Shabbos HaGadol Drasha 5785 - כאילו הוא יצא
• Pesachim 116b - בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים שנאמר והגדת... בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי ממצרים – Is this possible? Is this real or a very distant כאילו?
• R' Yisroel Salanter - most difficult mitzvah of Pesach
• The balei mussar are not happy with avoiding the inner work of the heart and mind & relying on the Rambam's language of להראות
• Pesachim 116b – Rava adds צריך שיאמר ואותנו הוציא משם – What is the meaning of this any more than the mishnah’s בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי?
• The Aruch Hashulchan (473.22) explains that מי שרוצה להתעקש – one who wants to be stubbornly crooked may claim that the passuk of לי refers to those who actually left Egypt, but later generations are not included in this mitzvah, Rava shows from ואותנו – which speaks of Jews already in Eretz Yisrael – that it applies to all future דורותas well, to see themselves as יוצאי מצרים. Who would want to be an עיקש and why do we need to respond to his claims?
• Numerous questions we hope to answer:
• Why no שעשה ניסים?
• R’ Yeruchom famously told a talmid who had the opportunity to join the Chofetz Chaim for a seder, that a son belongs by his father for the seder. What is the specific importance of this mitzvah from Av to Ben? (by Talmud Torah a Ben is any talmid)
• Why is the Rasha’s status specifically about the Hotzi atzmo min haklal?
• Why is this Kofer B’ikar? – it is not one of the 13 foundations of Emunah!
• Why is his consequence about his teeth?
• The name Hashem chose for Yetzias Mitzrayim was אה' אשר אה' – which Moshe did not want…
• Why is the DAY celebrated as Shabbos Hagadol and why not the other four days that the Egyptians stood muted and unable to protest our taking of their idols?
• What is the basis to say Haggadah on Shabbos Hagadol?
• S.A. 430 - Shabbos Hagadol we customarily say Haggadah. The Gra did not. Many Haggados specifically note “עד כאן אומרים בשבת הגדול”. Is this just an allowance that no further is necessary or is it a limitation?
• Masseh Rav in Siddur HaGra seems to suggest he did not do this at all – and perhaps was against doing so as it quotes the drasha יכול מראש חודש
• [It is interesting to note the commentary’s understanding of the custom and the Gra’s reason not to. Since sometimes Pesach seder is a Friday night, and it’s forbidden to read an unfamiliar text on Shabbos by candlelight, if we would all have not seen the Haggadah since the previous year, we would not be able to read it by candlelight (unless two would read together and remind each other not to tilt the neiros). Therefore, we all accustom ourselves with the text beforehand so that the reading is familiar (like the hetter for roshei perakim). He only says that this concern based minhag was never instituted as a tzibur. Based on this there should be nothing wrong with doing so, but the fact that the Gra quotes the drasha of יכול seems to imply that it is wrong to do so.
• B’er Heitev stresses that the minhag to read it applies EVEN to Shabbos Erev Pesach.
• The Biur Halacha seems to minimize the Gra’s avoidance specifically to Shabbos Erev Pesach quoting יכול מבעוד יום.
• Perhaps we can explain the differing opinions based on different understandings of the mitzvah of Maggid.
• We will show numerous examples of this approach. The Rambam understands Maggid as a mitzvah to remember and proclaim the special status and events of this day in history. The SA understands it to be a mitzvah to express and describe our own experience of yetziyas mitzrayim.
• The Rambam (7.1) clearly learns it from זכור את יום השבת – Pesach as well has זכור את היום הזה. ( והגדת is only used to show when to tell it over.) It just has more specific terms of how it is done as he continues to describe - 7.2 כיצד…
• גר''ח – 3 conditions of this zachor more than the daily zachor; a) Q&A b) Bad to Good c) The 3 Reasons
• The Rambam (7.5) makes a point of saying ודברים האלו כולן הן הנקראין הגדה. There is no such qualification in SA.
• Based on this Rambam, our Haggadah’s limitation for Shabbos hagadol makes a lot of sense – by starting by Avodim Hayinu – skipping the questions, and by stopping before the 3 reasons, this is NOT saying the Haggadah according to the Rambam. And so, there is no issue reading it from Rosh Chodesh. It is not really Haggadah. But the Biur Halacha says the Gra would not read it on Shabbos Erev Pesach - perhaps for a different reason. If maggid is like the SA understands, as an expression of our story, then similar to the restraint we practice on erev pesach to ensure לתיאבון and excitement needed for matzoh, (and some say wine and marror as well) so too, saying even the limited version on Shabbos Erev Pesach would ruin that excitement!
• Another example of this is the fact the Rambam does not make the son’s question any different than others. The official text of Mah Nishtanah is what should be said by the son if he is able and by anyone else if there is no son there is no real differentiation other than the fact that it is לכתחילה from the son if there is one. There also is no mention of a mitzvah to specifically encourage the kids with candy to stay up for the questions and the story. But in SA we find that any authentic curiosity is valid from the sons and they don’t have to ask the official text of Mah Nishtanah while others must use that text )in a child’s absence(. We also specifically have a mitzvah to distribute sweets to make sure the kids are up to ask and hear the answer. The Rambam holds this is an official proclamation – like kiddush – that must be done to whoever in a q & a style. The SA holds it is a mitzvah to naturally express the personal experience to your family – specifically to your kids as the source mitzva is not zachor, but והגדת לבנך.
• After finishing his description of maggid, the Rambam writes (7.6) חייב להראות.. Unrelated to the Haggadah, this requires a show of royalty by reclining and the 4 cups of wine. (7.7) While the SA never state this chiyuv, our text in the mishnah and in the Haggadah reads לראות. Why is this not in SA? It seems that it is not its own separate chiyuv, rather it is inferred from how the Torah says to express the story - בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי- if we are to say לי and בצאתי – we must be feeling it as truthfully happening to us. It is not a separate mitzvah.
• The Rambam notes (7.1) as part of the actual mitzvah וכל המאריך - “Whoever lengthens”. This is because there is no shiur for this standalone mitzvah of proclaiming the specialness of the day. There is no such mention of this in the SA but our Haggadah’s text reads וכל המרבה – “Whoever increases”. R’S.Z.A. explains that this is a qualitative increase in the details and real drama of our experience. We may explain again that this is about expressing the drama with all its depth of our own experience.
• The SA, (481.2) at the end of the seder, says חייב אדם לעסוק... עד שתחטפנו שינה. The Rambam makes no mention of this. While this is certainly no longer the original mitzvah of maggid as it is well past the בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך, it does relate to the fact that it is ליל שימורים (as mentioned right afterward in the Rema). The Ibn Ezra and the Chizkuni both explain (Shemos 12.42) that it is a night of wakefulness, expressing the amazing miracles that we experienced!
• This explains why the Rambam has no limitation for the original zachor, but the SA says עד שתחטפנו שינה – If you can fall asleep, you are obviously not excitedly telling it as a living expression of the experience anyway.
• If we follow the text of the mishnah and the Haggaddah,, then it behooves us to understand what it means. If the chiyuv is inferred from the language, then it must resonate with truth for us to be truthfully expressing ourselves in that manner. How can we understand כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים?
• Some say our neshamos were there. Some say if Hashem would not have let us out then, we would still be there. Others say even if perhaps we would have escaped, we would have been forever משועבדים – indebted and not truly free. Others say that each year we actually are freed from the constraints and grips of tumah on this night. Others say we should feel as thankful and full of gratitude as if we ourselves left.
• Others say that a tzibur is timeless and so we can say about ourselves collectively, that we left mitrayim. However, this is all well for the language of אותנו as people speak collectively that we came to America from Europe etc. but this does not help the singular language of לי בצאתי.
• The Maharal says that we reached such a high level then, that it was not bound by time and so ליל הסדר remains equally the same in the present as in the past. The exodus is actually “live breaking news” as we speak! Just like in another place in the world.
• All of these are true and lofty -and can fit in the words of כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים but at least to me personally, if we learn this halacha FROM the expression, it seems that should be a lot more down to earth so that we would actually express it as לי בצאתי in a practical, simply truthful manner.
• Yoma 69b – אנשי כנסת הגדולה earned their title because they restored the titles הגדול הגיבור והנורא back into Shmoneh Esray. How did our sages remove those titles if Moshe Rabeinu authored them and the earlier sages established them into our prayers? Because מתוך שיודעין בהקב''ה שאמיתי הוא, לפיכך לא כיזבו בו – They understood that Hashem is absolute truth so they would not lie to him. Saying praises and glorious titles to Hashem with Emunah that they are true, but without feeling and recognizing the reality of those titles, is UNTRUTHFUL. They could not say those titles without them coming to truly recognize those titles with their own perception.
• The Abudrahm, the Ritva, and many others say that we are required to really, truthfully, actually see ourselves as having experienced both the hardships of the slavery, and the exhilaration of the exodus. But how can this be understood?
• I would like to present a new understanding – for me – in the passuk (shemos 12.14) והיה היום הזה לכם לזכרון וחגתם אותו חג לה' לדורותיכם.... The simple understanding of this passuk is to instruct Klall Yirael to mark this date on their calendars in the future to be a day of remembrance of what took place years before and to celebrate it as a holiday with korbanos. However, the words הזה and לכם seem to be מיעוטים as we darshan so regarding החודש הזה לכם and בעשירי לחודש הזה to be specifically referring to the present generation in Mitzrayim. Yet it clearly is referring to לדורותיכם! This leads me to understand differently than I have always learned in the past. The passuk is informing THAT generation that THIS day will be such a memorable day of celebration, that it will remain etched in their conscious for all time.
• There is a concept called trauma in which the human conscious went through such an extreme horror that it is etched and programmed into their being and may sometimes be triggered to literally re experience the event. There is also a less familiar concept called euphoric imprinting, in which the person experienced such an extremely positive experience that it imprints their conscious with permanent effects on their character and development and instincts. This “peak experience” can be triggered to literally be re experienced as if it was happening in real time once again. (I was just shown a support for this understanding by R Shua Lehrer from a piece of R’ Shimon Schwabb (bereishis 2.3) explaining the word זכרון not as a memory of past but as an act that is done for future effect.)
• This is the meaning of the passuk. We were there and we left mitzrayim. We, our personal individual selves, in a different body and different time period, experienced the trauma of slavery and the euphoria of yetziyas mitzrayim. REALLY. It has etched our souls and character permanently with unimaginable strength to pull through the impossible. It imprinted our minds with the ability to hope and sing and dance no matter what we have been through just moments before. And this post traumatic euphoric order can and should be triggered every Pesach evening at the seder. The smell of the horseradish, the sight of the mortar-looking charoses, the blood like red wine, mixed with the comfort of reclining in royalty, the duality of the Matzos we ate in slavery and then upon our rush out the door…. Once we understand the truth of this and how we are supposed to perceive it, these triggers can actually work to feel yetziyas mitzrayim once again, and to literally truthfully express our true real feelings – לי בהוצאתי.
• I believe that these external triggers on the night of Pesach will only have their proper effect of כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים if we truly at least know and believe in this truth in the first place. Then there is place in the heart for the triggers to be effective.
• This can also explain the nature of the Rasha’s k’firah and the crucial importance of the son being at their father’s table for the seder. We don’t mean to say he is kofer in the ikrei Emunah. Rather he is in denial of his own ikkar - his root - that remains connected to all jews and most specifically his father! This is why the seder is so important to be in the presence of one’s father. It is only through the bond of the neshamos of a father and son that this experience of regression can properly be triggered.
• And so, the boy who does not feel that, because he does not believe in that עיקר , that he is rooted together through his father to experience that regression, has excluded himself from his own roots. And his father tells him, without me, where would your teeth come from. [As we know (Rashi kiddushin 30b) the father invests the לבן - bones and teeth into his offspring. And when a man delays marriage, Hashem says תיפח עצמותיו – his bones are not serving their mission to give of themselves.]
• Based on this we can explain what Rava adds to this, with ואותנו. And the words of the Aruch Hashulchan have been guided by ruach HaKodesh. For one who is מתעקש to not believe in this one story of his own soul;s journey and true personal experience of yetzias mitzrayim, he will claim that the mitzvah of exhilarating excitement of לי was only for that early generation who actually left Egypt. But we are not those people so it is not a personal celebration for you but an עבודה which is לכם and I have no part in it. This boy is at the seder but claims disconnection from his own true personal past experience. We first use shock therapy and say that if he were there with this perspective he would not have been redeemed – since the entire purpose of that redemption was specifically בעבור זה! – to create the memorable moment for which we can trigger by fulfilling the mitzvos of Matzoh & marror! If he would not participate in the future then the euphoric experience of the exodus would have no purpose for him!
• However, adds Rava, WE know and believe the truth – that he WAS part of the experience – by his attendance at the seder, it is because deep down the exodus DID imprint his soul for future effect. His attendance and engagement in the seder, as much as it seems disconnected, is really in itself a spark of his regression! So after the shocking slap in the face to awaken his heart, we must then factually correct ourselves and say ואותנו הוציא משם – it was all of us, you too.
• This can be hinted in the passuk in Hazinu (32.4-6) הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלוֹ כִּי כָל־דְּרָכָיו מִשְׁפָּט אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְאֵין עָוֶל צַדִּיק וְיָשָׁר הוּא׃ – This passuk refers to the fact that Hashem is perfectly just – as even צדיק ורע לו etc is due to the previous lifetime of the current Tzaddik. שִׁחֵת לוֹ לֹא בָּנָיו מוּםָם דּוֹר עִקֵּשׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּל׃ – They have been corrupt with Him as if they are not His children, a generation of עקש – stubborn crookedness and deviation.
הַֽלְ־יְהוָה תִּגְמְלוּ־זֹאת עַם נָבָל וְלֹא חָכָם הֲלוֹא הוּא אָבִיךָ קָנֶךָ הוּא עָשְׂךָ וַיְכֹנְנֶךָ To Hashem do you respond like this? A nation of ingratitude who forgets the past what has been done to them! He is your Father who nested you and founded your foundations! (It is interesting to note that Rashi explains the word עיקש from a reference about crooked teeth.)
• This passuk talks to the Rasha; The Aruch HaShulchan’s עיקש , who lacks Emunah and does not recognize the past of his own experience how he is founded upon his own roots in the past and does not feel gratitude for the wonders he experienced then. We tell this boy – לא את אבותינו בלבד אלא אף אותנו.
• This perhaps is the message that Hashem was telling Moshe, that with the name אה' אשר אה' He will redeem us. The name that means Hashem is with us in the present צרה and geulah as well as in future ones. All blended together as one.
• Perhaps this is why Shabbos HaGadol is about the DAY as it is not a commemoration of a date in history but also part of the actual immersive experience of yetziayas mitzrayim – Shabbos has a whole different environment and feeling to it, as opposed to just a weekday with a date. (Similar to the need for leap years to ensure Pesach is in the spring season.) The full immersive experience of that Shabbos gets triggered once again when we experience the last preparatory Shabbos before Pesach.
• This may explain why there is no שעשה ניסים לאבותינו בימים ההם – What a disgrace to the mitzvah to refer to it as a celebration of an ancient miracle in the history of our fathers! The Mitzvah is about US – REALLY!
• One last note, regarding saying the Haggadah next week… The concern of the language of the medrash NOT to say maggid until pesach & matzoh are in front of you – according to the Rambam, our limited Shabbos HaGadol text is not maggid. Regarding the concern based in the SA of losing our excitement for the mitzvah on Shabbos Erev Pesach, if you follow minhag HaGra it should not be said next week, but perhaps in can be said this week. If you generally don’t follow minhag HaGra, as much as we say that our seder is NOT about celebrating an ancient event in our history, we do embrace tremendously the traditions of our fathers and it should be said as the B’er Heitev writes. But we can resolve the issue of ruined excitement similar to the Matzoh Ashirah or cooked Matzoh balls that we may eat in the morning - by saying it in a way that would NOT fulfill the mitzvah at night. Reading it to yourself, even in the presence of your family is certainly not expressing the story of your experience and is perfectly ok to read.
We noted numerous differences in the Rambam & Shulchan Aruch regarding the mitzvah of sippur…
Rambam
1. להראות חייב...– 7.6
2. כל המאריך – 7.1 & Haggadah text. “Whoever lengthens”
3. Part of initial description of mitzvah
4. No “shiur” until when – the longer the better.
5. -
6. Sons ask Mah Nishtanah
7. All ask Mah Nishtanah
8. No mention of candy - proclaim to anyone
9. 7.5 – הן הנקראין הגדה
10. No mention of Shabbos Hagadol
Shulchan Aruch / Rema
1. No mention of חייב לראות
2. No mention. But our Haggadah reads כל המרבה – “Whoever increases”
3. End of seder 681.2
4. עד שתחטפנו שינה
5. ליל שימורים
6. 473.7 – Sons ask any questions
7. Son & wife don’t need to ask Mah Nishtanah
8. Mitzvah Candy - 472.16 MB - ikkar mitzvah
9. No title for haggadah
10. 430 – Siman dedicated to Shabbos Hagadol