Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We are now up to the section of the Hagadah which talks about the story in short, with four Pesukim excerpted from Devarim 26 ,5 and on , in the context of Bikkurim which is relevant for us now, as Shavuot is the time that we bring Bikkurim . As we march from Pesach to Shavuot, we are in a time of Hakarat HaTov and appreciation. The outcome of Yetziat Mitzrayim is supposed to be Hakarat HaTov , gratitude and appreciation for God. That is why these four Pesukim , which we base our Hagadah on, were said with the baskets of fruit in hand overflowing, thanking God. The first pasuk they said was: אֲרַמִּי֙ אֹבֵ֣ד אָבִ֔י וַיֵּ֣רֶד מִצְרַ֔יְמָה Arami oved avi vayered Mitzraima . ( A man called) Lavan HaArami tried to destroy ( or destroyed) my father… Rashi says that God considered what Lavan wanted to do as if he did it. But before we proceed with the rest of the pesukim , we have to stop and ask: Why are we mentioning Lavan here? And what does this have to do with the basket of fruit? If you want to tell me we went to Mitzrayim and now we got the land, I got it. Vayevienu el hamakom hazeh , it says and He brought us to this place after the four Pesukim , we're saying God brought us here . But that was 250 years after we entered the land and way after the story of Lavan and Yaakov. The answer is, as Yaakov and Lavan were going through this story, it was not very clear what was going on. It started with Lavan swindling Yaakov , and making him work twice as long as he needed, not seven but 14 years. But if not for that swindling, he would have just walked out with Rachel. No Leah, no Bilhah or Zilpah. Who knows how many children would not have been born? Rachel gave him only two children. With the four wives he ended up with 12. Additionally, Yaakov Avinu also walked in as a man with no money, but he walked out a very wealthy man. And let's go into the story of Egypt: We grew even more due to the oppression. We left with tremendous wealth, became purified and refined, and were ready to receive the Torah . But, it only became clear after the story was over. You can't understand a book if you only read the middle chapter. One of my favorite mashals told by the Chafetz Chaim is that of a man who visited a town for the weekend. He was a Gabbai (or Misader) in his hometown shul, and gave out the Aliyot and the other honors in the shul , like who gets to open the Heichal, who gets the first Aliyah , who gets Shlishi or Shishi (which is important depending on what your customs are.) who gets Maftir and so on. So there he was in the new shul, looking around, imagining that he was back home, deciding whom he would give each Aliyah to. 'Oh, that guy looks important, I'd give him this. That guy I think looks I'd give him that….' But in the end, nothing went the way he thought it should go. A fellow that looked like he couldn't read even got the Maftir ! He couldn't understand what was going on. He approached the man in charge and asked, " Could you please explain what's going on here? I run the shul back in my hometown, and I wouldn't have done it this way." The man in charge responded, " How long have you been here?" The guest answered, " I'm here for the weekend." The gabbai then said, " Well, if you've only been here for the weekend, you can't really question what I'm doing. You weren't here last week; you don't know what's going to happen next week. The fellow that got Maftir, who looked like he couldn't read, has his father's Yahrzeit this week. The fellow that you think should have gotten an Aliyah got one last week, and the other one is getting it next week. You can't comment when you're only here for a weekend!" So too, says the Chafetz Chaim , in life, we're only here for a short period of time. We don't see the whole story, and therefore we can't question. God wanted to teach us an important, short history lesson. He knew we were going to enter into future exiles. He wanted us to read this lesson and apply it to life in general. That's why the real message of the night of the Seder is Matchil bignut umesayem beshevach . Start with the negative and end with the positive. Rabbenu Manoac h , one of the Rishonim , in his commentary on the Rambam on the laws of Chametz U'Matzah , chapter seven, Halacha 6 , says something fascinating: With this remembering, Tihiyeh yirat Hashem al panav tamid / The fear of God will be on his face continuousl y, When he sees Hashem's supervision, And you'll never forget about Hashem . With this story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, you will see Hashem is watching you. You'll be on His mind and He'll be on your mind. And even if its times are very difficult, Yiftach b'Hashem, he'll still rely on God, Mikveh Yisrael, the One the Jewish people hope to, Moshio b'eit tzara, the One that saves us in time of difficulty . And just like the difficulty of the exile of Mitzrayim, Hayta sibah l'heitiv lahem b'achritam/Was a cause to end up doing better for them in the end, Ken kol tzarot hagalut hazeh / So too with all of these difficulties in our exile, hem sibah l'Yisrael / They will be a cause for the Jewish people, l'hoshi'am t'shuat olamim, an everlasting saving- Which is the rule we call Ma'aseh Avot Siman L'banim . The actions of the father are a sign for the future. That's our opening lesson for Maggid, the story of the Hagadah shel Pesach . And as we said, it's not just for the night of Pesach , it's every day of our lives. We have to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim . This is one of the underlying messages of Yetziat Mitzrayim , says Rabbeinu Manoach , is that it ain't over 'til it's over.