ב"ה

The Haggadah You Haven’t Heard Before Seder Prep & Pesach Insights 

jrosenfeld@lss.org  

 ­ RaAYa”H Kook Olat RaAYa”h, vol. 2, p. 245 

 ­ Introduction to Haggadah Helkat Yehoshua 

 ­ Introduction to Haggadah Marc­Alain Ouaknin 

 

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 קדש1. Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah [Mechon Yerushalayim: 2008]; p. 75 n. 8

 Some say that the sign ‘Kadesh’ includes in it the Mitzvah of the four cups of wine, especially for

those Posekim who hold that we only make a blessing on the first cup...

 2. R. Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, Haggadah Shem mi-Shmuel; p. 38

 It seems that it would have been correct to have written rechatz u’kadesh… but my holy father

said that because of the fact that at the time of the Exodus there was still a redemption despite

the fact that they weren’t fitting for it… therefore on Passover too, there is a spiritual

atmosphere where one may receive holiness even if they are not technically deserving of it...  

3. R. Yehoshua Yehiel of Biala, Haggadah Helkat Yehoshua; sec. 2, p. 1

 

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This is to hint that even those things that are considered ‘holy’ need to be cleansed and checked

through and through to ensure they have been done properly. Or, one might say that we should

wash and purify even the holy things in our lives to make sure to do them without any ulterior

motives…

4. R. Shlomo ha-Kohen Rabinowicz of Radomsk, in: Haggadah Be’er ha-Hasidut; p. 33

 Anyone who says ‘vayekhulu’... is forgiven for all their sins. This is because ‘vayekhulu’ is a

testimony to the creation of the world, and therefore one must be; needs to be Kosher for

testimony. If that is so, then if the person has violated a sin, God forbid, they would be

disqualified from testifying. Therefore, one’s sins are thereupon forgiven so that they can be

qualified to give true testimony.  

5. R. Menachem Nahum Twersky of Chernobyl: ibid, p. 40

 ‘Who has brought us to this time’: In the month of Nisan we were redeemed, and in the month

of Nisan we will be redeemed. For there are two types of exile: there is a type of general exile,

and that is the exile of the Jewish people amongst all the nations, and then there is a private

exile, which is to be found [in different degrees] in each Jewish individual, that the soul is in exile

due to the evil inclination;

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and therefore we have a great rule that in all times that the calendar returns to this time in

perpetuity, when that appointed time comes, we return back to that state in which we were in

at the first time - and that is why we bless: ‘...that you have brought us to this time’ 1

6. R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook, Haggadah Olat RaAYa”H; p. 254 in: R. Bezalel Naor, Haggadah Springtime of the World [Orot: 2004]; pp. 18-19

 

 

 ורחץ 

7. Haggadah Leil Shimurim Ohr Chadash v’Biur ha-Gra; p. 8

 Wash your hands and don’t make a blessing. And according to the [Vilna] Gaon z”l, one needs to

make a blessing, and so was his custom.

8. Haggadah Ki Yish’alcha  הנצי"ב מוולוז'ין: בלילה זה עושים זכר לקרבן הפסח, שהיה בזמן המקדש. משתדלים לעשות זכר לכל

 כדי להרגיל עצמנו, שכשבית המקדש ייבנה ­ שנהיה רגיליםמנהג, כולל נטילת ידים לאכילה בטהרה לאכול מהטהרות לאחר נטילת ידים.

 

  דהיינו כמו אצל זוג שחוזר תמיד למועד נישואיהן, אז ניצר שוב הקירבה ואהבה שהתעוררה בזמן ההוא. היינו ג"כ ענין היום1 הולדת ויומא דהילולא, שאז חוזרין אל זמנים של ראשית, קדושה וטהרה, ואחרית לעומת זה עם מחילת עוונות, כפרה ומירוק

  נשמה. הרבי מדבר כאן אודות כח הראשית הזה, וגם לכאו' מסמל לנו את קביעות הזמנים המקודשות כנגד שיטת הזמן כמו איזה זרם בלתי נפסקת. כמו"כ לעומ"ז ראינו אצל ההוגה הגרמני ניטצ'ה ענ' זמן החוזרת על עצמה והאים היינו רוצים לחוות אותה שוב,

  ETERNAL RETURN ובזה נדע אם הקדשנו וקבענו מספיק המועד הזאת.

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The Netziv of Volozhin: on this night we perform a remembrance of the Paschal offering that

was in the Temple. We try to re-enact every aspect of that ritual, including the washing of hands

for purification purposes, in order to train ourselves for the time when the Temple will be rebuilt,

so that we can actually eat the offering in ritual purity.  

 כרפס 

 יחץ 

9. R. Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, Haggadah Shem mi-Shmuel; p. 42

 Yahatz: Our Rabbis said - the bread of poverty/affliction; just as a poor person eats but a mere

slice of bread, meaning that the poor person is missing something, and waits for someone or

something to complete them. And God almighty, His way is to work through ‘broken vessels’ - to

listen to the downtrodden and then awaits the time in which they will be completed after their

sufferings have passed.

And this is a general rule for all those who raise their eyes to the heavens and await God to

‘complete’ their needs, and so it was with the Jewish people in Egypt, in that they had no

natural path towards redemption/saving, and they could only look to heaven for it.

It is in this vein that we symbolize with the piece(s) of Matzah, that we too are incomplete and

that our eyes are trained on God, until He finds favor with us and ‘completes’ us…

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 מגיד 

10. R. Moshe Wolfson, Emunas Itecha; vol. 3, p. 9

 

11. Haggadah Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah, p. 78 n. 22  כל דכפין ייתי וייכול: בסידור יעב"ץ, קול יהודה, חמדת ישראל (מגדל עדר) כתבו שמוסב אף על עניי

 עכו"ם עפ"י מש"כ (גיטין סא א) "מפרנסין עניי עכו"ם עם עניי ישראל מפני דרכי השלום".

12. R. Aryeh Tzvi Frommer of Kozhaglov, Eretz Tzvi; vol. 2, pp. 40-41

 

 And it is a little difficult: seemingly, we could have written simply ‘yetziat Mitzrayim’ without the

‘be’... The reason that on Pesach we need to extend our speaking of the miracles is because

during the rest of the year, we simply have to remind ourselves of the Exodus, by way of

memory - recalling something which is not ‘now’/present… But tonight, the matter of the

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Exodus resurges within the hearts of all Jewish people, as if it is actually occurring now and that

is the explanation - [it is as if we are speaking of the Exodus while in Egypt itself]  

13. R. Hayyim Teitelbaum of Sighet, Atzei Hayyim; vol. 2, p. 337

 ...the explanation is that God praises Israel and Israel praises its master… that is why in the holy

Torah, it is written “Hag ha-Matzot”, a praise of Israel. And yet we call it “Hag ha-Pesah”, in

praise of God. And all this is in the manner of that which is written: “when I am to my beloved,

then my beloved is to me”  

14. R. Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin, Haggadah Rabbeinu Tzadok ha-Kohen; vol. 2, pp. 102-3

 

 ...and we don't ask about these questions about the rest of the Mitzvot that we do at special

occasions, like sitting in the Sukkah or waving the Lulav, etc. For all the Mitzvot are those of the

Torah which was received at Sinai and thus we were commanded to follow the 613 Mitzvot, and

there is no reason to ask about them, but the Mitzvot tonight were connected to things which

predated the giving of the Torah, and without the preparation and acceptance that was for all

other Mitzvot of ‘Na’aseh v’Nishma’; these Mitzvot [tonight] are of darkness, in that the people

were still mired in the depths of darkness of Egypt until the King of all Kings revealed Himself

with great light…

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15. R. Kalonymos Kalmish Shapiro of Piacezno HY”D, Aish Kodesh; p. 150

 ...but the wicked son, who has removed himself from the group, [reveals] that his essence is not

that of the Jewish people, but rather his essence is himself only; then he has rejected the main

thing [=heresy], in that the main thing is the Jewish people. 2

 

16. R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook, Haggadah Olat RaAYa”H; p. 275

 He would say, that the [the wicked son’s] removal of himself from the holiness of the Jewish

people, is itself what creates the heresy, because the holy faith of the Torah and Mitzvot is

intimately/intrinsically connected with and stands upon its (relevance?) relation to the entire

Jewish people.  

17. R. Shalom Noah Berezovsky, Netivot Shalom; Moadim, p. 254-255

    

  השווה מש"כ הראי"ה לקמן, וכן מרגליא בפומי' דרב יעקב עמיטל שההדרגה האמיתית הוא "עם ישראל, תורת ישראל, ארץ2 ישראל"

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18. R. Ya’akov Moshe Harlap, Mei Marom; vol. 9, pp. 51-52

 

 

 

 

  רחצה       

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