and Haggadah Insights Leibler Yavneh College Rabbi Ben Hassan

Transcription

1 Year 7 Divrei Torah and Haggadah Insights Leibler Yavneh College Rabbi Ben Hassan

2 The Seder Plate - By Tali Paltin-Eliahu and Bianca Verkh Zeroa( the shank bone) The Zeora (shanke bone) represents the lamb that was specially sacrificed on the eve of yetziat mitzraim. Since we can t offer the sacrifice we use something that is very similar to the actual offering. Many communities have a custom to use a roasted chicken neck. The shank bone is not eaten and after the meal it is refrigerated and used for the second Seder. Beiza ( the egg) The hard-boiled egg on the Seder plate represents the holiday offering in the days of the Beit Hamikdash. The meat of this animal is the main part we eat on Pesach at the Seder. As soon as the meal has begun the egg is removed from the plate and is eaten. Charoset ( the paste) Charoset is a paste that is made of apples, nuts and wine which resembles the mortar and brick made by the Jewish people when they were slaves for Paroh. This is used as a type of relish which the maror is dipped in to and shaken of before eating.

3 Karpas( the vegetable) Karpas refers to a vegetable that is usually parsley, celery or lettuce. It s placed on the left hand side of the Seder Plate and is usually dipped in to salt water which symbolises the tears that the Jewish people cried during their slavery. Maror (bitter herbs) The Maror is eaten after the matzah once and then eaten again with the matzah in a chorech sandwich. Maror symbolises the bitterness of the Jewish people s slavery in Egypt. What is unique about Hallel on Pesach? The Hallel that we say during the Pesach Seder has two unique characteristics. First it is night, even though the Mishnah in the Megilla says that its recited during the day. Second we break it up into two parts. We say the first part of Hallel right before we drink the second cup of win and we say the rest after the meal and before the fourth cup.

4 Matzah by Mayan Gafin Matzah indicates both bondage and redemption. The spirit of matzah was about how it was made in such a big rush and how it didn t have the time to rise. Before Israel s redemption, the rulers were evil taskmasters who made them work nonstop. They weren t given time to ever rest, even at night. They had to start working before sunrise even before their bread had time to rise. They made the bread in a rush and ate it in a rush. When the Jews were leaving Egypt, again the bread they had prepared had no time to rise as they were in a big rush. So they made and ate flat bread matzah, and so do we on Pesach. The Three Matzot: The three matzot are referred to as Cohen, Levi and Yisrael. The top matzah is stated as the Cohen because it is the most important. Levi, the middle matzah is broken into two pieces at the beginning of the Seder. The smaller piece of the matzah is eaten with the Cohen matzah to achieve the mitzvah of matzah. We use the bigger piece for the afikoman. We use the Yisrael matzah for the Korech sandwich. Now all the matzot are used in the mitzvah of matzah! The three matzot also represent our fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, in whose importance we were freed from Egypt.

5 The Four Cups of Wine!! Gabrielle levy and mia casper The mitzvah of the four cups of wine is so important that even if you can t afford wine, you must sell your clothing in order to buy it.this mitzvah is for men, women and children. There are so many different interpretations: R. Yochanan taught that the four cups of wine symbolize the four expressions of redemption. Therefore say to the children of Israel, I shall remove you from the oppression of Egypt, and I shall save you from their work and I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great signs, and I shall take you unto me as a people and I shall be your lord. Meaning he will remove us from Egypt, save us from all the slavery, redeem us and take us under his wing (we will be his nation). This is how we became the Jewish people, and how and when Hashem asked us. G-d uses four expressions of redemption in describing our exodus from Egypt and our birth as a nation: 1. I will take you out

6 2. I will save you 3. I will redeem you 4. I will take you as a nation Our sages instituted that we should drink a cup of wine for each one of these expressions. We recite the Kiddush over the first cup, we read the Exodus story from the Haggadah over the second cup, we recite the grace after meals over the third cup, and we sing the "big Hallel" Psalms and hymns of praises to G-d, over the fourth cup. Why do we have four cups of wine? Many reasons are given for drinking four cups of wine. Here are some of them: When promising to deliver the Jews from Egyptian slavery, G-d used four terms to describe the redemption a) "I shall take you out..." b) "I shall rescue you..." c) "I shall redeem you..." d) "I shall bring you..." We were liberated from Pharaoh's four evil decrees: Slavery. b) The ordered murder of all male progeny by the Hebrew midwives. c) The drowning of all Hebrew boys in the Nile by Egyptian thugs. d) The decree ordering the Israelites to collect their own straw for use in their brick production. The four cups symbolize our freedom from our four exiles: The Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek exiles, and our current exile which we hope to be rid of very soon with the coming of Moshiach. The words "cup of wine" are mentioned four times in Pharaoh's butler's dream According to the Midrash, these cups of wine alluded to the Israelites' liberation.

7 The 4 Questions Jordan Glick and Joshua Ginzburg Ma Nishtana is a paragraph in the Haggadah that every youngest child sings on Pesach. They Sing: מה נשתנה הללילה הזה מכל הללילות Meaning what has changed this night from all other nights. This is showing that Pesach is very different to a normal night. שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין חמץ ומצה הלילה הזה, כלו מצה Meaning on all other nights we eat chametz and matzah but on this night we only eat Matzah. The reason we don t eat chametz but eat matzah is because the Jews were being chased out of Egypt and didn t have time to let the dough rise that is why on this night we eat matzah and not chametz. שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין שאר ירקות הלילה הזה מרור Meaning on all nights we eat vegetables but on this night we eat maror. We eat it because it s a bitter vegetable or herb and it reminds us what a hard time our ancestors went through in slavery. שבכל הלילות אין אנו מטביליטין אפילו אחת הלילה הזה שתי פעמים Meaning on all other nights we don t even dip our vegetables once but on this night we dip twice. The Ben Ish Chai explains the reason we dip twice is because the exile into Egypt took seed with a dipping. שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין בין יושבין ובין מסובין הלילה הזה, כולנו מסובין Meaning on all other nights some eat sitting and other reclining but on this night we are all reclining. The reason why we recline is because before we were slaves but now we can recline to express our freedom.

8 A lot of people wonder what the significance of ma nishtana is. The significance of ma nishtana is it s showing that this night is very different to all other nights. Another thing people wonder is why we dip our fingers every time a plague is mentioned? We dip our finger in the wine and spill a drop because this reminds us that our cup of joy is not completed because people had to die for our salvation. A question asked by many is why the children ask the 4 questions? The reason is because the children should get involved in the Seder. The 4 questions symbolize the quest the Jews went through in slavery. Another reason is because when we were slaves in Egypt we weren t allowed to question or even give an opinion but now that we are free but now that we are free we should ask, question and give our opinion.

9 Ma ase Rabi Eliezer מעשה רבי אליעזר Hillel Weinstein This section of the Haggadah seems a bit confusing. Firstly, why did the Tannaim not hold their own Sedarim in their respective town? R Soloveitchik explains that the Tannaim wanted to properly fulfil the mitzvah of sipur Yetziat Mitzraim and therefore came together to simulate and challenge one another. R Lau comments that these Tannaim lived through the Bar Kochba period. That is why they were gathered at the home of R Akiva, who was the youngest of all of them and the spiritual leader of the uprising. Accordingly, the five Tannaim fulfilled their obligation of the traditional sippur of Yetziat Mitzraim until chatzot after which they proceeded to discuss whether or not to engage in the uprising. Q. The Sfat Emet questions why does the Haggadah tell us that the Rabbanim told the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim and possibly forgot to do the Mitzvah of Matzah and Maror? A. According to many opinions the Mitzvah of Yetziat Mitzrayim is Dehoraitah, and the Mitzvah of Matzah and Maror are Derabanan, and therefore the relevance of the Haggadah, telling us is to show the importance of the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim.

10 Yael and Sarah There are four different sons at the, tableסדר the wise one, the wicked one, the simple one and the one that can t ask. The four sons explain how we should be taught. The four sons are not real people. They are used as references. Why? Because at the table your son may ask you a question and the four sons have the answer. The four sons always give a statement/answer that you should tell you son at the. tableסדר Even though the wicked son was brought up in a Jewish family that kept all laws and mitzvot, he didn t care about Judaism and he only wanted things to be his way which did not include any Judaism. The wicked son is always making fun out of Pesach and to him being Jewish is a joke. Because the wicked son does not take Judaism seriously you should blunt his teeth and say to him it s because of this that the Jews did for me when I left Egypt. Tam in Hebrew means that he is stupid and can t think strait. But really Tam means simple, calm and plain. He may not know much about Judaism but he wants to do things right. He gives to charity and he has a warm, loving heart. He is the type of person who goes to funerals and asks himself question, what is life about?.מיצוות The wise child always wants a deeper meaning to the laws and The wise child believes that the laws don t have a balanced reason, for example why don t we eat pork? many people think it s for health reasons but really the Torah tells us it s for spiritual reasons.

11 You shall tell your son that night, it is because of this that Hashem did so for me when I went out of Egypt. The son that doesn t know how to ask is like the wicked son, because he doesn t take interest in all the traditions and laws. He would probably end up cutting himself off from the Jews just like the wicked son. Vehi-- and it is this refers to the promise that Hashem made to Avraham to take our forefathers out of Egypt. Many commentators offer possible interpretations. One explanation is that the Torah is alluded to in the word Vehi as each Hebrew letter refers to a different part of our written and oral law: Vav: = 6- meaning the six books of the Mishnah hei: = 5-meaning the five books of the Torah yud: = 10-meaning the ten plagues aleph: = 1-meaning there is only one G-d וה יא שׁ ע מ ד ה ל א בוֹת י נוּ ו ל נ וּ. שׁ א א ח ד בּ ל ב ד, ע מ ד ע ל י נוּ ל כ לּוֹת נ וּ. א לּ א שׁ בּ כ ל דּוֹר ו דוֹר, עוֹמ ד ים ע ל י נוּ ל כ לּוֹת נ וּ. ו ה קּ דוֹשׁ בּ רוּ הוּא מ צּ יל נוּ מ יּ ד ם Vehi She amda, La avotainu Velanu Shelo Echad Bilvad, Amad AleinuLechaloteinu Ela Sheb chol Dor VaDor Omdim Aleinu Lechaloteinu V HaKadosh Baruch Hu Matzilenu Miyadam.

12 The Passover offering, which our ancestors ate during the time of the Holy Temple, but for what reason? Because G-d passed over their homes in Egypt, as it is written: "You shall say: It is a Passover-offering to the L-rd, because He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians with a plague, and He saved our houses... " we ate an offering called Pesach was because G-d passed over the Jewish homes during the

13 last plague, when He went from house to house killing the first born sons of the Egyptians. This reason is taken from the Torah, This is a Pesach offering to Hashem because, when He killed the Egyptians, he passed over the homes of the Jewish people and He saved our families. In gratitude the Jewish people bowed and knelt. However, there is another meaning to the word. Normally, people have to improve themselves step by step before they can be worthy of miracles. This process is very lengthy. It cannot just happen overnight. Usually, G-d waits for people to deserve His help before he acts. Nevertheless, in Egypt G-d so greatly wanted to help His people that He did not wait for them to deserve His help. Instead, He passed over all those steps, and saved them from slavery, even before they were worthy. This should give us all hope because whenever the right occasion comes, G-d will demonstrate His compassion, just as He did in Egypt.