Blessed is the One Who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed is He. That the Holy One, Blessed is He, calculated the end, just like He told Avraham our father at the covenant between the parts, as it says, (Breishis 15:13-14) “And He said to Avraham, ‘Know with certainty that your children will be strangers in a land not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them four hundred years, and also the nation that oppresses them I will judge and afterwards they will go out with a great wealth. – Haggadah

Here is a story I share every year at the beginning of our Pesach Seder. I am ok repeating it year after year for a few reasons. 1) If I would only say it once then no one would ever remember that I said it. It would be lost forever. Now that I repeat it every year, even though people are rolling their eyes in the back of their heads, after 120 years, there’s a good chance someone will someday say at their own Pesach Seder, “You know what my father/grandfather used to say…” 2) Somebody clever once told me that anything worth saying is worth repeating, and then he said it again, “anything worth saying is worth repeating.” 3) At a Sheva Brochos in Yeshiva years back, the fish had just been served and the Master of Ceremonies immediately announced, “Don’t eat the fish, for two reasons. Number one, it’s from last week and number two we need it for next week.” This story is from last year and we need it for next year too.

An elder Chassidic Rebbe, after having survived the Holocaust, emigrated to the Land of Israel, and was asked by a group of devotees how he liked living in the Holy Land. It was around Pesach time, and he told his students, “I love living in the Land of Israel. The culture is a little different, but they have one phrase that I like very much, “Ha Kol B’Seder”-“Everything is in-order!” Of course, when the man in the streets uses this expression he means it in a dismissive way, “Cool your heels…Back off” The Rebbe heard it with his loving heart.

He understood the meaning beyond its narrow context. “HaKol B’Seder”…Everything is in the Seder. The whole of Jewish history and destiny intersect Seder night. The Haggada is like a giant mirror, not just a history book. When we look at the near images, in a mirror we see ourselves. However, if we can get beyond ourselves, and look to the farthest point on the historical horizon, then we gain a clear picture of what is coming in the future.

Perhaps one more layer of meaning in the Rebbe’s understanding of the phrase, “HaKol B’Seder” leaves us with a theme we can latch onto and keep as a souvenir from the Seder. “Everything is in order!” Hashem “calculated the end”. Exile and Exodus are part of a grand well-organized plan.

One of my Rebbeim shared that he recently spoke to a young man. Years earlier this fellow, an older single growing older, was seriously dating a young lady, but he came to the Rabbi with multiple concerns about proceeding forward. The Rabbi listened to what sounded more like excuses and asked him if he was afraid. The young man admitted that he was indeed afraid. The Rabbi told us that he spoke to him for just a few minutes and his fears ceased to be an impediment. Years later he discovers that he is happily married with three children. Immediately I asked him, “What did you say to him?” He said that he asked him, “What is the difference between a courageous person and a coward?” He answered as expected, “A coward is afraid, and a courageous person is not afraid.” The Rabbi said, “No! A coward is afraid, and a courageous person is afraid but for the courageous person it is OK to be afraid!”

We look out on a vast and confusing world swirling with sound, fury, and questions. Is everything really B’Seder? What’s the difference between a heretic and a believer? A heretic freezes because he has unanswered questions, while a believer in HASHEM lives with the Emuna that HaKol B’Seder. For him, it’s OK to have questions.