If we remember it faithfully, that historical spring has the power to warm our hearts yet today.

The Torah commands us to remember the Exodus.  One of the details we are enjoined to recall is the fact that the Jewish people left Egypt when it was spring.   Why should a detail like the season of the Exodus be so important?  Isn't the main point that we should thank Heaven for our release from bondage, regardless of what time of the year it took place?

From this seemingly minor point, we can gain a valuable insight as to the degree of our responsibility to appreciate G-d's kindnesses to us.  Let us try to picture the historical moment of the Exodus from Egypt, the march forth from bondage to freedom.  The entire nation carried with them bitter memories of infants torn from their mothers and cast into the Nile, or substituted for building bricks when daily production quotas were not met.  Over two hundred years of cruel beatings and inhuman humiliation lay behind them; now, at last, they were to embark on their journey to freedom. 

Did it really matter that it was springtime?  Would anyone possibly turn down the opportunity to gain his freedom because of inclement weather?  Did anyone even notice whether it was hot or cold, whether it was raining or oppressively hot and stifling?  At such a moment, details such as these are petty.  They remain unnoticed, drowned out by the roar of momentous events which will forever be etched in history.  Millions of former slaves leave the country with their heads held high.  With them they carry great reserves of gold and silver vessels, jewelry and precious stones, and the finest dishes and tableware that Egypt had to offer.  All these were borrowed from their neighbors at the express command of G-d.

Did it really matter that all this happened in the spring?

Why, then, should the Torah even make mention of the fact that the Exodus took place in spring?  What difference does it make to us, that we should be commanded to remember the season when it took place?  Yet the Sages tell us that, out of consideration for His people, G-d purposely timed the Exodus to occur in the spring, because then weather conditions would be most comfortable.

To the human mind, the temperature seems to be a minor consideration.  In more recent times, we cannot imagine someone refusing to jump off of a death train to Treblinka because of weather conditions.  Such details are not significant when so much more important matters are at stake.  Within the framework of   G-d's master plan, however, nothing is insignificant. Everything is taken into account. Each detail is calculated with a precision man cannot fathom, much less duplicate. So, too, the Exodus from Egypt. 

Such is the nature of G-d's supervision of events in this world.  When Heaven puts a divine plan into action, every detail matters.  Within the framework of the master plan for the Exodus, even this detail of the season of the year was carefully determined in advance.  As the Sages termed it, springtime is the season "suitable for the Exodus."  It is expressly mentioned in the Torah. 

What a contrast!  On the one hand, Heaven had decreed that the Jewish nation be enslaved for two hundred ten years, and endure great suffering during this period.  The minute that this decree had been fulfilled, however, G-d again showered His people with kindness and blessing, even to the extent of arranging that the Exodus take place in spring, when the weather would ease the burden of travel.   Even the discomfort of summer heat – as minor as it seems compared to the horrors of cruel enslavement – was taken into account, and avoided in order to protect the nation G-d had chosen to make His own.

The Torah commands us to remember not only the Exodus per se, but also to keep in mind the concern that G-d showed for us by choosing springtime to start us on our path to freedom.  How wonderful to think that we have a Father who never tires, never sleeps, and never runs short of resources, and is continually watching over us, attending to every detail of our lives – so much so, that He chose to lead us to freedom in "the month of spring."  If we remember it faithfully, that historical spring has the power to warm our hearts yet today.