The Oneg Haggadah של פסח ע''ה ר' בנימין יוסף בן געדל לע''נbased on Maggid NORTH WEST LONDON’S DIVREI TORAH ON THE HAGGADAH הגדהCompanion

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The OnegHaggadahשל פסח

לע''נ ר' בנימין יוסף בן געדל ע''ה

based on Maggid

NORTH WEST LONDON’S DIVREI TORAH ON THE HAGGADAH

הגדהCompanion

Published by JAM Events www.jam-events.comCopyright© JAM Events (UK) Limited, 2015All rights reservedכל הזכויות שמורות

Printed in England

In Conjunction with the Oneg Shabbos Project

THANK YOU to all the contributors for taking time out of their busy schedules and making this Haggadah possible

THANK YOU to Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft & Rabbi Yonasan Roodyn for making this dream come true.

THANK YOU Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene and The Creative RD4 Production Group

Edited by Vicki Belovski 07877 543721Distributed by Scanprint (Tzeterlech Gehungen) 07973 449 275

If you enjoyed this Haggadah please help in supporting the cost of production.Suggested Voluntary Donation £10

BACS payments: to BARCLAYS BANK PLCAccount Number: 70598097 | Sort Code: 209561

Cheques and Vouchers made payable to BHNY and sent to:Haggadah c/o JAM Events (UK) Limited, First Floor, 314 Regents Park Road London N3 2JX

3 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

INTRODUCTION

Rabbi Yonasan RoodynAish UK and Chief Editor of Oneg Pesach

3,327 years ago, our ancestors prepared themselves to leave the giant prison

camp that was Mitzrayim. They were downtrodden and bereft, both physically and spiritually, with nothing but a basic sense of ethnic identity. Hashem gave them a zechus, an exit visa to make them worthy of redemption: the Korban Pesach and bris mi-lah. In the context of instructing them about those mitzvos , Moshe makes a statement that lays the path for all of Jewish history.

והיה כי תבאו אל הארץ אשר יתן ה‘ לכם כאשר דבר וש־מרתם את העבדה הזאת: והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבדה הזאת לכם: ואמרתם זבח פסח הוא לה‘ אשר פסח בתינו ואת מצרים את בנגפו במצרים ישראל בני בתי על

י‘‘ב:כ‘‘ה-כ‘‘ז) (שמות וישתחוו: העם ויקד הציל

“And it shall come to pass when you enter the land that Hashem will give you, as He spoke, that you shall observe this service. And it will come to pass that when your children say to you, ‘What is this service to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to Hashem, for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, and He saved our houses.’ And the people kneeled and prostrated themselves.”

Rather than get caught up in the euphoria of the mo-ment, Moshe wants to ensure that the message of Pe-sach lasts for perpetuity. He wants Klal Yisrael to un-derstand and explain why we observe Pesach so that future generations will see themselves as part of this story. The miracles of yetzias Mitzrayim may have been a one-off event, but the lessons are timeless, real and relevant for each one of the 133 Jewish generations who have lived since then.

On Seder night the method we use is והגדת לבנך ve’hi-gadta l’vinchah, but the goal is far more than just im-parting information, rather it is to see ourselves as having left Mitzrayim. The purpose of Seder night is to deepen our understanding and emotional connection to the themes of וגאולה Galus v’geulah that are so גלות much a part of our history and identity. The Arizal famously says that the word פסח Pesach is related to פה שח, peh sach a talking mouth. The mitzvah on Seder night is to talk, to relate and communicate the timeless ideas and values that are the essence of the Jewish people. משובח זו הרי המרבה v’chol hamarbeh וכל harei zo meshubach, the more we talk, discuss and de-bate, the more these ideas will become part of our con-sciousness and the more real they will become to us and our families. This Oneg Haggadah companion has been a labour of love, to provide you with new ideas and insights to share at the Sedarim. It is our hope that they will be the impetus for further discussion and that these ideas will unite generations as we go on our collective and individual journeys on these special evenings. May we be zoche to maximise the awesome potential of these evenings and experience true freedom so that next year we will eat הפסחים ומן הזבחים -min hazeva מן chim u’min hapesachim in הבנויה Yerushalayim ירושלים habenuyah, the rebuilt Yerushalayim.This Haggadah is also a chance for Rabbonim and Mechanchim from North West London to make a con-tribution to their own kehilla and further afield.It is a with tremendous source of pride that we are able to showcase just some of the talented mashpiim that our kehilla is blessed with. We hope to be able to give many more the opportunities to share their Torah wis-dom and insights in future publications.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 4

Halachos for Maggid

Rabbi Avi WeisenfeldRosh Kollel, Yerushalayim and Rav at Kav Halacha Beis Horaah

Please note that the night of Pesach is rich with many different minhagim. What is written below is the halachah according to the conclusions of the Mishnah Brurah, and someone with a family minhag otherwise should conduct himself accordingly.

INTRODUCTION TO MAGGID

On the night of Pesach, there is a mitzvah to relate the miracles and everything that took place on the night of the fifteenth of Nissan. This is learned from the words of the Torah "ממצרים יצאתם אשר הזה היום את -Zach 1"זכור or es hayom hazeh asher yetzatem miMitzrayim. One should have the intention (either verbally or by think-ing) to fulfil the obligation of סיפור יציאת מצרים – talking about Yetzias Mitzrayim.2

Q. Why is there no brachah on the mitzvah of relat-ing the story of leaving Mitzrayim?A. This is a question that has been a topic of discus-sion for hundreds of years,3 and there are numerous answers offered. The answer given by many is that the brachah made on kiddush at the start of the Seder cov-ers this mitzvah also (since יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim is mentioned in Kiddush).4

TELLING CHILDREN

There is a special mitzvah to relate the story of how the Jews left Mitzrayim to one’s children. The source for this is the passuk: "והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר...” Ve’higadatah l’vinchah bayom hahu lemor. Even if one does not have a son to whom to tell the story, there is nevertheless a mitzvah to relate the story to others, and even to oneself. In fact, Chazal tell us that the more one expounds on the story with all its intricate details, the better it is.5

There is a mitzvah to distribute sweets or other treats to children in order to prompt them to ask questions6 and to keep them sitting and interested in the Seder.

Q. Which children are included in this mitzvah?A. Any child who understands what he is being told is included. Although it is difficult to set a specific age, some poskim state that it can start from approximately three years old.7

Q. Is it also a mitzvah to tell one’s daughters?A. Yes.8 Women also have an obligation to listen to the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim, and should listen or recite at least some of the main parts of the haggadah.9

1 רמב"ם הל' חו"מ פ"ז ה"א. וע"ע בגמ' פסחים קטז.2 מ"ב ריש סי' תעג.

3 כן ראיתי במאירי סוף פ"ק דברכות, וכן הקשה האבודרהם על ההגדה.4 אבודרהם, רבינו ירוחם בשם רבינו פרץ.

5 רמב"ם שם ה"א.6 שו"ע סו"ס תעב ומ"ב שם.

7 כן פסק הגרי,ש אלישיב זצ"ל. וע"ע ברמ"א סי' תעא ס"ב ומג"א שם ס"ק ג וערוה"ש ס"ה.8 גר"ז סי' תע"ב סכ"ה. וכ"כ בערוה"ש סט"ו שאף שבכ"מ אין הבנות בכלל התינוק, מ"מ עיקר האמונה

תלוי ביצ"מ.שוו"ע סי' תעב סעי' יד, מג"א שם ס"ק טז. י"א דחיובן מה"ת וי"א מדרבנן. 9

Q. Is it a mitzvah to tell one’s grandchildren?A. According to some opinions it is.10 If one has his grandchildren around the table, it is sufficient that the grandfather recites the haggadah, even though the father of the young children does not say anything to his own children about the story.11 Some poskim suggest that the father of the children add some detail, to fulfil this mitzvah.12

Q. How can one fulfil this mitzvah to its fullest?A. One fulfils his mitzvah by simply reading the hagga-dah. However, one must understand what he is saying. Additionally, one should ensure that he explains the story to the children in a manner that they can fully understand. This means that one may have to translate or explain various parts of the haggadah for them – on their level – to ensure that they appreciate what is be-ing said.13 The haggadah should be read slowly, and patiently, in an atmosphere of joy and happiness.14

Q. Does this mitzvah still apply if one’s son is older and even wise enough to know all the information?A. Yes, no matter how old and wise one’s son is, there is a mitzvah for a father to relate the miracles and hap-penings to his son.

Q. Should the haggadah be said out loud?A. Yes.15 This is true even when one is conducting the Seder alone.16 The minhag is that the person leading the Seder says it loud enough for all those seated to hear, and everyone else says it quietly along with him.

Q. May the haggadah be said in any position?A. It should be said sitting, not standing. Furthermore, it should not be said leaning.17

Q. Is one allowed to speak during the different parts of the haggadah?A. One should not say mundane things during the hag-gadah, as the haggadah is similar to davening.18 Only what is necessary (including for a mitzvah such as say-ing אשר יצר asher yatzar) may be said.

10 שנאמר "ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך" ויג"מ סי' יט ס"ק ט בשם בני יששכרמ מאמר ה סוף אות ה. והחת"ס פ' בא חולק ע"ז.

11 שו"ת בצל החכמה ח"ו סי' סז, שו"ת תו"ה ח"ב סי' רלו, הגרש"ז זצ"ל בהליכות שלמה עמ' קיא.12 הגרי"ש אלישיב זצ"ל ויבלח"ט הגר"נ קרליץ שליט"א.

13 עי' רמ"א סי' תע"ג ס"ו, ומ"ב ס"ק סב. וכן נהג החת"ס והחפץ חיים.14 סידור האריז"ל, יסוד ושורש העבודה שער ט פ"ו, קב הישר פ"צ עפ"י זוהר.

15 ריטב"א בסדר ההגדה, שו"ת מהרש"ל סי' פח. ויג"מ סי' יט שכן נהג החת"ס.16 שו"ת מהרש"ם שם. וכ"כ בכה"ח סי' תעג ס"ק קכז.

17 חי"א סי' תעג בשם השל"ה, גר"ז סי' תעג סמ"ח.18 עי' ד"מ סי' תעג ס"ק יב, בירור הגר,א סי' תעג ד"ה ואם, לבוש שם, חי"א סי' תעג ס"ק ה, כה"ח ס"ק

כא.

5 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

והגדת לבנך

Rabbi Shmuel Roitenbarg Pardes House Primary School

Looking through the haggadah, we see that children seem to play a very prominent role. In the beginning

of Maggid we have the children asking the four ques-tions of the מה נשתנה Mah nishtanah. Soon after this the Baal Haggadah explains the four different type of chil-dren with their questions and our responses to them. Why do Chazal place the emphasis on the children here?Moreover, if we look at the constant back and forth of Moshe Rabbeinu with Paroh over the release of the Yidden, we see Moshe’s emphasis on the children. The dialogue is as follows:Paroh asks, “מי ומי ההולכים” Mi vami haholchim Who are they that shall go?Moshe replies,‘‘בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך” Binareinu uviz’keineinu nelech We will go with our young and with our old.Paroh refuses, saying, “לכו נא הגברים ועבדו את ה‘ כי אותה אתם Lechu na hagevarim v’ivdu es Hashem ki osah ’’מבקשיםatem mevakshim Go now you that are men, and serve Hashem, for that is what you desire.How can we explain this conversation? Why does Moshe put the children first, seemingly not according the zekeinim their due kavod?Paroh does not understand what Moshe’s intentions are. He thinks the purpose of them going is to serve Hashem and that is the job of the adults. Paroh does not deem it necessary for the children to accompany the adults in their service.But Moshe, however, understands that the best chi-nuch is from personal example and if our goal is to have ziknei talmidei chachaim in the coming זקני תלמידי חכמיםgeneration, it has to begin in their youth. Therefore, the participation of the children and their close up observa-tion of the zekeinim’s avodas Hashem is of paramount

importance and as such Moshe mentions them first! The yom tov of Pesach is a time to instil in our children Hashem’s love for us and our love towards Him. We can see this in the following comparison between Rosh Hashanah and Pesach:On Rosh Hashanah, we throw our aveiros into the wa-ter at Tashlich, whereas on Pesach, we take the מים שלנו mayim shelanu and use it in making our matzos.Similarly, from Rosh Hashanah and throughout the Aseres yemei teshuvah, we are careful not to eat עשי‘‘ת egozim - nuts because they are the gematria of אגוזים chet - sin, whilst on Pesach the Rema writes that חטאone should reward the children with nuts for asking questions at the Seder. We seem to reject the water and the nuts on Rosh Hashanah and bring them near on Pesach. Why the contrast?Pesach is a time of תשובה מאהבה teshuvah mi’ahavah – repentance from love. When a person repents in this way, his aveiros turn into zechuyos – they become mitz-vos. Therefore, we want to take water, even though half a year earlier we threw our aveiros into it, and eat nuts because our aveiros are no longer. They have been turned into mitzvos!An additional dimension to the chinuch at the Seder is this point. We have the ability to transmit this love and joy in Yiddishkeit to our children, together with the knowledge that although we may slip up we can return to Hashem through תשובה מאהבה teshuvah mi’ahavah, to the degree that He will transform our aveiros into mitz-vos. This thought can empower us and our children to know that Hashem loves us all and is awaiting our wholehearted return.

Rabbi Garry WaylandAssistant, Youth and Young Families Rabbi Woodside Park Synagogue

LEANING

The Seder night is an experience that is replete with symbolism and sensory experiences. The wine,

the matzah, and the telling of the story are all part of a tapestry that ensures that the Seder is one of the key links in the chain of Jewish tradition. Haseibah, leaning, is a key part of this puzzle. As a min-imum, this means leaning (on something, not merely contorting one’s back in the air!) whilst drinking the wine and eating the matzah. Maximally, I have seen

families rearrange the dining room, so they can relax on couches leaning on pillows.Rambam, in his code Mishnah Torah, says, “a person is obligated to demonstrate that he himself has now been liberated from the Egyptian subjugation… there-fore when a person dines on this night, he should eat and drink whilst leaning in the manner of a free man (derech cherus)”. In Talmudic times, it was common to lie on some-thing like a chaise longue whilst eating from a small

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 6

coffee table; it was natural to eat reclining. Today, we obviously do not, so therefore should this halachah be viewed differently? Ra’avyah, R Eliezer b Yoel Halevi, a prominent 13th century sage, ruled, “that as we are not accustomed to sit in this way, it is sufficient to lean in our normal manner, without leaning to the left or right.” He viewed the mitzvah of haseibah as eating in the way of normal, free people, and so is dependent on time and place.However, the Shulchan Aruch, Rav Karo’s code of law written in the 16th Century, ruled that it applies regard-less; he viewed it as acting as a reminder, evoking past memories of how the Jews of the Exodus celebrated. The Midrash brings another reason as to why we should lean. As the Jews were leaving Egypt, “G-d led them circuitously (vayasev) through the desert towards the Sea of Reeds”. The Midrash compares the word

vayasev to yasev – lean: “from here we see that even a pauper should lean – yasev”. In a classic word play, the Midrash seems to say that our leaning on Seder night is to remember something very specific – that we left Egypt in a roundabout manner, rather than walking straight out. If so, leaning would be a mitzvah that is not dependent on any particular time or place. The K’sav Sofer, Avraham Sofer (1815-1871), the son and successor of the famous Chasam Sofer elaborates on this theme. Even at the most dangerous time, with the Egyptians in fast pursuit of the newly-liberated Jews, they still acted slowly, deliberately and with con-fidence. We should lean as kings, whose time is his own and who has no fear. This should be an ambition in our relationship with G-d, to act in a dignified man-ner despite any hardships, and the Seder night is the ideal place to demonstrate this.

MATZAH

After eating three large pieces of matzah at the Sed-er night, it can be a bit of a struggle to drum up

enthusiasm for it during the rest of Pesach. Not eating chametz – I can manage with that, but however deli-cious this year’s batch may be, matzah may get slightly bland after a while.It may come as somewhat of a surprise, therefore, that many rabbis throughout the generations considered eating matzah a mitzvah for the entire festival. There-fore, every time you tuck into your tuna and matzah you are fulfilling a Biblical commandment. Jews in parks and museums (the picnic tables covered in plastic sheets to prevent cross-contamination, of course) are sanctifying their surroundings with their gastronomic gathering of cracker consumption. The Vilna Gaon, (d. 1797) initiated the practice of eating matzah as Pesach was closing, taking this mitzvah with him until the last available moment.Rabbi Menachem Kasher (d. 1983), quotes a novel ex-planation: eating matzah is an extension of the matzah eaten at the Seder. When we eat matzah during the Seder, we are reliving both the feelings of slavery and

of the subsequent redemption of our forefathers, tying us and our families into a chain of tradition spanning the generations. The feeling of eternity and liberation that this simple act of eating engenders in us is one that we should try to keep with us throughout the entire festival. Every time we eat, we hearken back to those feelings, as if to say we don’t want that elevation to ever leave.Mitzvos are not transitory acts that have to be per-formed on occasion. They are meant to leave a lasting impression on us, to change our characters and our psyches and affect the way we relate to both God and Man. The elation of eating matzah should last because it is a transformative opportunity, and not a mere ritu-al or custom. Judaism proclaims very lofty goals – a perfection of character, a consciousness of God and a responsibility for the communities and world we find ourselves in. The Torah and mitzvos, some of which seem simple or fleeting, some complex or weighty, are tools through which to achieve this.As we continue to munch through matzah, we can still ride the wave of the redemption and excitement of Sed-er night, and carry it through the whole year.

7 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

הא לחמא עניא די אכלו אבהתנא בארעא דמצרים. כל דכפין ייתי וייכול. כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח. השתא

הכא, לשנה הבאה בארעא דישראל. השתא עבדי, לשנה הבאה בני חורין:

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld - HALACHOS HA LACHMA ANYA הא לחמא עניא

The Seder plate should be raised and the matzos revealed, and one should say out loud הא לחמא עניה Ha lachma anya .1

Q. May one drink at this point?

A. No. Drinking any liquid is forbidden, even if one has not actually started saying the haggadah.2

1 מ"ב סי' תעג ס"ק סא.2 שו"ע סי' תעג ס"ב, בה"ל שם ד"ה הרשות

Rabbi

Avrohom Zeidman

Senior Educator of GIFT

הא לחמא עניא

This is the poor man’s bread that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is in need, come and have the Seder with us. This year we are here; next year in the land of Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free people.

The Rambam writes (Hilchos Yom Tov 6:18) that one who eats and drinks on Yom Tov and does not share

with the poor is merely engaging in “simchas kreiso - the rejoicing of his stomach.” True simchas Yom Tov is being mesameach others who are less fortunate.Therefore it makes sense to begin our Seder:‘Whoever is hungry (i.e. lacking something physical) let him come and eat.Whoever is in need (i.e. one who is lonely, lacking some-thing emotional) come and have the Seder with us.’But why is Pesach singled out over all the other festi-vals to make this introductory statement?During the time we spent in Egypt, we underwent a transformation. Initially, the Torah describes us coming down as איש ish u’veiso – a man and his household, every family וביתוto his own. When Hashem spoke to Moshe, much later on, we are described as an עם Am – one nation. The word עם Am can be vocalized as ‘עם’ im meaning ‘with’. A nation is achieved only through unity.

We stooped to the 49th level of tumah, but we remained united with acts of chesed and tzedakah. This unity enabled us to be redeemed1.One illustration of the care we showed for each other is seen in the word ‘2’חמשים chamushim. ‘The children of Israel went out of Egypt chamushim’. What does that mean? According to Targum Yonoson ben Uziel, the word means ‘with five’. The Admor MiBelz explains that since four fifths of our nation died during the plague of Darkness, there were a huge number of orphans. As every family left Egypt, they did not stay ‘to his own’, just with their own family, but instead they adopted the orphans of the four fifths who died. In total, with their own family, they left with five.From a group of individuals, ‘each man and his house-hold’, to one ‘עם’ Am, Nation. Anti-Semitism, suffering and slavery taught us to care for each other. Ha lachmya anya is the key to Pesach and הא לחמא עניאthe entire Seder. By extending a hand to those in need, we express the hope and prayer that through our unity we should again merit redemption, this time the ultimate and final Geulah.לשנה הבאה בארעא דישראל ובני חורין

Le’shanah ha’ba’ah be’Ara de’Yisrael u’vnei chorin

1 Rav Yosef Soloveitchik’s talk on the Pesach Haggadah, transcribed by Rabbi Aton Holzer

פרשת בשלח יג:יח 2

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 8

Rabbi Josh ConwayMenorah Foundation School

הא לחמא עניא

“This is the bread of affliction...” the haggadah tells us, “that our forefathers ate in the Land of Egypt.”

This passage is somewhat puzzling. If one looks in the Torah the only mention of matzah to be found is in con-junction with our departure from Mitzrayim ( בא Parshas Bo 12:39). The reason why that matzah was eaten was because our departure from Mitzrayim was in such haste that our dough did not have enough time to rise. So, what is this matzah “that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt?”Ibn Ezra answers that our forefathers most definitely ate matzah during their slavery. He observes that pris-oners in India are fed matzah, as it is slow to digest, and thus they are satisfied for longer than they would be with other foods. (Ibn Ezra was very widely travelled and it is possible that he visited India.) However, the Torah only mentions matzah in conjunction with our departure, which was a joyous occasion. The matzah to which we are referring now symbolizes the hardship we, as slaves, suffered in Mitzrayim.It is clear that matzah has dual symbolism, represent-ing both slavery and freedom. These two themes of slavery and freedom, although contradictory, appear throughout the course of the Seder. We begin מגיד mag-gid by mentioning the matzah, which exemplifies the contradictory themes of the Seder, thereby setting a certain tone for the evening.

After we make the declaration about matzah and its dual symbolism, we extend an invitation to all those who are in need of food. The Yaavetz writes that the invitation that we are extending to all those who are in need of food is directed towards non-Jews, as there is a custom to take care of the sustenance of the Jewish needy before Pesach with חטים Maos chitin and מעות Kimche de’Pische. We extend this invitation קמחא דפסחto non-Jews not because they have any mitzvah relating to Pesach, but rather in accordance with the Gemara in Gittin (daf 61)which says “מפרנסים עניי נכרים עם עניי ישראל שלום דרכי -mefarnsim aniyei nachri im aniyei Yis ”מפני rael mipnei darchei shalom that we are to sustain the non-Jewish poor with the Jewish poor in order for there to be peace (between the Jews and non-Jews). Perhaps this is why הא לחמא עניא Ha lachmya anya was written in Aramaic, so that non-Jews could understand the invitation.The Vilna Gaon adds, that it is due to the very fact that we are inviting the poor that we conclude this para-graph with “…הבאה לשנה הכא, ,Hashata hacha ”השתא l’shanah haba’ah Our poor brothers are not self-reliant, and are depending on us for their meal. This may cause the poor and needy to feel bad about their situation on this night of celebration. We therefore try to comfort them by showing how in reality, we are all equal. Right now, “השתא הכא…השתא עבדי”- hashata hacha... hashata avdei we are all here and we are all slaves. Next year, we will all be in ירושלים Yerushalayim as free men.

Rabbi Ilan HalberstadtRov, Nefesh HaTorah, Edgware

הא לחמא עניא

In order for us to understand the reason for this par-agraph and why it is the beginning of Maggid let us

ask four questions: “This is the poor man’s bread that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt.” Q1. What is the purpose of this statement? It appears as if this is the beginning of the story recalling the dif-ficult times in Egypt when we had to eat matzah - the poor man’s bread. This cannot be the case because we have not asked any questions yet. The story of the Ex-odus from Egypt must be told as question and answer and that is why we start with Mah nishtanah, the four questions. Without first asking a question we have not fulfilled the obligation of “sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim.” So if it is not part of the story, then what is the purpose of announcing that this matzah is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in Egypt?

“…Whoever is hungry let him come and eat, who-ever is needy should come and have the Pesach offering.”Q2. What kind of invitation is this? We have already started the Seder and we make an announcement around the table inviting guests? Who exactly are we speaking to? Has any passerby ever walked in at this point? In addition, there is a halachic problem; to be part of a group of people for the Korban Pesach one needs to have joined together with others prior to its offering on the afternoon of the 14th Nissan. So it is certainly too late to join in now for the Korban Pesach, yet we declare “Whoever is needy should come and have the Pesach sacrifice.” This invitation therefore is a mystery, it’s too late both halachically and practically. If it is not an invitation then what does it mean? “…This year we are here, the next year we shall be in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves next year we shall be free people.”

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Q3. This also seems out of place. At the end of the whole Seder after we have completed all the mitzvos of the night, we sing with joy “Next year in Jerusalem.” This is its proper place. Why do we make this decla-ration now when it already has its place at the end of the night?

Q4. The paragraph as a unit also seems difficult to un-derstand with three parts that seemingly have no con-nection: 1. This is the bread our fathers ate in Egypt. 2 All who are hungry should come and eat, all who are needy should come and have the Pesach offering. 3. This year we are here, next year we shall be in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves, next year we shall be free people. What is the connection between these three different statements?

Let us answer these questions with one principle. The Mishnah tells us “in every generation a person is obli-gated to view himself as if he left Egypt.” The mitzvah of Maggid is not just to retell the story of what hap-pened, but to relive the experience. A person has to feel the freedom and the joy of having left Egypt and being able to serve Hashem. This is difficult because we are in galus and not free. We have been in galus for many years and have been through many dark days during Pesach. How can we fulfill this mitzvah and feel the freedom on this night?

To answer this problem, the Rabbis inserted “Ha lach-ma anya” at this point. This is not part of the actual story of the Exodus - that starts only after the questions of the Mah nishtanah. The whole purpose of this para-graph is to create the correct frame of mind to be able to feel the freedom of this night, even in galus. This needs to be addressed now as we are about to start Maggid so that we can perform the mitzvah properly and see ourselves as if we left Egypt.

We pick up the matzah and declare this is the poor

man’s bread that our fathers ate in Egypt. We all know that the matzah is the symbol of our freedom as we rushed out in a hurry, yet we declare this was the very same matzah that was the bread of our slavery. Imme-diately we understand that the very bread of galus itself is the source of freedom. The difficult times become the reason and our ticket to freedom. This is not part of the narrative, but to give us hope in the galus.

Next we call to the hungry and needy. This is not an in-vitation, of course that has to be done before the Seder commences. This is a speech of encouragement. If you are hungry and needy and cannot relate to freedom be-cause of your present situation, then come and eat with us tonight and come and have the Pesach offering. You are the ones that will most appreciate Pesach because the message of Pesach is that Hashem can take you out of any situation, however bleak. It is specifically Pesach that is the yom tov of hope for the downtrodden.

Finally, we conclude with the ultimate hope that even though we are here in exile this year, we know that in a moment we too can be redeemed and by this time next year we can be free people in Yerushalayim.

Now we see how the three components all form one message. There is hope and freedom even in the galus. In Egypt we ate matzah as our bread of affliction, yet that same food became our bread of freedom. So too, now we announce to all who are poor and hungry be it physically, emotionally, spiritually or in any way feel-ing far from freedom, ‘don’t despair!’ Pesach teaches us that Hashem’s salvation is just around the corner and thus even though this year we are here in galus, next year we will be free once again in Jerusalem. With this in mind we are now able to perform the mitzvah of reliving the Exodus from Egypt. Now we can leave behind the pains of the here and now and feel the free-dom of this most powerful night.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 10

מוזגין כוס שני וכאן הבן שואל:Pour the second cup and then the child should ask

מה נשתנה הלילה הזה מכל הלילות. שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין חמץ ומצה, הלילה הזה כלו מצה:

שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין שאר ירקות, הלילה הזה (כלו) מרור:

שבכל הלילות אין אנו מטבילין אפילו פעם אחת, פעמים: הזה שתי הלילה

מסבין, ובין יושבין בין אוכלין אנו הלילות שבכל מסבין: כלנו הזה הלילה

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld HALACHOS MA NISHTANAH - מה נשתנה

At this point the second cup should be filled.1 This is done to prompt the children to ask why a second cup is being drunk before starting the meal.2 Another reason for filling the second cup at this point is to enable the haggadah to be recited over a full cup.3 The Seder plate is also removed from the table, or moved to a different place on the table. The matzos are uncovered. This too, is done in order to promote questions amongst the children.

Q. Must the cup be rinsed out before refilling it?A. No, since it was previously washed out before making Kiddush.4

Note: At this point the children start the famous rendition of the מה נשתנה Ma nishtanah which many chil-dren have been practicing for weeks in advance. This is – for some – the highlight of the Pesach Seder. One should ensure that these children do not leave the table, or fall asleep, until after עבדים היינו Avadim hayinu as this is the answer to their questions! As stated above, one of the main mitzvos of the night, incumbent on the parents is to ensure that their children receive the answers to their question and are taught – each according to their level – about the story of how the Jews left Mitzrayim.5

1 שו"ע סי' תעג ס"ז.2 שו"ע סי' תעג ס"ז ומ"ב שם.

3 רמב"ם.4 מ"ב שם ס"ק סח.

5 עי' מ"ב סוף סי' תעב.

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Rabbi Shimshon SilkinRav, Beis Yisrael, Elstree, Director Chazon UK

מה נשתנה

The young mind is an inquisitive one, always prob-ing, searching, exploring. A child is filled with

wonder about everything in his environment; he is al-ways asking: ‘Why?’

And it’s a good thing too, because otherwise the child would never develop. Scientific research shows that the brain, despite weighing just a few pounds, uses up twice as much energy (glucose) as any other equiva-lent part of the human anatomy. The brain is always working at maximum capacity, trying to make sense of its surroundings, seeking answers and demanding explanations. This explains why babies sleep so many hours a day; they are utterly exhausted from all their mental exertions.

Were it not for our seemingly insatiable hunger for new knowledge we would have not advanced in any area of life, least of all in our Torah knowledge and our rela-tionship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But thanks to the greatest personalities of our history we have developed the most beautiful, complex and sophisticated system of thought imaginable: hashkafas haTorah.

It started with Avraham who contemplated deeply the purpose of Creation. Moshe Rabbenu was beset with philosophical questions; the entire sefer of Iyov is ded-icated to this end.

In later generations, giants of thought such as the Ram-bam and Rabbenu Yonoh, the Kuzari, the Ramchal, Rav Dessler and others set about pondering the deep mys-teries of life and wove profound tapestries of thought, revealing ever further the majesty of the Borei Olam.

And into their shoes steps the Baal Haseder. His job is to stoke the glowing coals of inquiry lying inside the mind of his children. Seder night is the night of emunah and the entire programme revolves around thinking and exploration.

We are not a people of blind faith – although emunah peshutah is undoubtedly an essential middah for those scenarios that are beyond our comprehension. Rath-er, we are a critical, analytical, thinking people, who base everything we do upon the concrete and incontro-vertible bedrock of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Maamad Har Sinai. Let the inquisitive mind roam free tonight; let it take a page out of the books of our greatest ancestors. Let it probe, let it explore – all the answers will be forth-coming tonight.

And if there is no child present, give the child inside every adult some expression. Remember, at the bottom of the pile is the “She’eino yodea lishol” – he who does not know to ask. There could no greater offence. Mah Nishtanah. Ask, my child. Ask.

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אלהינו יי ויוציאנו במצרים, לפרעה היינו עבדים ם ביד חזקה ובזרע נטויה. ואלו לא הוציא הקדוש משברוך הוא את אבותינו ממצרים, הרי אנו ובנינו ובני ואפילו במצרים. לפרעה היינו משעבדים בנינו יודעים כלנו זקנים כלנו נבונים כלנו חכמים כלנו את התורה מצוה עלינו לספר ביציאת מצרים. וכל

משבח: זה הרי מצרים ביציאת לספר המרבה

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld HALACHOS AVADIM HAYINU - עבדים היינו

The Seder plate should be returned to the table or to its original position, and the matzos should be revealed.1

Q. Should the matzos be revealed during the recital of the entire haggadah?A. Yes, up until “לפיכך…” lifichach at which point one picks up the second cup, and then the matzos are covered.2

1 שו"ע סי' תעג ס"ז.2 רמ"א סו"ס תעג.

Rabbi Benzi SudakCEO of Lubavitch UK

עבדים היינו

Why would Hashem have to intervene to let us out of Egypt, and why specifically with a ‘strong

hand?’ Had He not already promised Avraham un-conditionally that his descendants would be freed af-ter 400 years? Why did it depend on Hashem’s direct intervention?

According to the Shelah3 there was a clear goal in Galus Mitzrayim: In order to purify the Jewish people, and elevate them to a higher level, rectifying the חטא עץ chet etz hadaas. The midrash4 relates that Hashem הדעת

של"ה קסא ב 3.שמו"ר פנ"א ז 4

offered Avraham a choice: “Would you prefer, Gehinom or enslavement in Egypt?” Avraham chose the latter. The point of either option would be to refine the Jewish people and cleanse them of the spiritual effects of the .chet etz hadaas חטא עץ הדעת

Evidently this did not happen, and the people still re-mained prone to sin. This is similar to a slave who be-comes accustomed to his status and lack of financial responsibility and says “אהבתי את אדני לא אצא חפשי” ahavti es adoni, lo etze hafshi - I love my master, I will not go free.” The Jews in Egypt became accustomed to their enslavement and tothe local culture. While suffering can refine a person, the excessive suffering in Mitzray-im caused the Jews to become indifferent.

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In fact, we see through the years following Yetzias Mitz-rayim the Jewish people complained saying5 את זכרנו חנם במצרים נאכל אשר We remember the fish that we הדגה ate in Egypt free of charge, and even asking to return to Egypt 6 נתנה ראש ונשובה מצרימה “Let us appoint a chief and let us return to Mitzrayim,”.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe זי"ע, explains7 that for this reason we needed the direct intervention of Hashem חזקה ביד with a strong hand. Since the Jewish people had not succeeded in rectifying the חטא עץ הדעת chet etz hadaas and the goal of spiritual rehabilitation had not yet been achieved, it required Hashem’s intervention to overturn במדבר י"א 5שם י"ד 6לקו"ש חי"ז חה"פ ב' ע'88 ואילך 7

what had become a devastating decree from Above.

Furthermore, since the Jewish people had become ac-customed to the corrupt culture of Egypt, in all likeli-hood they would on their own accord have returned to Egypt or even chosen to remain there after the 400 years had passed and the decree of slavery been annulled. The promise of 400 years would have been sufficient to end our physical slavery, but we needed Hashem’s personal intervention free us of the mentality of slavery and ensure that we would choose to remain free.

Perhaps at this Seder table we should ask ourselves: “Are we truly free from the mentality of slavery to the dictates of our modern culture?“

Rabbi Joseph PearlmanAuthor of “Pearls of Light”

עבדים היינו

The passage in Devarim continues that you must tell your son, “We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt and

Hashem brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” It is quite puzzling that the haggadah apparently mis-quotes this text, as it says (discrepancies italicized) “We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt and Hashem Elokeinu brought us out of there (mi-sham) with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” The haggadah Baruch She’Omar leaves this unanswered, asserting that this point poses some difficulty. It also is somewhat surprising that, as far as can be ascertained, none of the vast number of editions of the haggadah deal with this problem.

Perhaps it could be suggested that yad chazakah ‘a mighty hand’ refers to an immediate demonstration of supernatural power, while zeroa netuyah ‘an out-stretched arm’ refers to the long-term Divine protec-tion. If so, then the Torah restricts itself to the former, when a very quick powerful and immediate show of force was required to remove the Children of Yisrael from the clutches of the iniquitous Egyptians. This was effected by Hashem whose four-letter Name rep-resents His attribute of mercy, which is necessary for the preservation of the nation of Yisrael, who may not have been deserving of this at that time (cf Dayeinu;

and see Rabbeinu Bachye, Devarim 16:14, that Pesach represents the Divine attribute of chessed). Hence Hashem the merciful took us out of Egypt (with em-phasis on Egypt, where the debauchery and defilement had reached an unprecedented nadir) with His mighty hand (of powerful and immediate effect.)

The haggadah, however, is talking to us, not only about the time in Egypt, but throughout history, when our for-tunes have fluctuated. Accordingly, Hashem Elokeinu took us out with both middas harachamim and mid-das hadin, which is the attribute to which Elokeinu re-fers, from there ‘mi sham’ which is also the gematria of Mitzrayim (380) i.e. not necessarily from Egypt, but from wherever we have been exiled or oppressed. This is done by means of His mighty hand and His out-stretched arm – thus representing both methods of sal-vation – the short, quick, powerful “knockout punch” of the mighty hand, and the long-term protective Divine out-stretched arm, over the millennia.

An alternative answer for the addition of the out-stretched hand (but not the other two changes) is given by the Netziv, in Ha’emek Davar on Shemos 6:6 (n.1) where he defines the mighty hand and the outstretched arm in a different manner.

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בן אלעזר ורבי יהושע ורבי אליעזר ברבי מעשה בבני מסבין שהיו טרפון ורבי עקיבא ורבי עזריה ברק והיו מספרים ביציאת מצרים כל אותו הלילה, עד שבאו תלמידיהם ואמרו להם רבותינו הגיע זמן

שחרית: של שמע קריאת

Rabbi Avi WeisenfeldRosh Kollel, Yerushalayim and Rav at Kav Halacha Beis Horaah

מעשה ברבי אליעזר

In the haggadah we find the famous story about a group of rabbanim who sat together relating the

events of Yetzias Mitzrayim. What makes this story unique? Surely, throughout history, there were many such groups who shared interesting observations with each other about this critical episode in Jewish history, so why does the haggadah single out this one?There is a lovely explanation to this question that I have seen in several places. Had we not been told specifi-cally about this incident, we might have thought that the requirement to talk about Yetzias Mitzrayim applies only to those groups whose ancestors actually suffered from the servitude in Mitzrayim. Perhaps those whose ancestors were not forced to endure the harsh labour, such as Kohanim, Levi’im, and gerim (converts), are ac-tually exempt from this mitzvah.Therefore, the haggadah specifically relates this par-ticular story, because from various places in Chazal we are told that R’ Eliezer, R’ Elazar Ben Azariah, and R’ Tarfon were Kohanim, Similarly, R’ Yehoshuah was a Levi, and R’ Akiva descended from gerim. Neverthe-less, they all came together to relate the story of Yetzias

Mitzrayim, showing us that these groups, even though their ancestors did not bear the full burden of Egyptian servitude, are nonetheless obligated to tell over the sto-ry for future generations.

The Chidah finds an allusion to these groups in the phrase "מצרים ביציאת לספר המרבה vechol hamarbeh "וכל l’saper b’Yetzias Mitzrayim. The word “וכל” is an acro-nym for כהנים – לוים – וגרים – Kohanim, Levi’im and gerim.

What is perhaps even more interesting to note, is the fact that they did not just fulfil their obligation of relat-ing the story. They went the extra mile of discussing it until they were informed that the time of davening had arrived!

This story shows a powerful lesson of concern for oth-ers. Because these rabbis’ ancestors were not directly involved, yet they discussed it to the degree as every-one else, shows us that we should express a similar level of empathy and compassion for the trouble of oth-ers. Klal Yisrael is made up of many limbs which are part of one body. We are all in this together. If we think about this and act upon it, it may bring Mashiach that little bit closer and next year we can offer the Korban Pesach in Yerushalayim.

Rabbi Betzalel LandauMenorah Foundation School

מעשה ברבי אליעזר

The Chasam Sofer notes several interesting points regarding מעשה ברבי אליעזר, maaseh b’Rabbi Eliezer

the story of Rabbi Eliezer which open our eyes to many important points.There are a few questions that are immediately appar-ent in this part of the haggadah such as:1} Why do we need to know that this episode took place in Bnei Brak. Is there any significance to this location?

2} Why did they feel the need to talk about Yetzias Mitz-rayim for the whole night? They were the greatest of the chachamim and we could be forgiven for wondering why and what they would have been discussing for so many hours?3}Why did the talmidim seem to be in such a terrible rush to remind them that it was time to say קריאת שמע kriyas Shema. Was there a reason behind their urgency?The Chasam Sofer explains that in fact these cha-chamim were reacting to an event that happened

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during the times of Purim. The Megillah reveals to us the “disappointment” so-to-speak of הקב‘‘ה HaKadosh Baruch Hu - as indicated within the words “שנת נדדה nodedah shenas haMelech the King’s sleep was ”המלךdisturbed. There are several mefarshim who likewise conclude that these words can be translated as “The King’s year was disturbed” rather than “the King’s sleep was disturbed”. This is explained as referring to the absence that year of סיפור יציאת מצרים sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim as Mordechai had “cancelled” Pesach and substituted a fast in its place in an attempt to save the Bnei Yisrael. This absence, however, caused a “gap” in history where this particular avodah was missing and in order to fill this void, these chachamim were talking the whole night in order to close this “space” in history.

As for the talmidim, the Chasam Sofer explains that they were actually the grandsons of Haman! The clue is in the

location – Bnei Brak - as we see in Chazal מבני בניו של המן Mibnei banav shel Haman lomdu Torah לומדו תורה בבני ברקb’Bnei Brak some of the grandsons of Haman learned Torah in Bnei Brak. The time that their ancestor Ha-man came to Achashverosh to further his wicked plans was the night of the Seder that would not take place that year and more accurately it was at זמן קריאת שמע zeman kriyas Shema! The talmidim were anxious that the mo-ment of קריאת שמע kriyas Shema that had been so terribly abused by Haman and indeed had contributed to the “cancellation” of Pesach all those years ago should be rectified. Therefore, that morning they were pleading that Shema should be said at the proper time to repair the unsavoury actions of their grandfather.

-zeman kriyas She בני ברק, סיפור יציאת מצרים, זמן קריאת שמעma, sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim, Bnei Brak - it’s all a beau-tiful tapestry ...

Rabbi Dr. Harvey BelovskiSenior Rabbi of Golders Green Synagogue

מעשה ברבי אליעזר

The story of the five rabbis celebrating an epic Seder in Bnei Brak is a favourite passage in the hagga-

dah. The passage shows how even the most knowl-edgeable people were willing to devote an entire night to recounting the story of the Exodus from Egypt. But the following passage is rather hard to understand:

Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: “I am like a seventy-year old man and I had not succeed-ed in identifying the scriptural source for men-tioning the Exodus from Egypt at night, until Ben Zoma explained it by quoting: “In order that you may remember the day you left Egypt all the days of your life.” The Torah adds the word ‘all’ to the phrase the days of your life to indicate that the nights are meant as well.” (Explanatory translation)

On the surface, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah seems to be seeking a biblical verse to support telling the sto-ry of the Exodus from Egypt at the Seder. But since the Exodus happened at night and all of the mitzvos of the Seder are observed at night, this seems obvious. Furthermore, Rabbi Elazar assumes there is a daytime mitzvah to tell the story of the Exodus, which is not known to us.

A careful reading reveals that this passage is not re-ferring to Seder night at all. It’s actually a reference to the requirement to refer to the Exodus in one’s daily prayers. Ben Zoma demonstrates to Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah that there is a scriptural basis for performing this obligation twice a day – morning and evening.

But if this passage is not about Seder night, why does it appear here in the haggadah? The answer is sim-ple. The haggadah is more a ‘stream of consciousness’ text than a systematic, structured treatment of its topic. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah was one of the five rabbis reclining in Bnei Brak; once he has been mentioned once, the text continues with a further, Exodus-related citation in his name.

But why are there two different mitzvos – one daily, the other annual? How do they differ and what are their functions? The daily requirement (fulfilled by reading the ‘third paragraph of the Shema’) is to merely mention the Exodus, whereas the annual mitzvah (fulfilled only on Seder night) is to retell the story in great detail while recreating aspects of the Exodus. The Exodus is the foundational event in the creation of Jewish national identity: everything that followed was built upon the di-vine intervention that brought us out of Egypt and into a relationship with God. It is so fundamental that we need to remain constantly cognisant by mentioning the Exodus on a daily basis, to guarantee, as it were, that it remains in the back of our minds. But once a year, we need to shift our low-level intellectual awareness to the foreground through storytelling and complementary sensory activities (matzah, maror, songs, etc.) to trans-form it into a holistic, living experience.

Put simply, while mentioning the Exodus on a daily ba-sis keeps it in mind, the Seder experience brings it to life, recharging our spiritual batteries by encouraging us to relive the seminal moment in our national history with our family and friends on a magical night.

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שבעים כבן אני הרי עזריה בן אלעזר רבי אמר בלילות מצרים יציאת שתאמר זכיתי ולא שנה עד שדרשה בן זומא, שנאמר, למען תזכור את יום צאתך מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך. ימי חייך הימים. חייך ימי אומרים וחכמים הלילות. חייך ימי כל המשיח: לימות להביא חייך ימי כל הזה. העולם

Rabbi Elisha YaariGolders Green Kollel

אמר רבי אלעזר

Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: “I am like a seventy-year old man and I had not succeed-ed in identifying the scriptural source for men-tioning the Exodus from Egypt at night, until Ben Zoma explained it by quoting: “In order that you may remember the day you left Egypt all the days of your life.” The Torah adds the word ‘all’ to the phrase the days of your life to indicate that the nights are meant as well.”

The obvious connection of this passage to the hag-gadah is its discussion of mentioning Yetzias Mitz-

rayim at night. However, I believe that an additional message lies within.

Let us begin by asking a few questions: To what purpose does the haggadah quote Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah? The point here is the discussion between Ben Zoma and the Rabbanon. And if you were to say that Rabbi Elazar is mentioned to show that we side with Ben Zoma, it would have been sufficient to quote the first line of the source (ברכות א:ה Yerushalmi Brachos 1:5) which states simply מזכירין יציאת מצרים בלילות mazki-rin Yetzias Mitzrayim ba’leilos - we should remember the Exodus in the night.

Secondly, it would seem from the wording”בן שדרשה עד ’ad she’drasha ben Zoma ‘until ben Zoma explained ”זומאthat Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah is marvelling that he had never known this din and he only learned it now from Bem Zoma. However, if this is the case it would seem to deflect from his point by saying that he is like he is 70, for this highlights that he is in fact only a teenager!

Additionally, the term לא זכיתי lo zachisi ‘I did not merit’ is a curious wording to use to express the point that he had not known or heard. Surely לא שמעתי lo shamati ‘I did not hear’ or לא ידעתי lo yodati ‘I did not know’ would be more accurate?

Finally, שתאמר she’te’amer ‘that you should say’ has a connotation that others should say. Why does he seem to exclude himself? He should have said לומר שצריך she’tzarich lomar ‘it is necessary to say’?

The Bartenura explains that the meaning of לא זכיתי lo zachisi is that Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah only now suc-ceeded in convincing the Chachamim to agree with him. He had been of the opinion of ba’leilos even before Ben Zoma made his drashah but only now were the Cha-chamim convinced. This explains ‘שתאמר’ she’te’amer since the ramification of Ben Zoma’s drashah is that others will say it night, for he has been saying it previ-ously as well.

If we look at the context of the statement, Rashi tells us that Ben Zoma made this drashah on the day that Rabbi Elazar ben Zoma was appointed to be the Nasi. The background of the story is that the Rabanon had an issue with Rabban Gamliel being the Nasi and they deposed of him. They decided that Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah would be a suitable person for the role and they approached him with the proposition. Before de-ciding, he consulted his wife and one of the points she made was that he did not look the part as he was only 18 years old.

The Gemarah tells us that “On that day he was 18 years old and a miracle happened to him and he grew 18

17 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

rows of white beard hair.” It was for this reason that he said he is like 70.

The Ben Yehoyada points out that the Gemarah specifi-cally says “On that day” meaning that it was his birth-day. It was because of this that he was able to experi-ence the miracle. This is because we are told that on a person’s birthday, his mazal is stronger and more pos-itive and for this reason each person makes a yom tov on his birthday. Accordingly it may be that Rabbi Ela-zar ben Azaryah mentions הרי אני כבן שבעים שנה harei ani k’ven shivim shanah ‘I am like a man of 70’ to underline how much potential was brought to fruition because it was his birthday. That for this reason a drashah was made in his favour and he was vindicated in his debate with the Chachamim.

In the same way that the Ben Yehoyada makes this point on the individual level, the Netziv makes this point on the national level. He points out that in Par-shas HaChodesh we find a seeming redundancy. The

pasuk says לחדשי לכם הוא ראשון חדשים ראש לכם הזה החדש נה rishon – ‘first’ but what is ראשון It says that it is .השmeant by ראש rosh –‘head’? The Netziv explains that the month of Nissan is not only the first, but it is also the most important. For in this month the nation of Am Yisrael was born and it follows that there is more poten-tial for growth on the national level in this month than in the other months. The Netziv adds that it is within our ability to tap in to that additional potential and we do this by strengthening our emunah and bitachon in Hashem. It may be that for this reason we read Parshas HaChodesh before Nissan, so as to make us aware of the opportunity before us.

With this we can understand why the haggadah quotes Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah. It is to remind us of the sig-nificance of birthdays and if chodesh Nissan is an op-portunity because it is the birth month of Am Yisrael, all the more so the first day of Pesach which is the very birth day of the Jewish nation.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 18

לעמו תורה שנתן ברוך הוא, ברוך המקום, ברוך תורה: דברה בנים ארבעה כנגד הוא. ברוך ישראל,

אחד חכם. ואחד רשע. ואחד תם. ואחד שאינו יודע לשאול:

Rabbi Shlomi WiseKLBD

ברוך המקום

Many mefarshim discuss why at this point the Baal Hagaddah refers to Hashem as Hamakom, and

did not use the regular name of Hashem.

R’ Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508) in Zevach Pesach quotes a peirush that the word Hamakom here actu-ally refers to Har Sinai; but he rejects this and claims it refers to Hashem. He explains that the greatness of Hashem is so far beyond the understanding of all crea-tures that even the Malachim ask “איה מקום כבודו” ayeh m’kom kevodo ‘where is the place of His glory’? So as not to stumble in his words, when the Baal Hagadd-ah composed his own formula of praise to Hashem, he used the term Hamakom which is the epitome of greatness.

R’ Eliezer Ashkenazi (1512-1585) in Maasei Hashem argues with the Abarbanel (as he does throughout the Haggadah). He asks that if this is the reason for us-ing Hamakom, why does the hagaddah later switch to the term HaKadosh Boruch Hu in a number of places? Rather he explains, (as do a number of Rishonim e.g. the Rokeach and Shibolei Haleket,) that although Chaz-al did not institute a brachah on the hagaddah, before expounding the pesukim of Yetzias Mitzrayim, they added these sentences of praise as a kind of birkas ha-Torah. As there is an opinion that the inclusion of the shem even without malchus constitutes a bracha (see

-Brachos 12a) the Baal Hagaddah avoided us .ברכות י"בing the name of Hashem and used the term Hamakom.

R’ Eliyahu HaCohen of Izmir (1650-1729) in Ezor Eli-yahu points out that if this was the only consideration, we could have omitted the whole first sentence and just written - ברוך שנתן תורה לעמו ישראל ברוך הוא, ‘Blessed is He who gave the Torah to His people Israel, Blessed is He’. If so, why mention Hamakom at all?

He explains that since we mention the giving of the To-rah, we need to say ברוך המקום Baruch HaMakom. This is because when describing matan Torah the pasuk says, סיני הר על ה' וירד כ') י"ט (שמות And G-d descended onto Mount Sinai.” (Shemos 19:20) “Ch”v one might mistakenly think that a finite space is able to incorpo-rate Hashem in it. He quotes the Midrash (ט ס"ח ('ב"ר (Bereshis Rabbah 65:9) that explains that we call G-d Hamakom because, “He is the place of the world, but His world is not His place.” He also quotes Rabbeinu Bachaye’s comment in Vezos Habrachah saying that the pasuk says ה' מסיני בא Hashem mi’Sinai ba ‘Hashem came from Sinai’ rather than בסיני בא b’Sinai ba ‘in Si-nai’ so that we do not make this mistake.

This also explains why elsewhere in the hagaddah e.g. in the paragraphs of ‘מתחילה’ ‘Metechilah’ and ‘כמה מעלות’ ‘Kamah maalos’ we also use the term Hamakom, be-cause each time we refer to matan Torah we want to clarify that Hashem can never be limited by space.

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חכם מה הוא אומר. מה העדות והחקים והמשפטים לו אמור אתה ואף אתכם. אלהינו יי צוה אשר אפיקומן: הפסח אחר מפטירין אין הפסח כהלכות

Rabbi Adam EdwardsSeed

חכם

The Sho’el U’mayshiv, R’ Yosef Shaul Nathan-son (1808–1875) asks, ‘What is the difference be-

tween the question of the wicked son and the question of the wise son?” Why are we so critical of the wicked son’s question, “What is this service to you”? After all, the wise son also inquires, “to you” too, asking, “What are the testimonies, statutes and laws that Hashem our G-d, commanded you?”The answer becomes clear by means of an art-related analogy. Let us say that a gallery is showing a paint-ing by the renowned artist and pioneer in abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Not everyone who sees the painting is impressed by it to the same degree.Some are impressed by every detail, every brush stroke, every colour, every abstract form and every line and shape. Some are just impressed by the more general form and appearance, but they do not notice the skill and art-istry behind the different elements. Others are so insensi-tive to this form of art that they see nothing special about the painting at all, and wonder how a painting that could apparently have been done by a four year old could be valued at such an exorbitant price. But the experts are unanimous - it is indeed a masterpiece.

Let us say that someone viewing the picture reacts with astonishment, “This is just the work of a child?!” Surely, this person will be counted amongst those who do not appreciate abstract art. But in contrast, a second person begins asking many questions about the paint-ing, commenting on the different details and seeking information and insight into each one of them. This is a sure sign that he does appreciate it, for he wants to learn more about it.This is the difference between the question of the wise son and the question of the wicked son. The wise son splits up his question into many components, men-tioning several different details that he has noticed. He asks, “What are the testimonies, statutes and laws...?” This is a sign that he appreciates what he is seeing. He is carefully looking at each detail, trying to gain a deep-er appreciation and understanding. He realises that in the service of the Seder night, there is wisdom, holi-ness and something with value present, and he wants to understand each of the details.The wicked son is just the opposite. “What is all the fuss?” he declares. With scorn in his voice, appreci-ating nothing about the mitzvah at all, he laughs and pokes fun, “What is this service to you anyway?”

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 20

רשע מה הוא אומר. מה העבודה הזאת לכם. לכם ולא לו. ולפי שהוציא את עצמו מן הכלל כפר בעקר. ואף אתה הקהה את שניו ואמור לו. בעבור זה עשה יי לי בצאתי ממצרים. לי ולא לו. אלו היה שם לא היה נגאל:

Rabbi TeichmanCongregation Ohel Moshe, Baltimore, MD

רשע

The ‘Four Sons’ represent the challenge of success-fully conveying the depth of our relationship with

our Creator to our children in each generation.If we talk about raising four types of children there must be a parallel in the lives of our Patriarchs that serves as the paradigmatic guide for us to effectively navigate this difficult journey.It is remarkable to observe that there are only four sons who directly receive and are conferred the title ‘my son’, by the Patriarchs. As Avraham and Yitzchak head off for the Akeidah, Yitzchak begins to suspect what his role might be. Looking for support, he calls out “my father”, and Avra-ham lovingly reassures him “Here I am, my son”.Later, Yitzchak, now old and blind, is still holding out hope that his cherished son Esav will yet reach his potential. He warmly beckons him “my son”, re-questing of him to prepare delicacies so that Yitzchak would attain a blissful state of prophecy and bless him appropriately. Although Yaakov is not consciously called ‘my son’, by his father Yitzchak, nevertheless when Yitzchak senses the scent of גן עדן the Garden of Eden emanating from the son in front of him, he declares “see the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field”, affirming this son’s status as deserving of blessing, and promptly blesses him.Finally, the beloved son Yosef, innocently tries to re-adjust his father Yaakov’s hands while he is blessing his children Efrayim and Menashe, thinking that Yaak-ov has erred. He is confidently ‘put in his place’, when Yaakov fondly corrects him, “I know, ‘my son’, I know”.Let us focus on perhaps our greatest challenge, the Wicked Son and its parallel to Esav, and learn from Yitzchak how we are to deal with this child.Yitzchak refuses to give up hope in directing his trou-bled son Esav towards greatness. Esav is unwilling to exchange earthly pleasures for no-ble pursuits. A life of Torah seems to be rigid, confin-ing and lacklustre when compared to the sensual ex-citement of indulgence. When he finds himself hungry

and exhausted, an enticing pot of porridge seems more worthy than the responsibilities that accompany the ‘privilege’ of being the firstborn.Esav asks: “Look, I am going to die, so of what use to me is the birthright?” Is this not the precursor to the Wicked Son’s cynical question: “What is this service to you?”Yitzchak knew the only way to reel in this wayward child would be to display, not only an affirmation of his unconditional love towards Esav, ‘and he said to him (affectionately) “my son”’, but also a display of utter joy in serving of G-d. He seeks to engage Esav by requesting him to capture and prepare the ‘delicacies’ for him and to enjoy them with him. The key to positively impacting children, who are tempted by the allure of ‘pleasure’, is to ensure that they observe that within the construct of Torah we en-joy our lives with an even greater joy! The Midrash describes how the Jews in Egypt were wary of performing circumcision upon themselves and were thus disqualified from partaking of the Korban Pesach. G-d infused a scent from the Garden of Eden into the meat thus enticing them to partake. Their teeth ‘ached’ to devour it, but they were shunned because they were uncircumcised. They immediately conceded by undergoing circumcision and then dined with their brethren.With gusto we express to the Wicked Son: It is because of this that G-d did to ‘me’! It is the joy that we experience in living a life of com-mitment that must be persuasive. Only a fulfillment of service through joy becomes identified with ‘me’! One who wears his Judaism with a feeling of duty rather than happiness does not become integrally attached to what he does. And also you shall ‘blunt’ his teeth. We create an irresistible excitement that causes the wicked son to weaken his stubborn resolve and compels him to join us in this thrilling devotion!Had he been there he would not have been redeemed. We are not, G-d forbid, asked to reject him, but rather to create such a state of ecstasy in our observance that he will feel that he is ‘missing the boat’!

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תם מה הוא אומר. מה זאת. ואמרת אליו בחוזק יד הוציאנו יי ממצרים מבית עבדים:

Rabbi Dovid EisenbergRabbi of the Prestwich Hebrew Congregation

A DEEPER LOOK AT THE TAM תם

The third son mentioned in the haggadah is the tam. Many people refer to the tam as the simple son and

assume that we are dealing with a below average in-telligence individual who can just about understand something if it is explained simply enough.The problem with this understanding is that we know that the Torah refers to Yaakov Avinu as ish tam yoshev ohalim – ‘a simple man dwelling in tents.’ If we describe Yaakov as a tam, the expression obvious does not mean a simple individual. What then does tam mean?I think we can understand this by looking at the perush of Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch on the passuk refer-ring to Yaakov. In his perush, Rav Hirsch explains that when we refer to Yaakov as an ish tam, it means a sin-gle-minded individual. In Yaakov’s case, this manifest-ed itself as a person with a singular drive to be an oved Hashem and that turned him into a yoshev ohalim. It was not simplicity per se – it was a person who was not multi-dimensional in his approach. Now we can come back to understand the tam and his relationship to the chacham of the Seder. The tam is

simple because when he sees the multitudes of sym-bolisms and explanations at the Seder, he gets con-fused and just asks, mah zos? How can I understand this in a more concise way?To this the answer is that it is all based on one original concept. We tell the tam that it is all rooted in with a strong hand Hashem brought us out of Egypt. It might seem like there is a lot happening at the Seder and it might confuse him, but if it is put in the right context, it becomes comprehensible for the tam.This is also why the tam is the opposite of the chacham. Many people think that the chacham and the rasha are opposites. However, this is not the case, because the opposite of a rasha is a tzaddik, not a chacham.The chacham is the opposite of the tam, and this shows in his question. The chacham asks, העדות מה -What are the testi‘ והחקים והמשפטים אשר צוה יי אלהינו אתכםmonies, statutes and the laws which Hashem our G-d commanded you?’ This shows that he is multi-faceted and can understand the difference between the varying mitzvos and customs of the night and not get confused. The tam on the other hand does not have the same depth and cannot handle all of the confusion.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 22

והגדת שנאמר, לו. פתח את לשאול יודע ושאינו לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה יי לי בצאתי

ממצרים:

Rabbi Jeremy GolkerHead of Kodesh, Hasmonean High School

ושאינו יודע לשאול

The normal way of understanding our approach to the fourth son is to simply tell him the facts.

ה יהוה לי בצאתי ממצרים .והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עש

And you shall tell your son on that day, it is because of this, which Hashem did for me when I came out of Egypt.

However, I would like to suggest an approach which is critical for any teacher, parent or indeed anyone wish-ing to impart knowledge, to know.

The Midrash8 tells the story of R’ Yose ben Yozer who was being led out to be killed by the Romans. R’ Yose’s nephew had abandoned his faith, joined the enemy and was antagonising his uncle at this terrible time. Yet, R’ Yose ben Yoezer had the fortitude and peace of mind to still attempt to draw his nephew back.

His nephew mocked him by contrasting their fates. R’ Yose ben Yoezer was being led to his death and he was enjoying Roman life. R’ Yose told his nephew that if that is the fate of those who anger Hashem, he should imagine the reward due to those who do His will.

The nephew then said, “But surely no one has served Hashem more than you?” To which R’ Yose replied, “If this is the lot of those who serve Hashem, how much more so for those who anger Him!”

This argument struck the nephew and instantly led him to teshuvah.

Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz, z”l, asks why didn’t R’ Yose go straight to that argument? Why was the first stage of the conversation necessary?

He answers by saying that to impart a lesson, you have to create curiosity in the other person. R’ Yose’s neph-ew was intrigued by his initial comment and his mind was suddenly open and receptive.

8 Bereishis Rabbah 65, 22

This is the secret of good teaching and parenting. Cre-ate the curiosity, pique the interest of your listener and then impart your message.

This method was also used by Onkelos who famous-ly converted to Yiddishkeit. The Gemara9 tells us On-kelos was able to fend off three separate delegations of Romans sent by Caesar to bring him home. On the third occasion, an exasperated Caesar even told the delegation not to engage Onkelos in conversation. On-kelos therefore used another method. On being led out he placed his hand on the mezuzah10. The delegation could simply not contain their curiosity, engaged him in conversation and it was all over. Their minds were open and receptive.

This is why Noach built the teivah over a 120 year peri-od. Rashi11 tells us that HaKadosh Baruch Hu put Noach to the trouble of doing this in order to give mankind a chance to do teshuvah. Noach’s strange behaviour of endless building would arouse the curiosity of those around him and would cause them to ask him what he was doing. Perhaps when they heard the answer, they would do teshuvah.

This method is instructive to all of us. It is very tempt-ing for a teacher or parent to just turn on the tap, speak and feed information. But if we want our students and children to really hear us, we have to ensure their minds are open. Ask a question, do something to pique their curiosity and then impart the message.

Perhaps this is what the Baal Haggadah is telling us. For a child who is אינו יודע לשאול, unable to ask, don’t just tell him but פתח לו, open him up. Get him to start think-ing and wondering. You will then have a more receptive audience and the transmission will be more successful.

9 Avoda Zara 11a10 This is the source for the custom of touching the mezuzah on passing through a

doorway, See Darchei Moshe HoAroch, Yoreh Deah 285:2 and Remo there). 11 Berishis 6, 14

23 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

Rabbi Joseph PearlmanAuthor of “Pearls of Light”

ושאינו יודע לשאול

In the haggadah we are told to reply to the she’eino yodea lishol the child who does not know how to ask,

with the words, “At psach lo.” ‘You should begin the conversation with him.’ The obvious question is ‘why is the feminine form “at” used rather than the mascu-line “atah”?’

There are a number of possible answers:

1. This hints at the two occasions when Moshe was addressed in this manner (Beha’aloscha 11:15 and Va’eschanan 5:24 and Rashi’s comments in each case – Toshash kocho ki’nekevah. We are weakened by the thought of the existence of such ignorant people.

2. It is usual for the mother to prepare a young child who is not yet ready for the deep Torah of the father, or it may be that such a child needs the loving kindness and tenderness which only a mother can bestow. Hence this injunction is par-tially addressed to her (for psach remains in the masculine.)

3. Those who hold that women are indeed chayovos besippur Yetzias Mitzrayim- obliged to recount the Exodus from Egypt can derive some support that they are included here in the mitzvah of teaching her children.

4. If the child is she’eino yodea lishol it could be be-cause the father has neglected his parental duty or is incapable for some reason himself. So the haggadah advises the mother to take over in such a case.

5. Ibn Ezra in Beha’aloscha is of the opinion that at is common, including males and females. For this child, all of us must do our best. Thus even those schools which insist on male teachers for boys, are often prepared to allow female teachers in re-medial cases.

6. Kerem Hazvi also suggests that the word vehi-gadetah connotes a much longer narration than ve’amartah. As nashim dabronios hen (Brachos 48b and Kiddushin 49b) we should emulate their loquacity in this instance instead of the usual rec-ommended brevity (as in Pesachim 3b) It is a mitz-vah to expound on sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim – kol hamarbeh harei zeh meshubach. But especially so to the she’eino yodea lishol who knows nothing and has everything to catch up.

7. Baruch She’amar and others say that ‘at’ hints at from aleph to taf – tell him everything from A to Z, from beginning to end.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 24

אי ההוא. ביום לומר תלמוד חדש, מראש יכול ביום ההוא יכול מבעוד יום, תלמוד לומר בעבור זה. בעבור זה לא אמרתי אלא בשעה שיש מצה ומרור

לפניך: מנחים

Rabbi Osher Chaim LeveneOrah

יכול מראש חדש

The haggadah considers the possibility that the tim-ing for the mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, to re-

late the story of the Exodus, is at the beginning of the month of Nissan rather than the night of the 15th. Why might Rosh Chodosh Nissan, more than a fortnight be-fore Seder night, possibly be the right time to discuss the Exodus?

Interestingly, the very “month” of Nissan is associat-ed with geulah, “redemption”. The Torah highlights how the mitzvos of Pesach occur b’Chodesh HaAviv, “in the spring month [of Nissan]” (Shemos 34:18). The last of the four parshiyos read in the run up to Pesach is parshas HaChodesh on the Shabbos preced-ing Rosh Chodesh Nissan. This passage begins with the Jewish lunar calendar of Nissan when Hashem mentioned haChodesh hazeh lachem, “this month is for you” (Shemos 12:2). What is so special about Rosh Chodesh Nissan?

The non-Jewish measure of time is shanah, “year”. The root of this word means “to repeat” with a year being the natural order of the reoccurring annual solar cycle. This is a fixed annual period that is entirely predictable and expected. This, in a deeper sense, was the philos-ophy of Egyptian culture. It is reflected in their ruler

Paroh whose name has the same numerical value (355) as shanah, “year” (Shelah HaKodosh).

Yetzias Mitzrayim was a radical departure from this system.

A key component to the Exodus was the earlier intro-duction of a new measure of time: chodesh, “month” based on the monthly cycle of the moon. It relates to the idea of chiddush, “something new”, the G-dly abil-ity to break out of the predictable, natural realm that is otherwise bound to the standard non-Jewish measure of time “under the sun” (Koheles 1:9).

Yetzias mitzrayim came about through the wondrous miracles of the Exodus. Indeed, the Rambam sees the mitzvah of relating the redemption as focussing on the unbelievable miracles (Rambam, Hilchos Chametz uMatzah 7:1). It symbolizes a new supernatural order that broke the power of “Paroh” and of “shanah”. The month and new epoch opens with “Nissan” that has the numerical value as nissim, “miracles”.

This explains why Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the start of the new Jewish measure of time, is a viable contender for the timing of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. Here Klal Yis-rael was born as a nation to start their historic journey which continues to operate on a truly supernatural level.

Rabbi Garry WaylandAssistant, Youth and Young Families Rabbi Woodside Park Synagogue

יכול מראש חדש

There is a curious line in the haggadah; it’s after the kids have sung ‘Mah Nishtanah’, and as the

tummies are still grumbling so it may have escaped

attention. The haggadah suggests to us that we could do the Seder night service on Rosh Chodesh – the first of Nissan, two weeks before the actual date of Pesach; this is quickly rejected by a verse which specifies the service must be done specifically on the 15th.

25 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

This is almost incredulous – the Jewish people left Egypt on the night of the 15th; two weeks earlier they were still enslaved. It would never have crossed our minds to do the Seder night then, in the same way that we can’t make Shabbos on Thursday, or hold a Bar Mitzvah when a child is 11: if so, why would we seri-ously entertain this possibility?

The Shulchan Aruch quotes the Talmud: the primary fo-cus of Seder night is for the father to teach his children about the miracles of the Exodus, and how we went from slavery and servitude to liberty and freedom. ‘Mah Nishtanah’ is intended to be the framework of a con-versation between one generation and the next, forging and renewing the chains of our traditions. Traditionally, the youngest stands (in my family always on a chair, to the children’s delight and the mother’s horror!) and asks the reasons behind the pertinent details of the Seder: ‘Why do we eat matzah?’ ‘Why do we recline?’ and so forth. The rest of the evening is the father’s re-sponse: the feelings of appreciation resulting from the recalling, re-enacting and reliving the experience of the evening motivate one to crystallise thoughts into deeds.

If there are no children at the Seder, an adult can ask. However, on the occasion when one may be alone, the Shulchan Aruch’s ruling is surprising: one asks one-self! In fact, the entire service is designed to stimulate an inquisitive attitude, and to inspire questions. The Sages of the Talmud instituted the custom of ‘karpas’, eating a potato, leek or some other vegetable as some-thing deliberately unusual (for why would you eat such a thing at the beginning of the meal?), to get the chil-dren to ask.

Pesach is the Festival of Freedom. Of course, we cele-brate living free from oppression: having civil and re-ligious liberties, the opportunities to live as we please and the potential to make what we want of it. Especial-ly today, in the West, we live in lands of unparalleled kindness, and are accepted as full, valued members of society.

But freedom goes much deeper than that: it is very easy to get locked into a mindset. Whether slowly assimilat-ed from the outside, or the result of getting accustomed to living with certain choices you have made or stand-ards you have set for yourself, we tend to get trapped. It may be resigning yourself to living with a self-defined limitation, alienation, or it could be a feeling of a lack of real control – living in the flow of life rather than being an active player.

The message here of the Seder is to take a step outside of the box – literally! To try to look at life from a com-pletely different angle, even it means having a conver-sation with yourself! Questions are of infinite value in Judaism, because a good question gets you to think, and thought is the most precious commodity we have. By not taking anything for granted, making no as-sumptions and re-evaluating life, we can free ourselves of those things that stop us being truly free.

That’s why Rosh Chodesh is really an excellent op-portunity to hold the Seder – it’s a perfect time to take a fresh look at the world, so much so that without a specific scriptural source one could easily be forgiven for thinking this idea takes precedence over the actual date we left.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 26

ועכשיו אבותינו, היו זרה עבודה עובדי מתחלה יהושע ויאמר שנאמר, לעבודתו. המקום קרבנו הנהר ישראל, בעבר יי אלהי אל כל העם כה אמר ישבו אבותיכם מעולם תרח אבי אברהם ואבי נחור

אחרים: אלהים ויעבדו ואולך הנהר מעבר אברהם את אביכם את ואקח את לו ואתן זרעו את וארבה כנען ארץ בכל אותו יצחק, ואתן ליצחק את יעקב ואת עשו, ואתן לעשו מצרים: ירדו ובניו ויעקב לרשת אותו, את הר שעיר

Rabbi Binyomin Zev GoldbergAuthor of ‘Koloh D’Yaakov’ on the weekly Parsha and the Moadim

מתחלהG’NUS TO SHEVACH - SCALING THE HEIGHTS OF SPIRITUALITY

מתחלה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו

עכשו קרבנו המקום ברוך הוא לעבודתו

“At first our forefathers were idol-worshippers, and now the Omnipresent has drawn us near to His service.”

The Ohev Yisroel of Apta explains the reason behind the above lines in the haggadah, which appear to be an interesting, but irrelevant, recounting of a period of Jewish history at the Seder night.

Seder night, he writes, is a time of praise and thanks-giving to Hashem, for all the good and the miracles He did for us in taking us out of Mitzrayim. At the same time, we degrade idol-worship and declare our lack of interest in it. However, continues the Ohev Yisroel, a person who is righteous and has never tasted sin, lacks credence when it comes to dismissing the value of sin. His paucity of experience in the area he is speak-ing about leads people to ignore his opinion, as they question his knowledge. However, someone who has been involved in a sin and has resurfaced, who knew

the delights of the sin but now recognises its inherent futility and lack of real satisfaction, can hold a valid opinion regarding the nature of that sin. Therefore, the person who has turned his back on sin, who has re-pented his and his forefathers’ previous sins, is suited to telling others about the lowliness of the sin. In this vein, Chazal tell us that it was only Shlomo Hamelech, a man who had tasted every desire in the world, who knew every enjoyment that man can dream of, who had the credibility to say, “Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity.” A statement from such a source carries far more weight than that of a man for whom the desires of the world are still merely a vague concept.

This is the reason we speak about our idolatrous back-ground, concludes the Ohev Yisroel. We recall how even the Jewish people have a less than salubrious background, yet we pride ourselves on this because we have risen from the mire of sin. Avraham recognised Hashem. Hashem then, through strenuous tests, puri-fied Avraham and his descendants until their final pu-rification in the smelting pot of Mitzrayim. From there, Klal Yisrael arose as a purified nation, rid of the stain of idolatry and ready to serve Hashem.

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שהקדוש הוא, ברוך לישראל, הבטחתו שומר ברוך ב את הקץ לעשות. כמה שאמר לאברהם ברוך הוא חשאבינו בברית בין הבתרים. שנאמר, ויאמר לאברם ידע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אתם אנכי דן יעבדו אשר הגוי וגם את שנה. ארבע מאות

ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול:

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld - HALACHOS VE’HI SHE’AMDAH - והיא שעמדה

During this paragraph, one should hold the cup of wine in one’s hand, and the matzos should be covered. When one has finished saying it, the cup is put down, and the matzos are uncovered.1

1 מג"א סי' תעג ס"ק כז בשם השל"ה, גר"ז סעי' מד.

Rabbi Elie SchoemannKLBD and Hasmonean Beis

ברוך שומר הבטחתו לישראל, ברוך הוא

Blessed is He who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed be He! For the Holy One, blessed be He, calculated the end [of the bondage], in order to do as He had said to our father Avraham at the “Covenant between the Portions,” as it is said: “And He said to Avraham, `You shall know that your offspring will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and make them suffer, for 400 years. But I shall also judge the nation whom they shall serve, and after that they will come out with great wealth.’” (Genesis 15, 13 -14)

Many of the מפרשים commentators grapple with what chiddush the Baal Haggadah is telling us here; since

even a simple Jew is obligated to fulfill his promises, would it not be obvious that Hashem kept to his word as he promised אבינו ?Avraham Avinu אברהם The Baal Haggadah continues saying that Hashem cal-culated the end of exile in Egypt, as he told Avraham that he would do.The Brisker Rav, zt”l, explains that if we look closely at the words that Hashem said at the ברית בין הבתרים, Bris bein habesarim, ‘the covenant between the parts’ we will no-tice that there were actually two decrees for Bnei Yisrael: The first is that “they will be strangers in a land that is not theirs” and the second is that “they will enslave them and make them suffer”. Both of these predicaments were to last “for 400 years”.Bnei Yisrael were only in Egypt for 210 years. To explain this, our sages say that firstly, the 400 years did not start from when we went down to Egypt, but rather from the birth of Yitzchak, as this was the beginning of Avraham’s offspring being strangers in a land that was not theirs. Sec-ondly the harshness of the work over the 210 years made up

for 400 years worth of regular enslavement and suffering. The Brisker Rav points out that the intense slavery only helped to shorten the predicament of slavery and suffer-ing, but not that of being strangers. The decree of being strangers had to be counted from an earlier date to make up the entire 400 years. Therefore our sages gave two ex-planations as to how 210 years made up for the 400, one reason for each decree.He continues with a beautiful thought: Bnei Yisrael need-ed to endure both decrees for 400 years. If one of the de-crees had been fulfilled first, they would still have had to stay in Egypt for the second one. Hashem with his infinite greatness made the two decrees be fulfilled at exactly the same moment so that Bnei Yis-roel would not need to stay in Egypt any longer than was absolutely necessary.This is what the Baal Haggadah is telling us; Hashem not only kept his promise, but he made sure that both decrees would end simultaneously to avoid any extra suffering for Bnei Yisroel. The Mashgiach of Kol Torah, Rav Yitzchok Yeruchem Borodiansky takes this one step further. The word שומר shomer is usually translated as ‘guard’ or ‘keep’. Howev-er, there is a other connotation which is ‘anticipate’ (see Rashi (Genesis 37:11) on the words "ואביו שמר את הדבר" ‘and his father guarded the matter’ (kept the matter in mind) ). The pasuk says about the night of Pesach:מצרים" מארץ להוציאם לה' הוא שימורים It‘ (Shemos 12:42) "ליל is a night of watchfulness to Hashem for bringing them out for the Land of Egypt’. Rashi explains this to mean, a night not just earmarked for this purpose but rather a night that was anticipated and longed for by Hashem to take the Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt.

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מכסה המצה ומגביה את הכוס בידו ואומר:Cover the Matzah and lift the cup and say:

והיא שעמדה לאבותינו ולנו. שלא אחד בלבד עמד עלינו לכלותנו אלא שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו

לכלותנו, והקדוש ברוך הוא מצילנו מידם:

Rabbi Naftali SchiffExecutive Director, Aish UK

A POWERFUL PROMISE - והיא שעמדה

Anti-Semitism has been part of the Jewish story since the birth of our nation. Astoundingly, the

first reference to the word עם “Am” in the Torah is from none other than Pharaoh himself, when, in a thinly veiled precursor to the longest hatred, he refers to עם Am Bnei Yisrael becoming stronger and more בני ישראלnumerous than the Egyptians. Pharaoh then presents his final solution saying הבה נתחכמה לו Let us deal wise-ly with them. The birth of the Jewish nation and an-ti-Semitism are simultaneous!Within the context of the Seder, there comes a deep awareness that hatred of the Jew is as endemic to Jew-ish history as is our spectacular survival. As we raise our glasses and sing Vehi she’amdah we are recognis-ing the fact that anti-Semitism is not just inevitable, but rather that it is as unique as we are. It comes with the ter-ritory of “shimcha hagadol vehakadosh oleinu korosso”. The hatred and persecution that we have experienced has never been limited to one era, location or specific reason. We have been persecuted both for being rich and for being poor, powerful and weak. We have been called Communists and capitalists. None of these are reasons to explain anti-Semitism, rather they are excus-es to mask an underlying seemingly irrational hatred. On Seder night, we sing these words with a sense of confidence, trust and joy. Anti-Semitism becomes a badge of honour, a medal of pride. We accept that the nations of the world do not see us as equal; in fact of-ten they are more aware of our singularity and spiritual

prowess and influence than are we. As much as Jews may try to lie low or assimilate, ultimately the nations do not allow us that luxury. As Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner is reported to have said, ‘When the Yidden don’t make Kiddush, the non-Jews make havdalah’. We appreciate that anti-Semitism is part of our national narrative. We were taken out of Mitzrayim for a reason, to become the קדוש וגוי כהנים kingdom of priests and holy ,ממלכת nation, to be partners with Hashem in bringing the world to the stage when all of mankind will come to an awareness and live with the reality that the world has a Creator and a Sustainer and we, the Am Hanivchar the ‘Chosen People’ have a unique purpose. It is there-fore inevitable that there will always be dark forces that seek to stop us in our tracks. The Gemara in Shabbos 89 says עליו לעכו‘‘ם שנאה שירדה הר סיני הר Why is it‘ , מאי called Har Sinai? Because sinah/hatred came down to the non-Jews upon it’ namely that הר סיני is related to the word שנאה hatred as, by accepting the Torah, we accepted the reality that there would be those who are out to stop us in every generation.So we sing Vehi she’amdah, as if to say, we are proud bearers of the torch; we know that in every generation there will be those who rise up against us, because of what we represent. At the same time, tonight we re-affirm our trust in Elokei Yisrael; we know who we are; we are aware of our responsibility and we live with a confidence that ultimately Klal Yisrael will always prevail, as the message that we bear is indeed the pur-pose of the creation itself

Every year on Seder night, my grandmother, a survivor of Auschwitz Birkenau, says,

Adolf Hitler used the slavery of the Jews in Egypt as a blueprint for the Holocaust”

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מניח הכוס מידו ויגלה המצות:Place the cup down and uncover the Matzah:

צא ולמד מה בקש לבן הארמי לעשות ליעקב אבינו. שפרעה לא גזר אלא על הזכרים ולבן בקש לעקור

את הכל. שנאמר:

Rabbi Yoni BirnbaumHadley Wood Jewish Community

A TIMELESS MESSAGE - צא ולמד

‘Go and study what Lavan the Aramean attempted to do to our father Yaakov…’

One of the classic questions on the haggadah concerns this short introduction to its central section detailing the Bnei Yisrael’s enslavement in Egypt and their sub-sequent redemption. It seems difficult to understand the direct relevance of Yaakov’s persecution at the hand of Lavan to the story of Yetziyas Mitzrayim.

The Vilna Gaon, however, sees this section as a crucial insight that serves both to illuminate a central theme of the haggadah as well as to provide us with an enduring and inspirational message.

He explains that Yaakov’s experience in Lavan’s house was a fundamental precedent for the difficult process his descendants would later have to undergo in Egypt. Yaakov arrived in Lavan’s house penniless, seeking ref-uge from the hands of Esav. Throughout his stay there, Lavan repeatedly demonstrated both his dishonesty as well as his ambition to take advantage of Yaakov when-ever possible – as Yaakov himself laments upon finally leaving his household to return to Canaan.

Yet the astonishing thing about the years Yaakov spent with Lavan was the fact that it was specifically in this most negative of environments that Yaakov saw the greatest success. It was there that he built the future of the Jewish people, emerging from the experience with a strong, secure and united family, together with substantial financial assets, despite the challenging circumstances.

The experience of the Jewish people in Egypt sever-al generations later mirrored that of Yaakov in Lavan’s

house. They too faced the most negative and challeng-ing of circumstances, designed by the Egyptians to destroy both their national identity and their physical growth as a nation. Yet, despite this - or perhaps be-cause of it - on both counts they flourished. They re-mained united as a nation, distinct from the Egyptians in both their appearance and conduct. And they grew into a great nation, both numerically - ‘…as much as they would afflict it, so it would increase…’ (Shemos 1:12) and, at the time of Yetziyas Mitzrayim, in a mate-rial sense as well – ‘…so they emptied out Egypt’ (ibid 12:36).

The enduring lesson of both these experiences – firstly at an individual level and subsequently a national one, is the ability of a seemingly negative and challenging set of circumstances to actually provide the means to achieve greater things in life than would otherwise be possible.

This explanation beautifully unites these two situations and also serves to explain the precise positioning of this section in the haggadah. The previous paragraph (Vehi she’amda) makes the moving statement, proven time and again throughout our history, that in every generation people rise up to destroy us – but Hashem saves us from their hand.

But this subsequent passage goes further. It reassures us that beginning with Yaakov at the dawn of our na-tion, through the Egyptian exile and until today – it is those same challenging times, even existential threats, which we have faced that have provided us with our greatest potential for growth and gifted our people with an unmatched inner strength and resilience.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 30

ארמי אבד אבי וירד מצרימה ויגר שם במתי מעט, ויהי שם לגוי גדול עצום ורב:

וירד מצרימה אנוס על פי הדבור: להשתקע אבינו יעקב ירד שלא מלמד שם, ויגר במצרים אלא לגור שם. שנאמר, ויאמרו אל פרעה לגור בארץ באנו כי אין מרעה לצאן אשר לעבדיך כי כבד הרעב בארץ כנען, ועתה ישבו נא עבדיך בארץ

גשן:

Rabbi Elchonon FeldmanRabbi, Belmont United Synagogue

ויגר שם

“And he sojourned there” which teaches that our father Jacob did not go to Egypt to settle there

permanently, but merely to stay there for a time.

Rabbi Ari Kahan recounts a personal anecdote in 70 Days for 70 years, the Holocaust commemoration com-pilation. Rabbi Yisrael Gustman, zt”l, was on Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski’s Beis Din in Vilna, before the War and as young man he was lauded for his tremen-dous erudition and dedication. The assumption was that great things were in store for him. Sadly with the outbreak of the war life changed dramatically for the Rav and although he did survive, he would carry the suffering and loss which he endured throughout his days.

The last time Rabbi Ari Kahan saw Rabbi Gustman was while walking in Jerusalem pushing his young son in a pram. Rabbi Ari approached Rabbi Gustman and asked him to bless the toddler. The Rav looked at the boy, smiled sweetly, and said “May he be a boy like all other boys.”

Rabbi Gustman was not short-changing this young man. Everyone hopes their child will become a tzad-dik, mentsch and Torah scholar; this is the Jewish way. We all pray daily for our families to achieve their full potential in life. However, a man such as Rabbi Gust-man who saw what perils this world contains, had the awareness to never take anything for granted. To him health, security and family were not the basics; they are everything and must be appreciated as such.

Yaakov was the first sojourner of our people. He so-journed amongst Lavan the trickster and then later in Egypt. Yaakov never forgot in all of his travels and jour-neys that he was not at home, never at rest. But are we so different? Are we all not sojourners in this world as well? Our essence is as a soul which is holy and from Heaven. While we are here in this world, we will never truly be at rest. We will always be just be tempo-rary dwellers and as such we can never take anything for granted. Take it from Rabbi Gustman, a man who knew, every blessing that we receive must be appreci-ated and cherished.

31 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

במתי מעט, כמה שנאמר, בשבעים נפש ירדו אבותיך מים לרוב: מצרימה ועתה שמך יי אלהיך ככוכבי הש

Rabbi Daniel FineMaggid Shiur, Gesher Program, Aish Jerusalem

20-20 HINDSIGHT - במתי מעט

The tale is told that a Jewish biker came to Aish Ha-torah yeshivah in the Old City, with ‘an amazing

story to tell.’ With ostensibly more tattoos than skin our hero related to Rav Noach Weinberg, z”l, how he was biking on a precariously narrow mountain road and a truck suddenly came at him from the other direction - it seemed like he was destined to fall to his death. Sud-denly, the truck came to a halt and the man was saved. ‘At that moment,’ said the biker ‘I realised that there is a G-d’. In characteristic fashion Rav Noach looked the man in the eye and said ‘was it not G-d who nearly pushed you over the cliff in the first place?’

On Pesach we seem to display a similar attitude. True, the reason we had to end up in slavery was to correct a fault in our spiritual genes evidenced by Avraham at the bris bein ha’besarim12, but Hashem did put us into slavery in Egypt! Why do we forget about this facet of Divine control? There are several answers to this ques-tion: we shall touch on one, based on an ‘innocuous’ part of the haggadah.

ועתה מצרימה, אבותיך ירדו נפש בשבעים שנאמר: כמה - מעט במתי (We went down to Egypt) - שמך יי אלהיך ככוכבי השמים לרב‘With very few’ (Devarim 26:5) - as it says (Devarim 10:22) ‘with 70 people your fathers descended to Egypt

12 See Maharal, Chiddushei Agados on Nedarim

and now Hashem your G-d has placed you in multitude like the stars of the sky.’

Why does the haggadah bring a second pasuk (from Eikev 10) to back up this first pasuk - what is gained?

The idea here seemed to be the reason why the pesukim in Ki Savo were selected to be the main verses in the haggadah in the first place - why select these ‘highlights’ pesukim over the ‘live’ pesukim in Shemos through Beshalach? The answer is that the pesukim in Ki Savo are set at a stage when the ‘process has been completed’ - we are a nation serving Hashem in our homeland and can bring bikkurim to the Beis Hamik-dash. We can then look back and see that the slavery and Exodus were necessary stages in achieving this peak. This, the Maharsha writes, is why we juxtapose the bad time with the good times in the haggadah (maschil b’gnus u’mesayem b’shvach begin with den-igration and finish with praise) - to tell us that any suf-fering is but a stage in our ultimate redemption.

Consequently, the pasuk in Re’eh is adding a great deal - it is telling us that now we have become a great nation and we can look back and see the slavery in its correct light: as a process that galvanised us and made us a stronger, more united people who remained steadfast to their central identities.

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ויהי שם לגוי, מלמד שהיו ישראל מצינים שם:וישרצו ישראל פרו גדול עצום, כמה שנאמר, ובני

ותמלא הארץ אתם: ויעצמו במאד מאד וירבו דה נתתיך ותרבי ורב, כמה שנאמר, רבבה כצמח השותגדלי ותבאי בעדי עדיים שדים נכנו ושערך צמח מתבוססת ואראך עליך ואעבור ועריה: ערם ואת

בדמיך ואמר לך בדמיך חיי ואמר לך בדמיך חיי:

Rabbi Moishe BrandeisJLE

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T THINK! - ויהי שם לגוי

לגוי שם There he became a nation - this - ויהי teaches that the Israelites were distinctive there.

The Midrash explains that because the Israelites remained distinctive they were redeemed. Despite

their absorbing other aspects of the prevailing Egyptian culture, nevertheless, they kept their Hebrew names, style of dress and language. There speech was not only different in the actual language, but unlike the lewd and uncouth Egyptians, the subjects they discussed and the manner in which they spoke were refined.

In order to appreciate how remarkable this is, consider the fact that when the Israelites descended to Egypt from the Land of Canaan with Yaakov Avinu, they were only 70 in number (which can hardly be described as a well-established nation, complete with its own tradi-tions etc.). Yet, from its very infancy as the nation grew, it was able to retain these essential differences and not be influenced to change any of the outward character-istics which mark one nation different from another. In fact the Maharal points out that this was crucial so that the Israelites would be discernible from the Egyptians and thus worthy of being redeemed. The question re-mains, how were they able to do this?

The Midrash says that Moshe, in his capacity as a royal advisor, recommended that in order to attain

the greatest productivity from his Israelite workforce, Paroh should allow them a weekly day of rest. He suc-ceeded in securing this for them and this day “just so happened” to be Shabbos. On these rest days, the wea-ry slaves would gather to learn Torah, which in those times consisted of scrolls of the various prophecies of Adam, Kayin, Noach, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. These study sessions were effective not only in inject-ing hope into the people and rejuvenating them, but also they allowed them to contemplate their lives and purge themselves of any possible degenerate behav-iour and philosophies that had accumulated over the previous week. This prevented their unique cultural ex-terior becoming blemished.

It is interesting to point out that the Torah first teaches that ויהי שם לגוי - they became a distinguishable nation and only afterwards does it state that they become גדול strong and numerous. Without a strong Jewish – ועצוםeducation (the scrolls), and unimpeded time to contem-plate its values (Shabbos), they would have been totally subsumed by the Egyptians and their values.

Never has such a message been so relevant than today in our world where there are so many foreign beliefs competing for our attention (antithesis of the scrolls) and contending for our time (antithesis of Shabbos).

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וירעו אתנו המצרים ויענונו ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה:נתחכמה הבה שנאמר, כמה המצרים, אתנו וירעו לו פן ירבה והיה כי תקראנה מלחמה ונוסף גם הוא

על שונאינו ונלחם בנו ועלה מן הארץ:ויענונו, כמה שנאמר, וישימו עליו שרי מסים למען ענותו בסבלותם ויבן ערי מסכנות לפרעה את פתם ואת רעמסס: ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה, כמה שנאמר,

ויעבדו מצרים את בני ישראל בפרך:

Rabbi Shimon B. GlickmanDirector of Communal Activities at the Jewish Educational Centre, Leeds/ Leeds Kollel

וירעו אתנו המצרים ויענונו

The Egyptians were bad to us and they afflicted us. This verse is seemingly redundant. In the Torah there

are no ‘extra’ words. What is the difference between the two expressions of ‘doing bad to us’ and ‘afflicting us’?

R’ Chaim Ibn Atar, the Ohr Hachaim has a very inter-esting explanation. He writes that there are, in fact, two different aspects of affliction here. The second one is, as we understood it, a simple affliction of one person to another. The first one, though, is something a lot deeper. The grammatical form of the word וירעו vayareu is not simply ‘and they did bad to us’, rather it can mean something a lot deeper than that. The Egyp-tians actively made us evil. They made us intrinsically bad people. How was this done? It is very simple. The Mishnah in Avos teaches that is better for a person to be the tail of a lion than the head of a fox. What does this mean? Given a choice between being the weakest member of a strong group, or the strongest member of a slightly weaker group, it is incumbent upon us to strive higher, to be the weakest in the stronger group.

Why is this so? Surely, one can often achieve more, and have more of an effect when they are the strongest

in the group rather than when they are the weakest? What happened in Egypt in the חושך choshech - the plague of darkness? We are told that 80% of the Jewish population died. This was because they had been in-fluenced by the Egyptians around them and did not be-lieve or were not interested in becoming a free nation. The influences from outside are so great, one is not allowed to trust oneself as the strongest in a weaker group, even if the reason they are in this weaker group is solely to strengthen the group. One must always protect oneself and strive for more. One should always be the weakest in a stronger group, in order to achieve more for oneself.

When things happen in the world around us, they re-ally do affect us. When people respond to happening around the world in a manner of ‘who are we to correct what the rest of the world does?’ or ‘why should we worry about the rest of the world?’, the Torah and the haggadah point out that this is the wrong mind-set.

Not only does the world around us affect us, but only through correcting the world around us, and putting ourselves in the right groups, can we hope to strive and further our Yiddishkeit.

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Rabbi Binyomin Zev GoldbergAuthor of ‘Koloh D’Yaakov’ on the weekly Parsha and the Moadimמרור

BITTERSWEET MAROR - ויעבדו מצרים את בני ישראל בפרך

“And Egypt made the Jews work with crush-ing hardness.”

This pasuk famously ends with the word, בפרך b’parech, which literally means ‘with crushing

hardness’. However, Chazal (Sotah 11b) interpret the word as an amalgamation of two separate words, פה peh and רך rach which mean, respectively, ‘mouth’ and ‘soft’, teaching that the Egyptians enslaved the Jews with a soft mouth. In commemoration of this, writes a separate Gemara (Yerushalmi Pesachim 2:5 and Bav-li Pesachim 39a) we use lettuce as maror, since when eating lettuce it is initially soft and pleasant, before be-coming unpleasantly bitter. The Ksav Sofer asks a question on this. He wonders why we are required to commemorate the fact that the Egyptians began the Jewish slavery in a pleasant way. Surely, he asks, the only relevant point is the fact that they made the Jews’ lives bitter, not how the slavery began. Why then do we eat the initially ‘soft and pleas-ant’ lettuce? What relevance does this soft beginning have to us on Seder night?In answer, he cites the above Yerushalmi and notes that it offers a different understanding of the pleasant be-ginning. Many commentators understand that at first the Egyptians spoke nicely to the Jews and tricked them into working, before then turning on them and

enslaving them. However, the Yerushalmi understands that the pleasantness with which the Egyptians began the enslavement was the way in which they originally invited Yaakov and his sons to Egypt and treated them with the honour befitting royalty. When Pharoah wel-comed the Jews to Egypt, he told them to take the best of the land and dwell in safety, which appeared to be the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship.After such a beginning, continues the Ksav Sofer, the way in which the Egyptians turned on the Jews was truly puzzling. Everyone has enemies and one can expect that these enemies will consistently plot one’s downfall and seek ways to do harm. However, when someone has been welcomed with open arms, they do not expect such treatment. When the Egyptians sud-denly changed their tune and looked at the Jews as a problem to be solved, the Jews were flabbergasted and this sudden about-turn, asserts the Ksav Sofer, was what really hurt them. Had the Egyptians never been pleasant and welcoming, the Jews would have accept-ed their lot. However, to be treated well and then en-slaved was just too much.Therefore, concludes the Ksav Sofer, on Seder night we eat lettuce as maror as it commemorates this higher level of pain. Since lettuce starts out pleasant and then becomes bitter, it reminds us of the sudden change in the Egyptians’ approach to us and the added pain this caused.

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ונצעק אל יי אלהי אבותינו, וישמע יי את קלנו וירא את ענינו ואת עמלנו ואת לחצנו:

ונצעק אל יי אלהי אבותינו, כמה שנאמר, ויהי בימים ישראל בני ויאנחו מצרים מלך וימת ההם הרבים מן האלהים אל שועתם ותעל ויזעקו, העבדה מן

העבדה:

אלהים וישמע שנאמר, כמה קלנו, את יי וישמע את נאקתם ויזכר אלהים את בריתו את אברהם את

יעקב: ואת יצחק

וירא את ענינו, זו פרישות דרך ארץ. כמה שנאמר, וירא אלהים את בני ישראל וידע אלהים:

ואת עמלנו, אלו הבנים. כמה שנאמר, כל הבן הילוד היארה תשליכוהו וכל הבת תחיון:

ואת לחצנו, זו הדחק. כמה שנאמר, וגם ראיתי את הלחץ אשר מצרים לוחצים אותם:

ובמרא נטויה ובזרע חזקה ביד ממצרים יי ויוצאנו ובמפתים: ובאתות גדול

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Rabbi Shlomo OdzeAssociate Rabbi South Hampstead Synagogue

ובמורא גדול

ובמורא גדול זה גלוי שכינה כמו שנאמר או הניסה אלהים לבא לקחת לו גוי מקרב גוי במסות באותות ובמופתים ובמ־לחמה וביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה ובמוראים גדולים ככל אשר

עשה ה‘ אלהיכם במצרים לעיניך (דברים ד, לד).

And with great wonders – this is the revelation of the Shechinah as it is said: “Or has Hashem ventured to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by signs, and by won-ders and by war, and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and with great wonders, according to all that Hashem Elokim did for you in Mitzrayim before your eyes.’

At this point in time the בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael were steeped in the טומאה impurity of Mitzrayim, so

much so that the שר sar – guardian angel of Mitzrayim famously challenges Hashem for taking them out by saying they are all the same! The navi Yechezkel (20:8) also says regarding the Bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim ‘but they rebelled against me and did not want to listen to me.’ Moshe himself asks Hashem, ‘I should take the Bnei Yisrael out of Mitzrayim?’

Rashi explains this to mean what זכות zechus - merit do they have that you should perform a נס nes – miracle for them? To which Hashem responds, ‘I shall be with you and this is your sign that I have sent you - when you take the people out of Mitzrayim you will serve Hashem on this mountain’ meaning they have the zechus of קבלת .kabbalas haTorah – receiving the Torah התורה

What kind of answer is that? They still do not have any zechus now!

The Zohar explains the pasuk in Tehillim, ‘May my judgement go out from before you, your eyes behold uprightness,’ that מעלה של – Beis Din shel Maalah ב“ד the heavenly Beis Din, can only judge a person ‘באשר ba’asher hu sham – ‘in his current situation’ and ’הוא שםnot by what he will do in the future. Hashem, however, takes into account the good they will do in the future. This is the meaning of ‘מלפניך’ milfanechah– from before You and not ב“ד של מעלה from before the Beis Din shel Maalah. This is the reason, according to this Zohar, that the redemption had to be performed by Hashem and not a malach or shaliach, etc.

This therefore is the answer of ה‘ כי אהיה עמך... תעבדון את I myself will be with you’ for I am‘– ’- ’האלהים על ההר הזהable to judge them for the good they will do in the fu-ture and in that zechus they will be redeemed.

Hence the flow of the pesukim, first אלהים קול עם השמע Did ever people hear‘ ,מדבר מתוך האש כאשר שמעת אתה ויחיthe voice of Hashem speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard and live?’ in other words have they received the Torah? Only in this zechus will they be redeemed, and then Moshe continues או הנסה אלהים Or has Hashem ventured to go’,לבוא לקחת לו גוי מקרב גויand take Him a nation from the midst of another nation’ in other words Himself to take a nation from amidst a nation. Even though you are entrenched in the tumah of Mitzrayim and are undeserving of redemption cur-rently, only I myself can save you from this, due to the good you will do by receiving the Torah.

This is the meaning of שכינה גלוי -this is the reve‘ ,זה lation of the Shechinah’ as explained by הניסה the ,או ultimate גלוי gilui – revelation for the purpose of גאולה geulah - redemption

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ויוצאנו יי ממצרים, לא על ידי מלאך ולא על ידי שרף בכבודו ידי שליח. אלא הקדוש ברוך הוא ולא על ובעצמו. שנאמר, ועברתי בארץ מצרים בלילה הזה בהמה ועד מאדם מצרים בארץ בכור כל והכיתי

ובכל אלהי מצרים אעשה שפטים אני יי:מלאך. ולא אני הזה, בלילה מצרים בארץ ועברתי והכיתי כל בכור בארץ מצרים אני ולא שרף. ובכל אני ליח. הש אני ולא אלהי מצרים אעשה שפטים

יי, אני הוא ולא אחר:יי הויה יד הנה שנאמר, כמה הדבר. זו חזקה, ביד בגמלים בחמורים בסוסים דה בש אשר במקנך

מאד: כבד דבר ובצאן בבקר ובזרע נטויה, זו החרב. כמה שנאמר, וחרבו שלופה

בידו נטויה על ירושלים:ובמורא גדול, זו גלוי שכינה. כמה שנאמר, או הנסה אלהים לבא לקחת לו גוי מקרב גוי במסות באתת נטויה ובזרוע חזקה וביד ובמלחמה ובמופתים ובמוראים גדולים ככל אשר עשה לכם יי אלהיכם

לעיניך: במצרים ובאתות, זה המטה. כמה שנאמר, ואת המטה הזה

תקח בידך אשר תעשה בו את האתת:מופתים ונתתי שנאמר. כמה הדם. זה ובמופתים

ובארץ,: מים בש

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כשאומר דם ואש וכו' וכן בעשר מכות ישפוך מן הכוס מעט יין:דם, ואש, ותמרות עשן:

שתים. נטויה ובזרע שתים. חזקה ביד אחר, דבר ובמופתים שתים. ובאתות שתים. גדול ובמרא ברוך הוא הקדוש שהביא מכות עשר אלו שתים.

הן: ואלו במצרים המצרים על

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld HALACHOS DAM VA’ESH V’SIMROS ASHAN - דם ואש ותמרות עשן

At this point, when these words are recited, when listing the ten makkos, and when saying דצ"ך עד"ש באח"ב Det-zach adash be’achav (altogether a total of 16 times), one should insert his index finger (some customs dictate his little finger) into the cup of wine in front of him, and remove a drop of wine from the cup with each word.1

Q. What if it bothers a person to do it in the manner described above?A. He may simply pour a drop out of the cup at each word, without dipping in his finger.2

Q. Should the cup be topped up after this procedure? A. Yes.3

1 מהרי"ל הובא ברמ"א סי' תעג ס"ז. 2 רמ"א ומ"ב שם.

3 אשל אברהם תניינא סי' קפג ס"ב.

Rabbi Meir GoldbergGolders Green Kollel

דם, ואש, ותמרות עשן

The haggadah tells us that the “מופתים mofsim – won-ders” mentioned above refer to “the blood.” This un-

derstanding is drawn by the verbal association with the mofsim – wonders” referred to in the passuk in מופתים“Yoel 3:3 referring to miracles which will manifest at the time of Mashiach, “I will perform ‘wonders’ in heaven and on earth, ‘blood’, fire and pillars of smoke.” (The way some haggadas print the words “דם ואש ותמרות עשן” Dam va’esh v’simros ashan in large block letters commonly leads to the erroneous understanding that “...״דם ואש is distinct from the explanation of ובמופתיםu’ve’mofsim).The usual understanding of the commentators on the haggadah is that the blood referred to here is the blood of the first plague which mocked the Egyptians’ belief in the Nile as a deity, and further demonstrated the at-tribute of midah k’neged midah - punishing the Egyp-tians for drowning Jewish children in the Nile.The Netziv gives a novel interpretation as to the דם dam - blood mentioned here. The Netziv explains that the earlier drash המטה זה u’ve’osos – zeh hamateh ובאותות ‘and with signs – this is the staff’ and the drash of ובמו־ u’ve’mofsim zeh hadam ‘and with wonders פתים זה הדם– this is the blood’ are describing the relationship be-tween HaKadosh Baruch Hu and the Bnei Yisrael in the midbar. The מטה mateh - staff conveys how the whole existence of the Bnei Yisrael was through the direct

intervention of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, providing for and protecting them through miraculous means. Hence, we refer to the staff in Moshe’s hand, always ready to perform miracles to sustain the Bnei Yisrael.Similarly, says the Netziv, the Bnei Yisrael merited not only miraculous salvation due to their close relation-ship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but also punishment due to that same closeness. Any time they sinned, there was an immediate and miraculous consequence. This unique level of hashgachah lasted until they en-tered ישראל -dam blood men דם Eretz Yisrael. The ארץ tioned here, says the Netziv, refers to the blood that Paroh told Moshe he could see in the stars. This blood refers to the danger posed to the Bnei Yisrael living in such close proximity to the Shechinah that even a mi-nor infraction was considered major. It is a tremendous privilege to dwell in the פלטרין של מלך the palace of the King, but also a great responsibility to be subject to such a great level of hashgachah.Maharil explains the custom of spilling wine while recit-ing דם ואש ותמרות עשן, dam va’esh ve’simros ashan as the cup of wine stands for happiness and we wish to avert from ourselves the punishment meted out to our ene-mies. This corresponds to the classic interpretation of דם dam - blood mentioned earlier. According to the Netziv, however, one can suggest that we are spilling wine as we are reminding ourselves of where the דם blood nega-tively impacted upon the Bnei Yisrael in the Midbar.

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ארבה. ברד. שחין. דבר. ערוב. כנים. צפרדע. דם. בכורות: מכת חשך.

דם

חושך חושך חושך חושך ארבהברד ברד שחין מכת

בכורות

דבר ערוב כינים צפרדע

Rabbi Gavriel AbelesMenahel, Pardes House Primary School

עשר מבות

The Alshich HaKadosh explains that the reason why Hashem specifically gave these ten מכות makos –

plagues to Paroh is because Paroh said he owns the world and that he is in charge of everything. Hashem therefore showed through the first three makos that Hashem owns everything and that He is in charge. Hashem gave Paroh the first three makos which were ,דם dam, tzefardea and kinim - blood, frogs and כנים and צפרדעlice. דם dam caused all the water to turn to blood, even the water that was underneath the surface. צפרדע tzefar-dea frogs came out of the river and out of the water which is beneath the land. כינים kinim little bugs came out of the dust and sand which showed Paroh that Hashem created and is in charge of everything beneath the land.Paroh said to his people, “Well, the G-d of Moshe is only in charge of things that are under the surface of the land, however I am the king and I am in charge of everything on the land.” So Hashem sent ערוב , דבר, שחין arov, dever and shchin - wild animals, a livestock epidemic and boils to prove that He is in charge of the whole land as well.

Hashem brought ערוב arov - which are animals on the land. דבר dever – Hashem killed all the Egyptians’ cat-tle which had been grazing in the fields. And for שחין shchin – Hashem brought boils on all the Egyptians and their animals which were on the land. Through that Hashem showed Paroh that He is Hashem, both beneath the land and on the land.Paroh said to his people now – “Well I see that Hashem is in charge of all that is beneath the land and on the land BUT…. I am still in charge of everything from above.” So, Hashem brought ארבה ,barad חשך and ברד, arbeh and choshech – hail, locusts and darkness which all came from above.-barad – it hailed down fire and water from Shamay ברדim . ארבה arbeh– a big cloud of locusts came down to Mitzrayim..choshech – only a thick darkness came from above חושךBy now Paroh realised that Hashem is in charge of everything. Straight after this came בכורות makas מכות bechoros – the killing of the firstborn and Paroh let the Yidden out of Mitzrayim.

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Rabbi Daniel FineMaggid Shiur, Gesher Program, Aish Jerusalem

עשר מבות

The following is mainly taken from the Me’am Loez, seasoned with some other sources too. Although

many deeper ideas have been put forward, the basic purpose of the plagues was to show Hashem’s mas-tery over all the elements of the world: water, land, sky, animals and people. Each plague also punished the Egyptians for their acts of cruelty to the Bnei Yisra-el. There is a machlokes between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemiah in the Midrash as to whether each plague lasted for seven days or 24 days.

1. DAM (BLOOD)Rabbi Nechemiah says that all forms of water turned into blood. Even saliva turned to blood, and the Egyp-tian idols filled up with blood too. In addition, the Egyp-tians’ clothes were stained by their beds having collect-ed blood. Bnei Yisrael became wealthy by selling water to the Egyptians. The plague of blood punished the Egyptians for banning Jewish women from immersing themselves in the mikveh, as well as for throwing the Jewish babies into the river. When Pharaoh’s magi-cians copied this plague by creating their own blood it was only an optical illusion. They never created real blood - the fish in their ‘blood’ did not die.

2. TZFARDEYA (FROGS)Even a cup of water which an Egyptian was holding filled up with frogs. The frogs managed to break through walls to get into people’s houses. They even went in-side some people’s bodies and made them impotent, as a punishment for banning the Bnei Yisrael from having children. According to Rabbi Akiva there was one gi-ant frog which split in two, and each subsequent frog would split in two when struck, until the land was full of them. Why did the Egyptians continue hitting them? The Steipler Gaon answers that anger completely cir-cumvents logic. The word tzfardeya comes from the Aramaic words tzafra and da (meaning ‘morning’ and ‘know’) for the frogs had croaking shifts, and it would be clear to all when morning had arrived because the night-shift frogs stopped croaking and handed over the baton to their morning-croaking colleagues. The plague of frogs punished the Egyptians for prevent-ing Jewish women from giving birth - Jewish wom-en had to give birth in secret and could not scream to alleviate their labour pains. Therefore, the Egyptians themselves were disturbed by the incessant croaking (screaming) of the frogs. This was also a punishment for the cries of Bnei Yisrael after seeing their babies mercilessly thrown into the river.

3. KINNIM (LICE)There were either 14 or 24 types of lice which wreaked havoc in Egypt, and the smallest one was the size of a

chicken egg. The lice attached themselves to the bod-ies of the Egyptians so tightly that even bathing did not remove them. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Bnei Yisrael to sweep the dust off the streets, as well as for not allowing Bnei Yisrael to bathe.

4. AROV (WILD ANIMALS)Many different types of animals came to Egypt for this plague, and even those which would not normally live together made peace with each other to bombard the Egyptians. The Egyptians realised that the animals did not attack the Jews, and began asking Jews to es-cort them wherever they went. However, the animals were given the capability to discern between Jews and Egyptians, so they still attacked the Egyptians. When the Egyptians saw this violent herd of beasts approach-ing they closed their doors and windows to ensure that they could not enter their houses. Therefore Hashem sent some form of sea beasts to break open the hous-es and expose the Egyptians to the marauding herds. Many Egyptians were killed by the wild animals. This plague punished the Egyptians for sending Bnei Yisra-el out into the forests to trap wild animals so that the animals would attack them. It was also a punishment for Pharaoh’s mass slaughter of 300 Jewish babies in order to bathe in their (mixed together) blood when he contracted tzaraas. Finally, the mingled herds of all dif-ferent animals punished the Egyptians for their wide-spread sexual immorality and adulterous practices; the society was one of over-mingling.

5. DEVER (ANIMAL EPIDEMIC)The domesticated Egyptian animals died in this plague. No Jewish cattle died at this time, and even animals which were dying anyway survived for the duration of the plague so that it would be clear that the plague did not affect the Jews whatsoever. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing Bnei Yisrael to shepherd their herds for extremely long hours in order to give them no opportunity spend time with their spouses and in-crease their family. It also punished the Egyptians for stealing the Jews’ cattle.

6. SHECHIN (BOILS)The boils suffered by the Egyptians included tzaraas, and took up residence on every part of the Egyptians’ bodies, so much so that it became too painful for them to bathe. Pharaoh’s magicians actually died from these boils, for it was upon their advice that the Jewish ba-bies were thrown into the river. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to clean the Egyp-tians in the bath. Furthermore, as a punishment for intentionally preventing the Jews from having babies, these boils prevented the Egyptians from having rela-tions with their spouses.

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7. BARAD (HAIL)The hail miraculously contained both ice and fire. Moshe warned the Egyptians of the plague of hail and told them to bring their belongings indoors. Although Pharaoh sent messengers ordering the Egyptians to leave everything outside, some people feared the word of Hashem more than that of Pharaoh (Meshech Choch-mah). In fact, Hashem made the hail fall only in out-door areas - it did not fall on anything covered by a roof (Brisker Rav). When the Egyptians saw that their cattle were doomed they slaughtered their animals, hoping at least be able to eat them. However, as they were carry-ing the animals home on their backs to eat, huge birds came and snatched the carcasses from their owners. The Egyptians who did stay outside were frozen to death by the hail’s ice and then burnt by its fire. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to plant gardens and vineyards. Additionally, because the Egyptians stoned the Jews and made them cry out in pain, they were pelted by hailstones and shaken by the loud booming of the thunder.

8. ARBEH (LOCUSTS)All seven types of locust took a trip to Egypt to devour the Egyptian crop for this plague. Normally, locusts do not enter houses, but the locusts in this plague knew no bounds - they went into houses too. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to attend to their fields.

9. CHOSHECH (DARKNESS)Normal darkness does not have an existence in and of itself; it is simply an absence of light, but the plague of darkness was a new creation, a tangible form of dark-ness which could not be removed by lighting candles (Sforno). The plague was even more painful because no Egyptian helped his friend out (Chidushei HaRim). More than that, it cut the Egyptians off from their ma-terial possessions, which formed the basis of their

self-image (Rav Lippa Rabinowitz). During the final three days of this plague the darkness was so thick that it stifled movement. The Bnei Yisrael were unaf-fected by the darkness; they had light wherever they went. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to work late into the night, as well as forcing them to hold torches for them in the streets at night.

10. MAKKAS BECHOROS(THE PLAGUE OF THE FIRSTBORN)All Egyptian firstborns died in this plague. Since many children were born as a result of adulterous relation-ships, many Egyptians found out who their real chil-dren were in this plague. Why is makkas bechoros the only plague which has the prefix ‘makkas’? The Mid-rash (quoted in Tosafos Shabbos 87b) notes that when the firstborns heard Moshe’s warning about the im-minent plague of the firstborns, they rebelled against Pharaoh to try and force him to let the Jews go free, and many firstborns died in this rebellion. It is this rebel-lion that we hint to with the extra word ‘makkas’ (Bir-kas Chaim). The Ohr Hachaim gives a profound expla-nation as to why Hashem ‘personally’ performed the plague of the firstborn. Evil can only survive if it is con-nected to good. Otherwise, it is severed from Hashem and has no survival or existence in this world. In the plague of the firstborn, Hashem revealed Himself to the Egyptian firstborns, and every spark of goodness in the Egyptians automatically flew out to its Source - Hashem, leaving plain evil, which cannot exist if de-tached from good. So the ‘natural’ result was death, hence the way the Torah phrases the procession of events in a passive tone (at midnight I will go out in Egypt, and all firstborns will die – Shemos 10:4-5), for the natural outgrowth of Hashem revealing Himself was death. The Egyptians’ shortfall was their refusal to admit truth, and their antidote and ultimate punish-ment was unequivocal exposure to undeniable truth.

Rabbi Shlomi WiseKLBD

דם

The Daas Zekeinim MiBaalei HaTosfos maintains that when the Torah relates, (Shemos 7:20) ויהפכו כל

ביאר אשר -And all the waters that were in the riv“ המים er were turned to blood,” in reality, the water merely adopted the appearance of blood whilst still retaining the taste of water. In order to prevent the Egyptians from drinking it, Hashem caused all the fish to die so that it would be undrinkable.Rabbeinu Yosef Bechor Shor (talmid of Rabbeinu Tam), the Riva and the Chizkuni are all of the opinion that the River Nile was actually turned into blood, how-ever, they explain that it only remained like this for a short period of time. As the Daas Zekeinim explains, the water was undrinkable only because of the dead fish. The Riva raises the point that according to this, the first plague should have been named after the dead fish! He explains that the water changing to blood was

more visible and dramatic. The fact that the water was putrid was not as noticeable.However, this is not the opinion of many of the Rishon-im. According to the Midrash Hagodol the Torah tells us about the plague in great detail to stress that the water turned into real blood. First the pasuk says,והדגה מתה ביאר all the fish died. I would imagine that - אשר the river stank of dead fish, why does the Torah have to then say,היאר the river became foul”? The“ - ויבאש Midrash explains that as well as the smell of the fish, the river also had a terrible smell of blood.The pasuk also says, והיה דם בכל ארץ מצרים ובעצים ובאבנים – apart from the river, ‘water that was in wood and stone turned to blood’, so much so that blood poured out from everywhere. For example, when a person want-ed to put dough in the oven, blood would come forth and extinguish the fire. When Pharaoh wanted to go into his palace, blood would flow out of the walls of the

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buildings. Even the many wooden and stone idols that were placed all around Egypt also spewed forth blood. According to the Midrashim not only did the water turn

into real blood, but the river becoming blood was only the beginning of their problems!

Rabbi Nissan WilsonSenior Rabbi of Redbridge United Synagogue, London and Vice-Chair of the Rabbinic Council of the United Synagogue

צפרדע

On conclusion of the first plague the river returned to its original state, its cool, clear waters once again

the source of the nation’s irrigation. Then, from these calm waters came a new storm - the cacophonous clat-ter of a multitude of frogs.Unlike the plague of blood, the plague of frogs did not afflict the river, but it is striking that it emerged from the river, indicating that the River Nile was in some way central to both of these plagues. To better understand the significance of the plague of frogs we must consider the actual nature of the suffer-ing that it caused the Egyptians. According to Rashi, for example, it is clear that nobody actually died from the plague. The frogs simply found their way into every corner of every house and croaked. The essence of the plague it seems was the noise itself. According to the Zohar, herein lies the secret of this plague. The Egyptian oppression had served to silence the Jews, constraining their ability to voice their deep-est feelings through the medium of daily prayer. This plague was ‘midah k’neged midah’ - retribution in kind - as each frog found its own voice and overwhelmed the Egyptians with noise.Reflecting on the central role of the River Nile in this

plague, we can take this idea one step further. The Mal-bim explains that as the Egyptians had thrown Jewish children into the river, the river was smitten by being turned to blood, representing the Jewish blood that had been spilled. This eugenic drowning of Jewish children was an act so heinous that even after the plague of blood had ended the Egyptians would receive yet an-other rebuke.Shrieking creatures bursting forth from the river would remind the Egyptians of the crying babies who had been silenced in that river. Like something out of a horror picture, the frogs would haunt them and taunt them, showing that they could never escape the mem-ory of their barbarous act.The plague of frogs may not, according to many of the commentaries, have inflicted physical pain or suffering upon the Egyptians, but the psychological pain would cause even those with the most hardened of conscienc-es to crack. For the Egyptians the frogs were a reminder that they were forever answerable for their horrific acts of mur-der. For the Jews, the Zohar teaches, the frogs were a sign that after two centuries of repression we would again find our voices and sing to Hashem.Sources: Rashi 7:27; Zohar, Shemos 29b; Malbim 7:25;

Rabbi Amrom NemethGolders Green Kollel

כנים

One of the big issues of Primary Schools worldwide is lice. It is very easy to spread lice around, espe-

cially amongst young children. In America between six and twelve million children are infested with lice each year. There are plenty of treatments available from specialised combs to creams. In fact it is becoming an increasingly popular profession for orthodox women to be lice ladies. Some say the reason for this is that they are used to checking lettuce for bugs. The Maha-ral however tells us that these lice, however awful, are immune from one thing. What is that?After Hashem had brought lice over the whole land of Mitzrayim, Paroh told his men to do the same. These magicians tried to do their usual by using the power of evil spirits and sheidim, but they were unsuccessful.

Rashi explains that lice are extremely small, even smaller than the size of a single grain of barley and demons do not have power over objects smaller than the size of a barley grain. This means that lice were unreachable to the sorcerers, since all they had was the power of demons and when the demons could not work they had no power. Of course the obvious ques-tion is - what does size have to do with anything? Why should a ghost or a demon not have power over any-thing smaller than the size of a grain of barley?The Maharal explains that something that is less than a size of a grain of barley does not receive tumah - im-purity since it is too small. The Torah tells us that only something which is large can receive tumah and not anything which is very small and less than the size of a grain of barley. The Gemara in Sanhedrin tells us that a demon works with channels of tumah. The whole

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power that he has in the world comes completely from places of tumah. So, only something which can receive tumah is capable of being affected by a demon - some-thing that is too small to receive regular tumah cannot be affected by a demon either. So the lesson that we can learn from the lice is quite clear. Mazikim and things that are damaging for us come from places of impurity. If we keep ourselves pure

and are careful about what we say, see and do, then we are not vulnerable to sheidim or mazikim. However, if we do not act with purity and are careless in these are-as, then we might attract these dangerous forces, since they are looking for anything that is mekabel tumah.However dirty and unpleasant lice may see, they are still immune from tumah – how much cleaner can something be?

Rabbi Yitsy David Chazak Schools Educator

ערוב

The Malbim in his hakdamah to the makkos explains the significance of dividing them into three groups.

(Really there are four groups – Makkas Bechoros was only there to free the Yidden as opposed to the first nine where Hashem did not want Paroh to free the Jews yet). Each group comes to teach a different lesson to the world.

Detzach - the existence of Hashem in the דצ״ך .1world ״בזאת תדע כי אני ה׳״ (ז:יז)

Adash – Hashem’s control over the world עד״ש .2 (hashgachah השגחה)״למען תדע כי אני ה׳ בקרב הארץ ״ (ח:יח)

Be’achab- Hashem being all-powerful באח״ב .3״בעבור תדע כי אין כמוני בכל-הארץ״ (ט:יד)

Arov is the first of the second set of the makkos, com-ing to teach Hashem’s hashgachah.The pasuk says (18:8 ח:יח)״והפליתי ביום ההוא את-ארץ גשן... למען תדע כי אני ה׳ בקרב הארץ״

– That this makkah will be different and not touch the land of Goshen.More than that Rashi understands the word “והפליתי” ve’hifleisi as lashon hafrashah - “Hashem will distin-guish the land of Goshen...”Yonasan Ben Uziel however explains it as lashon peleh - i.e this will be something that illustrates the wonders of Hashem’s control over nature. Rabbi Shamshon Refoel Hirsh suggests that it in fact means both! The distinction between Goshen and

Mitzrayim itself will illustrate the wonders of Hashem. The Rishonim’s pshat in this makkah and how it ex-plains hashgachah fits very nicely with Rav Hirsch’s understanding.Many Rishonim explain that v’hifleisi is the empha-sis on the nes that this makkah naturally should have expanded into Goshen as well, yet miraculously it did not, remaining within the borders of Mitzrayim.The question is however, what was so miraculous about Arov that it didn’t spread to Goshen. Surely the fact that dam, tzefardea and kinim were everywhere and only struck the Mitzriyim and not the Jews, surely il-lustrates Hashem’s hashgachah, ultimate control over nature more than wild animals not going in to Goshen?Perhaps we could suggest that this is the difference be-tween the first set of plagues and the second set.The first set were to prove the esssence of Hashem: they were l’maaleh min hatevah. Each of the first three was totally outside of Nature. They did not show Hashem’s control over Nature itself, but rather that Hashem is above and beyond Nature.Arov, however, expressed Hashem’s absolute control over every minor detail within Nature itself. The fact that wild animals who by definition roam free and spread wherever they choose, are under the complete control of Hashem to the extent that they cannot set foot areas which Hashem does not allow, is a level of hashgachah that was not previously expressed.Arov and this set of makkos are there to show the world and us that Hashem not only created the world, not only keeps it running but is intimately involved every second of every day in everything that happens within it.

Rabbi Yaacov BenzaquenJLE/Genesis Rabbi and Rav of Gibraltar Minyan

דבר

The first thing I noticed when I looked deeply into this makkah is its name- dever. And it caught my

attention that the psukim mention the root of the word quite a few times, with different meanings.

אליו… הנה ודברת אל-פרעה; בא אל-משה, ה' א ויאמר דה, בסוסים בחמרים בגמלים, יד-ה‘ הויה, במקנך אשר בש בבקר ובצאן--דבר, כבד מאד … ולא ימות מכל-לבני ישראל,

דבר. ה וישם ה‘, מועד לאמר: מחר, יעשה ה‘ הדבר הזה--בארץ. ו ויעש ה‘ את-הדבר הזה, ממחרת…

Firstly, in all previous plagues when Moshe and Aha-ron are told to go and speak to Paroh the expression used is Ve’amarta or Emor. It is only on this makkah that the language changes to vedibarta which also de-notes to speak, but in harsher terms. As the Torah continues to describe the plague it calls

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it- dever kaved me’od- ‘a very heavy plague.’ Then it points out that ve-lo yamus mikol livnei Yisrael davar –‘and from the children of Israel’s cattle, not a thing will die!’ Furthermore, Hashem decrees a time for this plague to take effect and says ‘Tomorrow, Hashem will do hadavar haze ba’aretz -this deed in the Land.The word davar in this narrative means to speak, a plague, a thing (object) and an action. It is clear that the essence of this plague is to demonstrate the fact that the word of Hashem can command an entity to produce a change in the world- and bring destruction upon Paroh and the Egyptians. As Rav Samson Raph-ael Hirsch writes in his commentary ‘Dever, the word of Hashem that fulfils itself suddenly in the death of that which is affected.’

The Malbim explains that this is the reason why when warning about this plague Moshe said that the plague will take place tomorrow. The plague as a manifesta-tion of Hashem’s direct word would take effect in one moment. It will differ from all other plagues in so far that it will not manifest as something that will develop and grow or spread, rather when the time arrives, it will just strike simultaneously and instantly everywhere!Rabbi Yehudah is quoted in the haggadah as the man responsible for the acronym of the 10 makkos. Detzach, Adash and Be’áchav. Adash is the middle word and its middle is the Daled that stands for dever. In the middle, at the heart of what a plague is, lies the fulfilment of Hashem’s word in the World in an object and in action.

Rabbi Shlomi WiseKLBD

שחין

(שמות ט' ח'-י') ויאמר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן קחו לכםמימה לעיני פרעה. מלא חפניכם פיח כבשן וזרקו משה הש

והיה לאבק על כל ארץ מצרים והיה על האדם ועל הבה־ מה לשחין פרח אבעבעת בכל ארץ מצרים. ויקחו את פיחמימה ויהי הכבשן ויעמדו לפני פרעה ויזרק אתו משה הש

שחין אבעבעת פרח באדם ובבהמה.

“And Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon: ‘Take for yourselves handfuls of soot of the furnace, and let Moshe throw it heavenward in the sight of Paroh. And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt and it will be-come boils breaking forth with blisters upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took soot of the furnace, and stood before Paroh; and Moshe threw it up heavenward; and it became boils breaking forth with blisters in man and in beast.”

Rabbi Shaul Lowenstam (1717-1790) in Binyan Ariel notes that in the commandment Hashem says that

the boils will be upon man and upon beast, whereas when the Torah describes what took place the pasuk says the boils were in man and in beast. Why the change of expression?

He answers this with a Midrash Shemos Rabbah (12, 4) “Three of the plagues came through the agency of Aharon, three through Moshe, three through Hashem, and one through the united efforts of all three. Blood, frogs and lice, being on the earth were through Aharon. Hailstones, locusts, and darkness, through Moshe, be-cause they were in the air and Moshe had power over earth and heaven. The wild beasts, the pestilence, and the smiting of the firstborn through Hashem, and the boils through all of them.”Rabbi Shmuel Yafeh Ashkenazi (16th century) in Yefeh To’ar explains that the three instigated by Hashem were plagues which directly killed the Egyptians and their animals. Only Hashem who gives life was able to take their lives. He further explains that boils were through all three. The soot came from the earth (Aha-ron), it was thrown into the air (Moshe), and it plagued man and beast (Hashem).We see that Moshe and Aharon caused the external ef-fects, and only Hashem dealt with the internal effects. Accordingly, when Hashem instructs Moshe and Aha-ron to take soot of the furnace, it was only necessary to tell them what their actions would cause - the boils upon man and beast. When the Torah related to us what actually took place, it includes what Hashem did and therefore it talks of the boils in man and beast.

Rabbi Jonny RossSenior Educator and Head of the Aish Manchester Office

ברד

Apparently there are three basic legal ways to deal with a stubborn person (there are a 103 illegal ones

and I’m not going to mention them in case I give you any ideas). Number one is stroking their egos, the sec-ond is patiently, but firmly persuading them they are wrong and the third is little by little effecting change.

G-d tries many approaches with Paroh but nothing really seems to work too well or for too long. Paroh’s insubordination is legendary The plague of hail is preceded by a warning that hail will descend upon the Egyptians, the likes of which they had never seen before. Anyone or indeed any-thing, left outside would be annihilated. It promised to

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be a level of destruction and carnage that would, un-der normal circumstances, strike terror in the hearts of most sane people. And yet, the Torah testifies that “Whoever among the servants of Pharoah feared the word of G-d, made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. And whoever did not take the word of G-d to heart – he left his servants and livestock in the field.” In other words, there were people who did not listen nor believe that this was really going to happen. Hail was already the seventh plague. Six other biblical events had taken their toll on the people of Egypt and Moses had been right every single time, predicting and warning what was about to take place with unerring accuracy. How was it that by affliction number seven, there were people who still just did not get it and left their worldly possessions out in the open, ready for G-d to smite them? It almost seems too impossible to believe. I was once at an airport queuing up to go through check-in when one of the security team came over, flashed his ID and asked if I wouldn’t mind helping in security training. My role was to swap passports with the man in front of me to see if the security team would notice the different person staring back at them when they checked me in. I agreed, mainly because he prom-ised that I would not have to stand in line anymore (ac-tually I said that if that was the offer I would be willing to swap passports with Osama Bin Laden)I now had a new passport and identity; I was Herschel, whose picture showed a red-headed chassid with large glasses, a ginger beard and long peyos. We could not have looked more different.Before I knew it, I was ushered in front of a young and obviously new security officer. She looked at my pass-port, held it up to my face to check the photo, asked me some rudimentary questions, crossed my name off a

list and told me to enjoy the flight. I was stunned. How had she not managed to spot the differences? The only resemblance we shared was that we both had a head!How could this security guard not notice that I wasn’t ginger? In 1969, Jerzy Kosinsky wrote a novel called Steps, which won the American National Book Award for fic-tion. Eight years later, somebody got hold of the book, retyped it and sent the manuscript with no title and under a false name to 27 major publishers in Ameri-ca. Not one of them recognised that it had already been published and all 27 of them rejected it, including Ran-dom House, the firm that had published the original. All it lacked was Kosinsky’s name, but without it, it was seen as utterly unexceptional.How could these publishers not notice that this man-uscript had already been written, submitted and pub-lished already? The answer to all of this lies in the words of our verse quoted above “did not take the word of G-d to heart”. Sometimes we just do not pay any attention and we shut ourselves off from messages that are constantly being beamed down to us from upon High. And even though the evidence hits us right in the face, we often do not see it because we do not really want to. Our eyes are open but we just are not looking and we make mis-takes simply because we do not take the time to really have a good look at what is in front of us.Are we only interested in our world, our life, our interests? Often events occur that should jar us into rethinking our current situations. But our minds are set, our hearts are pre-determined, and our conclusions are foregone. The world around us is filled with miraculous events, some, perhaps greater than all of the plagues put to-gether. All we have to do is listen.

Rabbi Zvi PortnoyRav Loughton Federation Synagogue

MOSHE’S VIEW OF PAROH: LOST CAUSE VS - ארבהPOTENTIAL BAAL TESHUVAH

With Parshas Bo we begin to read about the final 3 makkos, the first of which was arbe locusts. If we

look through the pesukim of Rishon and Sheini, ques-tions abound about the unique interaction between Moshe and Paroh and the way in which this makkah oc-cured. Firstly it is interesting to note that whereas with all the other makkos Hashem tells Moshe what the next makkah will be, there is a glaring omission in makas arbe - no mention of it between Hashem and Moshe. The Ramban offers the simplest solution to this question by stating that the Torah was keeping this as brief as pos-sible but obviously Hashem told Moshe prior to his visit-ing Paroh regarding what the plague would entail. Yet I would like to focus on the relationship between Moshe and Paroh in this makkah. Firstly why did Paroh ask for forgiveness not only from Hashem but also from

Moshe in this makkah? Surely the removal of the mak-kah as in the previous makkos would suffice!? Indeed why only in this makkah did Paroh expel Moshe from his sight? How could Moshe simply walk away from Paroh? The pasuk tells us: ‘vayifen vayeitsei mei’im Paroh’, that Moshe turned and left Paroh. We know Moshe was in-structed to give Paroh honour fitting to a king! The Ohr Hachaim offers a beautiful insight into the mind-set of Paroh. He knew after the makkah of barad that things were coming to a head, Hashem was ‘getting serious’ and therefore he declared: ‘I have sinned, Hashem is righteous and I and my people are wicked’. In other words he became a baal teshuvah, he saw the light so to speak, and realised all the wrong doings of his past. Yet a few pesukim later he regresses into his old self, as we are told ‘vayosef lachato’ he continued to sin. There-fore despite the honour Moshe had shown him until this point, he felt he was no longer able to do so. He now treated him like a regular person. Until makkas barad

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Moshe felt there was hope for him and accorded him ka-vod malchus. You were there! You saw The King with you own eyes! For someone to see the Yad Hashem, to appreciate how wrong they had been, to stare truth in the face and yet fail to reflect it in one’s actions was too much, and therefore Moshe no longer felt it necessary to display honour to Paroh. Therefore Paroh realising his own failure to maintain his previous teshuvah and the subsequent lack of respect shown to him by Moshe in contrast to the previous manner in which moshe treated him, repels Moshe –Vayegoresh osam me’eis pnei Paroh.

Yet the Ramban takes a totally different approach in why Moshe left Paroh as he did. Paroh and indeed his advisors were not fools. After makkas barad, Paroh and the Mitzriyim were afraid they would die. The hail left over a measly bit of grain, giving them false

hopes for survival which the arbe would decimate. Says the Ramban Moshe knew they were walking a psychological tightrope, afraid of dying in famine, he knew they were scared and so rather than putting them on the spot left them to mull over what he had told them. It is a trick every fundraiser knows well. If you ask for a response immediately it may not be the one you want! He wanted them to do teshuvah, to ponder Hashem’s message, to think about it. Even if they just knew in their heart of hearts that Hashem runs the world, what a Kiddush Hashem that would be, albeit very short-lived but nevertheless a Kiddush Hashem. A Kiddush Hashem, even if someone sub-sequently regresses, even if it is for a few moments has a profound impact, an impact that we must never underestimate, even if we are ultimately looking to-wards long term results.

R’ Daniel NeviesMaggid Shiur Nishmas Yisroel

חשך

מים, ויהי חשך, על-ארץ ויאמר ה‘ אל-משה, נטה ידך על-השמצרים; וימש, חשך

‘Stretch out your hand in the direction of the sky and there will be darkness in the land of Egypt; Moses did so, and there was palpable darkness in the land of Egypt...whereas in all the dwellings of the Israelites there was light’. (Shemos 10:21).

The Kedushas Levi points out that although Rashi already focused on the meaning of the words ‘Vay-

omosh choshech’ (the darkness was tangible), we also need to understand why the Torah chose to emphasise that in all the dwellings of the Israelites they continued to enjoy normal daylight. Why did the Torah not merely write that the Israelites were not struck with darkness?

The Kedushas Levi explains that at the time of crea-tion, there was an intense and overpowering bright-ness which surrounded the Ribono Shel Olam. In or-der for the various creatures of the universe to survive without succumbing to the intensity of this bright-ness, Hashem had to adjust the light in accordance with the various creatures’ ability to withstand it. Hashem therefore ensured that each region of the uni-verse was exposed to the amount that it was able to tolerate, with differing degrees of intensity. The Kedu-shas Levi elucidates that even the malachim, in their realm, were not exposed to the intensity of the bright-ness that surrounded Hashem prior to the time of cre-ation and furthermore that different categories of an-gels resided in different regions which corresponded

to their ability to endure the intensity of that light. Moreover, the malachim were forbidden from enter-ing into higher spheres where the brightness was of a higher intensity so as not to blind them and likewise, were not allowed to look into the lower regions that were less brightly illuminated (as alluded to in Isaiah 6.2), where he describes the angels using two of their feet to cover their faces and two to cover their feet With two‘ .בשתים יכסה פניו, ובשתים יכסה רגליו--ובשתים יעופף)[wings] he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew’), which as the Kedushas Levi explains, refers to their inability to go above or below their respective region.

The Bnei Yisrael, however, are able to use Torah and mitzvos as a protective shield/screen against this brightness, which enables them to withstand the in-tensity of the light in any of the regions. By contrast, the wicked people of the world, will not have the shield of Torah and Mitzvos and will succumb to the brightness and be obliterated. Thus, when the Torah describes the impact which the plague of choshech had on the Mitzriim, the Kedushas Levi explained the word ‘Vayomosh’ as ‘ a removal’ of this screen/shield that protects one against the brightness. This explains why ‘in the dwellings of the Israelites there was light’, as they were guarded by the screen through their ze-chus ovos.

After the plague of choshech, the Bnei Yisrael were giv-en their first mitzvos: Rosh Chodesh, Korban Pesach, and Bris Milah which, along with the other mitzvos would continue to act as a protective screen, guarding them from the brightness of the lights of creation.

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Rabbi Yonasan RoodynAish UK and Chief Editor of Oneg Pesach

מכת בכורות

The climax of the ten makkos was the real killer! As midnight struck, every firstborn dropped down

dead. The shrieks of despair were heard across the country, with no Egyptian household immune. In its aftermath, Paroh, who himself was a firstborn, ran to Goshen, begging for his life, imploring the Bnei Yisrael to leave immediately.

There are many layers of significance to this makkah, especially if we understand that the firstborn of every Egyptian family was revered as a god. The hashkafah of Mitzrayim was that ‘might makes right,’ and so the one who was born first had power just because of his position in the family. During makkas bechoros, the Egyptians were taught the lesson that 'ה גויים על ,רם ‘Hashem is exalted among nations’ -that He runs the world, and all human efforts are futile against His will.

By way of contrast, Bnei Yisrael are called בני בחורי ישראל,‘My son, My firstborn, Yisrael.’ The idea of בחורה

bechorah throughout the Torah is that the firstborn has a greater responsibility to the rest of the family. That is why according to some mefarshim the בחור bechor re-ceives a double portion of the ירושה yerushah inheritance - to help him take care of the others. He is older, more connected to the previous generation and therefore ought to be more acutely aware of his responsibility.

This is the great victory of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the exo-dus of a weak nation, who had no physical power, but who through their spirit were able to become the ממלכת -mamleches Kohanim v’goy kadosh ‘king , כהנים וגוי קדושdom of priests and holy nation’ - the people who would receive the Torah and ultimately bring the whole world to a recognition of Hashem’s Kingship.

The strength of Klal Yisrael has never been in our phys-ical prowess, as that is something that can never last. Rather ours is an ever enduring strength of spirit, of אם ruchnius as the pasuk says רוחניות כי בכח ולא בחיל לא Not by might and not by power, but‘ .ברוחי אמר ה' צבא-ותby My spirit, said the Lord of Hosts.’

רבי יהודה היה נותן בהם סמנים:ישפוך מן הכוס ג"פ:

דצ"ך עד"ש באח"ב:

Rabbi Daniel FineMaggid Shiur, Gesher Program, Aish Jerusalem

דצ"ך עד"ש באח"ב

Rabbi Yehudah ascribed a mnemonic to the ten plagues: Detazah Adash Be’Achav.

Why break them up into these three groupings? The-Haga’os Maimoniyos cites several explanations: the Ra’avan writes that the first group were performed via Aharon, the second group via Moshe without his staff, and the third via Moshe with his staff.

The Abarbanel explains that the groups represent the

progressive submission of Paroh: for the first group Hashem had to command Moshe to ‘wake up early in the morning’ to catch Paroh. For the next group it was sufficient to tell Moshe to ‘go to Paroh,’ and by the final group of plagues no introduction was necessary (by the end Paroh was searching for Moshe).

Others focus on the different goals of these three groups and how they showed Hashem’s supremacy over all aspects of the physical world.

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שלקו אומר אתה מנין אומר, הגלילי יוסי רבי ים המצרים במצרים עשר מכות ועל הים לקו חמשמכות. במצרים מה הוא אומר, ויאמרו החרטמים אל ועל הים מה הוא אומר, פרעה אצבע אלהים היא. וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה אשר עשה יי במצרים כמה עבדו. ובמשה ביי ויאמינו יי את העם וייראו לקו באצבע עשר מכות. אמור מעתה, במצרים לקו

ים מכות עשר מכות ועל הים לקו חמש

Rabbi Zecharia ReznickJLE

רבי יוסי הגלילי

Well done!

The children have sung their songs, you’ve said inspirational divrei Torah and now you are closing in on the end of Maggid. The kids are getting sleepy, your stomach is rumbling, and you cannot wait for your Hillel sandwich!

However just before that, we have the machlokes be-tween the three great tannaim, Rebbi Yosi HaGlig-li, Rebbi Eliezer, and Rebbi Akiva. Take a moment to appreciate the machlokes. Each opinion darshens pesukim, comparing Yetzias Mitzrayim (referred to as the finger of Hashem) with Kriyas Yam Suf (referred to as the hand of Hashem). They debate whether there were 50, 200, or 250 miracles at the sea.

Why are these three Torah giants having this ma-chlokes and what are we to take away from it?

Imagine that I give you a watch. I hope you will say, “Thank you!” By doing so, I see that you are happy and my gift was well received. Alternatively, what if you told me that your watch broke a few weeks ago and you always need to know the time. You have been late to countless appointments and were going crazy. What if you had concluded, “This watch is exactly what I

needed! I love the colour of the strap, the watch face is very readable and the date feature is a must. I cannot thank you enough!”

Now how do we both feel? I understand that I have giv-en you an amazing gift, and you have reminded your-self that you have received so much, and feel indebted to me.

This is why there is a machlokes about how many nis-sim miracles occurred at the Yam Suf. Do you recall the beginning of Maggid when we said, “V’chol hamar-beh l’saper b’Yetzias Mitzrayim, harey zeh meshubach”? That is exactly what these tannaim were doing now l’maaseh. Telling us precisely about all the miracles that happened then, so that we truly value them.

So too, we must do the same. Ask someone at your table right now to take the time and think about a daily “miracle from Hashem” they have never appreciated. Be creative, there are so many! Have them speak about it for 30 seconds and appreciate every point they make.

This is the lesson from this central machlokes. The three tannaim are demonstrating how important it is to actively look for the miracles in our day-to-day life. We need to create a “Gratitude Attitude”!

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שהביא ומכה מכה שכל מנין אומר, אליעזר רבי היתה של במצרים המצרים על ברוך הוא הקדוש עברה אפו חרון בם ישלח שנאמר, מכות. ארבע וזעם וצרה משלחת מלאכי רעים. עברה אחת. וזעם ארבע. רעים מלאכי משלחת שלש. וצרה שתים. אמור מעתה, במצרים לקו ארבעים מכות ועל הים

מכות: מאתים לקו שהביא ומכה מכה שכל מנין אומר, עקיבא רבי היתה של במצרים המצרים על ברוך הוא הקדוש חמש מכות. שנאמר, ישלח בם חרון אפו עברה וזעם וצרה משלחת מלאכי רעים. חרון אפו אחת. עברה מלאכי משלחת ארבע. וצרה שלש. וזעם שתים. ים חמש לקו במצרים מעתה אמור חמש. רעים

מכות: ומאתים ים חמש לקו הים ועל מכות

Rabbi Danny KirschDirector of the JLE

Yesod V’shoresh Ha’avoda teaches that at the Seder, it is appropriate to inform those present about the

Ten Miracles that were done for Bnei Yisrael at Krias Yam Suf, the splitting of the Red Sea. R’ Zalman Sorotzkin in the Oznaim LaTorah draws our attention to the Gemara in Shabbos 133 where we learn from the words “Zeh Keli vanvehu - this is my G-d and I will glorify Him” (Shemos 15:3) sung in the famous shirah of Krias Yam Suf, that we must strive to beautify our performance of mitzvos: for example a lovely sukkah, a fine lulav, shofar or tzitzis. The question is why do we deduce that we must beautify every mitzvah we do specifically from this passuk? He answers based on the Mechiltah that not only did Hashem save us from the Mitzriyim, but the way in which he performed miracles at the sea made the night we “spent” there considerably more pleasant. The Mechiltah lists ten such miracles, in-cluding the provision of fresh water, beautiful fragranc-es, a paved block of ice, blocks on the sea floor, etc. Chazal therefore instruct us to go beyond the basic observance of the mitzvos that Hashem commands

us to do, reminding us that He went far beyond for us when he took us out of Egypt and led us through the Yam Suf. When we think about what was done for us and how it was done, we are forced to rethink how we should perform mitzvos for Hashem. The Yesod V’shoresh Ha’avoda recommends learning the Bartenura’s commentary on the fifth perek of Pirkei Avos where he describes the wonders and beauty that our forefathers witnessed at the splitting of the sea and that we should try to imagine ourselves experiencing and benefitting from Hashem’s kindness. When we see the three-way machlokos between R’ Yos-si Hagelili, R’ Eliezer and R’ Akiva in the haggadah, we see the miracles upon miracles that were performed for us. “Zeh Keli vanvehu” reminds us that when we do mitzvos we should do them in a way that shows our ap-preciation, not only for the miracles themselves, but for the way in which they were performed for Klal Yisrael and as a result, we should truly glorify Hashem each time we perform His commandments.

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כמה מעלות טובות למקום עלינו:דינו: אלו הוציאנו ממצרים, ולא עשה בהם שפטים דינו: אלו עשה בהם שפטים, ולא עשה באלהיהם דינו: אלו עשה באלהיהם, ולא הרג את בכוריהם דינו: אלו הרג את בכוריהם, ולא נתן לנו את ממונם דינו: אלו נתן לנו את ממונם, ולא קרע לנו את הים דינו: אלו קרע לנו את הים, ולא העבירנו בתוכו בחרבה דינו: אלו העבירנו בתוכו בחרבה, ולא שקע צרינו בתוכו

אלו שקע צרינו בתוכו,דינו: ולא ספק צרכנו במדבר ארבעים שנה

אלו ספק צרכנו במדבר ארבעים שנה,דינו: ולא האכילנו את המן דינו: בת אלו האכילנו את המן, ולא נתן לנו את השדינו: בת, ולא קרבנו לפני הר סיני אלו נתן לנו את השדינו: אלו קרבנו לפני הר סיני, ולא נתן לנו את התורה דינו: אלו נתן לנו את התורה, ולא הכניסנו לארץ ישראל

אלו הכניסנו לארץ ישראל,דינו: ולא בנה לנו את בית הבחירה

על אחת כמה וכמה טובה כפולה ומכפלת למקום שפטים. בהם ועשה ממצרים. שהוציאנו עלינו. את לנו ונתן בכוריהם. את והרג באלהיהם. ועשה ממונם. וקרע לנו את הים. והעבירנו בתוכו בחרבה.

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ארבעים במדבר צרכנו וספק בתוכו. צרינו ושקע בת. וקרבנו שנה. והאכילנו את המן. ונתן לנו את השלפני הר סיני. ונתן לנו את התורה. והכניסנו לארץ כל על לכפר הבחירה בית את לנו ובנה ישראל.

עונותינו:

Rabbi Aubrey HershJLE

דינו

Dayenu highlights 15 elements of thanks to Haka-dosh Baruch Hu as opposed to encapsulating

the hakoras hatov in one expression of הודאה hodayah thanksgiving. Unlike every other night of the year, when a simple expression of thanks suffices, on Seder night we are required to detail what we mean by grati-tude for Yetzias Mitzrayim.

The obvious question, however, concerns the details which were chosen to make up the 15 dayenus. Many of them are unrelated to Yetzias Mitzrayim! Some are not even relevant to the generation that left Egypt (הכניסו and brought us into the Land’). And the final one‘ לארץhappened 400 years later, in the month of Tishrei?

A second question relates to another aspect of the hag-gadah: the main four pesukim of Maggid. These are, ארמי אבד אבי, וירעו, ונצעק, ויוצאנו

Why did the Baal Haggadah choose pesukim from Sefer Devarim (parshas bikkurim) rather than Sefer Shemos which surely has more source material?

An answer to both would be that it is critical on Seder night to appreciate the true purpose of Yetzias Mitzrayim

and to understand that it had goals far beyond physical redemption - which although a significant milestone, was still only a means to an end. We would still need to acquire and incorporate various elements (מתן תורה, כני־-Matan Torah, entering the Land) before we ac סה לארץtually fulfilled the real goal of Yetzias Mitzrayim with בנין .Binyan Beis Hamikdash – building the Temple בביהמ״ק

As such, דיינו Dayenu sets the perspective for Seder night, and bikkurim gives a retrospective because ביכו־-bikkurim, bringing the first fruits, is the only mitz ריםvah in the Torah which requires all four elements of Dayenu to be present: the person reciting the parshah has to be free, has to have accepted the Torah, has to have entered (and own land in) Eretz Yisrael and has to live during the time of a beis hamikdash.

The four pesukim from bikkurim form the centre piece of Maggid because they are central to ensuring that Yet-zias Mitzrayim is understood within the context of the next three stages. Similarly Dayenu relates to matters beyond the physical geulah, because we are required to look further forward beyond Sefer Shemos, to truly be able to envision the reason Hashem took us out.

Rabbi Rephoel Zev GodlewskyEdgware Torah Centre

דינו

אילו קרבנו לפני הר סיני ולא נתן לנו את התורה – דיינו.

‘Had He brought us close before Har Sinai and not given the Torah to us, it would have been enough for us.’

Although the goal is receiving the Torah, it seems from here that even without the Torah there is val-

ue in simply being present at Har Sinai. What can this value be?

Bnei Yisrael arrived at Har Sinai on Rosh Chodesh

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Sivan, yet the Torah was not given until the sixth or the seventh of Sivan.13 What happened at Har Sinai on the days between Rosh Chodesh and the day of Mattan Torah?

On day two, Hashem ‘brought us close’ in a special way, choosing us as His nation. Indeed, this day is called ‘Yom Ha-Meyuchas’ המיוחס the day on 14,יום which we obtained our ‘yichus’, being brought close, into the ‘royal family’. This is made clear in the Torah, where Hashem gives us three gifts: 1) to be treasured by Hashem – explained by Targum Unkelos as ‘pre-cious’; 2) to be a kingdom of Kohanim – meaning both ‘nobles’ as well as ‘those who minister’; and 3) a holy nation.15 This is the value of being present at Har Sinai, independent of receiving the Torah.

On the name ‘Har Sinai’, the Gemara16 explains, ‘Why is it called Sinai? Isn’t Horeb its name? It is called Si-nai because on it ‘sinah’ שנאה, hatred, descended to the nations’. One interpretation is that the hatred that the nations have against Bnei Yisrael came to them as a result of Har Sinai. Rashi explains that this is because they did not accept the Torah.

However, this explanation requires clarification. The Torah was offered to the other nations before it was of-fered to Bnei Yisrael.17 If they had first right of refusal, why do they hold it against Yisrael that Yisrael accept-ed the Torah and they did not? To understand this, we need to examine exactly what they were offered: they were offered only the laws of the Torah, not the ‘close-ness’ offered to Bnei Yisrael.

Without this special closeness, they felt that they were unable to keep even the basic Noahide laws that Hashem mentioned to them. They envied not the laws that Hashem gave to Yisrael, but the closeness that

13 Talmud Bavli, Shabbos, 88a.14 Discussed in Taamei Ha-Minhagim.15 Shemos 19:5-6 and commentaries.16 Talmud Bavli, Shabbos, 89a.17 Talmud Bavli, Avoda Zara, 2b.

Hashem gave to Yisrael, which enables Yisroel to re-ceive Hashem’s Torah with confidence and the inner strength. For us, the laws of the Torah are not seen as inconvenient, almost impossible regulations. Rather, we see the Torah and mitzvos as expressions of the special gift of closeness with Hashem: Torah allows us to shape ourselves in such a way that brings out our inner nobility, our ‘closeness’ with Hashem. Thus, Targum Yonasan ben Uziel begins each of the aseres ha-dibros and many other mitzvos with the introducto-ry phrase ‘My nation Bnei Yisrael’ עמי בני ישראל, stress-ing that the mitzvos should not be viewed as a burden (implied in the mis-translation of aseres ha-dibros as 10 ‘commandments’) but that they should give us pride in being Hashem’s nation, part of the ‘royal family’.

Indeed, the three above-mentioned gifts that Hashem gave us, with which He brought us ‘close’, into the ‘roy-al family’, are actually empowerments to remain holy and special – in other words: ‘noble’ – even while living in this material world. In two of the morning brachos, the ברכות השחר, we recognize this unique empowerment and nobility that Hashem gives specifically to Bnei Yis-rael. Thus whereas the wording of most of those bra-chos is not specific to Bnei Yisrael, two of them are: 1) ‘He who girds Yisrael with strength’ בגבורה ישראל ,אוזר referring to the belt that separates between our lower parts and our heart, indicating the nobility that allows us to control our base instincts; and 2) ‘He who crowns Yisrael with glory’ בתפארה ישראל -referring specifi ,עוטר cally to the head tefillin, giving us the merit of having Hashem’s name on us.18

In conclusion, we see the exactness of the wording: 1) דיינו ... סיני הר לפני ’קרבנו‘ אילו Hashem brought us close, becoming part of the ‘royal family’; 2) the power that we have through Torah to overcome inappropriate temptations comes from the relationship of Har Sinai.

18 Talmud Bavli, Berachos, 6a, quoting Devarim 28:10.

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Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld - HALACHOS - פסח, מצה, ומרור - PESACH, MATZAH, MAROR

When saying- מרור זה מצה זו matzah zu, maror zeh, the matzos or maror should be raised to show every-one.1 However, when saying פסח שהיו אבותינו Pesach she’hayu avoseinu the bone on the Seder plate should not be raised, but those present should look at it while reciting this passage.2

1 שו"ע סו"ס תעג ס"ז.2 מ"ב ס"ק עב.

רבן גמליאל היה אומר, כל שלא אמר שלשה דברים אלו בפסח לא יצא ידי חובתו, ואלו הן:

פסח. מצה. ומרור:פסח שהיו אבותינו אוכלים בזמן שבית המקדש היה קים על שום מה. על שום שפסח הקדוש ברוך הוא על בתי אבותינו במצרים. שנאמר, ואמרתם זבח פסח הוא ליי אשר פסח על בתי בני ישראל במצרים בנגפו

את מצרים ואת בתינו הציל ויקד העם וישתחוו:

Rabbi Yaakov HamerRav Finchley Federation, Executive Director, Shaarei Orah

פסח

The Korban Pesach is the first korban which the Bnei Yisrael brought and serves as the ultimate paradigm

of service for all generations. When describing this ko-rban, the Torah mentions three conditions it must ful-fil: זכר שנה and תמים, .tamim, zachar, and ben shanah בן The animal should be complete without blemish, male and one year old. What is the significance of these three traits? Rav Hirsch (B’Maaglei Shana volume 3) explains that these three concepts are essential to the Jewish peo-ple and their service of Hashem. If a person understands and is able to internalise what the Torah is demanding when bringing the Korban Pesach, they can then use this formula to succeed in their avodas Hashem in general. Firstly, there is a requirement of תמימות temimus. This word denotes completion, perfection and total commit-ment. A person must devote themselves and be focused in their service of Hashem as opposed to serving Hashem half-heartedly. When Avraham Avinu reached his most perfect state after fulfilling the mitzvah of bris milah, the passuk describes him as a tamim. He was able to devote himself entirely to his Maker. He reached a level of per-fection in his body, his soul and his intellect. In order for a person to succeed in his service of Hashem there must be a willingness to devote his entire essence.

The second trait one needs in order to excel is to be a זכר zachar. Does this mean to say that females cannot suc-ceed? Not at all! The concept of זכר zachar, in its abstract form is associated with strength, force and initiation, traits traditionally considered male but accessible to all. Rav Hirsch says that in many other religions, followers are en-couraged to be meek and passive. Judaism demands the opposite! Be strong, assertive and bold. If a person wants to succeed in their avodas Hashem, they must be aggres-sive and proactive. Don’t wait for opportunities to come your way; seek them out and chase after them!The final trait the Torah mentions about the Korban Pe-sach is בן שנה, ben shanah one year old. This means that a person must remain energetic, enthusiastic and young at heart in order to succeed. Chazal teach us that every day, divrei Torah should be fresh and new to us as if דברי תורהwe just received it today. Just like our service of Hashem began with the Korban Pesach, so too, every day we continue with the Korban Tamid which also has these three requirements, זכר, תמים and שנה tamim, zachar and ben shanah. In the times בן of the Beis Hamikdash, every single day we would serve Hashem with this three-pronged formula. So too, until the time it is rebuilt, in order to succeed in our avodas Hashem, we must endeavour to serve Him with complete focus, strength, energy and passion.

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אוחז המצה בידו ומראה אותה למסובין:Hold up the matzah and show it to everyone at your table

על שום שלא מה. על שום שאנו אוכלים זו מצה שנגלה עד להחמיץ אבותינו של בצקם הספיק עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא וגאלם. ממצרים הוציאו אשר הבצק את ויאפו שנאמר, עגת מצות כי לא חמץ כי גרשו ממצרים ולא יכלו

להם: עשו לא צדה וגם להתמהמה

Rabbi Reuven StepskyAssociate Director / Director of Education JLE London

A MESSAGE FROM MATZAH - מצה

The month of ניסן Nissan is ראש חדשים rosh chodashim - the beginning of the months, Pesach is the time of

the birth of the Jewish nation. Just take a look outside your window and you’ll see the trees in blossom- the beginning of a new natural cycle. Pesach is a time for new beginnings, change and renewal.Just like השנה Rosh Hashanah – the beginning of ראש the year - is a time for תשובה teshuvah, a time of change and return, similarly פסח is a time of תשובה, change and return. However they are very different. Whilst Rosh Hashanah is a time of מיראה teshuvah mi’yirah תשובה - repentance out of fear and reverence for Hashem, Pesach is a time of מאהבה teshuvah me’ahavah תשובה – repentance out of love of our Creator. Teshuvah out of love is a much greater level as חז"ל Chazal tell us, one who does תשובה teshuvah out of fear, his intention-al sins are considered as unintentional sins. However, one who does תשובה teshuvah out of love, his sins be-come merits!Reb Yoel the Rebbe of Satmar, ztv”l, explained this con-cept in a very beautiful way. On ראש השנה Rosh Hashan-ah we have the minhag of Tashlich, when we go to a river and symbolically throw our aveiros into the water. For Pesach however, we go to the river and take that wa-ter where we threw our sins and use it to bake matzos, thus elevating our תשובה teshuvah to a new level of love. Why do we find teshuvah and change so difficult? What is holding us back?

One of the Yetzer Hara’s strategies is that he is a great historian. He drags us into the past and reminds us about the things we should not have done, and about the things we could and should have done. The Yetzer Hara burdens us and tries to hold us in the past. The matzah shows us that the way forward. We first mention matzah at the beginning of Maggid when we say הא לחמא עניא ha lachmya anya – this is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in Egypt - this reminds us that in order to do teshuvah we need to look at our past, when we were in both physical and spiritual slavery. However when we describe the matzah now, it reminds us of the redemption and freedom from that slavery. This is to remind us that we are now free from the past, we must leave the baggage behind and start fresh.Likutei sichos says a hint to this idea is found in the Hebrew words for מצה matzah and חמץ chametz. Both consist of three letters; two of them, the מ and צ are the same, the only difference between them is the third letter. Matzah is spelled with a ה ,whereas chametz is spelled with a ח. Both the ה and the ח have an open-ing below representing the gaping “entrance doorway to sin” as it says in Bereishis 4:7 “sin lies at the door”. However the ה is different from the ח in that it has a tiny exit gap on the upper left, suggestive of the small open-ing of teshuvah, a place where sins may depart, where we dump them outside and not let the past haunt us. Let us utilise this new beginning and take the matzah’s message; to do תשובה מאהבה teshuvah me’ahavah mov-ing forward and upwards and onwards.

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Rabbi Zvi GefenAISH UK

וידעת את ה' – פסח THE ESSENCE OF - מצה

Why do we eat matzah? Most people will answer, “Since when the Jews left Egypt they didn’t have

time to let their dough rise.”We could reply – why not let it rise now? When you make challos and they aren’t rising, you leave the dough for longer. The Midrash shows us how much time there was that night The Jews were sitting there eating their קרבן פסח Korban Pesach– with their walking sticks all ready to go out – shoes on because they were told they will be rushing out. At midnight all the firstborn are dying, the Egyp-tians are pounding on the doors, screaming, “Leave our country!” “Get out!” and the Jews say, “Sorry, not until Hashem tells us so.” The Midrash continues - Then the Jews start their door to door search for jewellery. Moshe Rabbeinu instructs the Jews to cut down trees to take with them, and Moshe Rabbeinu himself is busy looking for the bones of Yosef. The sun has risen; the Egyptians are still screaming, “Get out of this country!” “Just go!” And at that mo-ment, the Jews decide to bake bread. What a great time to bake bread! What does it really mean that their dough did not have time to rise? It seems that they could have had plenty of time.The Maharal explains – it was the morning , the Jews who had been waiting to go out had not yet been told that they were now supposed to leave. So they decid-ed amongst themselves – its morning, we are about to go on a long journey, let’s eat breakfast. So there they were all baking bread and G-d says, “Now leave.” Maharal asks, “Why did Hashem force them then against their will to leave Egypt?” To teach them a lesson and to teach the Jewish people for all generations that the only way we were able to leave Egypt was only through G-d. And we had nothing to do with it. The Jews were not ready to leave and if they had left when they were ready, it would have given the impres-sion that they were somewhat in control of their גאולה redemption. Therefore Hashem said, “No, wait until I say to leave.” In that way, no one will ever be able to say that the Jews left Egypt because of their own capabilities. No one could take any credit for any movement. They did not want to go, the only reason they went out was because Hashem pushed them.The essence of the whole Seder night is to put this message inside one of us and inside everyone one of our children – that everything is Hashem

A story is told of the Bnei Yissoschor on the first day of Pesach – the chassidim came over to the Rebbe the day after the Seder and said, “Thank you, Rebbe. We never saw such a beautiful Seder in our lives.” The Rebbe replied, “What do you mean? Have you nev-er seen Moshe the water carrier’s Seder?” The chassi-dim did not understand this, so they went to ask Moshe what the Rebbe meant. Moshe was very embarrassed and begged the Chas-sidim, “Please don’t make me tell you, I’ll never do it again.” Moshe said that he was the town drunk. “Yesterday I realised that I couldn’t drink for 8 days so I drunk during the day until I couldn’t drink any more. I found myself by the door of my house, as the sun began to de-scend – everyone was going to shul. I was lying in bed, and my wife wanted to start the Seder. She screamed, “The children are waiting, and everyone is having Sed-er.” I was woken up in the middle of my sleep. I was so upset – I couldn’t come to the Seder , but I wanted to tell my children just a few words. My wife saw what I wanted and brought all the children in. I spoke to them and I said, “You should know I have drunk all my life, I’m sorry and I will never do it again. I know you have missed the actual Seder, but let me tell you a bit. You should know that there is one God in the world Who created the world; the people of the flood destroyed it. Hashem had to bring the mabul. The Avos and Imohos rebuilt the world. Yaakov and his sons’ families were slaves. And Hashem took us out, and he will take us out again. We sing והיא שעמדה Ve’hi she’am-dah in every generation they stand up and He takes us out. Always remember that you are Jews and swear to me that you will be loyal to the Jews and Hashem.” That was it - I fell asleep. Moshe said to the Rebbe, “I will never do it again.”The Rebbe said, “I wish I could have been a guest at that Seder – to tell his children so clearly about Hashem. With no maror, no wine, a simple Jew was saying to be good Jews and Hashem has a special plan.”We need to drive this message home – everything is Hashem. We cannot do anything without His help.We have to learn from that how to express ourselves. We are inhibited. We do not like to say Hashem – be-cause we are too proud. We need to talk to our kids’ -Yedi 'ידעת ה Bring Hashem into the house. That is .ס"דas Hashem – knowing Hashem. Therefore the emunah of Yetzias Mitzrayim isn’t just, “Yes, I believe in Hashem.” Instead it is an understand-ing that all is from Hashem. Making Hashem part of our lives. He does everything. Hashem takes care of us. At all times He is looking out for the best, and looking to give us brachah.

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אוחז המרור בידו ומראה אותו למסובין:Hold the Moror up and show it to everyone at your table

מרור זה שאנו אוכלים על שום מה. על שום שמררו המצרים את חיי אבותינו במצרים. שנאמר, וימררו את חייהם בעבדה קשה בחמר ובלבנים ובכל עבדה

דה את כל עבדתם אשר עבדו בהם בפרך: בש

Rabbi Binyomin Zev GoldbergAuthor of ‘Koloh D’Yaakov’ on the weekly Parsha and the Moadim

BITTER LIVES AND SHORTENED SLAVERY

ה קשה וימררו את חייהם בעבד

“And they embittered their lives.” (Rabban Gamliel used to say…)

The above words are both written with their cantil-lation notes above them. The first, וימררו vayemar-

eru ‘and they embittered’ is written with a קדמא kadma and the second, חייהם chayeihem ‘their lives’ with an azla. The cognoscenti will know that this means אזלאthat these two words are each read with a rising note, with the notes hemselves meaning “forward,” and “go forth.”

The Ta’amei Haminhagim, quoting another source, explains that these notes are extremely relevant to the meaning of the words. It is well known, he writes, that the Jews should have been enslaved for 400 years, as

Hashem originally told Avraham. However, one of the explanations given for their actual enslavement only lasting for 210 years is that their slavery was so intense and bitter, that these 210 years was the equivalent of a more normal slavery of 400 years. This intensity, adds the Ta’amei Haminhagim, is hinted at in the words in the above pasuk, “They embittered their lives.” As such, it is appropriate that the trop on these words con-sists of a קדמא kadma and an אזלא azla,

since it was these words that made the Jews go for-ward and go forth from Mitzrayim before their time.

Furthermore, he concludes, the Gematria of the words v’azla is 190, hinting to the fact ואזלא kadma and קדמאthat the bitterness mentioned in the pasuk made up the difference between the 210 years for which the Jews were actually enslaved and the theoretical 400 years, thereby letting them move forward and go forth to freedom.

57 THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION

בכל דור ודור חיב אדם לראות את עצמו כאלו הוא ההוא ביום לבנך והגדת שנאמר, ממצרים. יצא לא ממצרים. בצאתי לי יי עשה זה בעבור לאמר את אבותינו בלבד גאל הקדוש ברוך הוא, אלא אף ם מש הוציא ואותנו שנאמר, עמהם. גאל אותנו למען הביא אותנו לתת לנו את הארץ אשר נשבע

לאבותינו:

Rabbi Daniel RoweAish UK - Education Director & Shabbat UK

בכל דור ודור

The paragraph ‘in every generation’ fundamentally alters the dynamics of the entire haggadah. Until

now we have been retelling, but all of a sudden it be-comes a reliving.

In retrospect we realise that the declaration, all the way back at the beginning, ‘this is the impoverished bread that our ancestors ate in Egypt’ had a different meaning all along. It was an invitation to join them on their last meal as they sat waiting redemption (see Rashbam). ‘This year we are slaves but next year we will be free; this year we are here but next year in Eretz Yisrael!’ The plan of course was foiled by the Egel hazahav, but they were meant to be in Eretz Yisrael before the next Pesach.

The Hebrew word for festival is ‘moed’ - literally an ‘appointment’. We do not commemorate a yom tov to remember the events of the past. Rather the very en-ergies and possibilities that were open then, are open now too. ‘bayamim haheim bazman hazeh’. The word for ‘time’ itself ‘zman’ means ‘that which is mezuman - prepared. The night of Seder is ‘leil shimurim’ - a night that was guarded. It is not that we commemorate free-dom because we happened to become free then. It is that we became free then because this is the zman - the

prepared time when the ‘moed’ the invitation for free-dom was always there.

Having learned the deep lessons of the haggadah, hav-ing understood that our menu is the one we had on the last night of slavery, and the night of birth of Yisrael; having understood how each item of food tastes of the story; we now prepare to join the Bnei Yisrael on that great night of national birth.

We join them in the matzah, whose very essence is food that is not allowed to rise in space or time. We await the moment of chatzos which is a moment not allowed to delay space or time.

We await the moment when we open the door and ask ‘shfoch chamosechah’ - we ask once again for “Haka-dosh Baruch Hu bichvodo uve’atzmo” to re-enter the world, destroy all evil, and redeem Klal Yisrael.

If we understand the message of ‘bechol dor vedor’ then we realise that the Shechinah in fact will be there. The gates are wide open. We too can emerge from the bounds and limitations that are the everyday Mitzrayim in which we are enslaved. We too can reach, at least for one night of the year, unlimited heights of ruchniyus and unlimited depths of dveikus BaHashem cleaving to Hashem.

The moment will be there, if we are ready to relive it.

THE ONEG HAGGADAH COMPANION 58

יאחז הכוס בידו ויכסה המצות ויאמר:Hold the cup and cover the Matzah

לפיכך אנחנו חיבים להודות להלל לשבח לפאר לרומם להדר לברך לעלה ולקלס למי שעשה לאבותינו ולנו את כל הנסים האלו. הוציאנו מעבדות לחרות, מיגון גדול, לאור ומאפלה טוב, ליום ומאבל לשמחה, עבוד לגאלה, ונאמר לפניו שירה חדשה הללויה: ומש

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld HALACHOS

LIFICHACH - לפיכך

Once one reaches this part, the matzos should be covered, and everyone should hold his cup in his hand until גאל ישראל Ga’al Yisrael.

DRINKING THE SECOND CUP OF WINE

Q. Is a brachah recited on the second cup?

A. The most prevalent custom amongst Ashkenazim is to recite a brachah upon each of the four cups. Many Sefardim do not do this; they only recite a brachah on the first and third cups.1

Q. How much wine/grape juice must be drunk for this cup?

A. Its best to drink the entire cup, but if this is difficult, most of it will suffice.2

Q. Must one drink while leaning?

A. Yes. One must lean to the left side (even if one is left handed).3 If one forgot to lean for the second cup, it should be drunk again while leaning, but without a brachah.

Q. How much does one have to lean to fulfil the mitzvah?

A. Unfortunately, many people assume a simple tilt of the head while drinking is sufficient. Doing so does not fulfil the mitzvah of leaning. One’s entire body should be leaning as he drinks the cup, and one should lean onto something, such as a pillow or cushion. Simply leaning – even one’s entire body – into the air, is not considered leaning, and he has not fulfilled the mitzvah.

Q. Why do we lean at the Seder if nowadays it is not the practice of free men to do so?

A. Once Chazal instructed us to do so, we do not just give it up if it is no longer applicable.

Nevertheless, I did find two very novel suggestions as to why the practice is still in place. Some write that precisely because it is not a year-round practice we continue to observe this halachah. This is yet another tactic we employ to cause our children to ask why the Seder night is different from all other nights.4

Moreover, the very fact that we engage in a practice that has no meaning in contemporary times may itself be significant. The Seder that we celebrate today lacks its essential central component: the Korban Pesach. We cannot bring the Korban Pesach because the Romans destroyed the Beis Hamikdash. Leaning was itself a Roman practice, one that is no longer current because the Romans and their empire are gone. Leaning is a thing of the vanished Roman past, while we are here in the present, singing at the Seder’s end, “Next year in Yerushalayim,” with hope and faith for the future. The very fact that leaning seems so out of place may lend it this significant and poignant meaning.

Q. After drinking the second cup, may one drink other drinks?

A. Yes. One may even drink wine after the second cup.5

1 סי' תעד.2 שו"ע סי' תעב ס"ט ובמ"ב שם ס"ק ל.

3 שו"ע סי' תעג ס"ז. ושו"ע סי' תעב ס"ג.4 ערוה"ש תעב ס"ג.

5 שו"ע סי' תעג ס"ז וגר"ז שם סי"א, מ"ב שם ס"ק טו.

PHOTOS CREDITS

© David Chesner, Shuli Smus, Aryeh Rechnitzer, Daniel Morris Photography & Mike Poloway

We apologise if we have missed anyone off the credits

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