Subliminal Speech

“Even if we were all wise sages, even if we were all understanding people… we would still be obligated to tell over the story of the Exodus from Egypt.”

(Haggadah shel Pesach)

The Vilna Gaon attributes a unique characteristic to each month of the year. Nissan’s trait is sichah, speech. Speech is a common theme that runs throughout Pesach. The name Pharaoh stems from the words “peh ra, evil mouth.” On Pesach, when we were redeemed from Egypt, we were simultaneously redeemed from the trait of evil speech that the Egyptians personified.

We then take this a step further with the actual name of the chag, which comes from the root “peh sach, a mouth that speaks.” With our exodus from Egypt, we triumphed over the attribute of evil speech and gained the power of spiritual speech, which we utilize in retelling the story of our Yetzias Mitzrayim. 

In Bereishis (2:7) it says: “And man became a living spirit.” Targum translates this to mean “a talking spirit.” The Jewish People exemplify mankind’s unique attribute of speech through the mitzvah of learning Torah, which is done through speaking, as it says in Devarim (6:7): “And you shall speak in it.” (Rav Itamar Schwartz, Bilvavi)