History records many bloody and ruthless insurrections of slaves against their masters. The stories about the cruelty of the rebels are blood-chilling. Horrific massacres were typical. The brutish drive for vengeance was irresistable. 

Did anything of that kind happen on the night of the Exodus? Were Egyptian babies taken out of the embrace of their mothers and thrown into the Nile, as the babies of the slaves had been murdered just a short while before? Did the Hebrew beat up his taskmaster who just several days ago had tortured him mercilessly? Nothing of the sort. Not one person was hurt, not one house destroyed.

The liberated slaves had the courage to withdraw, to defy the natural call of their blood. What did the Jews do at the hour of freedom? Instead of swarming the streets of Goshen, they were locked up in their houses, eating the paschal lamb and reciting praise to G-d. It is unique in the history of revolutions. "None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning" (Exodus 12:22).

Would we have blamed the Jews if they had engaged in a few acts of vandalism and even murder on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan, killing a few taskmasters who had thrown their babies in the Nile? Still, the Jews, at the command of G-d, said no. They defied themselves and refused to gratify a basic need of the human being, the need for revenge. But by defeating themselves, they also won the greatest of all victories: they became free. 


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story
Source: The Seder Night: An Exalted Evening: The Passover Haggadah by R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik