The Avodah of Today

Just to give a Kitzur in a Parshas Bo class I had with Rabbi Garrelik (I'm leaving out a lot of details of the sicha but if you want to look it up it's in Chelek 15, Pgs. 114-121) :

Rashi asks in this week's parsha why the Yidden had to have to keep the lamb with them
for 4 days before they could shecht it if this tzivui wasn't passed on for the following generations??

In his answer he gives a whole long explanation that before the Yidden could actually partake in Yetzias Mitzrayim they had to have some mitzvos in their "back pocket" and right no they had none, so Hashem gave them Karban Pesach and Bris Milah. Hashem also gave them the mitzvah of Karban Pesach to draw them out of their state of Avodah Zarah.

The Rebbe asks two questions:
1) Rashi didn't really answer his question about the four days.
2) Where does Milah come into the picture?
Mashal:
If you go to a chasunah, you can tell the obvious difference between the people who are very close to the family, in that they look their finest and dressed the most appropriate for the wedding. They are the ones who look really 'present'. This is in contrast to those who are not so close at all but come more for the social aspect of the chasuna and you can even see by the way that they're dressed that they didn't go all out to be a part of it.

Nimshal:
When Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, they weren't going from Slavery to Freedom, they were going from Mitzrayim to Matan Torah - the wedding with Hashem. They were going to a wedding but they could only go if they were dressed appropriately - they had to rid themselves of all the shmutz of Avodah Zarah and slavery.
The Yidden needed two things in order to be fully prepared for the wedding:
1) Removal of the Tumah of Mitzrayim - this was through Karban Pesach which made them take the Avodah Zarah - sheep - of Mitzrayim and making it a Karban - elevating it to Kedusha, removing its shmutz
2) Purification - this was through Milah which represents an eternal bond with Hashem

Rashi doesn't need to explicitly explain why 4 days was needed to prepare the Karban Pesach because Rashi already explained in a previous parsha that 4 days was enough to make something strong by a person. When? In Akeidas Yitzchak the Torah says : "And Avraham awoke in the morning," and we learn from this that he couldn't wait to fulfill Hashem's command in relation to killing Yitzchak. But how do we know that Avraham wasn't making a rash decision about doing such a crazy thing!? Because it took him 3 days to get to Har HaMoriah and overall 4 days in between the command and his fulfillment of it, in order that people wouldn't say that Avraham shechted Yitzchak in a confused state. So 4 days is enough time to make a conscious decision. So too the Yidden needed 4 days to prepare and really prove that they were ready to fully rid themselves of the Avodah Zarah of Mitzrayim, ready for the chasunah.

But why did the Yidden need Mitzvos at all as an ultimatum to leave Mitzrayim?
Because just like you shouldn't go to a wedding in shmatas, Hashem made it that they needed to prepare themselves by doing these mitzvos of Karban Pesach and Milah. The person who Rashi quotes in his explanation about the Yidden being empty of Mitzvos was R' Masyah ben Charash. Why does Rashi quote him? Becuase he represents this idea perfectly. He had his Yeshiva specifically in the lowest place in golus - Rome - in order to teach his talmidim the importance of getting Jews to do at least one or two mitzvos no matter what, if that's all they do, so that they will be ready for the ultimate chasuna of Moshiach. Because of his geographical location he epitomized this.

This also explains why in our generation the main avodah is Mivtzoyim - not like other groups who have a purpose to mekarev Yidden. Rather the reason for our Mivtzoyim has to be to get them to do at least one mitzvah so that every Jew no matter where they are will be prepared for the chasunah with Hashem a the Coming of Moshiach - we should be privy to the revelation immediately!!!
Amen