the sake of this” did G-d properly release me from the bondage of Egypt.

Additionally, our sages wisely clarified this one step further by commenting on these two words: “when Matzah and Maror lay before you”. By leaving out the third crucial element, the Passover sacrifice, they meant to say that the true test will come when we are exiled into the four corners of the earth, persecuted and despised by all nations. If even then, we will not neglect to observe the Mitzvos which still apply in Golus. Then truly G-d did well to take us from Egypt and make us His chosen people who remain faithful to Him until the end of time.

Rav Meir Simchah of Dvinsk, Mesech Chachma.