A Vort fun Rav Mendel on the Haggadah. One of the things we mention in the Haggadah is quotes the פסוק וירד מצרימה, that Yaakov went down to Mitzrayim, and the Haggadah explains that it means אנוס על פי הדיבור, that he was forced to go to Mitzrayim because Hashem told him to. And the Rebbe asks a she'eilah, this seems to be a contradiction in itself. If he was told to go because the Eibershter told him to go, so how could you say it was anuss, that it was forced? For sure if the Eibershter told him to go, he wasn't forced to do it, that's what he wanted to do. He wants to do what the Eibershter told him to do.

Especially the avot, where it says in Tanya the peshat in the words of the חז״ל, האבות הן הן המרכבה, that the avot are the merkavah, they're the chariot. So in Tanya explains what does that mean? Just like a chariot is battel to the rochav, a wagon is battel to the driver, a car is battel to the driver, even though a car moves, the wagon moves, and it goes here and it goes there, it doesn't have its own will, it only does what the driver wants it to do. And the avot were that madregah, their whole metziut was battel to the Eibershter. And they only wanted to do what the Eibershter wants them to do. And whatever the Eibershter wants them to do, they did it besimchah, because they were completely battel to the Eibershter. So how do we say here that he went על פי הדיבור, which means the Eibershter told him to go, and at the same time we say he was anuss? He was forced, he felt forced. What do you mean? Which really means he didn't want to go. But if the Eibershter told him, for sure he wanted to go.

And the Rebbe explains it like this. Even though the Eibershter told him to go, but going to Mitzrayim is a yeridah. A Yid has to know that's not his place. You have to go if you're told to go, but you have to remember that you're being sent to a place which is lower, and therefore really you don't belong there, and you have to always feel that way. You always have to feel that you are here be'oness. This is not really where your place is. I, we're saying that the Eibershter told him to go? So ad rabba, when are you matzliach to fulfill the shlichut that you were given to go down to Mitzrayim? If you constantly feel that you're anus. If a person comes to Mitzrayim, comes to a low place, and he starts feeling comfortable there, then he won't be matzliach to do his shlichut. His shlichut is to bring Elokus into that place. But that place is a place of, let's say, of kelipah or something, a low place. So you have to remember constantly that this is not a good place and you're here only because you were sent. If you have that feeling, then you will be matzliach to bring Elokus. But if you don't feel anus, you feel it's okay, then you will not be matzliach, because if you start feeling comfortable in this new place, which is a low place, chas veshalom you could be schlepped into that too. And that's exactly what the Haggadah is telling us. Both things come together. He really went there בשמחה גדולה. He was very happy to go, because על פי הדיבור, the Aibershter told him to go, he was happy. But at the same time, he went feeling that he's an anus, because he knew that gufa is what the Aibershter wants. The Aibershter wants him to feel out of place, to feel uncomfortable. And b'meila he's able to be matzliach to bring kedushah into that place and not to be influenced, chas veshalom, by the place on him.

Which is a lesson for us bichlal being in galut. We have two things concerning being in galut. On one hand, we know the Aibershter sent us to galut, we didn't go on our own. The famous vort of the Frierdiker Rebbe in the name of his father, ניט מיט אונדזער ווילן זענען מיר געגאנגען אין גלות, not because of our will we went to galut. So it's not we who decided to go to galut. We were sent, we went to galut because the Aibershter put us here, not our will. But we know that the Aibershter put us here. But we always have to remember that this is galut, that this is not the real place where a איד בעצם belongs. And then you are able to accomplish what you're supposed to accomplish in galut, because you know that the galut, which is the העלם והסתר, the concealment of Godliness, is not something that's good, and you feel uncomfortable being there, then you're able to be matzliach and bring Elokus into the galut. So they both come together. So the bottom line, he did it b'simcha, and we're supposed to be in galut b'simcha, knowing that this is the place where the Eibershter wants us to be, and he gave us a job, he gave us a shlichut here. But at the same time, we have to remember that we have to feel bad that we're in such a place. If we feel bad that we're in such a place, then we will not be influenced by that place, and we will matzliach in the shlichut we have to bring Godliness into the galut, and that's going to be the keli to bring Mashiach, where the גילוי אלוקות will be nitgalah, and there will be no more kelipah, as the פסוק says, ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר מן הארץ.