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+{
+ "title": "Minchat Ani on Pesach Haggadah",
+ "language": "en",
+ "versionTitle": "merged",
+ "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org/Minchat_Ani_on_Pesach_Haggadah",
+ "text": {
+ "Kadesh": [
+ [],
+ [
+ "Many people begin the Seder by chanting the “order” of the “Seder:” Kadesh, urechatz, karpas, yachatz… this poetic presentation of the Seder contains the major rituals of the evening. For Rabbi Ettlinger and others these rubrics represent the steps in living a spiritual life of repentance, prayer and good deeds. The Seder, then, is a template for living a virtuous life. It is not an accident that there are fifteen Seder signs, since fifteen is written Yud – Hay, the name of God. RMBG",
+ "There are three means through which one can purify oneself: teshuvah (repentance), tefillah (prayer), and tzedakah (righteous giving). Each affects the person in a different way. Through repentance, one purifies thoughts. Through the songs of the heart offered in prayer, one purifies deeds. And by helping a needy person, one sanctifies one’s deeds by turning (former) transgressions into merits. For each of these efforts, one is rewarded in a different way: a reward in this world, in messianic days, and in the world to come.",
+ "In Egypt, at the time of our redemption from slavery, all three of these strategies were necessary. First, the Israelites set aside their Passover offering four days prior to the Exodus in order to purify their thoughts (from idolatry). This took place on the day known as Shabbat HaGadol.",
+ "Second, Moses’ declaration of the coming Passover was a way of purifying the actions of the Egyptians, forcing them to acknowledge the falseness of their beliefs. This was an act of repentance out of fear (on the part of the Egyptians). ",
+ "Finally by offering the Passover sacrifice in Egypt, the Israelites transformed their former transgressions into meritorious acts.",
+ "Therefore, on this night when God brought us closer to His service, and took us as His people, we mention of all the mighty acts which God placed before us. This is the meaning of Kadesh U’rechatz, the order of the Seder.",
+ "•\tKadesh/Teshuvah - In order to approach the service of God one must prepare oneself. One of the meanings of the word Kadesh is 'preparation' as in, the verse, \"Joshua told the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow...'\" (Joshua 3:5) One begins the process of sanctification by ridding oneself of sinful thoughts; this is the first step of true repentance. We do this by expressing regret for our former transgressions.",
+ "•\tU’rechatz/Tefillah - One rids oneself of sinful thoughts by means of rechatz, of cleansing oneself. This is accomplished by ceasing to commit transgression. If one tries to cleanse himself while still committing transgressions, one is like a person who immerses himself in a mikvah while holding an impure reptile.",
+ "•\tKarpas/Tzedakah – Afterwards, one must perform acts of tzedakah, of righteous giving in order to gain atonement. Here is the essence of tzedakah: the donor should not think that he is giving away his own wealth to the needy person. Rather, he should realize that he is giving the needy person that which God has graciously lent to him, as has been explained elsewhere: “Tzedakah exalts the nation while giving charity (hesed) to others is a sin.” (Proverbs 34:14) The word tzedakah is related to the words righteousness (tzedek) and justice (mishpat), and as the sages taught: \"The Holy One created needy people in order to give merit to the wealthy through them.\"",
+ "•\tYachatz - He should help the needy by means of karpas yachatz. The word karpas is made up of two parts: kar, which is derived from the term kariti, as in, “Be sure to bury me in the grave that I made ready (kariti),” (Genesis 50:5); the word pas as in the expression ‘palm of his hand.’ One should make ready the palm of one’s hand to give tzedakah while considering that he is giving the needy person half (yachatz) of what God has merely provided to him rather than simply being generous with own possessions. In this way his prayers will be unified before God.",
+ "•\tMagid – This term has the connotation of a declaration, as in this verse: “I declare (higid) this day before the Lord your God...’ (Deuteronomy 26:3) He made a declaration at the time when he brought first fruits or the second tithe to the Temple. He must do so on the condition that his hands are clean (rechatz) of all iniquity and sin, as it is written, “I wash (erechatz) my hands in innocence and walk about your altar, O Lord; raising my voice in thanksgiving and telling all Your wonders” (Psalm 26:6-7)",
+ "•\tMotzi Matzah – When he gives tzedakah he should do it by means of motzi matzah. Chametz alludes to sin while matzah alludes to the commandments, as has been explained elsewhere: “You shall observe the (feast of) Matzah…” (Ex. 12:17) ‘This verse should be read: “You shall observe the mitzvot (commandments). Matzah transforms sin and transgression into mitzvot. Wickedness is transformed into meritorious acts and thereby a person becomes worthy of the three types of rewards alluded to above.",
+ "•\tMaror, Korekh - He will be worthy of receiving rewards in this world through, maror, korekh – the bitterness of exile (maror) will be broken (korekh) and will not befall him. Not only that, but in addition, he will merit shulchan orech/‘a set table’ rather than bearing the burden of exile.",
+ "•\tShulchan Orekh - The prepared table, as it is written, “You will prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” (Psalm 23:5) This is all offered to him in this world in which there are still enemies who embitter the life of the individual. In the world to come there will no longer be hatred.",
+ "•\tTzafun Barekh – In the days of the Messiah, people will receive the blessings (barekh) that are hidden (tzafun) for the righteous, as it is written, “How abundant is the good that you have hidden away for those who fear You; You do so in the full view of people, those who take refuge in you.” (Psalm 31:20) This verse refers to the coming of the Messiah when there are still mortal people in the world.",
+ "•\tHallel, Nirtzah – This is a reference to the world to come, a time of which no eye has foreseen except for the eye of God, and no one can describe what it will be like. All we can say of the world to come is that all will praise the Holy One (Hallel) and that all will be appeased (nirtzah) – there will be no jealousy or hatred. In the world to come the righteous shall sit and imbibe the radiance of the Divine Presence. "
+ ]
+ ],
+ "Magid": {
+ "Ha Lachma Anya": [
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "The Seder opens with a declaration that we are about to eat “the bread of affliction.” We also invite those who are hungry and needy to join us in telling the story of the Exodus. There are two sides to matzah both literally and figuratively: it represents slavery and freedom, oppression and liberation. In the history of interpreting the Haggadah there are many different explanations for this expression. What does lachma anya mean? RMBG",
+ "An explanation of the term lechem oni can be found in B. Pesachim 115b-116a: \"Lechem oni' means bread over which we recite (‘onin) many words. Another explanation: ‘Lechem ‘oni’: 'ani' (poverty) is written: just as a needy person has (to set aside) a piece, so here too a piece is set aside. Another explanation: just as a man fires the oven and his wife bakes, so here too, he heats and she bakes.\"
There are also three reasons we eat matzah on Passover.
(1) It was the food we ate as slaves: While we were still in Egypt, the Egyptians fed our ancestors matzah because matzah takes a long time and is difficult to digest.
(2) Matzah was one of the items consumed at the first Passover meal: On the night of the Passover our ancestors ate matzah and bitter herbs (along with the Passover sacrifice.)
(3) It was the food that they took with them as the fled from Egypt. The Torah says that when they left Egypt, \"They baked unleavened cakes of dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was not leavened for they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay.\" (Exodus 12:39)
These are also the three explanations for why matzah is called lechem oni. It is called lechem oni, the bread over which \"we recite (‘onin) many words,\" a reference to the night of the original Seder when our ancestors ate matzah along with the Passover offering.
Lechem oni is called the bread of poverty which is a reference to the time they ate matzah as slaves to the Egyptians.
Lechem oni as the bread of haste which was hastily baked as the Israelites fled from Egypt. It is similar to way matzah is prepared: the \"poor man who fires the oven while his wife bakes.\"
There is an allusion to these explanations in the three matzot that are placed on the Seder table. The top one alludes to the primary reason that we eat matzah: \"Because the dough which our ancestors prepared did not become leavened...\" It is placed on top because it is the main reason for eating matzah; it is also the piece over which we recite the blessing for fulfilling the commandment of eating matzah and through which we fulfill our obligation on Passover eve. The middle piece is the piece we set aside, and it is a reference to the matzah our ancestors ate when they were slaves - we put away a piece of matzah just as the poor person saves some food for later. The bottom piece of matzah which is used to make a sandwich alludes to the three main symbols of the Seder: pesach, matzah and maror.
It is also for this reason that we break the middle matzah in two. One half alludes to Israel's exile in Egypt from which God redeemed us to be His people, and the other half alludes to the present day exile and our hope for redemption. That is the reason why we drink two cups of wine in the first half of the Seder. They allude to the first letters of the divine name, Yud and Hay. Even though we celebrate the fact that we were redeemed from Egypt, God's name was not yet complete since the redemption was only partial. After we eat the second half of the matzah at the end of the meal (the Afikomen), we make an allusion to our hope that the present exile will soon come to an end, and then God's name will again be complete. The second two cups of wine allude to Vav and Hay, the second two letters of the divine name. That is also why we say Hallel and prayers of thanksgiving in the second half of the Seder, since it symbolizes the completion of the redemption.
At the beginning of the Seder when we tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, we begin by saying, \"This is like the bread of affliction…next year in the land of Israel,\" while at the end of the Seder we complete the ceremony by saying, \"Next year in Jerusalem.\" This shows us that the telling of the story and the various commandments lead to the hope for our redemption.",
+ "This is the bread of affliction: The Seder begins with this invitation to the needy to join us in the Passover meal so that they won't be embarrassed by sitting at the table of someone wealthier than them. We comfort them by saying, ‘Aren't we all brothers and sisters who were redeemed from the house of bondage - both your and my parents?’ We do this in order to fulfill the commandment, \"You shall love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\" (Deut. 10:19) In this way the needy person will not be humiliated.",
+ "All who are hungry come and eat; all who are needy come and celebrate the Pesach: At first glance this statement appears to be redundant since we eat the matzah along with the Pesach offering at the Seder. Also what does the second part of this statement mean in our time when we no longer have a Pesach offering? The question regarding the Pesach offering which appears in the Mishnah has been changed since this is no longer our custom.
Even at the time when the offering was made, it would not have made sense to say this since a person can no longer be assigned to eat the Pesach offering unless they were assigned at the time when the offering was about to be sacrificed.
But that is why we continue saying, \"Now we are here; next year may we be in the land of Israel.\" The reference to the Pesach offering is an expression of our hope that we will be able to do everything appropriately in the land of Israel (in the time of the redemption). Here we cannot make the offering, but next year in the land of Israel may we be able to do so. We say this as a recollection of the temple. There we will be able to appoint you as a participant in the Passover offering prior to the festival.
In the opening passage of the Haggadah, the needy and all who are present and those participating in the Seder are referred to as \"slaves.\" (\"Now we are slaves, next year as free people.\") A difficulty is raised by the following passage in the Talmud (Baba Batra 10a) regarding this reference to Israel:
A gentile put a question to Rabbi Akiba: ‘If your God loves the poor, why does He not support them? … I will illustrate by a parable. Suppose an earthly king was angry with his servant and put him in prison and ordered that he should be given no food or drink, and a man went and gave him food and drink. If the king heard, would he not be angry with him? And you are called \"servants\", as it is written, “For unto me the children of Israel are servants.” Rabbi Akiba answered him: ‘I will illustrate by another parable. Suppose an earthly king was angry with his son, and put him in prison and ordered that no food or drink should be given to him, and someone went and gave him food and drink. If the king heard of it, would he not send him a present? And we are called \"sons’, as it is written, Sons are ye to the Lord your God.’ The gentile said to him: ‘You are called both sons and servants. When you carry out the desires of the Omnipresent you are called \"sons\" and when you do not carry out the desires of the Omnipresent, you are called \"servants”. At the present time you are not carrying out the desires of the Omnipresent!\"
If this is so how can we invite the needy to the Seder since they are considered to be 'slaves.' We are living in a time of exile because we have not obeyed God's will. So we are clearly not considered God's children at this time. The statement above only refers to people who are permanent slaves, not people who are temporary slaves. God would rejoice if we invited someone who is a temporary slave to our table and provided for them, just as God rewarded the person who fed his exiled son. The temporary slave is similar to God's child. This is what the statement in the Haggadah implies: \"Now we are slaves,\" - specifically, we are temporarily slaves NOW - but next year we will be free. Therefore it is appropriate to provide for needy because in the time to come they will be considered 'children to God' again.\n"
+ ]
+ ],
+ "Four Questions": [
+ [],
+ [
+ "One of the highlights of the Seder is the recitation of the four questions. The number four is woven throughout the structure of the Seder. Rabbi Ettlinger explores the significance of the number four both here and in life in general. Of special interest is the connection between the Seder and the Yom Kippur ritual of atonement. He points out that there are rituals that we perform on both of these occasions that are part and parcel of the daily life of a Jew but there are also rites that are unique to this occasion. Both the Temple service on Yom Kippur and the Passover Seder can be divided into four parts which represent the four periods of human life, and the four epochs of human history. RMBG",
+ "There are four things about which we were commanded on this night. The rituals of the Seder that we perform represent ways in which one sanctifies life from the womb until death. The four rituals which we are commanded to perform on this night, are pleasures of the body: the Pesach offering, matzah, maror, and four cups of wine. Each teaches us that in order to serve God, a person must do four things:
1)\tOne must be prepared to sacrifice that which is most beloved to oneself in the service of God. The Pesach offering is a sheep. It symbolizes the people of Israel who are called \"a lamb,\" as the prophet stated: \"Israel is a scattered sheep, harried by lions.\" (Jer. 50:17)
2)\tA person should not become arrogant in whatever one does to fulfill the will of the Creator, or in aiding the needy. Rather, one should consider what one gives as simply sharing with the needy what one has been given by God. Matzah symbolizes humility, as stated above in the commentary on Ha lachma anya.
3)\tOne should not consider the observance of the commandments troublesome, but rather one should consider it as an opportunity to willingly suffer in service of God. The maror represents this aspect of how one serves God.
4)\tOne should serve God with joy and good spirit. The four cups of wine represent this aspect of how we serve God. It is stated in scripture: \"Wine cheers the hearts of man.\" (Ps. 104:15)",
+ "There is also a similarity between the Yom Kippur and Passover rituals. In addition to the rituals of Yom Kippur, there are three types of offerings which are performed all year long: the Tamid, the Minchat Kohen, and the Musaf offering. These offerings are offered on all the holidays as we learn in Parshat Pinchas (Numbers 28-29). The special offerings for Yom Kippur are enumerated in Parshat Acharei Mot. (Leviticus 16) Similarly at the Seder there are those rituals which are regular practices: netilah (washing the hands), motzi (the blessing for the bread/matzah), and birkat hamazon (the grace after the meals). There is also the additional ritual which is performed on other festivals - kiddush. And there are also the special rituals that relate uniquely to Passover.
On Yom Kippur, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to fulfill the required rituals four times: to bring the incense, to bring the blood of the bull, to bring the blood of the goat, and to bring out the coal pan. On Passover night there are four parts to the Seder, based around the four cups of wine. The four parts of these two ceremonies represent the four periods of
1)\tThe first represents the period between the creation of the first human being and revelation at Mount Sinai. The period from the forefathers until Sinai is connected to the bringing of the incense on Yom Kippur. Like the incense, which is not a ritual of atonement but is beloved to the Holy One more than any of the other offerings, the period of the forefathers is most beloved to God. It represents the first entrance into the Holy of Holies. On Passover, Kiddush alludes to the forefathers who were holy and who sanctified the world just as the Kiddush sanctifies the day.
2)\tThe second period is from the giving of the Torah until the coming of the Messiah. This period is connected to the offering of the bull. The bull represents Abraham and his offspring who are in need of atonement. The second part of the Seder, Maggid alludes to the present time for Israel in which they are commanded to learn, to observe, and to keep the Torah.
3)\tThe third period in history is from the coming of the Messiah until Olam Habah, the World to Come. The goat offering alludes to Esau. With the coming of the Messiah, the other nations will find atonement as is stated in scripture: \"For then I will make the people pure of speech, so that they all invoke the name of the Lord.\" (Zephaniah 3:9) The third part of the Seder Birkat HaMazon, the grace after the meal, represents the days of the Messiah, since it is stated: \"I will raise the cup of deliverance and invoke the name of the Lord.\" (Ps. 116:13) Similarly, it is stated, \"You shall eat, and be satisfied, and you shall bless.\" (Deut. 8:10) In the days of the Messiah the people of Israel shall be satisfied by all the good of this world, as it is stated: \"And you shall eat your fill and praise the name of the Lord your God who dealt so wonderfully with you; My people shall be ashamed no more.\" (Joel 2:26)
4)\tThe fourth and final period in human history is Olam Habah, the World to Come. The World to Come is connected to the fourth time the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies. This time there was no ritual; only the removal of the coal pan to make clear that the temple service was completed. Similarly, in the World to Come there will no longer be the Temple Service. The fourth part of the Seder begins with Hallel which alludes to the World to Come. There is no eating and drinking in this phase of the Seder. Rather, the righteous sit together and enjoy the Divine Presence, praising their creator just as scripture says in the following verse: \"On that day they shall say, 'This is our God; we trust Him, and He delivers us. This is the Lord in whom we trust. Let us rejoice and exult in His deliverance.'\" (Isaiah 25:9)",
+ "According to the Jerusalem Talmud, we drink four cups of wine on the eve of Passover for the four promises of redemption: \"I will take you out;\" \"I will save you;\" \"I will redeem you;\" I will take you to be my people.\" (Ex. 6:6-7) These four promises are related to the four ways in which Israel gained the merit to be redeemed:
a)\tPrayer, as it is stated in scripture: \"The children of Israel groaned under the bondage and cried out, and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.\" (Ex. 2:23) In response to this, scripture states: \"God took notice of them.\" (Exodus 2:24) God knew that the time had come to redeem them and to destroy the heavenly prince of Egypt. That is why God promised \"I will take you out from the labors of Egypt.\"
b)\tThe offering of the Pesach sacrifice: Through this offering the Israelites were freed from Egyptian idolatry, as Pharaoh said: \"What have we done, releasing Israel from our service?\" (Ex. 14:5) Yet the redemption was not complete since it was clear as they stood by the sea that they still feared the Egyptians. That is why God promised \"I will deliver you from (idolatrous) service.\"
c)\t They cried out to the Holy One at the sea. Midrash Shir HaShirim states: \"Let me hear your voice.\" (Song 2:14) Israel cried out to God at the sea…when Israel cried out, God immediately saved them on that day by destroying Pharaoh and all of Egypt. That is why God promised \"I will you redeem you with an outstretched arm.\"
d)\tIsrael gave thanks and sang songs of praise. Because of their praise God made them His people, as it is stated: \"In Your love, You led the people you redeemed; in Your strength You led them to Your holy abode.\" (Ex. 15:13) This is the song of thanksgiving and the purpose of the fourth cup.",
+ "Another explanation; (1) The Cup of Kiddush is for the expression: \"They cried out.\" Israel turned to the Holy One and recognized God's sovereignty. (2) The Cup of the Maggid is for the Passover offering. The people of Israel was brought closer to God through this offering to God. Anyone who hasn’t mentioned three things hasn’t fulfilled the service (Pesach, Matzah, and maror, the three parts of the Passover service). (3) The Cup of Birkat HaMazon is for the service of God, as we have already explained above. (4) The Cup of Hallel is the song of thanksgiving to God, for all the kindness God has shown us. Thus the four cups of wine are related to the four expressions of redemption.",
+ "There is another explanation for the four cups of wine. They are related to ideal life. (1) The Cup of Kiddush is for childhood spent in the school house. These children are sanctified before they have tasted sin. (2) The Cup of the Maggid is for youth, which is a time of learning Torah. A young person is taught to distinguish between the sacred and the secular. After this comes a break when we eat. This represents marriage when one is not as free to busy oneself in holy matters since one must marry, earn a living and support the members of one’s household. (3) The Cup of the Birkat HaMazon. As one's mature years approach, one begins to give thanks to the Holy One for all the good that has bestowed upon him, giving him life and helping him earn a living. (4) The Cup of Hallel - After this comes the time that is completely holy to the Lord: Hallel and Nishmat Kol Chai. This is the time when one makes the transition from this world to the world to come, fulfilling the verse: \"Open for me the gates of righteous; I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord.\" To this we respond: \"This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter therein.\" (Psalm 118)",
+ "The four things at the Seder that are different on this night are also related to four categories of transgression:
i.\tSins of arrogance: among them are anger, vengeance, holding a grudge, lashon harah, spreading rumors, jealousy, causing false controversy.
Matzah: We have already explained that matzah is related to sins of arrogance. Matzah is lacking the leaven in the dough. Through the leaven, the dough becomes too puffed up (like an arrogant person). Matzah, then, symbolizes humility, and reminds us to remember the time of our ancestors’ troubles and suffering.
ii.\tSins involving pleasures of the body: coveting the possessions of others, enjoying the pleasures of this world, whether permitted or forbidden too much.
Maror: We are commanded to eat bitter herbs as a reminder to distance ourselves from the pleasures of this world, whether forbidden or permitted. Also one should not covet the possessions of others more than is fitting.
iii.\tSins involving false thoughts: Thoughts of idolatry or heresy, praying or performing mitzvot without the proper intentions, not trusting in God, not having hope for redemption.",
+ "Korban Pesach: reminds us that one must sanctify one's thoughts. This is stated in the following Midrash: \"'Go pick out a lamb for your families and slaughter the Pesach offering. (Ex. 12:21) It is written: 'Let all who worship idols be ashamed.' (Ps. 97:7) At the time that the Holy One commanded Moses to slaughter the lamb, Moses said to him, 'Master of the Universe: how can I do such a thing? Don’t you know that the lamb is one of the gods of Egypt? Is it not written, \"It is not right for us to do this for what we sacrifice to the Lord is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes.' (Ex. 8:22) God said to Moses, \"Israel shall not leave Egypt until they have offered their Pesach offering in order to show the Egyptians that their gods are false! And so the Israelites did as they were commanded. (Shemot Rabbah 16:3) From this Midrash we learn that the obligation of offering the Pesach offering was placed upon the entire Jewish people. The Holy One told Moses to offer the sacrifice on behalf of the entire people. To this Moses responded: Master of the Universe - how can I do this? If I make the offering on behalf of the people then the Egyptians will not see that their idols are false. They have already seen all the wonders that I performed and have said 'it is the finger of God.' They know that I am more powerful than they are. But they do not know that their idols are things of naught. The Holy One agreed, and then God said, 'By My life! Israel will not leave Egypt until they slaughter their Pesach lamb by themselves! They will slaughter it themselves in order to deny the beliefs of the Egyptians in their idols since they think their idolatry is real. It is for this reason that the Passover offering in Egypt was a way of rejecting the foreign beliefs of the Egyptians. Through the offering the Israelites showed the wonders of God and that their God was in Egypt.
iv.\tSins committed with wealth: One who steals or doesn’t give the money or the tzedakah that one is obligated to give to the needy.",
+ "Leaning: This is an allusion that the needy person should be treated equally with others as a reminder of freedom, as is stated, \"Even a needy person should not eat without leaning. It is also a reminder that we are commanded all year long to give tzedakah and to support the needy who are afflicted.
It is necessary to explain why everyone at the Seder and not just the head of the household should lean as a reminder of freedom (unlike other customs at the Seder which are not specifically commanded by the Torah; these customs are performed by the head of the household alone). Also why do we have two customs for freedom: leaning and dipping? The answer is that we perform these customs to show that we are not simply performing these customs haphazardly but to tell the story of the wonders which God performed.
There is also a hint in the practice of leaning that we will write about later on regarding the wise child: answer the wise child according the laws of Passover, \"We do not proceed to any dessert after the Afikomen.\" This teaches us that we must explain this specific custom to the wise child as well as all the other commandments about which he asks in order to fulfill the decree of the King, \" What do the testimonies (adot), statutes (hukkim), and laws (mishpatim) mean that the Lord our God has commanded you,\" (even those that have no explanation)? To this one says that one should offer a full explanation and the customs in the laws of Passover so that,\" We do not proceed to the dessert after the Afikomen.\" That is, one does so that 'the taste of the Afikomen remains in his mouth.' The reason should remain not only when he is performing it, but after he performed the commandment as well. This is the case with the two times we dip. The purpose is meant to make an impression and literally leave a taste in his mouth since the dipping gives taste to the object we dip.
Finally, according to this explanation there are four time periods in the Seder: the time of sanctification, the time of remembrance, the time of blessing, and the time of spiritual exaltation for the good of the world to come. The four parts of the Seder allude to these four periods. In the beginning we are sanctified and enter into the service of the holy one. Then we serve God by remembering the Exodus of the Egypt until the time of the coming of the Messiah. The next period is the time of eating and drinking as the sages explained: ‘And she ate’, in this world; ‘and she was sufficed’, in the days of the Messiah: ‘and she left over’, in the future that is to come.\" (Shabbat 113b) Also, according to scripture: \"The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.\" (Prov.10:22) This verse is according to what I have taught: a person does not pass away without half of his desires unfulfilled. Therefore, the more one enriches oneself, the more he brings sorrow. Rather it is the blessing of the Lord that enriches and does not add to our sorrow. This is a reference to the time of the coming of the Messiah, as it is written, \"You shall eat, be satisfied, and bless.\" Thanksgiving will come in the time of the Messiah and spiritual exaltation through closeness to God in praise in the world to come - which will be even greater than the period of Messiah."
+ ]
+ ],
+ "We Were Slaves in Egypt": [
+ [],
+ [
+ "The Talmud suggests two ways of telling the story of the Exodus: “We were slaves in Egypt,” and “Originally, our ancestors worshipped idols.” The two explanations offer two different perspectives, the first political and the second spiritual. The Exodus was about transformation and transcendence from slavery and from idolatry. In his commentary, Rabbi Ettlinger wonders about the significance of speaking about three generations: “We, our children and our children’s children.” Israel was an unlikely recipient of God’s mercy. So why were they redeemed from slavery? RMBG",
+ "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt…and if He had not taken us…we, our children, and our children's children would still be subjugated to Pharaoh in Egypt. We should examine why it was necessary to state that we would still be subjugated to Pharaoh; after all, Pharaoh and his kingdom no longer exist and is long forgotten? Also, why single out three generations: \"we, our children, and our children's children,\" when it could have simply said, we would have been subjugated forever?
In the beginning of the story, God spoke to Abraham and told him that in the covenant of the pieces , his descendents would be subjugated for four hundred years. Of these four hundred years, Israel served as slaves in Egypt only 210 years. From these we could also subtract the time that Joseph's brothers were still living in Egypt. The subjugation began when Joseph and his brothers passed away and a \"new king arose in Egypt\" In this way we can conclude that the subjugation was really only 190 years when we subtract the other years from the slavery. This included the generations of Kehat, Amram and Moses. The Torah also says, \"They shall return here in the fourth generation,\" (Gen 15:16) - that is, one generation after the subjugation they would enter the land of Canaan. If they were only enslaved for 190 years that would add up to three generations in Egypt. This is why we say: \"We, our children and our children's children,\" and no more since the decree was only four hundred years.
From this we can understand the passage in the Midrash: Moses said to Pharaoh: \"Why are you afraid?\" Pharaoh said to him: \"Because I am the first born!\" Said Moses to Pharaoh: \"Then just say to the Israelites, 'You are free; I hereby give you authority over yourself!'\" What is the point of Moses' question, \"Why are you afraid?\" Hadn't the Egyptians said, \"We are already dead! (Ex.12:33)
Why did Moses ask question, “Why are you afraid?” The answer is that God did not want the subjugation to continue. Only half of the time that was decreed from the time of God's decree to Abraham had passed. Still Moses wanted Pharaoh to legally end the subjugation by freeing the people of Israel. That is why he asked Pharaoh, \"Why are you afraid?\" Moses was saying – “Isn’t the decree only against the first born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne and not against you?” Pharaoh answered: “I am afraid because I know that I am also a first born. God originally warned Pharaoh by saying, ‘Israel is my first born child. Send forth my first born to serve me. If you refuse to send them forth, I will kill your first born son. That way it will be a first born for a first born.’ Pharaoh now said: “I am afraid (God will kill me) because I am also a first born!” Moses answered him, “If so you must fulfill God’s demand, ‘Send forth my firstborn,’ by saying (to the people of Israel), ‘You are now all free.’” Moses said, “If the people of Israel go forth against your will, you will not have fulfilled God’s command to you.” When Pharaoh freed the Israelites, Moses knew that the people had been liberated not only by God’s mercy but also according to the law. This meant that the negation of the subjugation preceded the actual redemption of the nation.",
+ "The Lord our God took us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. These expressions teach us that Israel’s redemption came about not just through God’s power and might but with a “strong hand.” This was necessary because the people of Israel were not worthy of redemption. The angels accused Israel by saying: “Both the Egyptians and the Israel were idolaters.” Therefore Israel needed a ‘strong hand’ to bring them from the impurity of Egyptian idolatry to the service of the Creator of blessing.
But if this is so, why was Israel redeemed? The answer to this question is found in this passage: “If God had not redeemed them…then we would still be subjugated.” God redeemed our ancestors in Egypt for the sake of their children and their children’s children since they had not yet sinned. This is the meaning of the following verse in Parshat Re’eh: “You shall not eat anything leavened with it, for seven days thereafter you shall eat unleavened bread, the bread of distress – for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly.” (Deut. 16:3) What is the connection between: “You departed from Egypt hurriedly,” and eating unleavened bread for seven days? Second, why refer to matzah as the bread of distress once they had already left Egypt? When we remember the subjugation in Egypt, we are reminded of the “bread of distress” and how the Israelites were immersed in the sins of Egypt and so were not worthy of redemption. We are reminded that they were only redeemed through the merit of their children. Based on this, we can interpret what the prophet Isaiah stated:
“The Lord will bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations,
And the very ends of the earth shall see the victory of our God.
Turn, turn, away touch naught unclean as you depart from there
Keep pure as you go forth from there,
You who bear the vessel of the Lord.
For you will not depart in haste nor will you leave in flight ",
+ "For the Lord is marching before you; The God of Israel is your rear guard.” (Isa. 52:10-12)
This is explained in the verses from Isaiah quoted above: \"The Lord will bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations:\" God redeemed us from slavery even though we were not worthy of redemption. So why did God redeem the people from Egypt? \"Turn, turn, away\" is an expression of the haste with which Israel left Egypt. \"Touch naught unclean as you depart from there:\" Even though they sinned with the Egyptians, the Israelites were considered worthy of redemption because they were \"bearers of the vessel of the Lord,\" That is, your children will one day be bearers of the vessels of the Lord who enter the covenant. Why did all of this take place: because without mercy it would have been impossible to redeem Israel. \"For the Lord is marching before you, the name Lord,\" Adonai is the name that expresses the attribute of mercy. After this \"The God of Israel is your rear guard:\" only after this will God bring you to judgment.
From this verse we learn that on the eve of Passover we eat three kazaits of matzah: one for the motzi, one for the commandment of eating matzah on Passover, one for the afikomen. The piece that is consumed for the motzi is taken from a whole piece of matzah (for the redemption was complete) while the other two are taken from broken pieces of matzah. They represent three different aspects of redemption. The whole piece (for motzi) represents the completion of the redemption. The second broken piece represents lechem oni, the bread of poverty: just as a poor person sets aside some bread for later, as we have explained. The third piece represents freedom from the evil impulse. It is related to the Afikomen which in the future will negate the evil impulse.
The commandment of telling the story of the Exodus is counted on many levels to many types of people: “Even if we were all wise, discerning, elders, knowledgeable in matters of Torah,, we are commanded to tell the story. This should seem obvious that certainly the commandment applies to these three types of people since they are knowledgeable in matters of Torah. It seems superfluous to mention them. But these types of people refer to the three basic principles of faith:",
+ "1.\tThe existence of God: this belief is attained by the wise (chachamim) whose fear of sin precedes their wisdom are called wise. They acquires this wisdom because they recognize God’s existence.
2.\tGod is all-powerful: this belief is attained by the discerning (nevonim). A discerning person is able to draw conclusions from other knowledge. He draws this conclusion from the fact that God created the universe and is therefore all powerful.
3.\tGod’s providence: The belief in Divine providence is attributed to the elders, who have seen the ways of the world during the years of their lives and understand that only God has providence in matters relating to human beings, whether it is a blessing or suffering.",
+ "The Haggadah concludes that whether one arrived at these beliefs through intellect or through the Torah, which is the foundation of faith, we are still commanded to tell the story of the Exodus and to give thanks for the ways in which God has influenced the destiny of the people of Israel.\n"
+ ]
+ ],
+ "Story of the Five Rabbis": [
+ [],
+ [
+ "There is a difference of opinion among the sages about whether the Passover offering must be eaten by midnight or whether it can be consumed until day break. Since the story of the Exodus could only be told when the offering, matzah and maror were on the table, we have an apparent contradiction concerning Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah who is one of the sages who told the story of the Exodus all night. Since he is of the opinion that the Pesach must be consumed by midnight, how could he discuss the story all night long? Rabbi Ettlinger offers a solution to this problem which also explains why it was necessary to follow this passage with Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah’s discussion in the next passage. RMBG",
+ "1.\tWhy did the author of the Haggadah connect this passage with the previous statement in the Haggadah, \"Even if we were all sages, all discerning…\"
2.\tWhat is it that Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah is explaining when he says, \"I did not merit to find a basis for mentioning the Exodus at night until Ben Zoma explained it,\" here?
3.\tWhy is it that of the four sages mentioned in the Haggadah, we only quote Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah's statement, \"I am like a man of seventy years…?\"",
+ "In the B. Talmud, Berachot 9, we learn that the sages disagreed about when one was obligated to eat the Pesach offering. According to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah it had to be consumed by midnight. According to Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Joshua it could be consumed the entire night (until day break).
Yet in the story of the sages in B'nai Brak we learn that the sages \"spoke of the Exodus from Egypt\" until day break. Now if the commandment of telling the story of the Exodus must be performed when the Pesach, matzah and maror were on the Seder table, as we learn in the Haggadah; \"You shall tell your son … that is, only when matzah and maror are before you,\" how could Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Elazar perform the mitzvah of telling the story all night since, according to them, the matzah and maror would have been removed by midnight?
According to B. Talmud Rosh Hashanah 28a, \"If a person who adds additional prayers of intention (to the performance of a commandment) once the proper time for the performance has ended, the person is guilty of bal toseef, of adding additional commandments.\" According to this teaching, one must ask how Rabbis Eliezer and Elazar ben Azariah could continue telling the story of the Exodus all night. According to their interpretation of the law, the time for the telling of the Exodus story ended at midnight, at the same time when the consumption of the Pesach offering ended. By telling the story after midnight, they would be guilty of bal toseef. When the Haggadah says that they told the story of the Exodus all night long, it implies that they continued to perform this commandment after the allotted time. Even if one says that it was not Rabbis Eliezer's and Elazar's intention to continue performing the commandment of telling the story of the Exodus all night, they should have given some sign to indicate that they were not doing so to fulfill a particular commandment (but simply for the purpose of study). Unlike the other sages for whom the commandment of telling the story of the Exodus was a commandment all evening and for whom telling the story was permissible all night, they needed to clarify they weren’t “adding” to the commandments. We have such an example in B. Talmud, Sukkot 48a, where the sages suggest one must make a change in the way the sukkah was used if one planned to use it on the eighth day after the festival, to show that it was no longer being done in fulfillment of the commandment of dwelling in the sukkah.
This is not a problem. Besides the commandment of telling the story of the Exodus on the eve of Passover, we are also commanded to mention the Exodus each day. Even though one need only mention the Exodus to fulfill this commandment, as we do when we recite the third paragraph of the Sh'ma, one can dwell on it as much as one wants. Therefore, when Rabbis Eliezer and Elazar ben Azariah continued to dwell on the Exodus and discuss after midnight, they were not guilty of transgressing bal toseef, but were fulfilling the commandment of mentioning the Exodus from Egypt daily. This explains why it was necessary to include the passage regarding Rabbi Eliezer and mentioning the Exodus at night. If there was no obligation to make mention of the Exodus at night as Ben Zoma suggests, then he and Rabbi Eliezer would have been guilty of bal toseef. This passage was brought to answer the difficulty of the students who could not understand how Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Elazar could tell the story of the Exodus all night. Ben Zoma is not discussing the obligation of telling the story of the Exodus on Passover eve but the obligation to mention the Exodus both day and night.
There is yet another way to explain why these passages appear together in the Haggadah. In the previous passage we read: \"Even if we are all sages, all discerning, all elders, we must investigate why it was then necessary to quote Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah who said, \"I am like a seventy year old,\" and also why he didn’t know how to interpret the word \"kol,\" all, \"All the days of our lives,\" to include the evenings, as Ben Zoma suggested. If Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah interpreted the word kol to include the days of the Messiah, as the sages did, what insight did Ben Zoma offer him to change his mind?
We will begin to answer these questions by explaining the following verse, \"In the morning sow your seeds and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.\" (Eccl. 11:6) “Rabbi Joshua taught: If a needy person comes to you in the morning give him tzedakah; if he comes to you at night, give tzedakah to him, since you do not know which one the Holy One will write down on your behalf, either this one or that, or if both alike will be good. What can we learn from this passage and what difference should it make, if both are good? This verse can be explained as follows: a poor person knows that he cannot go to a benefactor in the middle of the day when he is busy with his work and doesn’t want to be bothered. Therefore, he comes to the rich person in the morning in order to make his plea and to ask for charitable help. The rich man answers, \"I am not free now to hear what you have to say because I am about to go to work.\" The poor person comes to him again in the evening after the rich man has finished work to ask for his assistance, and the rich man answers: \"Is there no rest for a person who works all day? Why are you bothering me now and asking me to listen to your plea?\" The poor person leaves a second time disappointed. This verse warns the rich person: If a poor person comes to you in the morning, give him what he asks for and do not say, \"I don’t have time.\" If he comes to you in the evening give him tzedakah and don’t say to him, \"Let me have my rest from my busy day.\" You don’t know which one God will inscribe to double your reward, whether you take time from your work to listen to the needs of the poor person or if you set aside your relaxation to tend to the needy person. (Bereshit Rabbah 61:3)
There is another explanation for this verse; in particular the last part of the passage: \"whether both alike will be good,\" based on the passage from the book of Job attributed to Elihu: \"I am young, and you are very old; Wherefore I held back, and did not declare to you my opinion. I said: ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But it is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding. It is not the great that are wise, nor the aged that discern judgment. (Job 32:6-9) These verses addresses the issue of whether wisdom is more likely found in the elderly or if it is already found in the young. In Pirkei Avot we learn: Elisha ben Abuya said, ‘One who learns from elders is compared to what? To one who eats ripe grapes and drinks aged wine.’ Rabbi says: ‘Do not look at the jug but rather at what is in it. For there are new jugs full of old, and old that do not have even new within them.’ (Pirkei Avot 4:20) According to the first opinion, our thinking becomes clear and the power of reasoning is better in old age. Others are of the opinion that reason and wisdom are based in the spirit and not in the body, so that wisdom is not founded in age since the power of reason is based in the holiness of the soul (and not on age). Elihu, one of Job's visitors, explains that initially as a young man he was under the impression that wisdom comes with age - similar to the opinion of Elisha ben Abuya who believed that wisdom grows with age. But Elihu goes on to say that he changed his mind; sometimes \"It is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.\" Therefore there is no difference between old age and youth in matters of wisdom, following the opinion of Rabbi: the power of reasoning and wisdom is present in the morning of human life and in the evening of human life it becomes clear so that \"both of them are good.\"
In Deuteronomy 16:3, we read, \"You shall not eat anything leavened with it; for seven days thereafter you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of distress, for you departed from the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day of your departing from the land of Egypt all the days of your life.\" The statement, \"For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread,\" needs to be explained. One should avoid eating leaven during the seven days of Passover but one should only be required to eat matzah on the first day of the holiday since it is the day on which we left Egypt. The expression \"all the days of your life\" means that we should observe the Passover day and night throughout the week of Passover without separating one from the other all seven days. According to Ben Zoma, then, this verse teaches us that we must make mention of the Exodus both in the day and in the night, even though the actual redemption took place in the daytime.
“For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread,” can also be explained according to the interpretation of Alshikh: Seven days is an allusion to the seven decades of life - they add up to seventy years. During this time we must strive to destroy the 'leaven which is in the dough,' the evil inclination, and only eat matzah which is an allusion to the good inclination for seven days/decades. According to this interpretation of the verse, we must contemplate this verse both in our youth and in our old age, 'seven' days. The Torah commands us to eat matzah for seven days as a reminder that we must continue to do so for the seventy years of our lives.
After mentioning the Exodus from Egypt so many times in one's youth, one might conclude that it is not necessary to do so in one's old age. The Torah commands us to eat to matzah for \"seven days\" in order to allude to the teaching that one must continue to contemplate the Exodus during all the decades of one's life. This teaching is relevant to the teaching of Elisha ben Abuyah who believed that the wisdom of old age is superior to that of one's youth.
But we have seen that Rabbi taught us that wisdom is not limited by age. In fact, Ben Zoma taught his interpretation while he was still a young man. (We know this from the fact that was referred to as Ben Zoma without his first name, Shimon.) Still, he was able to teach before the sages, showing that there is no preference for wisdom in age. From this we can conclude that there is no precedence to wisdom because of age over youth. So we can see that the second interpretation of this verse (that of Alshikh) does not give more importance to wisdom that comes with age.
We can now understand why Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said, \"I'm like a man of seventy…\" He said this on the day he was appointed head of the Sanhedrin in his youth. Rabbi Elazar did not want to accept the presidency of the Sanhedrin because his hair was not yet white and he did not appear like an elder. A miracle occurred, and he gained the appearance of a seventy year old man (his hair turned prematurely white). Because of this, he knew that God had approved of his appointment and that age takes precedence over youth in matters of wisdom, and it is why he interpreted this verse to include old age in the expression, \"all the days of your life, according to the second interpretation above. When he said, \"I am like a man of seventy,\" he was stating that he was not just accepting Ben Zoma's interpretation but he was stating that he had learned that wisdom is accessible both in youth and with age.
We can now understand the connection between the initial statement, \"even if we are all sages, all discerning, all elders, it would be our obligation to tell the story of the Exodus. As proof of this we have the story of the five sages, who discussed the story of the Exodus throughout the night. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah's statement is further proof that we must continue to tell the story of the Exodus even in our old age - he was like a man of seventy even though he was much younger. Finally Ben Zoma's teaching about mentioning the Exodus at night follows the same approach. Even though the sages did not agree with him (they said it teaches that we will continue to mention the Exodus in the days of the Messiah), they understand that it implied that we should continue to study and practice Torah both in youth and in old age."
+ ]
+ ],
+ "The Four Sons": [
+ [
+ "There are four passages in the Torah in which we are commanded to tell children the story of the Exodus. Interestingly, the answers to these questions in the Haggadah are not the same as the answers to the questions found in the Torah. Also, the order of the four children in the Torah is different from their order in the Haggadah. Rabbi Ettlinger asks more questions in this passage than he answers! He appears to focus mainly on how the Torah orders the four children rather than the order fund in the Haggadah. RMBG",
+ "The Jerusalem Talmud states, \"Bar Kapara taught: 'Silence is fitting for the wise; how much more so for the foolish. “Solomon taught: 'Even a fool, if he keeps silent is deemed wise; intelligent, if he seals his lips.' (Prov. 17:28) (J. Pesachim 9:4) Further the Talmud states: Rabbi Hiya taught: the Torah speaks of four types of people, one is wise, one is wicked, etc…\" (J. Pesachim 10:4)
At first glance these statements are problematic since they say that it is good for the wise to keep silent. Yet the wise child asks the longest question of the four children. This contradicts the previous statements.
This, however, is not a contradiction since King Solomon also said: \"The mind of a wise person makes his speech effective and increases the wisdom of his lips.\" (Prov. 16:23) From this verse we learn that that a wise person need not remain silent at all times. Rather he should use his lips wisely, knowing when to speak and when to remain silent.
Why does the author of the Haggadah preface the questions of the four sons with the word echad (echad chacham, one wise, echad rasha, one wicked…), and why does he answer the wise son by saying \"We do not eat anything after the Afikomen…\" (In the Jerusalem Talmud this answer is presented to the foolish/simple son.)
Furthermore, why does the Haggadah answer the wicked child with the verse, \"It is because of what the Lord did for me when I went forth from Egypt?” The Torah has a different answer for the wicked child: \"And when your children ask you, 'What mean you by this rite,' you shall say, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, because He passed ove’” (Ex. 12:26-27)
To the simple child the Torah states, \"And it shall be when your son asks you on the morrow saying, “What is this?” You shall say to him, “With a strong hand, the Lord took us out of Egypt …” (Ex. 13:14), and to the one who doesn’t know how to ask, the Torah says \"You shall tell your son on that day saying, “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt. (Ex. 13:8) ” (The answers to these two sons are the same in the Haggadah and in the Torah) Why are the answers found in the Haggadah different from the ones found in the Torah (for the other two children?)
Why does the Haggadah change the order in which they are found in the Torah: The wicked (Ex. 12:26-27), the one who doesn’t know how to ask (Ex. 13:8), the simple (Ex. 13:14) and the wise son (Deut. 6:20-21)?
Finally, why does the wise child say \"Which the Lord our God has commanded you?\" This would seem to be superfluous since we have another passage in the Torah that makes this statement, \"And you shall tell your son on that day saying, “It is because of this, that the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.” (Ex. 13:8)
To answer these questions, we must begin with the following from Proverbs, \"Do not rebuke the scoffer for he will hate you; reprove the wise person and he will love you.\" (Prov. 9:8) Alshikh explains that one should be gentle when criticizing the scoffer and not too harsh. If one finds oneself in the presence of a scoffer who rejects the Torah and a wise person, it is better to criticize the wise person rather than the scoffer, as the verse says, \"Do not rebuke the scoffer … reprove the wise person.\"
Based on this verse we can understand why the father who is sitting with his four sons addresses them in the order suggested by the Torah. First the father addresses the wicked son. When the wicked son asks about the Seder, the father explains the meaning of the Passover offering. He explains that this is not avodah, work, (\"what is this avodah to you?\") by telling him that the Pesach offering is a reminder of the miracles, through which God saved us.
He then explains the reason for the bitter herbs to the one who doesn’t know how to ask by telling him that the Egyptians embittered our ancestors’ lives. Despite the bitterness, our ancestors continued to trust God and because of this God took us out of Egypt. By answering the silent child in this way, the father also alludes to the answer that he would give to the wicked son: God would take me out of Egypt but not you.
The simple child (the third child mentioned in the Torah) has heard his father explain the Passover offering and the bitter herbs so he now asks about the meaning of the matzah, \"What is this (zot) – the matzah?\" The father now answers him in the exact words of the Torah, telling him that the matzah is a symbol that, “With a strong hand, the Lord took us out of Egypt …” When we left Egypt there was no time to allow the dough to become leavened.
The wise child has heard all that his father has said including the reasons for the Pesach, maror, and matzah, and he has remained silent until now. When he hears the implied criticism that the father offers the wicked child, \"God took me and not him out of Egypt,\" he begins to think, \"Maybe I am not worthy of being redeemed.\" So he immediately says, \"What commandments made the Israelites worthy of redemption, and I will perform them.\" The father then went on at length explaining all the commandments until the very last one, \"One may not eat anything after the Afikomen,\" so that the taste of the Afikomen would remain in his mouth.
We see, that the Torah's ordering of the four children and their answers teaches us that silence is befitting for the wise, as Solomon said. In the Torah, the wise son comes last so that he can listen to the answers offered to the other three sons, and so he can hear the rebuke which is given to the wicked son. But in the Haggadah, the wise son comes first in fulfillment of the verse, \"Do not rebuke the scoffer … reprove the wise person.\"
We see in the Torah, on the other hand, that the father does not directly rebuke the wicked son but merely hints at his rebuke. In the Torah there are hints of his criticism of the wicked child in his answer to the son who does not know how to ask (God took me out of Egypt but he would not have taken you out). In this way, he fulfills the teaching, \"Don’t rebuke the scoffer lest he hate you.\""
+ ],
+ [
+ "One of the questions Jewish scholars have wrestled with over the centuries is whether one should obey God’s commandments unquestioningly or whether one should delve into their meaning as a way of fully obeying them. The wise child asks questions about the fulfillment of the commandment suggesting that honest questioning of God’s teachings is not necessarily a bad thing. But the Torah never answers his question. Instead, he is given instructions: don’t eat anything after you eat the Afikomen. Rabbi Ettlinger finds new meanings in the wise child’s question and the Haggadah’s answer. RMBG",
+ "Many commentators have tried to answer the question of why the Haggadah does not directly answer the wise child's question: \"What do the testimonies (adot), statutes (hukkim), and laws (mishpatim) mean that the Lord our God has commanded you.\" The Torah answers the wise child’s question with the statement: \"We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; and He freed us from there, that He might take us and give us the land that He had promised on oath to our fathers. Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the Lord our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. It will be therefore to our merit before the Lord our God to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as He has commanded us.\" (Deut. 6:20-24) Instead the author of the Haggadah offers a different answer to the wise child: \"You shall instruct him in all regulations through \"We do not proceed to any dessert after eating the Afikomen.\"
The sages discuss whether it is better to perform the commandments unquestioningly and without exploring reasons for their performance or to seek reasons for the commandments so that they can be performed with the proper intent. The sages concluded that the best way is to perform the commandments of God and afterwards to explore their meaning until one truly comprehends them. This is the meaning of the verses in Psalms:
\"Happy are those whose way is blameless, who follow the teachings of the Lord. Happy are those who observe His testimonies (adotav), who seek Him whole-heartedly. They have done no wrong but have followed His ways. You commanded that Your precepts be kept diligently. Would that my ways were firm in keeping Your statutes (hukotav); then I would not be ashamed when I regard all Your commandments. I will thank you with uprightness of the heart when I learn your righteous judgments (mishpatecha).\" (Ps. 119:1-8)",
+ "\"Happy are those who observe His testimonies,\" refers to those who think about and explore God and His commandments. They explain that the commandments are grouped into three categories: testimonies (adot), statutes (hukkim), and laws (mishpatim).",
+ "•\tAdot refers to those commandments for which there is no obvious or self-evident explanation, at first glance. Rather through inquiry and study we learn that there is a reason for them. \"Happy are those who observe His decrees, who seek Him wholeheartedly;\" - refers to those commandments about which people think and inquire until their rationale becomes clear to us.",
+ "•\tHukim refers to those commandments for which there is no explanation so that study will serve no purpose in investigating their meaning. \"Would that my ways were firm in keeping Your statutes (hukekha);\" Please allow me to observe your statutes even without a reason and certainly I will observe them in complete innocence. Then, \"I would not be ashamed when I regard all Your commandments;\" - then I will not insist on observing the commandments based on reason.",
+ "•\tMishpatim are commandments whose reason is self-evident and there is no need to explain their rationale. \"Happy are those who’s way is blameless;\" - refers to the Mishpatim, the commandments for which no inquiry is necessary.",
+ "King David writes: \"They have done no wrong but have followed His ways;\" this means that they did nothing wrong because they first observed the commandments and only then they inquired into their meaning. \"You commanded that Your precepts be kept diligently;\" - is not the primary purpose of the commandments to observe? Therefore how can I know if I will unquestioningly follow the commandments after I have inquired into their meaning and have raised doubts and questions?
It is based on this that we find the answer to the wise child's question, \"What do the testimonies (adot), statutes (hukkim), and laws (mishpatim) mean to you?\" He wants to know the reason for the different commandments, so we tell him, to observe the statutes (“follow all the laws up to the Afikomen”), as it was stated in Deuteronomy, \"that the Lord our God has commanded you.\" For these laws, it is better to observe them first. They must be observed blindly and with faith, as in the case of Abraham of whom it was said, \"because he put his trust in the Lord, He reckoned it to his merit.\" (Gen. 15:5)
This is the meaning of the answer, \"Tell him the laws of Passover, 'We do not proceed to any dessert after eating the Afikomen.'\" One should not dilute the taste of the Pesach offering by eating anything else afterwards. Besides eating the offering, which is the primary commandment of Passover, we are stringent so that the \"taste/reason\" of the offering is not diluted. The reason for the commandment does not come to the person while he is eating the offering or even immediately afterwards, but only after he has completed the commandment. That is why this law is considered a hok, a statute (a law for which there is no rational explanation).",
+ "\"Tell him the laws of Passover, 'We do not proceed to any dessert after eating the Afikomen.'\" There are two reasons why one is not supposed to proceed to dessert after the Afikomen. The first reason is that it is forbidden to join two groups in eating the Passover offering. Having eaten the Pesach offering it is not permitted to then join others in eating their Passover offering. One should only eat it with the group to which one has been assigned. And second, the taste of the Afikomen should remain in the person’s mouth after he has finished eating the Passover offering.
Here, then, when the wise child asks: \"What do the testimonies, statutes, and laws which the Lord has commanded you…\" he acknowledges that 'statutes' and 'testimonies' are categories of laws for which there is no explanation other than the fact that they are commanded to perform them by God. But why was it necessary to include the mishpatim, laws whose reason are self-evident and could be derived based on reason. So why was it necessary for God to command us regarding these laws?
We answer that there are two reasons for these laws (which can be deduced from the law of the Afikomen). The first reason teaches us that just as one cannot eat Passover offering with two groups, the Torah cannot be embraced in two places: in the place of faith and in the place of reason. (By including it mishpatim, then, we are reminded that the laws must be embraced through faith and not reason) The second answer teaches us that just as we shouldn’t dilute the taste of the Passover offering through sweets and other food, we should dilute the meaning of Torah through foolishness and emptiness by trying to seek Torah through reason. (In other words don’t try to explain the laws by coming up with novel explanations but accept them as a matter of faith)."
+ ],
+ [
+ "I have always struggled with how to translate the word rasha in the Haggadah. Is the rasha evil, wicked or just rebellious? Does he have redeeming qualities? Rabbi Ettlinger asks whether one should even bother answering a rasha. He teaches us that whether one answers him depends on the nature of the question he asks. RMBG",
+ "You should blunt his teeth, saying to him: ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me;’ God did it for me and not for you. Once again, we have the question of why the Haggadah brings a different verse rather than the one associated with this question in the Torah: “And you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord…’”
Another difficulty: why does the Haggadah use the language: “blunt his teeth” instead of saying: “berate him.”
Further, since the pronoun, aleichem, “you,” is plural, in the verse, “When your children say to you (aleichem), ‘What is this service to you (lachem)” (Ex. 12:26), the answer should also be in the plural, even if it is addressed to one person on behalf of a whole group, “the Lord did this for us (and not for you).” If that is the case, then the answer which the editor of the Haggadah gave: “For me and not for him: since he removed himself from the community” which is offered to the singular (“What is the Passover sacrifice to you,”) is not appropriate. A plural answer should have been given to a question that is addressed in the plural.
This passage poses another question: The Talmud states, “Rabbi Eliezer said that one should not answer the challenges of a Jewish heretic.” (San. 38b) If so, how can one answer the question posed by the wicked child? The sages already discussed this issue elsewhere in their discussion of the contradiction between the two verses in Proverbs. One verse states, “Do not answer the fool according to his folly lest you become like him.” (Prov. 26:4) And another states, “Answer the fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes.” (Prov.26:5) It is my opinion, based on the discussion in Sanhedrin, it depends on the nature of the heretic’s question. Rabbi Yohanan: “They taught (that one should answer the heretic) only with respect to a non-Jewish heretic; with regard to a Jewish heretic, (one should not answer him if) it would only make his heresy more pronounced.” (San. 38b) This means that if one answers a Jewish heretic, one might cause him to sin even more by challenging him. But based on this answer one might respond: “Should we simply listen to the heresy of the Jewish heretic and not answer him?” (Wouldn’t that make it sound like the heretic bested the questioner?)
There are two types of answers one might pose to the heretic. One can simply explain what one believes to him. By offering an explanation one avoids the appearance of abandoning the Torah to the heretic’s point of view. It is permitted to offer such an answer. The second type of answer is an attempt to respond to the heretic’s challenge so that one can defeat him in a debate. One attempts to show him that his point of view is false. Offering such an answer is forbidden since the love of debate might incite him to deny his faith even more strongly. One would then cause him to sin….This is implied in the verse: “Do not answer (ta’an) the fool according to his folly lest you become like him.” The word for answer is the hiphil/causative form of the verb, which implies, do not cause the fool to answer your challenges according to his folly. Also by engaging the heretic in a debate, through his false answers he might end up inciting you to question the principles of your own faith or to question one of the commandments of the Torah. However if he asks you regarding one of the principles of faith or about one of the commandments, to this one may answer him according to his capacity so that he doesn’t leave with the impression that he is wise in his own eyes. He might leave with the impression that you do not have an answer to his question. This is how we answer the wicked child in the Haggadah. The answer given him is not an attempt to start a debate. He simply wants to know why you observe these commandments so scrupulously.
Rather one might suggest that in answer to the wicked child’s question, that the answer is appropriate based on the following statement: “A heretic is one who insults a Torah scholar.” (San. 99b) There is a distinction between a heretic who rebels against the law of the Torah and one who rebels against the commandments of the sages. One who denies the law of the Torah should be answered since not to do so would appear as if he is denying the commandments of the Holy One. The heretic who denies the teachings of the sages is different. One does not answer such a heresy since he might come to insult the sages and for such a sin there is no healing since the only solution is to rebuke him – and such a rebuke will not help.
Therefore, in the time of the temple when the commandments of Passover were all from the Torah (Pesach, Matzah, and Maror), it was possible to offer an answer. The editor of the Haggadah is speaking at a time when all of the Passover commandments except matzah were now rabbinic. If we were to answer him we would have to say that we continue to observe the commandments with the hope that the temple would be rebuilt in our time. He is certain to deny this principle so we don’t answer him. Instead, “one blunts his teeth;” that is, one answers him in a way that will not allow him to insult the words of the sages. Instead one answers: “I observed these commandments before I left Egypt in order that I might be worthy of leaving Egypt and I continue to do so now. Since you refuse to observe these commandments, had you lived back then, it is obvious that you would not have been redeemed!”
There is another way of answering the question regarding the wicked child based on the two verses in Proverbs. These two verses speak of two different types of fools. One knows that he is a heretic and that his claims are false but he wants others to think there is something to his claims."
+ ]
+ ],
+ "In the Beginning Our Fathers Were Idol Worshipers": [
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "This is another question which the sages contemplate: exactly how long were the Israelites enslaved in Egypt? In one place we read four hundred years and yet it appears that they were redeemed after two hundred ten years. Were the Israelites redeemed early, and if so, what was the reason? RMBG",
+ "One must clarify what the Haggadah means by the expression: “God calculated the end.” What calculation was necessary? Scripture clearly states, “Your seed shall be strangers …four hundred years.” (Gen. 15:13) They were redeemed after 210 years! Since the Holy One moved up the redemption from Egypt it was necessary to reconfigure the calculation. This is the meaning of the third sign (that God gave Moses), changing the river to blood. There is a Midrash that states that the people of Israel had a tradition that any redeemer who used the double expression pakod pakaditi, “I will surely remember you” is a true redeemer. Ramban questions this statement: What type of proof is this since Moses might have also been aware of this same tradition? He answers that the Holy One also gave them a tradition that no false redeemer would use the expression. If so then why was it necessary to have this sign? It means that anyone who can explain the meaning of the double expression is a true redeemer. Why then was it necessary to give them a third sign? The third sign was to show them that God would redeem them earlier than was originally prophesized. The Holy One did this to make up for the burden of subjugation which Pharaoh placed on the Israelites, drowning their sons in the Nile River. The word pakad also means to count. The Holy one said to Moses “If they remain in Egypt, I will recount their years of servitude and decrease their number, thus speeding up their redemption.” This is what the Haggadah means when it says that “God calculated the end.”"
+ ]
+ ],
+ "First Fruits Declaration": [
+ [],
+ [
+ "Rabbi Ettlinger correctly points out that the central telling of the Haggadah is actually the passage that was originally recited when the people of Israel brought the first fruits to the Temple: Deuteronomy, chapter 26. In the Haggadah we analyze this passage phrase by phrase, fleshing it out and giving the details of Israel’s subjugation and liberation. Why did the author of the Haggadah choose this particular passage as the way of telling the story of the Exodus? RMBG",
+ "The author of the Haggadah quotes these verses concerning the first fruits (Deuteronomy 26) since the Seder plate and the matzot are similar to the first fruits offering over which this proclamation was originally made. According to the Siach Yitzchak, that is why we lift up the Seder plate when we begin telling the story of the Exodus with the passage, “This is the bread of affliction.” The Seder plate is like the first fruit, which was placed in basket. The Kohen would then take the first fruit basket and wave it before him. Similar to the Seder, the essence of the first fruits was to teach the people humility – the people would remember their humble and difficult beginnings in the land of Egypt. By recalling their beginnings they would humble themselves, giving thanks to God for his kindness in allowing Israel to inherit the land, and also in allowing the people to come close to God. It is for this reason that we mention both the time in Egypt as well the harshness of subjugation and that we give thanks that God came to our help. Now, in place of the first fruits which were brought to God, we invite the needy to attend the Seder as is stated in Scripture: “Wealth makes many friends; as for the poor, his neighbor keeps himself far apart.” (Prov. 19:4) This is like the statement, “All who are hungry come and eat.” Based on this we can also understand, “All who are in need come and celebrate the Pesach.” In the time of the Temple, sometimes even a wealthy person needed to join with another wealthy person in order to fulfill the commandment of the Passover offering, as it is written: “If his household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of souls…” (Exodus 12:4) It was customary before the offering was made to invite others to join together. The statement, “All who are in need come and celebrate the Passover,” is not a repetition of the previous statement but deals with a different matter. It applies to anyone who has the obligation to eat the Passover offering with him.
But why do we recite this statement nowadays? The Talmud states: Whence do we know that we must perform ceremonies in memory of the Temple? “...She is Zion, there is none that seeks for her. (Jer. 30:17) ‘There is none that seeks for her,’ implies that Zion should be sought.” (B. Sukkah 41a) Therefore, while the closing statement, “Now we are here…” implies seeking for the future, the opening statement, “My father was a wandering Aramean…” is connected to the commandment of the first fruits, and recognizes the past and gives thanks for God’s goodness."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "This expression is translated, “They dealt harshly with us” in the NJPS translation of the Torah. The Midrashic understanding, however, suggests that the word vayarei’u implies “they accused us of evil” or “they imputed evil to us.” The enslavement of the Israelites began with the spreading of false rumors about the Israelites. But Rabbi Ettlinger suggests that the Israelites were also guilty of lashon hara, evil talk and gossip. This too was the cause of their enslavement. RMBG",
+ "“The Egyptians imputed evil to us and oppressed us,” (Deut. 26:6) as it is written, ‘Let us deal wisely with them…’” (Ex. 1:10) Why did the author of the Haggadah pick this verse from Exodus as proof that God ‘imputed evil to us?’ The answer is based on the following Midrash: “And Moses feared and said: ‘Surely the thing is known.’ (Ex. 2:15) When Moses heard the words of the Israelites he said: “There is certainly gossip among the people of Israel. How will they be worthy of redemption?” (Shemot Rabbah 1:30) Why did Moses single out gossip as the reason for the long subjugation of Israel in Egypt? Surely idolatry would have been enough reason! However the commentators already explained that the worst thing that a person can do to his fellow is to spread gossip and causeless hatred about one another and accuse good people of evil. These three evils are connected to one another. When a person spreads gossip, he provokes causeless hatred (and causeless hatred makes people suspect others of evil.)
Also the root of Israel’s subjugation to the Egyptians was gossip. Pharaoh spread rumors about the Israelites when he said, “Let us deal wisely with them…lest they join our enemies and rise up from the land.” That is why, when we begin the first fruits ceremony, we say, “They imputed evil to us.” This is what caused the exile of the people. The reversal of the exile will come about through expressions of gratitude for God’s kindness and wonders which are contained in the first fruits ceremony. Israel’s redemption will also come about by avoiding gossip since it was the beginning of Israel’s subjugation. The way the author of the Haggadah explained the verse from Deuteronomy is similar to the passage in Parshat Hukkat:
\"Thus says your brother Israel:
You know all the hardships that have befallen us;
Our ancestors went down to Egypt,
We dwelt in Egypt a long time,
The Egyptians imputed evil to us and our ancestors.",
+ "We cried to the Lord and He heard our plea,
And He sent a messenger who freed us from Egypt.” (Num. 20:14-16)
Yet the verse says that the Edomites knew about Israel’s history – so why was it necessary to tell them what had happened, and why was it necessary to tell them in this particular way?",
+ "Rather, the Edomites thought that all that had happened took place through natural means and Moses wished to show them that it all happened through Divine intervention. He opened by saying “Thus says your brother Israel;” Moses reminded the Edomites that the people were called Israelites – because their forefather was Israel, who wrestled with God. That way, the Edomites would understand that Israel’s offspring were chosen for greatness. He goes on to say, “Now, you know all the hardships that have befallen us.” Moses says to the Edomites: Certainly you have heard that we were subjugated to the Egyptians and that we were freed. Maybe you are under the impression that it was through our own strength that we were freed. Therefore Moses goes on to say, “Our ancestors went down to Egypt, that we dwelt in Egypt a long time;” In other words, it never occurred to us to leave Egypt. Maybe you would say that the reason we didn’t leave was because it was because it was so good for us in Egypt. This was not so: “the Egyptians imputed evil” not only to us but also “to our ancestors.” Even so it didn’t occur to us to try and depart from the slavery until “We cried to the Lord and He heard our plea, and He sent a messenger who freed us from Egypt.” All of this happened through God’s agency. Therefore the essence of the Exodus is that the Holy One took us out. To this statement the wicked child asked: “What is this service to you?” We answer: the essence is the Passover offering rather than the matzah and the bitter herbs. Matzah is a symbol of freedom and that we left in haste while bitter herbs a reminder of the bitter slavery. These events could have happened naturally while the Passover offering is a reminder of the miracle that could only happen though God."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [
+ "Gezera Shava and Kal Vachomer are hermeneutic rules of biblical interpretation. A Gezera Shava is a rule by which an obscure passage might be illuminated by reference to another passage containing the same key term. A Kal Vachomer is a case in which a simple idea is deduced from a more stringent one. In this passage, Rabbi Ettlinger reinterprets these expressions literally. A Gezera Shava is understood literally as an “Equal decree” since Pharaoh imposed an equal decree on all Israelites and Egyptians initially and then imposed the decrees only on the Israelites. A Kal Vachomer, literally simple and hard, becomes a case in which Pharaoh initially imposes a light burden on the people and then slowly increases it to a heavier burden. RMBG",
+ "There is a Midrash that states, there are two explanations for the way in which Israel was enslaved by the Egyptians: one was gezera shavah and the other is kal va-chomer. The explanation for this surprising Midrash is found in the B. Talmud, Sotah11a. How did the Egyptians manage to overpower the Israelites? At first Pharaoh and the Egyptians worked alongside the Israelites; then the Egyptians stopped and forced the Israelites to continue working alone. Since the tribe of Levi did not begin to work in the first place, they were not subjugated. Another explanation: the Egyptians assigned them easy work so that the Israelites would not feel burdened; slowly Pharaoh placed a heavier and heavier burden on them, afterwards placing a heavy burden on each of them, as he said: “Let the work be heavier upon the men and let them engage in it; and let them not pay attention to false words.” (Ex. 5:9) If at first they had imposed hard labor upon the Israelites, the Israelites would have risen up and either killed or been killed. This is what is stated in Sotah: “First the Egyptians imposed bricks and mortar upon them, and only then all manners of work in the field.” It is also stated there: Rabbi Eleazer said: Bifarkh; read it bifeh rakh, “With a tender mouth.” The sages disagree about how they brought this about: One said it was a gezera shava- by making a decree equally upon all the people, they made the Israelites work. By pretending that they were coworkers, they inspired the Israelites to work extra hard. The other extra explanation was a kal vachomer; at first they began with easy work and afterwards they imposed heavier labor upon each of them.",
+ "This interpretation might help us understand another Midrash, found in Mishan Mayim, Parshat Bahar “They sea saw and it fled’ (Psalms 114:3) What did the sea see? They saw the hermeneutics of Rabbi Ishmael! It is stated in the Zohar, Parshat Terumah, that when the Holy One split the sea, the Angelic prince of Egypt said: “Why are these Israelites any better than the Egyptians? These are idolaters and these are idolaters.” If God had not been aware of the merit of Abraham who rose early each day to carry out the will of the Holy One, God might have drowned both the Egyptians and the Israelites. This is the meaning of the verse, “Moses stretched his hand over the waters toward the height of morning.” (Ex 14:27) That is, God saved the people of Israel because of the merit of Eitan Haezarachi (another name for Abraham) who arose each morning.",
+ "One can explain this Midrash (regarding Rabbi Ishmael’s hermeneutics) in the following fashion: The word nachnu appears four times in the biblical text: “All of sons of one man are we (nachnu)” (Gen. 42:11); “For what are we (nachnu) that you should incite complaints against us?” (Ex. 16:7); “We (nachnu) shall cross over, armed before the Lord,” (Num. 32:32); and “For we (nachnu) have sinned and transgressed,” (Lament. 3:42) This is the meaning of this linguistic tradition: When Israel saw the Egyptians behind them, it is written: “They were frightened and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.” (Ex. 14:10) Moses answered them: “Do not be afraid.” (Exodus 14:13) Then the Israelites answered: ‘For (nachnu) we have sinned and transgressed,’ just like the Egyptians, therefore, ‘What are we’ that we should be saved from them? Moses then answered the people of Israel ‘All sons of ONE man are we’ – the one is Abraham, who is called “one:” “Abraham was ONE, and he inherited the land…” (Ezekiel 33:24) Therefore, said Moses, ‘We (nachnu) shall cross over, armed before the Lord.” ",
+ "Further it says in Yalkut Reuveni: The angelic minister of Egypt said: “Both these and these are idolaters; the Egyptians subjugated the others to slavery because of the decree from God.” To this the angel Michael answered: “It was decreed that Israel should be subjugated, not that the Egyptians should place such a difficult burden of slavery upon them, throwing their children in the river. We see from this that there are two reason that the sea was split for the Israelites: First because God decreed minimal slavery upon the Israelites and the Egyptians made the slavery much harsher. Second, because of the merit of our forefather Abraham. In these two explanations we find reference to the first three hermeneutic rules: Gezerah Shava, Kal Vachomer, and Binyan Av. This is the meaning of Midrash: “The sea saw and fled.” The sea saw the hermeneutical rules of Rabbi Ishmael which alluded to why Israel was redeemed despite their sins. First God saw the decree by which the Egyptians enslaved all of the Israelites (Gezerah Shava); God still wanted to drown the Egyptians and Israelites together because of the idolatry. When God saw how the Egyptians increased the intensity of Israel’s slavery (Kal Vachomer), God remembered the merit of their forefather Abraham (Binyan Av). Abraham was called an Av hamon goyim, a father of a multitude of nations. So when the sea saw all these reasons, it fled before the people of Israelites."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "At the burning bush, God gave Moses three signs to take back to Egypt to convince the people of Israel that he was God’s emissary. Moses used some of these signs when he first encountered Pharaoh. Rabbi Ettlinger now wonders how the use of these signs was different when they were performed before the people of Israel and when they were used in the presence of Pharaoh. He also suggests that the three signs also served to answer questions that must have occurred both to the people of Israel and to Moses. RMBG",
+ "One must explain the matter of the signs which God commanded Moses to perform in order that the people might believe that he was sent by God to redeem Israel from Pharaoh and Egypt. The Torah states: “Moses spoke up and said: ‘What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me but say, ‘the Lord did not appear to you.’ God said to him: ‘What is in your hand?’ And he replied, ‘A staff.’ God said: ‘Cast it on the ground.’ When he cast it down, it became a serpent, and Moses fled before it. Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘Put out your hand and grasp it by the tail.’ He reached out and grasped it and it became a staff.” Then the Holy One commanded him to perform the sign of leprosy. When he withdrew his hand from his cloak “it was again like the rest of his body.” “If they do not believe you or pay heed to the first sign (kol ha’ot), they will believe the second sign (kol ha’ot ha’acharon). And if they are not convinced by both these signs and still do not heed you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground and it…will turn to blood on the dry ground.” (Ex.4:1-10)",
+ "There are a number of issues that need to be explained. First, why are there three signs and why are they in this particular order: first, the staff into a serpent and then making his skin leprous.
Second why were they more likely to believe the later signs rather than the first one, and the third sign more than the second?
Why does God refer to the miracles performed with the staff ‘a sign’ rather than ‘a wonder’ (as Moses does when he performs this same act before Pharaoh)? Why is the difference between a sign and a wonder? Why does God refer to the signs with the language kol ha’ot, literally ‘the voice of the sign?’",
+ "I have already explained in my Torah commentary, Parshat Shemot, that because Pharaoh, did not know God, he needed wonders to convince him of God’s power, but Israel, who already knew about God from their ancestors, needed a sign to convince them that Moses was God’s true emissary sent to redeem them. They also need a sign to convince them that redemption was coming. Pharaoh did not have prior knowledge of God, so he needed a wonder that would show him that God had power over the forces of nature.",
+ "Israel needed a sign that would convince them that Moses was the redeemer. In addition, Moses needed to answer three questions that occurred to the people of Israel: First, if God truly had providence over human actions, why allow them to be oppressed for 210 years beneath harsh subjugation?
Second, if the oppression served some practical purpose, why didn’t God do the same thing for all the other nations and not just for the Israelites? The other nations could have been refined and purified through oppression!
And finally, what made this particular moment for redemption different and why redeem them now even though they had not completed the four hundred years of subjugation?",
+ "As an answer to the first question, God changed the staff into a serpent. After Israel was chosen to receive the Torah, it was necessary to bring the Israelites to a state of wholeness so that they would be worthy of redemption. As long as a person is affluent, he is not aware of the evil inclination within himself. Only when his heart is broken, and he is alone does he begin to understand that his evil inclination has incited him. Wealth is referred to by the expression haba b’yado, as in the verse: “After spending the night there Jacob selected from what was at hand (haba b’yado) these presents for his brother, Esau.” (Gen. 32:14) Also wealth is referred to as a ‘staff’ since wealth offers support to a person just as a staff in a person’s hand helps him to remain standing…But wealth can be a serpent which misleads and destroys, as it is written: “Jeshurun grew fat and kicked…” (Deut. 32:15) The sages interpreted this verse with the following parable: “It is like the case of a man who had a son; he bathed and anointed him and gave him plenty to eat and drink and hung a purse round his neck and set him down at the door of a bawdy house. How could the boy help sinning?”",
+ "Based on this we can interpret the verses above. The Holy One asks: “What is this in your hand?” – “What is the wealth?” Moses answers: “It is a staff upon which I lean.” God then says, “Cast it down,” Cast off your wealth and then you will realize that it is really a serpent. When Moses does so, he flees from the serpent because he doesn’t want to be harmed by the wealth which might incite him to part from the righteous way. From this we might conclude that poverty is better than wealth, but Solomon has taught: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth.” The sages explain this to mean that the harshness of poverty also removes one from knowledge of his Creator. That is why the Holy One then tells Moses, “send forth your hand and grab its tail,” and not its head. You should not make wealth essential but rather secondary, like the staff in your hand for holding yourself up. This is the answer to Israel’s question. They should believe that God allowed them to be afflicted in Egypt for their own good but afterward he will take them out of Egypt with great wealth, “For I am the Lord, God of your ancestors.”",
+ "If this answer does not suffice and they ask why the other nations were not refined and purified like the people of Israel, God tells Moses to perform the second sign – turning his arm leprous. I have already explained in my other work that leprosy is not a natural disease but a spiritual one. This refers to afflictions that affect the skin so that others may see the impurity; when they That is why only Israel who has the potential purity must cast off that which is impure in them. This affliction affects the skin so that others may see that when their skin is pure, it is a sign that their pure body cannot tolerate sin. That is why God tells Moses, “Place your hand in your bosom so that you cannot touch anyone but yourself.” This is a sign that the impurity that is within yourself has affected you – and certainly it will affect others if you touch them. This is a sign that you can remove the impurity affecting you from within or from the outside. It is an answer to Israel of why Israel had to be oppressed with hard labor, as scripture states: “You alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth; therefore, that is why I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2) This means that Israel’s suffering is for their own good in order to remove the impurity of the primordial serpent from them. In this way they will be purified of all the dross so that they can receive the Torah.",
+ "The Torah goes on to say; ‘If they do not believe these two signs…you should take water from the Nile;” thus bringing the third sign – water turned to blood. This is an answer to the third question: why did God redeem them before the completion of the allotted time of slavery? This is a significant question since God had said: “They shall be afflicted four hundred years.” Why did God speed up the arrival of the end? Yet God predicted four hundred years only for being afflicted with slavery. When the Egyptians began killing the Hebrew children, God sped up time of the arrival of their redemption…",
+ "Israel was supposed to be redeemed not only at a particular time but also with a set number of people and if God had delayed the redemption there would have been even less people. The third sign, then, was to explain why God redeemed them before the set time. The blood was a sign that the Israelite children were being killed and God could not delay the redemption. ",
+ "Therefore God commanded Moses to pour the water on the dry land so that it would turn to blood to tell the Israelites that once Pharaoh increased the harshness of the subjugation by killing the children God took pity upon them and with this God offered an answer to their third question."
+ ]
+ ],
+ "The Ten Plagues": [
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "Rabbi Ettlinger associates the ten plagues with the creation of the world. This is not so far from the p’shat, the literal meaning of the text. These plagues were not so much punishment as they were a means of making Pharaoh and the people of Egypt realize that God was the all-powerful creator of the world. As one of Egypt’s gods, Pharaoh encounters Moses and Aaron by asking, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice that I should let Israel go. I do not know the Lord nor will I let Israel go!” In a sense the ten plagues are an answer to Pharaoh’s challenge. RMBG",
+ "We must examine why the Holy One connected the ten plagues with the creation of the world, and why God chose these ten plagues.",
+ "Pharaoh said to Moses: “Who is the Lord that I should heed Him and let Israel go. I do not know the Lord nor will I let Israel go.” (Ex. 5:2) The Holy One wanted to show Pharaoh that He is the one who renews creation and that His servant, Moses, is able to change nature based on the command of God. Why ten plagues? This can be explained in the following way: God created the world in six days and all physical substance are based on four elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. Together they make up the ten plagues."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [
+ "•\tBlood, (dam) the first plague, indicates that God has control over the essence of water since the Egyptians had to dig around the Nile to find water when all the water changed to blood."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tFrog (tzfardea) is for the second day of creation, the day on which God separated the water from the dry land. While God promised not to bring another flood upon the earth, he commanded the frogs to come up from the sea and cover the dry land."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tLice (kinim) was a sign that the essence of the earth was under the control of God since lice came from the soil."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tInsects (arov) is parallel to the fifth day of creation, the day on which God created creeping creatures, birds and the sea monsters along with all the sea creatures."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tPestilence (dever) indicates that the Holy One has power over the air and the wind which is the essence of pestilence and the first cause of the contamination of the air."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tBoils (shechin) indicates that the Holy One can change the essence of fire; the ashes that caused the plague came from a furnace. The word sh’chin, boils, comes from the word shechun, dry warmth like fire. The rest of the plagues correspond to the six days of creation."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tHail (barad) is for the first day of creation, on which the heaven and the earth were created. That is why in describing this plague the Torah says: “Stretch your hand toward the heavens;” Shamayim, heaven, was created from heavens and earth."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tLocust (arbeh) is for the third day of creation, since the locust ate all the produce of the earth."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tDarkness (choshekh) for the fourth day of creation; it is the day on which God created, the sun, moon and the stars."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tThe first born (makat bechorot) is for the sixth day of creation, the day on which God created the land animals and human beings.",
+ "This is what Scripture means when it states: “See, I place you in the role of a God to Pharaoh,” (Ex. 7:1) I have given Moses the power to change and to destroy the forces of nature. This is the sign that I have given: the earth which is created from the four elements and the six days of creation were created by Me.",
+ "There is another explanation of the plagues: “Moses raised his staff toward the heavens:” These plagues, three were performed by Aaron, three by Moses, and three by the Holy One, and one by all three of them. The three by Aaron: blood, frogs, and lice. The three by Moses: hail, locust, and darkness. And three by the Holy One: insects, pestilence, and the death of the first born. Boils was carried out by the three of them together. Why were the plagues carried out this way, and why was boils performed by all three of them?",
+ "There are three sins which Egypt committed against the physical being of the Israelites: they oppressed them with hard labor, they killed the Israelite boys by drowning them in the Nile, and they prevented the Israelites from having children (through hard labor and separating husbands and wives). The Egyptians carried out one sin against the Holy One: Pharaoh rejected God’s word, saying, ‘Who is the Lord that I should heed his voice?” (Ex. 5:2) In response to the bodily suffering of the Israelites, three plagues struck the body of Egypt – the land and sea. These were the plagues of blood, frogs and lice which are the product of earth and water. In response to the taking of life, which is a combination of heaven and earth, there were three plagues: hail, locust and darkness. Hail fell from heaven, locust were brought on the wind, and darkness because the sun sends its light down to earth. For sins against the Holy One, they were struck with three more plagues: wild animals, pestilence, and the death of the first born. These three plagues all resulted in death by God who holds all life in His hands.",
+ "So why was boils carried out by all three together? We have already explained above regarding the verse, “Egypt have imputed evil to us,” that gossip and evil talk was the worst sin the Egyptians carried out against Israel. The plague of boils was punishment for the sin of Lashon Hara (just as leprosy is a punishment for gossip). In this plague, Aaron gathered the ashes from the oven, gave them to Moses who flung them into the air so that they rose all the way to the divine throne and then God made them become the source of this plague. Boils and leprosy both blacken the teeth of one who either spreads or receives slander. The punishment for gossip is very great. When the Torah says that the people were stricken by festering boils, it is describing a type of leprosy for their lashon hara. Since this was the source of all the sins in Egypt, as we saw: “Let us deal wisely with them,” therefore the plague was carried out by Aaron, Moses and God."
+ ],
+ [
+ "Mnemonics are commonly used throughout the Talmud as memory devices. After reciting the ten plagues what is the point of mentioning Rabbi Yehudah’s abbreviations for the ten plagues? In Psalms, however, we find other combinations of the plagues. In order not to confuse the order of the plagues with the ones in Psalms, Rabbi Yehudah came up with this order. Rabbi Ettlinger now finds other explanations for Rabbi Yehudah’s mnemonics. RMBG",
+ "Why did Rabbi Yehudah use abbreviations for the plagues, and why were the plagues given in this manner? Also, why did God give Moses power over the natural order to carry out the plagues against Pharaoh?",
+ "We notice that there was a difference between the first three plagues, the middle three plagues, and the final three plagues. Moses warned Pharaoh during the first two plagues (blood and frogs) but not before the third plague (lice), which occurred without any warning. Similarly, there was a warning before the fourth and fifth plague (wild animals and pestilence) but not the sixth plague (boils). The same thing pattern took place during the third grouping of plagues. There were warnings before hail and locust but not before darkness. The Ramban already pointed this pattern out.",
+ "There are other differences as well. During the first two plagues, Pharaoh's magicians were able to replicate Moses' plague but they were unable to replicate the third plague. They acknowledged that it was \"the finger of God\" (Ex. 8:15), and they were unable to perform such an act. During the second grouping of plagues, even though the Torah does not say that the magician replicated the plagues, it implies this. During the sixth plague the Torah says: \"the magicians were unable to confront Moses because the inflammation, for the inflammation afflicted the magicians as well as the other Egyptians.\" (Ex. 9:11) This implies that there is the same pattern as the first three plagues; when there was a warning during the first plagues of the grouping the magicians performed their magic or at least performed acts to protect themselves. When the third plague of the grouping occurs without warning the magicians did not know how to protect themselves and they too were stricken by the plague. That might be why God performed the plagues, so that God could strike the magicians and thereby show Pharaoh that the magicians deeds were ineffective.",
+ "The division of the plagues by Rabbi Yehudah implies other things as well. The commentators point out that during the first grouping, the plagues were performed with the use of Moses' staff while the second grouping was performed without the staff. This may have been because God wanted Pharaoh to err at first so he would recognize God's true power. God had Moses perform the first plagues through Aaron and with the staff so that Pharaoh would think that it was all magic (one needs certain tools to perform magical acts). Once the magicians acknowledged that the plagues were performed by the finger of God, God had the next group of plagues carried out without the use of the staff.",
+ "During the first six plagues, God wanted Pharaoh to understand that God rules over the earth. During the third grouping of plagues, God wanted Pharaoh to understand that God also rules over the heights of the heavens as well. In this grouping God sent hail which came from the clouds above the earth, locusts which are moved about by an east wind, and darkness to show that God also controls the sun, the moon, and the stars which are above the clouds. When these plagues did not convince Pharaoh and Egypt, God sent the tenth plague, the death of the first born, which came from an even higher source. The tenth plague was not carried out by one of the forces of nature but by the Holy One, as the author of the Haggadah has explained: \"I passed through the land of Egypt - I and not an angel; I struck the first born of Egypt - I and not a fiery being…I and not another.\"",
+ "Another explanation for why Rabbi Yehudah divided up the plagues in this fashion is offered by my father and teacher of blessed memory in his discussion of the question: \"How could God punish Pharaoh for refusing the let the Israelites leave Egypt since God hardened his heart?\"",
+ "Actually, God did give Pharaoh a choice when he first sent Moses to see him. From the very outset God told him what to expect. When God sent Moses back to Egypt, God said to him: \"When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then you will say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord: Israel is My first-born son. I have said to you, \"Let My son go, that he may worship Me,\" yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your first-born son.'\" (Ex. 4:21-23) In this verse, Moses informs Pharaoh how he would be treated by God. But since God desires kindness, God warns Pharaoh of the worst plague from the very beginning, hoping that Pharaoh wouldn’t harden his heart and ignore God's threats. God was letting Pharaoh know that he could save Egypt from the other plagues. God does not desire to strike down people if it was not necessary, so he did not initially send the plague against the first born. But doing this, the plagues became a snare to Pharaoh. Pharaoh was convinced that since God threatened the first born and didn’t slay them immediately, God had power over nature but not over life itself, like Pharaoh's magicians. Thus God said: \"I will harden his heart and he will not send the nation.\" God did not mean that He would direct Pharaoh's will to do evil. Rather, when this didn’t happen Pharaoh assumed that God did not have power to strike down the first born. The other plagues taught those who believed in God that God has power over everything and that there is none like God, and that he would not strike down lives at first.",
+ "Based on this explanation we can now understand the division of the plagues into three groupings: d'tzakh, adash, baachav. Each group became progressively harsher and brought the people closer to death. The first group (blood, frogs and lice) brought discomfort upon the Egyptians but there wasn’t even a distant fear of death in these plagues. While people need water to live, God made it possible for the people to dig around the shore of the Nile River to find water for themselves. In the second grouping (wild animals, pestilence and boils) the dread of death came closer. Even though the wild animals were all about them they did not kill the Egyptians but caused the Egyptians to fear for their lives. The pestilence that killed the animals caused them to fear that it might kill the people as well. And the boils was a direct attack on their bodies so it caused them to live in the dread of death. In the final group the fear of death was even more imminent. The hail was the first plague that was a direct threat to the lives of the Egyptians, for Moses said: \"Every person and beast who is found outside, not having been brought indoors, shall perish when hail comes down upon them.\" (Ex. 9:19) In the warning to this plague the Torah says: \"Let My people go…for this time I will send all My plagues upon your person, and your courtiers in order that they may know that there is none like Me.\" (Ex 9:14)",
+ "The sages explain that this plague was meant to be a reminder that God had power over the life of each individual, just what they had not believed until now. He was telling them again that in the end he would send the plague against the first born. Similarly, the plague of locust made them terrified for their lives, as we hear in the words of Pharaoh: \"Remove this death from me.\" (Ex. 10:17) After the plague of hail and locust, people began to die of hunger. The plague of darkness also inspired the terror of death; about this plague it is written: \"no one rose from his place for three days.” so that the people were dying of hunger and thirst. It is only with the tenth plague that death comes to the nation. Based on this division Rabbi Yehudah divided the plagues into three groupings."
+ ]
+ ],
+ "Dayenu": [
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "Rabbi Ettlinger makes a fascinating and very modern distinction in this comment on the difference between the giving of the Torah and the theophany, the encounter with God at Sinai. He wonders, as many commentators do, what the point of coming to Mount Sinai would have been if Israel did not receive the Torah once they arrived there. He suggests that the encounter with God at Sinai – the making of the covenant with God – was just as significant as receiving the Torah. Israel had to accept the covenant before they could receive the Torah. RMBG",
+ "If God had brought us to Mount Sinai but not given us the Torah, it would have been enough! The question here is well known: What would have been the point of approaching Mount Sinai if God did not have the intention of giving us the Torah?",
+ "The answer to this question is related to the discussion among the commentators regarding the giving of the Torah. In the story of creation, we read: “It was evening and morning, the sixth day…the heavens and the earth were finished…God finished all the work He had been doing on the seventh day.” (Gen. 1:31-2:2) There appears to be a contradiction here: first the passage states: “the sixth day…the heaven and earth were finished,” and then it states God finished…on the seventh day.” Also, how can one say that God finished His work on the seventh day when no work was done on the seventh day?",
+ "The answer can be found in a Tosafot which explains that the Torah states ha-shishi, “the sixth day” (not simply “sixth day”) because of the significance of the sixth day (of Sivan) when the Torah was given. According to some the Torah was given on the sixth of Sivan. According to others it was given on the seventh of Sivan but on the sixth day the people made a covenant with God and said “We will do and we will obey.” (The significance of the sixth and seventh day is that the work of creation was completed with Israel’s acceptance of the Torah on these days.)",
+ "The Ramban suggests that the covenant was made and the declaration announced the day before revelation – either the fifth of Sivan (according to those who said it was on the sixth) or the sixth of Sivan (for those who said revelation occurred on the seventh of Sivan). According to both opinions the people accepted the Torah and made the covenant before the Torah was given to them. We can now understand the statement in Dayyenu. If God had brought us to Mount Sinai to accept the Torah as we did in the covenant of “We will do and will obey” that would have been enough even if it had not been given the next day since intention is as effective as action!"
+ ]
+ ],
+ "Rabban Gamliel's Three Things": [
+ [
+ "For Rabbi Ettlinger, the Passover Seder is all about thanksgiving. He connects this ceremony with the gomel blessing, the blessing one recites after facing illness or danger in one’s life: “Praised are You, Adonai our God, who showed kindness to the unworthy and has favored me with all that is good.” While this blessing expresses gratitude, it also implies that we receive more than we deserve and that suffering results from sin. Rabbi Ettlinger suggests that the four occasions for which we give thanks also result from four causes of sins of which we are guilty. He interprets the discussion of this blessing as applying to the Exodus. Israel’s redemption and suffering are both rooted in God. The four central rituals of Passover; Pesach, matzah and maror as well as the telling of the Exodus story are directly related to the four reasons for gomel and the four causes of sin. RMBG",
+ "Everyone (kol) who has not explained these three things… Why does Rabban Gamliel use of the word kol, “Everyone who have not explained”, instead of saying, mi, “One who has not explained?” Rabban Gamliel did not want us to think that one only has to explain the reason for the Pesach offering when the temple was in existence, as it is stated: “You shall say it is the Passover offering to the Lord…” (Ex. 12:27) Therefore Rabban Gamliel used the word kol, “Everyone” – even outside the land of Israel and even at this time (when there is no temple) one has not fulfilled one’s obligation, for explaining the meaning of the offering.",
+ "In Berachot (54b) we are taught that there four who should give thanks: one who crossed the sea, who traversed a wilderness, one who was sick and recovered, and one who was imprisoned.
One who crossed the sea, as it is written: “They that go down to the sea in ships…these saw the works of the Lord… He raised the stormy wind…they mounted up to the heaven, they went down to the deeps…they reeled to and fro and staggered like a drunken man…they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. He made the storm calm ...then were they glad because they were quiet . . . . Let them give thanks unto the Lord for His mercy, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” (Ps. 107:23-30)
One who traverses the wilderness, as it is written: “They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way; they found no city of habitation…Then they cried unto the Lord…and He led them by a straight way…Let them give thanks unto the Lord for His mercy.” (Ps. 107:4-8)
One who became ill and was healed, as it is written: “There were fools who suffered for their sinful way, and for their iniquity. All food was loathsome to them; they reached the gates of death. In their adversity they cried to the Lord and God saved them from their troubles. He gave an order and healed them; He delivered them from the pits. Let them praise the Lord for His steadfast love.” (Ps 107:17-22)
One who was imprisoned, as it written: “Some lived in darkness, bound in cruel irons; because they defied the word of God, spurned the counsel of the Most High. He humbled their hearts through suffering; they stumbled with no one to help. In their adversity, they cried out to the Lord…he brought them out of deep darkness…let them praise the Lord for His steadfast love, His wondrous deeds for mankind.” (Ps. 107:10-16)",
+ "Why are these four singled out as the ones who give thanks; aren’t there acts of divine mercy besides these? Also, the chapter in Psalm begins: “Praise the Lord for He is good; His steadfast love is eternal. Thus let the redeemed of the Lord say, those that are redeemed from adversity.” (Ps. 107:1-2) Yet aren’t there some, such as the imprisoned, who weren’t really subject to suffering from God? Some of these people might say, “What is the point of giving thanks to God for having redeemed me from suffering; wouldn't it have been better if God hadn’t put me through this ordeal at all?”",
+ "This is the answer to these questions. People transgress due to four causes: slovenliness, heresy, desire, taking liberties, as it says: “They say, ‘by our tongues we shall travail; with lips such as ours who shall be our master?” (Ps. 12:5) God causes adversity because of these spiritual illnesses in order to cause them to turn in repentance so that they can be saved.
•\tSlovenliness: A person who sinks into a deep slumber causing him to forget the Lord. For such a person the travail is to face the dangers of the sea, as the sailors said to Jonah: “How can you be sleeping so soundlessly? Get up and call to your God!” (Jonah 1:6)
•\tHeresy: Someone who leaves the path of truth, as Solomon said in his parable: “Let your mind not wander down her ways; do not stray unto her paths.” (Prov. 7:25) The travails for such a person is to wander in the wilderness, off the king’s path, so that he is far from his path and is both spiritually hungry and thirsty.
•\tDesire: Of this person the Psalmist says “All food was loathsome to them; they reached the gates of death.” Their punishment is that they are unable to enjoy any of the simple pleasures because of illness.
•\tTaking liberties: The punishment for such a person is that he is imprisoned in a jail, a place of darkness.",
+ "One might say that when one is redeemed from these travails, his heart is drawn back to the Torah in the manner in which he was redeemed. The essence of his thanksgiving is not for the redemption of his body but for the redemption of his soul from the evil inclination. That is why the chapter from Psalms began with the words: “Praise the Lord for He is good…Thus let the redeemed of the Lord say, those that are redeemed from ‘the adversity.’” That is why the person brings a korban todah, a thanksgiving offering. Todah comes from the same root as vidui, confession.",
+ "Now, since these four types of thanksgiving include being saved from the four types of sin, God also gave us four commandments on the night of Passover for the four gracious acts for which we should be thankful. The four rituals are: the Passover offering, matzah, maror, and the telling of the Passover story."
+ ],
+ [
+ "•\tThe Passover offering was an atonement for not recognizing that God performed the miracles in Egypt; in particular, the death of the first born. God punished those who transgressed God’s ways and protected those who followed God’s will. This was done for the sin of slovenliness so that the people would give thanks to God just as those who ‘went down to the sea’ had to give thanks."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [
+ "•\tMatzah is for those who go off into the wilderness and those guilty of heresy. The Israelites had great faith – they went off into the wilderness without taking basic necessities and even their dough had not yet leavened. This was to teach them, that the great love of God would carry them through the wilderness. God would provide them with manna, which was their bread, in the wilderness."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [
+ "•\tMaror which is connected to the verse that states that the Egyptians embittered their lives, was meant to atone and heal them from the desires of the body, just as the sick needs medicine and methods of healing that are sometimes bitter but have the ability to change illness into a remedy.",
+ "Telling the story of the Exodus is an acknowledgement of the freedom from slavery which is the essence of the story of Passover. In order to take these commandments to heart, Rabban Gamliel said that we must explain these commandments; if we have not properly explained to them, then we have not fulfilled them in the manner in which we were commanded to do.",
+ "The Talmud and Midrash imply different reasons for the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. Was Israel bitterly enslaved because God had so predicted to Abraham in the Covenant of the Pieces? Or was the bitterness atonement for Abraham’s momentary loss of faith? Or was it related to the sin of Joseph’s brothers who sold their brother into slavery? Whichever reason is correct, Rabbi Ettlinger also implies that we eat bitter herbs as a reminder to identify with those who suffer. On Passover we are brothers and sisters in sharing this memory. RMBG",
+ "The commandment to eat bitter herbs on Passover night applies to all people, whether rich or poor. This commandment is meant to teach us not to say when we see someone suffering, “This is not my problem.” Rather we are all connected to one another in brotherhood/sisterhood. From this we may understand the Midrash on the verse, “’He has filled me with bitterness, he sated me with wormwood:’ (Lam. 3:15) as applying to the Ninth of Av.” (Lamentations Rabbah 3:5) And in the Talmud: a person should not show preference to one child over the others. Because of a coat worth two Selaim which Jacob made for Joseph, the story of the exile of the Jews unfolded and they went down to Egypt. The Tosafot ask regarding this statement: Weren’t Abraham's offspring exiled to Egypt because of what our forefather said, “Lord, how am I to know that I shall inherit it?” (Gen. 15:8) The Tosafot answer that the severity of the subjugation was punishment for the hatred that the brothers expressed toward Joseph (while the exile itself was for Abraham’s doubts). We also know what the sages said regarding the destruction of the Second Temple: the Temple was destroyed because of causeless hatred; this is the meaning of the Midrash: Because “He filled me with bitterness” on the eve of Passover with causeless hatred, “He sated me with wormwood” on the eve of Tisha B’Av.",
+ "For the sages, Passover did not begin with the Exodus from Egypt. This date was marked as a sacred occasion from the very beginning of time. Adam celebrated the Passover in anticipation of the Exodus as did Jacob. It is only in Egypt that the Exodus is fully celebrated without tragic results. RMBG",
+ "Regarding the Pesach offering, it is necessary to explain the statement in Midrash: Rebecca told Jacob: “Go to the flock and fetch for me two choice kids.” (Gen.27:9) Rabbi Helbo said: They are good for you because through them you will receive your father’s blessing, and they are good for your offspring for through them his offspring will receive atonement on Yom Kippur, as it is written: (Lev. 16:30) “For on this day it shall atone for you.” (Bereishit Rabbah 65:4)
Why was it necessary for Rabbi Helbo to say that the goats would be good for Jacob and his offspring? It would seem, at first glance, that the blessing that Jacob received was of no use to his offspring if, in the future, the people of Israel rejected God’s teachings. But Rabbi Helbo teaches that through the two goats, Israel would receive atonement and Isaac’s blessings would remain in effect. That is why they were good for him and his offspring.",
+ "But why does the statement say, “Through them” twice (rather than saying, “Through it”). The statement is that through the two goats which Jacob made for his father, the sins of his offspring would be atoned for in future generations. This can be explained according to another Midrash: On the fourteenth of Nisan, Isaac called for Esau and said to him, “Tonight is the time when the heavenly beings will sing songs and the storehouses of dew will be opened. Make me some food that I may bless you.” Rebecca overheard this and said to her son, Jacob: “While your father is still in this world (while he is still alive) and can bless you, bring me two goats.” (Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer 21)",
+ "Why was it necessary to have two goats and not just one for the future Passover offering? One was necessary in order to give Isaac the food he desired, and the other (for the Passover offering) had to be eaten roasted. That which we benefit from in this world is the portion of the evil impulse; therefore the one that was to satisfy Isaac’s desire for food was similar to the goat that was sent to Azazel on Yom Kippur, the portion of the evil impulse. Because Jacob prepared it to honor his father, it became sanctified. The second goat, the one that was offered in anticipation of the Pesach offering, was sacrificed to God. Therefore the two goats would anticipate the two offerings on Yom Kippur: one for Azazel and one as an offering to God. For Jacob, one goat was to feed his father and the other was an offering anticipating Passover. For his offspring the two goats symbolized the two goats that would be used as an atonement offering, one for Azazel and the other for God.",
+ "Even before the time of Isaac, an offering in anticipation of Pesach was made, as it is stated in Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer: “At the time that would be the future Passover, Adam called to his sons and said to them: “In the future Israel will offer their Passover sacrifice; you should do the same before your creator.” Cain brought parched ears and flax while Abel brought offerings from the first born of his flock of sheep which had not yet been decreed. Rabbi Joshua ben Korcha said: The Holy One said: ‘Heaven forbid that Cain’s offering should ever be mixed up with Abel’s offering’ even if it is in an item of clothing.”",
+ "What was the reason that God decreed that the offering of Cain and Abel should never be mixed together? It is because it was this very thing that damaged Cain in his offering (and caused him to sin). After Adam told his sons that in the future Israel would offer the Pesach offering on this night, he instructed his sons in the proper way to prepare the offering along with matzah and maror. Since the Pesach offering was so important, Abel, the shepherd, went out and brought the best offering according to the instructions while Cain, who didn’t want to cooperate with his brother brought regular food, parched corn and flax seed and then he didn’t do so happily. Rather, he refused to combine it with his offering. As a result, Cain’s and Abel’s offerings could never be combined even if it was in the making of a garment.",
+ "When the offering was made at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, the Torah refers to it as a khok, a statute, or a law for which there is no rationale. That is why the Torah states: “This is the stature of the Pesach offering.” Initially, there was no explanation for the Pesach offering. Afterwards, a reason emerged: This is how you will eat it: your loins girded, sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand; you shall eat it hurriedly…” (Ex. 12:11) This was to represent the haste with which they left, and the fact that the offering had to be consumed before midnight according to Elazar ben Azariah. Yet the Torah also says: “A person shall not go out of his house until morning.” But if that is so why did they have to eat the Pesach offering in haste before midnight? This was the way in which the Holy One showed His compassion. It is written: “The day following the Passover the Israelites went forth defiantly…before the Egyptians.” (Ex. 14:8) The reason they left the following day and not at night was so that the Egyptians should not say; “The Israelites fled from us because they were afraid of their enemies.” Therefore God took them out of Egypt in the middle of the day and did so defiantly. Also, lest the Egyptians say the Israelites didn’t leave until now because they weren’t prepared and they were late in preparing themselves; therefore God had them leave with all their loins girded and to eat in haste to show that they were prepared all along and even so they didn’t leave in the middle of the night in order to show the greatness of God.",
+ "We can now understand the relation of Pesach, matzah, and maror. At first, in the time of Adam, when the Pesach offering was offered, it became maror, bitter, because Cain killed his brother when God accepted Abel’s offering and not his. In the time of Jacob, the offering became a source of strife (matzah) between Jacob and Esau. Esau accused Jacob of stealing his blessing by bringing the offering before him. But in the time of the Exodus, the Pesach offering symbolized how God passed over the doorways of the Israelites saving them and telling them not to leave their homes so that the destroyer could smite Egypt."
+ ],
+ [
+ "This is the central statement of the Passover Seder. Rabbi Ettlinger now raises the question: what is the point of this statement and why does it appear here? He shows that the three symbols of the Seder are in fact not just allusions to the past but symbols of God’s continuing redemption of the Israel. The statement is especially connected to maror. It is a visual symbol of the importance of constantly developing humility. RMBG",
+ "The author of the Haggadah answers the question: Why is it necessary to tell the story of the Exodus “in every generation”? To answer this question, this passage was placed immediately after the explanation the three ritual foods of the Seder: Pesach offering, matzah and the maror. At first glance, it would seem that Rabban Gamliel changed the order of the three; maror should have been mentioned first.",
+ "However, when a person is living in comfort one should pause to think back to the times of adversity in his life, moving from step to step in the way he tells the story of life. This is how we tell the story of the Exodus. The Pesach offering is a reminder of God’s greatness; it teaches us that God passed over the homes of the Israelites and struck the homes of the Egyptians who were their enemies. It represents comfort. Matzah is a reminder of two both aspects of the Passover story: comfort and adversity. We eat matzah because God redeemed us from slavery and it also reminds us that we were slaves who ate the bread of affliction. From matzah we move on to the maror which represents Israel’s complete humiliation. It is a symbol of our subjugation and that the Egyptians embittered our lives.",
+ "Upon hearing this explanation, some might ask: why include the bitter herbs along with aspects of the story since it represents the humiliation of our ancestors to the Egyptians? To the explanation of the maror we add, “Every person is obligated to see himself as if he went forth from Egypt.” When we remember the subjugation of our ancestors we will arouse the quality of humility in ourselves.",
+ "Actually, all three symbols allude to the fact that God redeemed us. Regarding the Pesach offering, the states: It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians but he delivered our houses.” (Ex. 12:26) The verse begins with the “Children of Israel” but it concludes by mentioning “our houses,” reminding us that though God struck the Egyptians, God saved our houses. Regarding the matzah the Torah states: “With a mighty hand God took us out of Egypt.” (Ex.13:14) The verse does not say, “God took our ancestors out,” but “God took US out of Egypt.” God is constantly redeeming us. Regarding maror it is written: “It is because of this (zeh) which God did for me when God took me out of Egypt.” (Ex. 13:5) That is to say, at every time God did this for me. This verse applies to the bitter herbs. Maror is referred to as (zeh), which is masculine since the word zot, the feminine word for “this,” alludes to matzah.",
+ "We can now understand the meaning of the verse: “It shall come to pass, in the future, when your child asks, ‘what is this service to you?’” The child asks, “I understand why you must eat matzah and maror since they are symbols of subjugation and redemption. God performed this for our ancestors so that we would not be enslaved. But the Pesach offering was merely a local miracle for our ancestors so that God could save his first born, Israel. Why must we recall this miracle? To this we answer: “And our houses he saved.” God not only saved our ancestors but he saved us – therefore for this we give thanks."
+ ]
+ ]
+ },
+ "Hallel": {
+ "Second Half of Hallel": [
+ [],
+ [
+ "\"The Heaven is the heaven of Adonai but the earth God has given to human beings. The dead cannot praise God…but we can praise God forever, Halleluyah.\" We find a discussion in B. Talmud Berachot 35a of contradictory verses: It is written: \"The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof,\" (Ps. 24:1) and it is also written: \"the earth God has given to human being.\" (Ps. 115:17) The Talmud explains: \"There is no contradiction here. The first verse is before we recite a berachah, and the second blessing is after we recite a berachah. This statement implies they a berachah causes the pleasures of this world to become spiritual just as it causes the physical body to become spiritual. In this way they are not destroyed in the grave but cause the body and soul to continue to exist in the world to come. Even though a dead person cannot praise God nor can the soul that goes down to the nether world (as the psalm implies), even so we can continue to praise God forever through our ability to take pleasure in the gifts of this world through a blessing. They do not cease since the body becomes spiritualized in the world to come.",
+ "\"Not for us, Lord, not for us but for Yourself give glory for Your mercy and Your truth.\" This is a continuation of the previous passage in Hallel: \"He turns flint into pools of water and rock into fountains.\" (Psalm114) Why does the Psalmist repeat the expression: \"Not for us?\" and what does it means when says: \"Give glory for Your mercy and Your truth?\"",
+ "The Psalmist states here: \"Just as You performed wondrous and mighty acts in Egypt for us, so may You do so now.\" Yet there is a loss of dignity (kavod) in the fact that one must this request.\" ",
+ "There are two ways in which a gift is valued by the one who receives it: based on the individuals need and based on the importance of the person who gives it to the person. If an important person gives someone even a small gift, it is considered even more significant. It is not appropriate for a person to say to God: \"Honor us by giving us the glory we deserve.\" Nor is it appropriate for the person to say to God, \"It is fitting for the Holy One to honor us.\"
Instead, we say: \"Not for us,\" not that we are deserving of this honor, and again we say. \"Not for us,\" a second time - \"Not because You must do so for your own sake. Rather do so for the sake of Your won glory. You should do because of Your great kindness, not because we are entitled according to the law to these acts. We say to God do so that Your truth will be proven just as you have said\" \"The mountains may flee before you but\" Your mercy will never be lost."
+ ],
+ [],
+ [],
+ [
+ "\"Praise the Lord all the nations! Extol Him all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us and the faithful of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!\" (Psalm 117) Why should the nations praise God because \"God's steadfast love is toward us?\" What good is there for the other peoples in God's faithful - this does not seem to be connected to the first part of the passage. Rather the answer is that all the nations and people praise God that God showed us steadfast love by fulfilling His promise to give us the Torah. In B. Talmud Avodah Zarah 3a we learn that God made a promise with the works of creation: if Israel accepted the Torah things would be fine, but if not everything would revert back to a state of chaos, as it was before creation. The nations will praise God because they realize that they exist by virtue of Israel's acceptance of the Torah."
+ ]
+ ]
+ },
+ "Nirtzah": {
+ "Echad Mi Yodea": [
+ [
+ "Rabbi Ettlinger understands the two final songs of the Seder as complimentary. They describe the journey of the body and soul. While both end by finding wholeness in God, their journey follows a different path. The soul begins and ends by becoming associated with God. The body follows a more uncertain path in which it must through a series of trials that ultimately bring it to a place of repair and wholeness with God. RMBG",
+ "Echad Mi Yodea and Chad Gadya are brought at the end of the Haggadah to explain the similarities and differences between matters of the body and matters of the soul. The soul is the divine aspect of the human being which originates in the the Divine One. The soul continues to branch out and spread forth until it again finds its wholeness in the Divine One. The physical body is different. Matters of the body have their roots in the evil inclination “which is evil from its youth,” (Gen. 8:21) and for whom, “sin couches at the door.” (Gen. 4:5) Only though its many activities does it find the ability to repair itself in the Holy One.",
+ "We see then that there are similarities and differences between the body and the soul. In the end both the body and soul find wholeness and their repair in the Holy One. At the time of the resurrection of the dead, the body is also repaired.
There are differences as well. The soul begins and completes its journey by becoming united with the Holy One, while the body only becomes united with the Holy One though its eventual purification. Also the activities of the soul do not damage the body but in fact are meant to strengthen it so that they eventually are unified in their Divine root. The activities of the body, on the other hand, while they are useful to the body are not helpful to the soul, so that there is not mutual purpose to it, but help from one side and damage from the other.",
+ "From this explanation we can begin to understand the significance of Echad Mi Yodea, “Who Knows ‘One?’ The ‘One’ is the source of all that is good and spiritual so that all of the outcomes of the ‘One’ result from it: the two tablets of the Decalogue, the three patriarchs, the four matriarchs, the five books of the Torah, the six orders of the Mishnah, the seven days of the week (Shabbat), eight days of circumcision/covenant, nine months of pregnancy (the fetus lives a spiritual life in the body of the mother as explained in Nida 30b, (during pregnancy which the fetus sees everything and knows the entire Torah of God); the ten commandments, the eleven righteous children of Jacob who bowed before Joseph, and the twelve tribes which comprise the children of Israel. All of these gifts are like a string of pearl next to one another which combine to create the thirteen attributes of God, which is the same as the word “Echad,” one. Echad has the numerical value of thirteen. In other words there is completeness in God."
+ ]
+ ],
+ "Chad Gadya": [
+ [
+ "The journey of the body is recounted in Chad Gadya. The body has its roots in “One little goat.” The goat is a symbol of Esau while the lamb is a symbol of Jacob, as we learn in the Talmud: “Rabbi Zera asked Rabbi Judah: Why do goats march at the head [of the flock], and then sheep? He said to him: It is like the world's creation, in which darkness precedes light.” (Shabbat 77a)",
+ "It is known that the Prince of Esau is the evil inclination. Father bought it for two zuzim while the goat was young and not yet strong when they were standing at Mount Sinai. In this way they hoped to control the evil inclination through two zuzim/two tablets of the Decalogue; It was there that they were freed from the evil inclination.",
+ "As the days passed along came the cunning serpent which is compared to the cat and ate the goat which was purchased with the two zuzim and replaced it, ruling over them.
Then the dog hates cunning and slyness. As a result, it kills the cat. The dog is a symbol of greed.
The dog did not rule for long because the stick beat it. The stick is a symbol of jealousy and it consumes the greed.
Then the fire of anger arose and it consumed jealousy but even its strength did not last because the fire of anger was extinguished by the water – indifference.
Because of this, everyone was weakened like an astonished person. That is why the ox, mighty creature arose and took control of government and it wiped out indifference. This was better for the body since it was more beneficial to the body.
But along came the slaughter and slaughtered the ox and destroyed its strength for its own benefit so that it could consume its flesh.
The desire for flesh did not last because the angel of death came and grabbed hold of the slaughterer and killed him, much as death rules over matters of the body. This is how it remains until the Holy One slaughters the angel of death and removes all evil from the world and the Holy One alone rules…"
+ ]
+ ]
+ }
+ },
+ "versions": [
+ [
+ "Rabbi Mark Greenspan",
+ "http://www.oceansidejewishcenter.org/"
+ ]
+ ],
+ "heTitle": "מנחת עני על הגדה של פסח",
+ "categories": [
+ "Liturgy",
+ "Haggadah",
+ "Commentary"
+ ],
+ "schema": {
+ "heTitle": "מנחת עני על הגדה של פסח",
+ "enTitle": "Minchat Ani on Pesach Haggadah",
+ "key": "Minchat Ani on Pesach Haggadah",
+ "nodes": [
+ {
+ "heTitle": "קדש",
+ "enTitle": "Kadesh"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "מגיד",
+ "enTitle": "Magid",
+ "nodes": [
+ {
+ "heTitle": "הא לחמא עניא",
+ "enTitle": "Ha Lachma Anya"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "מה נשתנה",
+ "enTitle": "Four Questions"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "עבדים היינו",
+ "enTitle": "We Were Slaves in Egypt"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "מעשה שהיה בבני ברק",
+ "enTitle": "Story of the Five Rabbis"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "כנגד ארבעה בנים",
+ "enTitle": "The Four Sons"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו",
+ "enTitle": "In the Beginning Our Fathers Were Idol Worshipers"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "ארמי אבד אבי",
+ "enTitle": "First Fruits Declaration"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "עשר המכות",
+ "enTitle": "The Ten Plagues"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "דיינו",
+ "enTitle": "Dayenu"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "פסח מצה ומרור",
+ "enTitle": "Rabban Gamliel's Three Things"
+ }
+ ]
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "הלל",
+ "enTitle": "Hallel",
+ "nodes": [
+ {
+ "heTitle": "מסיימים את ההלל",
+ "enTitle": "Second Half of Hallel"
+ }
+ ]
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "נרצה",
+ "enTitle": "Nirtzah",
+ "nodes": [
+ {
+ "heTitle": "אחד מי יודע",
+ "enTitle": "Echad Mi Yodea"
+ },
+ {
+ "heTitle": "חד גדיא",
+ "enTitle": "Chad Gadya"
+ }
+ ]
+ }
+ ]
+ }
+}
\ No newline at end of file