Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Middle School Pesach

2017 5777 Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy 110 South Orange Ave Livingston, NJ 07038 (862) 437-8000 www.jkha.org

תשע"ז The 2017- Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Middle School Haggadah הגדה של פסח

Editor Yaacov Feit

Cover Design Laila Friedman

Contributors JKHA Middle School Faculty and Students

Dedicated by Sherry and Henry Stein in memory of:

Arie & Eva Halpern Dr. Morris Epstein Bernard Stein

1 CONNECT TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE ACADEMICCULTIVATE EXCELLENCE CURIOSITY

JOSEPH KUSHNER HEBREW ACADEMY RAE KUSHNER HIGH SCHOOL

As a Modern Orthodox co-educational yeshiva, JKHA/RKYHS seeks to inspire students to live lives of Torah and mitzvot; to embrace knowledge and American democratic values; to love and serve the Jewish People; and to forge a lifelong bond with the Land and State of .

We aim to empower students to achieve personal excellence by teaching them how to learn, and by encouraging them to analyze, to create, and to pursue new intellectual challenges.

We lead students to recognize that because we were all created in the image of God, we must treat everyone with respect and loving-kindness.

We help students form strong, healthy identities, and we prepare them to take responsibility for themselves and their communities.

THINK CRITICALLY EXPLORE OPPORTUNITY ACADEMICMAKE A DIFFERENCE EXCELLENCE Why is this night different than all other nights? On this night, the Haggadah tells us that one is obligated to see themselves as if they just left Mitzrayim. Why do we not find a similar requirement by any other holiday? On Shavuot we are not asked to see ourselves as if we just received the Torah at Har Sinai. On Sukkot we are not challenged to feel as if we just rested beneath the clouds of glory. On Chanukah we are not expected to re-experience our victory from the Greeks. What is unique about our obligation on this night of Pesach?

It seems, that this distinctive requirement is related to another obligation that is reserved for this night- the commandment to impart the story of to our children. Some stories resonate more than others. Some story tellers are more gifted than others. Yet, even the most talented story teller, telling the most mesmerizing story is lacking something if his story is not real, personal and fresh. The story of a survivor on the day of his rescue is always most likely to make an impact and leave a lasting impression. To the degree that we are able to feel as if we just came out of Mitzrayim today, will we be able to impart our message with the passion, animation, and emotion necessary to make a permanent imprint on the hearts of our children tomorrow. Whereas the Haggadah based on the ( 116b) states that one is obligated to see himself as if he just left, it is well-known that the Rambam ( ,"לראות את עצמו" to show or demonstrate that one has just ,"להראות את עצמו" Umatzah 7:6) says that one is obligated left. Asher Weiss notes that even the Rambam himself in his commentary to the Mishnah to see himself as if he has left, demonstrating the ,"לראות את עצמו" states that one is required Rambam’s belief in a dual obligation. Perhaps, the message of the Rambam is as explained above. In order for one to properly and effectively demonstrate and share with others the miracles of the .לראות one must first come להראות Exodus, one must first see himself as if he has just left. In order What is mentioned above regarding story telling is equally true with regard to the teaching of Torah. The passion, love, and excitement of a teacher for the Torah being transmitted and the students being taught will help ensure that the message is imparted in a lasting way to the next generation. If a teacher can teach an ancient text of yesterday in a way that is meaningful, real and exciting today, he will ensure that the students will continue to teach that message tomorrow. It is for this reason that the JKHA Middle School Haggadah is such a special project as it blends the ideas above. As our students tell the story of the Exodus in their own voice and teach Torah that is meaningful to them, they do so with an enthusiasm and fervor that is sure to leave an imprint on their hearts and the hearts of others. This Haggadah is the vehicle for our children to feel as if they have left Mitzrayim as they share that message with others as well. I am truly indebted to the Middle School Judaic Studies Faculty who have worked tirelessly and diligently to bring this project of over 100 divrei Torah from 6th-8th grade students to fruition. We are once again so grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stein for their generous sponsorship of this Haggadah. They are true partners in our mission to tell our story with a passion to the next generation and see this project as an excellent opportunity to do so. Finally, we are so thankful to and proud of our students for sharing their Torah and telling their story with the enthusiasm and passion required to make a lasting impact on the next generation. Chag Kasher Vesameach, Rabbi Yaacov Feit

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דברי תורה לפסח by the Rebbeim and Morot of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Middle School

4 The Four Sons as Two Pairs By Eliezer E. Rubin, Head of School

The description of the four sons contains a hidden meaning. Each son is contrasted by his opposite. By using this structure, we learn more about the sons’ characters. The antithesis of the wise son is the evil son. In this context, the wise son is both intellectually endowed and characterologically refined. The definition of the term wise is broader than computational skills and intellectual abilities; it is more akin to the way Sephardic refer to their great rabbinic leaders: chacham. Therefore, the opposite of the wise son is arrogant, crass and one who demonstrates hubris. However, looking closely at the second set of sons, we do not see two opposites but just more of the same. The tam, the simple son does not delve into intellectual ; he attempts to understand Judaism from a cerebral perspective but his depth is surface deep. Similarly, the supposed opposite son cannot ask questions and takes no position at all. Almost as if to say that he is merely a downgraded version of the tam. I suggest, however, that the literary structure for the second sons is consistent with the same theme of contrasts embedded in the description of the first set of sons. The tam, although simple, is curious, demonstrates a desire to learn and wants to be engaged. The son who asks no questions is indifferent. Indifference is not a downgrade from simple. To the contrary, the indifferent son is toxic. He is not reachable, does not care about anything or anyone and pursues only what matters to him immediately. Elie Wiesel helps us understand apathy. He stated that “the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference; the opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it is indifference; the opposite of faith is not heresy, it is indifference… (U.S. News & World Report October 27, 1986). Indifference undermines all goodness and it permits injustice and immorality to promulgate and proliferate. As part of our responsibility to our children and community, we must address indifference and find ways to inspire those who are not engaged to at least begin to ask simple questions. A child’s interest must be cultivated and developed. The transmission of our Tradition depends on it.

Teaching Them to Ask By Mrs. Debbie Finkelstein, Principal of JKHA

In the Haggadah, there are four children: one wise, one rebellious, one simple and one who does not know how to ask. From reading about these children, the commentaries have come to the conclusion that children should ask questions and that the Pesach narrative should begin with questions asked by a child. The parents at the Seder should encourage the children to ask questions. This approach is aligned with our beliefs, based on asking questions. Our students at JKHA are provided with accolades in both their Judaic and General studies classes when they ask a good question. Isadore Rabi, winner of a Nobel Prize in physics, was once asked why he became a scientist. He replied, “My mother made me a scientist without ever knowing it. Every other child would come back from school and be asked, ‘What did you learn today?’ But my mother used to ask: ‘Izzy, did you ask a good question today?’ That made the difference. Asking good questions made me a scientist.” It is important at the Seder to know and to teach our children that not every question has an answer we can immediately understand. There are ideas we will only fully comprehend through

5 age and experience, others that take great intellectual preparation, yet others that may be beyond our collective comprehension at this stage in our lives. Even the great Newton, founder of modern science, understood how little he understood, and put it beautifully: “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was quoted as saying, “In teaching its children to ask and keep asking, Judaism honored what called the “active intellect” and saw it as the gift of G- d. No faith has honored human intelligence more.” On Pesach, we give each child a voice, not so much in order to facilitate the answers, but more to demonstrate the excitement and empowerment of questions.

Next Year in Yerushalayim! By Rabbi Dovid Selengut, Dean of Students

Every Pesach Seder we begin with the plea, "This year we are here, next year (may we be) in the ." The Seder ends with a similar theme. We proclaim: "Next year in Yerushalayim!” If we don't have a Beit Hamikdash this year, it is because the sinat chinam that caused the destruction has not been corrected. Why doesn't the Haggadah shel Pesach include a remedy to be able to have the Beit Hamikdash once again? The Ben Ish Chai tells us that there is. It is when we say in the . "Why is it that on all nights we do not even dip once and on this night we dip twice?" The first dipping, into the saltwater reminds us of the first dipping in our history, when Yosef's brothers dipped his shirt in blood. This was a sinat chinam that has plagued us for many, many years. The second dipping, of marror into , reminds us of the second dipping, which was commanded by Hashem in regards to the Korban Pesach. "You should take a bundle of hyssop and dip it into the blood" and then place the blood on the lintel and doorposts. The language the Torah uses is "aguda" which means unity. This took place at the end of their stay in Mitzrayim. This symbolized the achdut that was the catalyst able to remedy the sinat chinam which caused their descent down to Mitzrayim in the first place. We too will emerge from this galut, which was also triggered by sinat chinam when we gather together in harmony and unity. May we merit to see this achdut this coming Pesach in Yerushalayim!

Give Me FREEDOM or Give Me Death! By Rabbi Adam Hertzberg, Director of Educational Programming

When we think about freedom, we have visions of vacation, relaxation and unshackling of bonds. The Torah’s depiction of the Exodus from Egypt provides similar portraits of grandeur and liberty. The jubilation of Bnei Yisrael sounds like that which we might expect to hear from the African-American slaves after the Emancipation Proclamation, or from the European-Jews when they were liberated from Auschwitz. However, the sages give us a different understanding of what freedom is from Hashem’s perspective. The word for freedom in Hebrew is not Chofesh, which means vacation, or even Dror, liberty, but Cheirut. The connotation of the word Cheirut is different from that which we

6 described when thinking about what freedom might look like. Rabbi Shmuel Goldin contrasts the word Dror and the word Cheirut. He explains that the word Dror connotes “the removal of external constraints, physical or otherwise, that impede an individual’s personal choice and independent action”. Cheirut, on the other hand, is about choosing a life of value and purpose. The “freedom” that comes with Cheirut is when one frees him or herself from servitude to the external world, and cleaves to G-d. The Torah describes the way in which the first Luchot were written as “Maaseh Elokim,” a product of G-d, written by G-d, which was “Charut” on the Luchot. The word “Charut” bears the same shoresh as the word Cheirut. This is pointed out by many meforshim, including the Kli Yakar (1550-1619). He quotes a Midrash that explains that this word refers to the different types of freedom that are granted by the connection of Bnei Yisrael to the Luchot (from other kingdoms, death, suffering, etc.). Kli Yakar explains that the usage of this terminology here, refers to the fact that the words that are “written” on the Luchot are in no way bound to the physical stone of the tablets, but rather are eternally “free”. Even with the shattering of the first set of Luchot, the words that were written were not absconded, altered or changed. The words of the Torah and the connection of the Jewish people to it are eternal. It is for this reason that Chazal point out that, ein ben chorin ela mi sheosek batorah, there is no free person except for one who is involved in Torah. Freedom is not the ability to shirk responsibility and live a life of rest, relaxation, and recreation. It is the ability to disconnect oneself from external pressures, while committing and connecting to the Eternal. Let us take the opportunity this Pesach, to understand the true meaning of Cheirut, and even while on “vacation” make sure that we remain dedicated to our Jewish values and practices. Our connection to the Luchot and that which they represent is eternal. Our devotion to G-d and his mitzvot is boundless; and that is the truest Cheirut we can experience.

The Seder Experience By Rabbi Dovid Sukenik, Mahsgiach Ruchani

Every year, we invest so much time and effort into the Pesach Seder. This grand event consumes our time, energy and money. Yet, we come back to it every year. Why can't we just eat matzah, drink wine, tell the kids we left Egypt and then go straight to bedtime? Why all the grandeur and hoopla? Perhaps we can gain insight from an unexpected source within the Haggadah itself. In the song , we say that had Hashem brought us to Har Sinai but not given us the Torah it would have sufficed. Really?! What's the point of coming to Har Sinai if not to receive the Torah? Rav deduced from this statement that there must have been something special about the event of Matan Torah that was unique, independent of the actual receiving of the Torah. The thunder that crackled and lightning that struck, the preparation that took place, and the aura of Har Sinai made the kabbolat haTorah experience unforgettable even before Moshe went up to get the luchot. Hashem wanted Maamad Har Sinai to remain in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people for generations to come. Therefore, He created an unforgettable moment in history. On 1923, the initiative started Brachot daf bet. Seven years later, in 1930, the time came to celebrate the very first siyum of . Rav asked his , known as the Chortkover Rebbe, for advice as to how to proceed with this festive occasion. The Rebbe told him to make a small simple event. Perhaps a grand affair would be an ayin hara and wouldn't be successful. Rabbi Shapiro disagreed with his Rebbe. He posed a question. Hashem

7 knows everything. Hashem knew that the first luchot would be destroyed and that we would only end up using the second luchot. Why did He bother making the first? Rabbi Shapiro suggested that the point of the first luchot was not the tablets themselves but rather the grandeur of the event of Maamad Har Sinai. That event remained in the hearts and minds of the attendees and for that it was worth giving the first luchot. Rabbi Shapiro suggested that a grand siyum would be more appropriate. The splendor and majesty of such an event would be etched in the hearts and minds of those who joined and would hopefully take the Daf Yomi movement to the next level. Ultimately, about 20,000 people attended the first siyum. Unfortunately, Rav Meir Shapiro was not alive for the second siyum. The third siyum took place at the end of , in a room with just a few survivors. However, most recently in 2012, over 90,000 Jews gathered at MetLife stadium for the 12th Siyum Hashas with many others celebrating via live hookup or in private celebrations. What started as a nice idea in 1923 is now a worldwide movement. Rav Shapiro's dream has come true. A Jew from Chaifa can fly to Los Angeles on business and come to the local shul to find fellow Jews studying the same page as he is. How did this all happen? While there are many contributing factors, perhaps Rabbi Shapiro himself would say that it was the grandeur of that large first siyum which made a lasting impression on the Jewish people. When we invest so much into one moment in time, it becomes memorable for those who experience it. On the night when we hope to transmit the mesorah (tradition) of our religion which we hold dear in our hearts, we go the extra mile to make the Pesach Seder a night that our children and grandchildren will never forget.

From Slavery to True Freedom By Rabbi Reuven Greenberg

Each and every year we gather around the Seder table to retell the story of Yetziat Mitzraim. By doing so, we fulfill the of relating to our children the miracles which Hashem did to release us from our bondage. We connect to the next generation and continue to add another link in our history as a nation. The release from bondage was crucial, but the next stage was equally as important. After going from bondage to freedom we were faced with the task of learning a different form of servitude: the ability to serve Hashem in the proper fashion. This task was challenging for Bnei Yisrael after having suffered for so many years under the ruthless Mitzriim. Fortunately, Bnei Yisrael had an excellent role model in Moshe Rabbeinu. Later on in the Torah, Moshe is praised for being an Eved Hashem and the most faithful servant. Part of Moshe's task was to educate his people how to use their freedom in the service of Hashem. Freedom in Jewish thought is the ability to learn and observe the Torah while freeing ourselves from the advice of the Yetzer Hara. Freedom comes about through making Hashem's will our will as we free our spirit to serve our Creator. As Moshe Rabbeinu had the immense responsibility of caring for his people, he was able to learn and teach his nation the proper derech to serve Hashem. May this year be a year of Geula and next year may we be in Yerushalayim.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize By Ms. Danielle Goldstein, Director of Student Life

Throughout the Seder night we spend many hours analyzing, discussing and questioning the miracles of Yitziat Mizrayim. One of the main aspects of Yetziat Mitrayim is understanding that leaving Egypt was just one step in the ultimate goal for Bnei Yisrael. Rav Benish Ginsburg in a

8 beautiful essay describes what the focus of the Seder should mean for us and how it can connect not only to the holiday of Pesach but also to Shavuot which follows seven weeks later. The Sefer HaChinuch explains that the main purpose of the life of the Jewish People, was in order to receive the Torah. This is the reason that Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim. In order to show that the goal of Yetziat Mitzrayim was Matan Torah, Hashem commanded us to count from Pesach up to the day of Shavuot. When we count toward the holiday of Shavuot, we are showing that we are excited and desire to reach this special occasion. Rav Soloveitchik adds that the goal of Yetziat Mitzrayim was Matan Torah on Har Sinai. In fact, in Hashem’s first conversation with Moshe at the burning bush he mentions that Bnei Yisrael will come and serve Hashem on the mountain once they are freed from Mitzrayim. With this in mind, as we study the Haggada, through which we discuss Yetziat Mitzrayim, we can find many examples where Matan Torah is hinted to or discussed directly. He chose us from all other – ”בחר בנו מכל עם“ In , we describe that Hashem was nations. The Malbim and others explain that this refers to Matan Torah. Thus, at the very beginning of the Seder, we already mention Matan Torah. These words mean that ".ברוך שנתן תורה לעמו ישראל" we say ברוך המקום In the paragraph of we thank Hashem and praise him for giving us his Torah. This is yet another place where we focus on the connection of Yetziat Mitzrayim to Matan Torah. in which we ,לפיכך Later in the Seder when we introduce Hallel we say the paragraph of describe the miraculous changes that took place through Yetziat Mitzrayim. Among these changes from darkness to the great light).This phrase is yet another) ”מאפלה לאור גדול“ is that we went description of the darkness of slavery that transformed to the light of Torah at Har Sinai. Toward the end of the Seder when we drink the fourth cup of wine we are also reminded of Matan Torah. Chazal derive the obligation to drink four cups of wine at the Seder from the four refers to Matan Torah, when Hashem took ”ולקחתי“ leshonot hageula. The Ramban explains that us to be His nation. Therefore, the fourth cup at the Seder is directly linked to Matan Torah, and one should note this as he is pouring and preparing to drink this cup. The lesson for us is clear. We have to focus on Matan Torah and transmitting our tradition at the Seder. Leaving Mitzrayim was an important step for the Jewish people that allowed them to prepare and receive the Torah just a few weeks later. We must understand the importance of living a life of Torah. The more the Jewish People are involved in intense , the greater the chance we have for survival of our traditions. If we remember that the goal of Yetziat Mitzrayim was Matan Torah we will recognize that Hashem and his Torah are the central force in our lives. May this recognition bring us closer to Hashem and the ultimate Geulah to come!

Feeling Their Pain By Rabbi Yosef Sharbat

ובני ישראל פרו וישרצו וירבו ויעצמו במאד מאד The Ramban in Bamidbar (3:14) points out that if you look in the pesukim, the second smallest shevet, Menashe, had 32,000 men. Shockingly, the smallest shevet with the least amount of people is Levi, with only 8,000 men! The Ramban asks, how could the shevet who was fortunate enough not to be slaves and be the spiritual guides for the nation, be the smallest shevet? The Ramban explains based on a Rashi in Shemot (1:7), that the nation grew exponentially all because of a miracle that happened; the women gave birth to six children at once. A few verses later in 1:12, it says “But as much as they (Egypt) would afflict them (Israel), so did they multiply

9 and so did they gain strength”. The Egyptians hoped to minimize the by afflicting them with back breaking labor but it backfired. Those who were slaves and worked hard in terrible conditions were the ones to be blessed with the miracle of multiplying at an unheard of rate. Shevet Levi were not slaves and were not forced to work hard; therefore, they were not included in the miracle. Only someone who feels the pain of their brothers and sisters and joins them in their suffering can be blessed with the rest of the community.

Creating a Mesorah Community By Mrs. Batya Sharbat

One would think .סדר inviting people to our ,הא לחמא עניא begins with מגיד The section of that the Haggadah would then continue by teaching us the story of Bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim and Hashem’s redemption. However, before we learn the story, the children get up and ask the Ma Nishtana - The Four Questions. This seems out of order! The teaches us that the mitzvah of the Seder is “V’higadita L’bincha,” to teach our children. Usually we teach the lesson and then see if the children have questions. Here the order is in the reverse! The Haggadah is teaching us an ”?teaches us that when children will ask you “what is this ספר שמות in פסוק important lesson. The .יציאת מצרים you will explain to them the story of "וְהָיָה כִי יִשְ ְָאלָך בִנְָך מָחָר ֵּלאמֹר מַה זֹאת וְָאמַרְ תָ ֵּאלָיו בְחֹזֶק יָד הֹוצִ ָא ּו ה' מִמִצְרַ יִם ֵּמִבית עֲבָדִים" “And it shall be when your son will ask you, 'What is this?' you shall say to him, 'With a strong hand G-d removed us from Egypt..."(Exodus 13:14). The author of the Haggadah understood from the passuk that the question triggers the lesson. Rav Soloveitchik taught that the purpose of many customs during the Seder is to arouse the interest of the children so that they ask questions! The Rav writes, “The first night of Pesach we try to stimulate the curiosity of the child--we try to make him inquisitive--because the story of Mitzrayim is the story of the long search on the part of many generations for G-d, who finally finds us and comes close to us. And we want the child to join! To join, this night, the mesorah community. And how can the child join if not by asking questions during the Seder!? To arouse the naive curiosity of a child is like making the child a G-d searcher. What is more beautiful than that?” According to Rav Soloveitchik, we begin with the questions because we want children to start to participate in the process of seeking answers. We want them to be stimulated to be a part of our community’s ongoing search for closeness to G-d and His reaching out to us. If we simply taught the lesson, the children would become disinterested. By allowing them to ask the questions they become excited, engaged and invested in the answers they will learn. The Rav taught that the purpose of many of the practices of the Seder night (, yachatz, stealing the afikomen, wearing a kittel, etc.) is to interest the children and propel them to ask questions. that teaches us that if there are no children or other people to ask questions to, we גמרא There is a should even ask ourselves questions! "ת"ר חכם בנו שואלו ואם אינו חכם אשתו שואלתו ואם לאו הוא שואל לעצמו ואפילו שני תלמידי חכמים שיודעין בהלכות הפסח שואלין זה לזה" For example, even at a Seder attended only by two Torah scholars proficient in the laws of , one scholar must ask the other. One who is alone asks the questions to himself. (, Pesachim 116a) Questions make us think, evaluate and strive for greater depths of understanding and insight. The Maharal explains that people are generally happy with their view of life, but when they are confronted with questions, they acknowledge that they do not know everything. Even the greatest Torah scholars have more to learn and have greater heights to

10 achieve. We should encourage everyone, especially our children, to ask questions on the night of Pesach.

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הגדה של פסח With Commentary From the Students of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Middle School

12 סדר בדיקת חמץ בלילה שלפני ערב פסח בודקים את החמץ. וחייבים לבדוק מיד בתחלת הלילה, ואסור להתחיל לאכול או לעשות שום מלאכה חצי שעה קודם הלילה.

קודם בדיקת חמץ אומרים: הֲרֵ ינִימּוכָן ּומְ זּומָ ן לְקַ יֵם מִצְ וַת עֲשֵה וְ ֹלא תַ העֲשֵ שֶׁל בְדִיקַת חָמֵ ץ לְשֵם יִחּודקּודְ שָא בְרִ יְך הּוא ּושְ כִינְתֵ יּהעַל יְדֵי הַ הּוא טָמִ יר וְ נֶׁעֱלָם בְשֵ ם כָל יִשְרָאֵ ל:

רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁ ר קִדְשָ נּו בְמִצְ וֹתָ יו וְצִ ּוָנּו עַל בִ יעּור חָמֵ ץ1:

ומיד אחר הבדיקה יבטלנו ויאמר: כל חמִירָא וַחֲמִ יעָא דְאִ יכָאבִרְ שּותִ י דְ לָא חֲמִתֵ יּה ּודְ לָא בִ עַרְתֵ יּה ּודְ לָאיְדַעְ נָא לֵיּה ללִבָטֵ וְ לֶׁהֱוֵי רהֶׁפְקֵ אכְעַפְרָ דְ ַארְ עָא: כל חמץ ושאור שיש ברשותי, שלא ראיתיו ושלא בערתיו ושלא ידעתיו - יבטל ויהיה הפקר כעפר הארץ

1 Every Bit of Chametz By Maya Stein

We do that because it is .חמץ we clean our houses out and remove all of our ,ערב פסח Every But why is that? Even with non-kosher food you are .חמץ forbidden to even own a little bit of allowed to own it as long as you do not eat it. The answer is taught by Rabbi Haim Yosef David represents חמץ Azulai. He says that the reason that we may not own even a little bit of it is because in order יצר הרע which is the temptation to go against Hashem. We must get rid of our ,יצר הרע the We have the option to daven .יצר הרע to do good for Hashem. Every day we are challenged by our we must do ;יצר הרע or to not, or whether or not we will keep kosher. We must not listen to our .חמץ and clean our houses from any מצות Hashem's (From the Sephardic Heritage Haggadah)

13 סדר שריפת חמץ

ביום י"ד בניסן בשעה חמישית יעשה לו מדורה וישרפנו ותכף יבטלנו ויאמר: כל חמִירָא וַחֲמִ יעָא דְאִ יכָאבִרְ שּותִ י דַ חֲזִתֵ יּהּודְ לָאחֲזִתֵ יּה דַ חֲמִתֵ יּה ּודְלָא חֲמִתֵ יּהדְ בִעַרְתֵ יּה ּודְ לָאבִ עַרְתֵ יּהלִבָטֵל וְ לֶׁהֱוֵי הֶׁפְקֵ ר כְעַפְרָ א דְַארְ עָא: כל חמץ ושאור שיש ברשותי, שראיתיו ושלא ראיתיו, שבערתיו ושלא בערתיו - יבטל ויהיה הפקר כעפר הארץ. סדר הדלקת נרות רּוְך אַתָ ה ה’בָ אֱֹלקֵ ינּו מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, ראֲשֶׁ קִדְ שָ נּו בְמִצְ וֹתָ יו וְצִ ּוָנּו לְהַדְ לִיק נֵר שֶׁ ל יוֹם טוֹב. בָ רּוְך אַתָ ה ה’ אֱֹלקֵ ינּו מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶׁחֱיָנּו וְקִ יְמָ נּו וְהִ גִיעָנּו לַזְמַ ן הַזֶׁה. סימני סדר פסח2

2 Why Fifteen? By Avi Wise

On the night of Pesach, we have the obligation of lesaper yetziat Mitzrayim, to tell the story of leaving Egypt. Every day we remember yetziat Mitzrayim in our davening, but on the night of Pesach we are obligated to actually tell the story. The seder begins with the list of the fifteen steps of the seder. It starts with , Ur’chatz, Karpas, Yachatz… The number fifteen isn’t a coincidence. The purposely made fifteen steps for the seder to have it correspond with the fifteen steps in the Beit Hamikdash that led from the outer courtyard up to the inner courtyard. These steps correspond to the fifteen Songs of Ascent in Tehillim. Each chapter opens with the words shir hama’alot which literally means “a song of steps”. The Talmud tells us that the Leviim would stand on the fifteen steps and sing these fifteen songs. There seems to be something deeper with the number fifteen. What is it? The first two letters of Hashem’s Name are yod and heh. The numerical value is fifteen. Based on this, the Maharal of Prague explains that a person’s connection to Hashem is represented by the number fifteen. (From the Ohr Samayach Haggadah)

14 קַדֵּ ׁש ּורְ חַ ץ כַרְ פַ ס יַחַ ץ מגִּיד רַחְ צָ ה מוֹצִּיא מַצָ ה מָ רוֹר כוֹרֵּ ְך ׁשֻׁ לְחָ ןעוֹרֵּ ְך צָ פּון בָרֵּ ְך הַ לֵּל נִּרְ צָ ה קַדֵּ ׁש בְׁשַ בָ ת :מַתְחִּ ילִּין וַיְהִ י עֶׁרֶׁב וַיְהִי בֹקֶׁר יוֹם הַשִשִי . וַיְכֻּלּו הַשָמַ יִם וְהָָארֶׁץ וְכָל צְ בָָאם . וַיְכַל אֱֹלקים בַ יוֹם הַשְ בִיעִי מְ לַאכְ תוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָה וַיִשְ בֹת יוֹם בַ הַשְ בִיעִי הַשְ בִיעִי בַ יוֹם וַיִשְ בֹת עָשָה אֲשֶׁר מְ לַאכְ תוֹ הַשְ בִיעִי בַ יוֹם אֱֹלקים וַיְכַ ל מִ כָל מְ לַאכְ תוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָה . וַיְבָרֶׁ ְך ֹלקים אֱ אֶׁת יוֹם בִיעִי הַשְ וַיְקַדֵש וַיְקַדֵש הַשְ בִיעִי יוֹם אֶׁת אֱ ֹלקים וַיְבָרֶׁ ְ ך אוֹתוֹ כִי בוֹ שָ בַת מִ כָל מְ לַאכְ תוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָרָא אֱֹלקים .לַעֲשוֹת בַ חוֹל מַתְחִּ ילִּין: סַבְרִ י מָרָ נָן וְרַ בָ נָן וְרַ בוֹתַ י רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם אבוֹרֵ יפְרִ הַ גָפֶׁן. רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, ראֲשֶׁ בָחַר בָ נּו מִ כָל עָם3 וְ רוֹמְמָ נּו מִ כָל לָשוֹן וְקִדְ שָ נּו בְמִצְ וֹתָ יו. ןוַתִתֶׁ לָנּו ה’ אֱ ֹלקינּו בְַאהֲבָ ה )בְשַ בָ ת:

3 The Chosen Nation By Nechama Erps

Mashal: A popular coach was looking for a new job. He got two options. Option one was to coach a perfect team of All-Stars without having any teamwork issues. If he’d choose that team and agreed, he’d be guaranteed to go down in history as the coach of the best assembled team ever. Option two was to Coach a team that has no skills, teamwork, and disobeys the rules. But the team does have the desire to win! With a great amount of time coaching them, they can be molded into a winning machine. If they got all that, they might win the championship. Which team would the coach rather choose? Nimshal: Hashem already made a “Dream Team”; they are called angels. Angels don’t fight, and they don’t die. Angels do exactly what Hashem tells them. No one needs to “coach” angels. So instead, Hashem gave His Torah to Bnei Yisrael with a game plan and a guidebook that teaches us how to live a “champion” life. This is the idea of the Chosen People. Hashem chose us because we are a nation of individuals who want the opportunity to sense G-d's closeness, hear His truth and relay his

15 שַבָ תוֹת לִמְנּוחָ הּו(מוֹעֲדִ ים לְשִמְ חָה, חַגִים ּוזְמַ נִים לְשָ שוֹן, אֶׁ ת יוֹם )הַשַ בָתהַזֶׁה וְאֶׁ תיוֹם( חַגהַמַ ּצוֹת הַזֶׁה4, זְמַןחֵרּותֵ נּו5 )בְַאהֲבָ ה(,

message to the world. Perhaps we were worshiping idols like the Egyptians, and perhaps there were people who were better than us back then, but we had the strongest desire to succeed and have the potential to set the example of morals and ethics for the whole world. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

4 Chag Hamatzot By Brandon Dyckman

According to the Torah, the holiday of Passover is called “Chag Hamatzot”. In Hebrew, the word mitzvot is spelled exactly the same way. Therefore, “Chag Hamatzot” can be read as “Chag Hamitzvot”. By calling it “Chag Hamatzot” the Torah emphasizes that the Jewish people that left Egypt and received the Torah, had the opportunity to earn a great reward by doing the mitzvot. The Hebrew word Pesach means Passover, which Hashem did when he “passed over” the Jewish homes in Egypt. So, when we call it Pesach, we are emphasizing the good that Hashem has done for us. The Rabbis teach us not to serve Hashem with the reward in mind but rather, we should serve Hashem out of a sense of love and gratitude. By calling the holiday “Pesach”, we emphasize the reward that each mitzvah brings and it helps us focus on the good that Hashem has done for us. (From the Ohr Somayach Haggadah)

The Significance of Pesach Being Seven Days By Matthew Mendelsohn

Why is Pesach seven days? Rabbeinu Don Yitzchak Abarbanel zt’’l suggests a possible answer. He suggests that just like the Jews were in Egypt for a lifetime, the length of Pesach connects to our lifetimes. He suggests that the seven days of Pesach symbolize the seven decades of a person's life. On the first night of Pesach there are many mitzvot including the mitzvah of teaching children about Yetziat Mitzrayim. This specific mitzvah alludes to the importance of having a good education in one's early life. In addition, the first days of Pesach are holy, suggesting that a person should be dedicated to Torah in his early life. During the four days of Chol Hamoed, work is permitted although chametz is not. Similarly, in a person's middle stage of life one has to be careful to go out to work and to make parnasa while making sure to continue a life of Torah and to stay away from sins. On the last day of Pesach, we celebrate acharon shel Pesach with complete holiness. Similarly, at the end of a person's life one has to be completely dedicated to Torah. He should focus the rest of his life connecting to G-d and becoming more holy. Therefore, with all of these strong connections, we can come to the conclusion that Pesach is not just to remember Egypt but it teaches us lessons for our lives. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

16

5 A Holiday of Freedom By Liam Djebali

Why would we call Pesach the holiday of freedom if you work so hard to remove all the chametz, buy all the food, bake matzot and make all the food? The answer is that true freedom is being free from worry. This comes by strengthening our faith in Hashem. Only bitachon, the knowledge that Hashem is watching over us and knows what’s best for us, can give us a calm and worry free life and bring us to true freedom no matter how much work we have waiting for us. Rav Moshe Ahron Stern illustrated this with a parable. Every young child is taught that when crossing the streets he needs to look both ways and then proceed with caution. But when that same child holds his father’s hand he crosses the street without looking and without worry. That is because he’s holding the hand of his father, the one whom he trusts wholeheartedly to protect him. This is the level of trust we should strive to have in Hashem when we trust Hashem and understand how deep his love is. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

The True Meaning of Pesach By Avi Wagner

Pesach is sort of like an Independence Day, like on July Fourth. But one would ask themselves, isn’t all the cleaning, and strict laws a bit much just for Independence Day? Yes, it is, but Pesach isn’t just an Independence Day; it is also a time of remembrance, and commemoration of the time we were let out of Egypt. G-d wants us to become spiritual and priestly. We refer to the Exodus as a source of our strength in the struggles to achieve spirituality. The liberation from Egypt was not just a nationalistic incident, but a creation of a nation with a universal mission. G-d said to the Jewish nation after he took them out of Egypt, “I am the Lord your G-d who has taken you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.” The reason he says this is because the Jews had not seen many actions of G-d in a long time. So, to let them know who He is He says this because it easier for them to relate to this. (From the From Bondage to Freedom Haggadah)

A Time of Freedom By Zev Nussbaum

Pesach is the holiday of belief in Hashem or emuna, but isn’t Pesach called zeman cheiruteinu, the time of freedom? And, why don’t we call Pesach zeman simchateinu? The three festivals represent various aspects of our love for Hashem. On Pesach there is no doubt that Hashem is real because of all the miracles that He showed us when we were leaving Egypt. Shavuot reaffirms the truth of the Torah and so we call it zeman mattan Torateinu. On Sukkot we rejoice and so we call it zeman simchateinu. On Pesach, the holiday of belief in Hashem, we truly became free because we clearly recognized that Hashem is real. This truly makes it a time of cheiruteinu.

17 אמִקְרָ קֹדֶׁ ש, זֵכֶׁר לִיצִיַאת מִצְרָ יִם6. כִ יבָ נּו בָחַרְתָ וְ אוֹתָ נּו קִדַשְתָ מִ כָל הָעַמִ ים,)וְשַ בָ ת( ּומוֹעֲדֵי קָדְשֶׁ ָך )בְַאהֲבָ ה ּובְרָ צוֹן,( בְשִמְ החָ ּובְשָ שוֹן הִ נְחַ לְתָ נּו. בָ רּוְך אַתָ ה ה’, מְקַדֵ ש )הַשַ בָ ת וְ(יִשְרָאֵל וְהַזְמַ נִים. )בְ מוֹצָאֵּ יׁשַ בָ תמוֹסִּיפִּ ין: רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, בוֹרֵא מְ אוֹרֵ י הָאֵ ש. רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ אֱֹלק ינּו מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם הַמַבְדִ יל בֵ ין קֹדֶׁ ש לְחֹל, בֵ ין אוֹר לְחשֶׁ ְך, בֵ ין ליִשְרָאֵ לָעַמִ ים, בֵ יןיוֹם הַשְ בִיעִ י תלְשֵשֶׁ יְמֵי הַמַ עֲשֶׁ ה. בֵ ין קְ דֻשַ תשַ בָתלִקְ דֻשַ ת יוֹם טוֹבהִבְדַ לְתָ , תוְאֶׁ יוֹם הַשְ בִיעִי מִשֵשֶׁ ת יְמֵ י הַמַ עֲשֶׁה .קִדַשְתָ הִבְדַ לְתָ וְקִדַשְתָ אֶׁת עַמְ ָך ליִשְרָאֵ בִקְ דֻשָתֶָׁך.בָ רּוְך ’האַתָ ה הַמַבְדִ יל בֵ ין שקֹדֶׁ לְקֹדֶׁ ש.( רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם,שֶׁהֶׁחֱיָנּו וְקִ יְמָ נּו וְהִ גִיעָנּו לַזְמַ ן הַזֶׁה. הׁשוֹתֶ רֹב כוֹס הַ יַיִּן בְהַסָ בָ ה7.

6 Who Left Who? By Eliana Klibanoff

which means “the leaving of ,”יציאת מצרים“ When we talk about leaving Egypt, we call it or “we left "יציאת בני ישראל" If we were the ones to leave, it would make more sense to say .”מצרים Rav Gedalya Schorr says that there were two redemptions on the night we left. The first .”מצרים leaving us in a more spiritual way. We were מצרים and the second was מצרים one was us leaving free of the impurity and were finally able to be our own free nation. This is meaningful to us because Hashem saved us twice and we should be twice as grateful. (From the Touched By The Seder Haggadah)

7 Everyone Leans By Avi Weiskopf

The Mishna states that even a poor Jew may not eat without leaning. Rabbi Yehonasan Hakohen Katzburg pointed out that the poor person reclining is more than a symbolic gesture. Reclining implies a change of attitude; he may be poor now but he shouldn't give up. By placing

18 ּורְ חַ ץ נוֹטְ לִּין אֶת הַ יָדַ יִּם וְאֵּין מְ בָרְ כִּ ין "עַלנְטִּ ילַת יָדַ יִּם"8.

כַרְ פַ ס9

his faith in Hashem he will immediately feel like a free man. (From the Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl Haggadah)

8 Spiritual Cleanliness By Eitan Laub

As Jews, we wash our hands every day. It’s pretty much in everything we do. We are always cleansing ourselves. Why? Because it’s a separation from bad and sin. Washing ourselves doesn't just mean soap and water; it’s cleaning ourselves on the inside, our souls and minds. It’s getting rid of our spiritual chametz, similar to how we must get rid of our physical chametz. Just like so many other events at the Seder, this really interests the children who see this strange addition to the meal. We all know that washing our hands was to remember the Temple and washing before vegetables. We call it “Urechatz”- “And wash” and not simply- “wash”. The “Vav” connects the two words Holiness and cleanliness connecting Kadesh & Urechatz together. One must clean their hands after Kadesh. Having a Seder while your hands are not clean doesn't make sense.

9 Karpas By Lea Diamond and Shira Rosenblat

Karpas is a symbol of spring. Spring makes people feel happy like when Bnei Yisrael were free, they were happy. The salt water we use reminds us of Bnei Yisrael’s tears that they shed in Eretz Mitzrayim. Karpas used to be served as an appetizer at festive meals in ancient times. Serving a vegetable and dip at this point in the Seder makes the kids (and adults) hold out until the actual meal is served. Once there was a chasid who brought a sack of carrots to Rabbi Dov to be used for karpas. After he went back home, Rabbi Dov gave orders for the sack of carrots to be burned with chametz. No one asked him why. When the chasid returned to his home, his maidservant asked him if he was pleased with how the carrots looked. He said yes and asked her how it came out so perfect. She said that she soaked them in beer. The chasid thought to himself, “ beer is chametz! I have to do something about it!” So, he went on the two hour ride back to Rabbi Dov and told him that he should burn the carrots. Rabbi Dov replied, “I had them burned anyway.” The chasid asked why and Rabbi Dov replied, “I thought it was unusual to use carrots for karpas.” If you follow the laws, you won’t violate eating chametz on Pesach.

19 טוֹבְ לִּין כַרְ פַספָ חוֹת מִּ כְ זַיִּת בְמֵּ ימֶ לַח, ּומְ בָרְ כִּ ין.נַכון לְכַוֵּן לִּפְ טור גַם אֶת הַמַ רור בִּבְ רכה זּו.

Karpas- Eating for the Mitzvah By Nadav Callen

What makes washing our hands before karpas so important and is it important enough that it should have its own place in the seder? The answer is that we are the sons of kings and we must emphasize this by eating karpas before the main meal. Why is this? It is explained that the very rich were accustomed to eating a vegetable before the main meal as it would awaken their appetite. In fact, the gemara tells us a story of Rav Chisda who never enjoyed “this first dish” because when he was a young man he was very poor. When he became wealthy he didn’t want to forget that he was once poor and couldn’t afford to indulge in vegetables before the meal. Not only did he think of this for himself; he also taught his students not to awaken their appetite with “this first dish” because they wouldn’t have anything to eat after that! This night is different - we are sons of kings; therefore, this night we must awaken our appetite before the main meal to a point where we actually make the food the mitzvah. There is no other day in the year where we make a bracha of “al achilat” except on this night! A true ben chorin (free man) is one who knows how to eat as part of a mitzvah and does not become enslaved to anything else but fulfilling the mitzvah. This night we are being asked to remember an ideal world of living in Gan Eden. The one commandment there was “achol tochel” - eat from the fruits of Gan Eden! When we didn’t accomplish this as Hashem commanded, we were kicked out of Gan Eden for eating from the forbidden fruit when told to by the snake. How do we reach this level of kedusha when eating is the mitzvah? We must wash our hands because to reach this level we must be pure and clean. It is so critical for this night as eating is the mitzvah. Therefore, “Urchatz” is also called out as a stage in the Seder .as we can’t continue the meal unless we are “tahor”, or pure! (From the Haggadah of Pesach, with commentary from Rabbi Mordechai Elon)

Karpas and the Ketonet Pasim By Jesse Koppel

The karpas is one of the six significant foods on the Pesach Seder plate. The karpas seems so simple yet it is a mysterious idea with a lot of importance. The word karpas has two meanings. It could mean greens or vegetables. It also means fine wool or linen. We get the idea that it means wool from the story of Yaakov giving the kitonet hapasim to Yosef. The word “pasim” means wool just like in the word “karpas”. During the Seder we dip the karpas into bitter saltwater. This is reminds us of when Yosef’s brothers dipped his coat into the blood which led to us going to Egypt in the first place. The question is, why don’t we just bring a kitonet hapasim to the Seder instead? As Jews, it is our responsibility to use the hints that Hashem has given to figure out the reasons for the mitzvot that we do instead of just having all the facts in front of us. (From http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-Seder-Karpas-and-the-coat-of-many-colors-395992)

20 רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, בוֹרֵ א פְרִ י הָאֲדָמָ ה. יַחַ ץ10

10 How Many Matzot? By Eli Novick

Everybody knows that we are supposed to have three matzot on the night of the Seder, one for Kohen, one for Levi, and one for Yisrael. What most people don't know is that the three matzot is just one opinion; there is actually a machloket about how many matzot one actually needs. While most people have three and break the middle one, the Vilna Gaon stated that one only needs two matzot and the lower one should be broken. This machloket first starts in the gemarah. In Masechet Pesachim Daf 115b, there is an argument about the meaning of lechem oni, the Torah word for matzah. Shmuel says that lechem oni comes from the hebrew word onin, to recite, since we recite many things over matzah during the Seder. However, the more well-known opinion of the gemarah is that lechem oni comes from the word ani, impoverished, because the mitzvah is done with a broken piece of matzah and a poor person always has to survive with less than a full portion. Another gemarah that supports the machloket of how many matzahs are required on the Seder night can be found in Berachot Daf 39b. Rav Papa says that everyone agrees that the broken piece of matzah is placed under the whole piece and then the beracha is made because the bread is called lechem oni. Rav Abba adds to the point of Rav Papa by saying that on , the beracha of hamotzi must be made on two full loaves because the Torah says lechem mishnah, double bread, when talking about Shabbat. If we assume that the Chagim are just like Shabbat where lechem mishnah is required, how can we only have one full piece of matzah and one broken piece, as implied by the opinion of Rav Papa. Rashi comments that the broken piece of matzah has to have two full matzot with it. Even though we say the berachah of al achilat matzah on the broken piece, the beracha of hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz is said on the two full pieces. Since Pesach is not less important than Shabbat and the other Chagim the rules of lechem mishnah still apply. However, the Rambam says in Hilchot Chametz U'matzah that both of the berachot are said on two pieces of matzah, one full and one broken. With the opinion of Rashi, both lechem oni and lechem mishnah are fulfilled. The opinion of the Rambam implies that lechem mishnah does not apply to Pesach. This might relate to whether or not double fell before Yom Tov like Shabbat. What Rambam is saying might make more sense if we look at the meaning of Pesach. Other Chagim demonstrate that something is complete, while on Pesach, even though we are celebrating the fact that Hashem is a redeemer, we are not completely redeemed yet. There are still many people who are threatened every day and cannot enjoy their matzah with freedom. All of Israel is always in danger being surrounded by Arab countries. Since all of this must be expressed during Pesach, our joy has to be lessened a little, and we can't rejoice completely with the usual lechem mishnah. It was once said by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov that, “Who is a whole man? He who has a broken heart.” As long as we are not fully redeemed, the second matzah must be broken. That

21 בַעַל הַבַיִּת יִּבְצַ ע אֶתהַמַצָה הָאֶמְ צָעִּ ית לִּׁשְתַ יִּם ּומַצְפִּ ין אֶת הַ חֲצִּ י הַ גָדוֹל לַאֲפִּ יקוֹמָ ן.

matzah is a reminder to everyone that even though we are in the Chag of Ge'ulah, the holiday of redemption, we are not fully redeemed. Rabbi Nachman is teaching us that in order to be a whole people, our hearts and matzot must be broken to remind us that there are some people who aren't free. We should keep this message in mind as we daven for Mashiach to come and break the matzah during yachatz this Pesach. (From the Passover Haggadah of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin)

Remembering Our Best Friend By Daniel Benzvi

Rav Yitzchak Izik of Spink gives a beautiful mashal that some would tell before Yachatz. Two friends had to part ways after a lifelong friendship. It was very hard for them to say goodbye to each other after being together for so long. When they started to separate, each friend gave the other a picture as a remembrance. One friend had an idea and ripped his picture in half and handed half to his friend. The other friend did the same. Throughout their separation, whenever one thought of the other, they would look at the picture and remember that they were incomplete without the other. This is the symbolism of Yachatz. Although we are celebrating Yetziat Mitzrayim, we are still in a long bitter galut. It has been a difficult journey and our closest friend, Hashem’s presence, is not with us. So, we tear the picture (the matzah) into two pieces to remind us of our friend and we hope we can one day learn with Him again. At the end of the Seder, we are reminded that our “best friend” will soon be with us. We are forever linked with our “best friend.”

On Our Shoulders By Ilan Shanskhalil

A Sephardic custom at the Seder is for everyone to put the on their shoulder. The Torah says that when the Jews left Egypt, they put matzot on their shoulders because they cherished the mitzvah so much that they did not want to leave the matzot on their animals. They wanted to carry it themselves (Mechilta). Sephardim are remembering this when doing this custom. There is also a custom among Sephardic Jews for the leader of the Seder to walk with the matzah on his shoulder and to carry the matzah while having a dialogue with the children. The children ask the leader where he is going and what he has. He answers that he is going to with matzah. These customs help us “relive” the Exodus. In my opinion we should do this custom annually in order to never forget the details of when we left Egypt.

22 מַגִּיד11

11 Why is There No Beracha on the Haggadah? By Weissman

Why don't we say a beracha on recounting leaving Mitzrayim? The Rosh answers that the mitzvah of the Haggadah is to strengthen our faith in Hashem. This is a mitzvah that takes place in our heart and our mind. We only recite berachot on mitzvot that are performed through an action. The Rashba answers that we don't recite a beracha on a mitzvah that does not have a fixed measurement. By the mitzvah of the Haggadah, the more one does, the bigger the mitzvah. Therefore, there is no fixed measurement and no beracha is recited.

Why No Beracha On Maggid? By Ariel Hammerman

A beracha is recited for most mitzvot. For example, we make a beracha when we light Shabbat candles, shake a lulav, count sefirat haomer and much more. Surprisingly, there is no beracha for Maggid, the fifth and most important section of the Seder. My questions are, why is that? Shouldn’t there be a beracha for Maggid when we remind ourselves of all that Hashem did for us to get us out of Mitzrayim? Isn't this the time to bless Hashem for all He did? The Rambam says that we do not say a beracha on Maggid because we already have the mitzvah to think about Yetziat Mitzrayim every single day. Since this should be part of our day to day activities it does not seem as necessary to make a blessing. Another explanation on why we do not say any beracha on Maggid is because you do not say a beracha when a Mitzvah is from man to man (Ben Adam L'chavero). Maggid is considered a mitzvah that is man to man because you are supposed to tell people and talk about the great miracles that Hashem put in place for us and tell your children everything that happened. Though we do not say a beracha straight out during Maggid, we actually do praise Hashem. At the end of Maggid we praise Hashem by reciting little bits from Hallel. This shows that the Rabbis who wrote the Haggada were so grateful of what Hashem did after reading the beginning of Maggid they could not wait till the end because what Hashem did was so great. We can learn from this that even if something does not have a beracha, we can find other ways to praise Hashem.

Misplaced Beracha? By Jacob Zuckerman

Why don't we say a beracha on the mitzvah to tell the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim? Some Rishonim explain that the blessing we say at the end of Maggid, “who redeemed us and redeemed our ancestors’’ covers this mitzvah. So, why is the blessing said after the story while most blessings are said before the performance? The Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer from Pressberg) says that the answer lies in the words of the Haggadah that say, “In every generation it is one's duty to regard himself as though he personally had gone from Egypt.” When one goes into the mikvah, they don't say a beracha before going in; rather they make the beracha following the

23 מְ גַלֶה אֶת הַמַ צוֹת מַ גְבִּיהַ אֶת הַקְ עָרָ ה וְאוֹמֵּ ר בְ קוֹל רָ ם: הָ א לַחְמָ א עַנְיָא12 דִ י אֲכָלּו ַאבְהָתָ נָא בְַארְ עָא דְמִצְרָ יִם. כָל דִ כְפִ ין יֵיתֵ י וְ יֵיכֹל13, כָל דִצְרִ יְךיֵיתֵ י וְיִפְסַ ח.הָשַתָא הָ כָא, לְשָ נָההַבָָאה בְַארְ עָא דְ יִשְרָאֵל. אהָשַתָ עַבְדֵ י, לְשָ נָה הַבָָאה בְ נֵי חוֹרִ ין.

immersion. Similarly, when it comes to the Seder experience, it's not recommended to say a beracha at the beginning; after going through the Seder experience and immersing ourselves in all that it offers, we are ready to recite the beracha.

12 Who Knows What Bread They Ate When They Left? By Itai Hudes

About four hundred years ago, a ship set sail to the new world, and its name was the Mayflower. It is a great story of freedom in America and England. But a question comes to mind; is there one person who knows exactly when the Mayflower set sail? How many people know how many people were on the ship, and what they ate? Three thousand three hundred thirty-nine years ago, we left Egypt. And every Jew in the world knows exactly when they left-on the fifteenth of Nissan. And everyone knows exactly what they ate- matzah. And until today Jews all over the world eat matzah on the fifteenth of Nissan. We continue to tell the tale of how we left Egypt to our children so it will never be forgotten. (From a speech by David Ben Gurion, The Halailah Hazeh Haggadah)

The Bread of Affliction By Dalia Goldstein

“This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in Egypt. Whoever is hungry-let them come and eat”. This is strange to me for two reasons. One, because it randomly changes topics in middle of the song; and two, why would we be giving the “bread of affliction” to the hungry? Rabbi says that the “bread of affliction” is only really considered the poor bread because that was all that we had at the time. The song is saying that we should invite the poor people or “the hungry” to our table because all that they need is the matzah. We can learn to not take things for granted from this because to the hungry, the “bread of affliction” is a meal that they can enjoy but for us, it's just a regular piece of bread.

13 Empathizing With Others At The Seder By Jacob Colchamiro

Every Pesach, at the Maggid part of the Seder (), we invite all the hungry At a close glance, it is odd that we .”כל דכפין ייתי ויכול“ to come and join in our seder by saying specifically announce it here. After all, we are commanded to celebrate with those who are less fortunate with us on all holidays (see 16:11). What is the apparent connection between this statement and Pesach? R’ has a profound insight about this phrase. He says

24 that this line is especially critical on Pesach because we are celebrating being redeemed from slavery in Mitzrayim, a time in which we were poor and hungry. Here, at the seder, we show that we are grateful to Hashem for saving us, by helping those who are less fortunate than we are. In our lives, we must always make sure to understand how others feel and not just take our success for granted. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

Let Him Come and Eat By Jonah Mandil

long ago, a Jew went to Rav and said, “I cannot afford wine פסח One of the four cups on milk?” Rav Chaim מצוה because the price of wine is so high, but can I do the said, “My dear friend, your question is excellent, but for now, here, take this money to buy wine, ”.requirements הלכות of the four cups according to all of the strictest מצוה in order to fulfill the While he spoke, he gave the poor Jew twenty-five rubles. After he left, Rav Chaim’s wife asked him why he gave the man twenty-five rubles when a bottle of wine costs less than three rubles. He said to her that if he had enough money for meat, he would not have said that he was going to do & ,with four cups of milk. Therefore, I gave him enough money to buy wine, meat מצוה the .פסח סדר everything else he would need to have a (הגדת אספרה כבודך From)

Inviting the Poor- Why Now? By David Dunec

At the beginning of maggid we say Ha Lachma Anya. We invite poor people to our Seder tables. Why do we do this on Pesach and not on any other holiday? The passuk in Parshat Bo Perek 13states: ו שִבְעַת יָמִים, תֹאכַל מַצ ֹ ; ּובַּיֹום, הַשְבִיעִי, חַג, לַה'. ז מַ ֹות, יֵָּא ֵּכל, ֵּאת, שִבְעַת הַּיָמִים; וְֹלא-יֵּרָ אֶה לְָך ֵּחָמץ, וְֹלא-יֵּרָ אֶה לְָך .שְאֹר--בְכָל-גְבֻלֶָך The Vilna Gaon answers that the first sentence is an obligation on every person to eat the minimum amount of matzah throughout the seven days of Pesach. The second verse teaches that every Jew must make sure that matzot are available for the rest of Bnei Yisrael. Therefore, there is a separate mitzvah to make sure the people who are poor have matzah and complete their obligation as well. So, our conclusion is that we must ensure the poor have food for their Chag. (From Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin, bethjacob.org)

Late Invitation? By Alexis Sohnen and Liav Merlin

We are . הָ א לַחְמָ א עַנְיָא... כָל דִ כְפִ ין יֵיתֵ י וְ יֵיכֹל During the holiday of Pesach, we say the words of saying come in our home and eat with us. Why are we asking people to come into our homes and join us in the middle of the Seder instead of asking earlier? The answer to this question is that in people could not interrupt the Seder. Now that קרבן פסח due to the laws of בית המקדש the time of the people are allowed to come into our homes and celebrate this joyful ,קרבן פסח we do not have the holiday with us. This reminds us that we do not have the korban pesach today and that we are still

25 מֵּסִּיר הַקְ עָרָ ה מֵּעַ להַשֻׁ לְחָ ן,מוֹזְגִּין כוֹס ׁשֵּ נִּיוְכַאן ןהַבֵּ אוֹ אֶחָד מִּ ן הַמְ סֻׁבִּ ים ׁשוֹאֵּ ל: מַה נִשְתַ נָההַ ּלַיְלָההַזֶׁה מִ כָל הַ ּלֵילוֹת?14 שֶׁבְ כָלהַ ּלֵילוֹתָאנּו אוֹכְלִין חָמֵץּומַּצָ ה15, הַ ּלַיְלָה הַזֶׁה - כֻּלוֹ מַּצָ ה!שֶׁבְ כָלהַ ּלֵילוֹתָאנּו אוֹכְלִין

in exile. We went into exile because we did not care about each other or treat each other respectfully. Now we have the chance to correct our mistakes by inviting people to our Seder and enjoying together. Now we can get closer to bringing mashiach. (From the Artscroll Mesorah Series Haggadah)

מה נשתנה The Journey of the 14 By Rebecca Arian

and the four questions recited by the youngest child at the ,מה נשתנה We all know the song seder. But what we don’t know is that many commentators actually refer to the entire song as one single question: Why is it that the seder contradicts itself? On the one hand, we recline at the table, dipping our vegetables not once, but twice, to show our freedom and leisure. But on the other hand, we also eat bitter herbs and flattened peasant’s bread. Why is this? The answer is that our seder is meant to embody the entire story of our exodus. At the beginning, we show the bitterness of being slaves in Egypt. We didn’t have a comfortable lifestyle or even the freedom to practice Jewish rituals. But, as represented in the seder, we quickly went from being oppressed to miraculously being brought out of Egypt, becoming the chosen nation of Hashem. Our seder is meant to show us how quickly redemption can come. Life has many unforeseen twists and turns; bad things happen to even the best people. But Hashem always has a reason for making us suffer, and if we never lose faith, our lives can change for the better when we least expect it. (From the Hegyonei Halachah Haggada)

Any Questions? By Olivia Ansel and Kayla Klibanoff On Pesach, many things that we do are different. We don’t eat bread, we recline when we eat, and we drink four cups of wine. Why? During both Seders the youngest child recites the four questions. What are the answers to these four questions? The first question asks why we only eat matzah on this night, and all other nights we eat matzah and bread. We eat only matzah because when the Jews were leaving Egypt, they had to make food. Their intentions were to make bread, but they didn't have enough time to let the dough rise, so when they baked it, it came out as matzah. We also eat matzah because it symbolizes freedom. The Jews made matzah when they were leaving Egypt, which shows our freedom. The second question asks, why do we eat only on this night? We eat maror because it reminds us of the bitterness in our lives when we were slaves. When we are reminded of a difficult time, we are also reminded of how we got through that time, and how Hashem was with us throughout all of it. Hashem has been there guiding us to our destiny. The third question talks about the “double -dippings”. The salt water shows the many tears we shed during slavery, the charoset shows the cement the slaves used to

26 build for Pharaoh’s cities, and the dippings represent our freedom. The last question asks why we lean on this night. We lean because it's a sign of freedom. An old custom people did was lean on their elbow which shows they are relaxing and are free. It also shows that the Jews were able to have a celebratory meal. We lean because it symbolizes that we are free now, and are no longer slaves.

Mah Nishtanah By Eliana Saibel

In maggid the youngest child at the table who is able to read says Mah Nishtana. The question we have all had for a long time is why the youngest? The reason is that the older siblings, cousins, parents, and grandparents are supposed to be teaching the children the differences between this meal and all of the other meals. Having a set of questions to ask will help children who are unable to think of questions on their own. This part of the Seder wasn’t a major focus in the time of the second Beit Hamikdash. We see this is true because nowadays different groups of Jews have different questions because they were all separated. Here we learn how important it is to educate our children and to set them on a good path for a good Jewish life. (From the Scholars Haggadah)

15 Why Not Both? By Sofi Ehrlich and Emma Lando

,during our Pesach Seder, we bring up the famous question of מה נשתנה When we sing “Why matzah instead of chametz?” But why not look at it in a different way? Why don't we ask, “Why not both chametz and matzah?” After all, they symbolize before and after our freedom. Throughout the Seder we compare many things. For example, we compare maror and charoset, which symbolize bitterness and slavery to the four cups of wine and reclining, which represent freedom. So why not eat both chametz and matzah which symbolize freedom and slavery? Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin says that we don’t compare chametz and matzah as a before and after because matzah already represents both. It reminds of our slavery and it also reminds us how fast Hashem saved us. Matzvah itself has both aspects of slavery and freedom. This is the reason we don’t have to compare matzvah to any other aspect of the Seder and why we don’t have matzvah as well as chametz on Pesach. This is meaningful to us because it lets us understand the real meaning behind matzah and it’s relation to the story. It also shows two new ways to really appreciate Hashem through matzah. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshivah Volume 3)

Why So Many Questions? By Reuvy Keane

On Passover we celebrate our freedom from slavery. A slave is allowed no independent will, no opinion, and cannot question authority or voice his thoughts. With freedom, the Jewish nation was given the possibility to ask and to question. The idea of Passover in our personal lives is about becoming free from our internal constraints. Only by probing what Judaism is, asking and seeking more, can one become free from his or her current state, and reach a higher spiritual level.

27 שְ ָאר יְרָ קוֹת, - הַ ּלַיְלָה הַזֶׁה מָ רוֹר!שֶׁבְ כָלהַ ּלֵילוֹתאֵ ין ָאנּו מַטְבִ ילִין אֲפִ ילּו פַעַם אֶׁחָ ת, - הַ ּלַיְלָההַזֶׁה ישְתֵ פְעָמִ ים!שֶׁבְ כָלהַ ּלֵילוֹתָאנּו אוֹכְלִין בֵ ין יוֹשְ בִין ּובֵ ין מְ סֻבִ ין, - הַ ּלַיְלָה הַזֶׁהכֻּלָנּו מְ סֻבִ ין16!

16 On This Night- We All Recline By Jacob Shapiro

According to Rambam (Hilchot Chametz uMatzah 7:6-7) we recline when we eat and drink because, “In every generation it is one’s duty to regard himself as though he personally had gone out from the bondage of Egypt.” Rambam adds that “Therefore, when a person dines on this night he must eat and drink while reclining in a manner of a free man.” Therefore, we recline to show that we are free. Also, there is another reason for reclining. The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 20:18) cites the verse, “So G-d turned the people toward the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds,” and the midrash comments “Even a poor Jew should not eat without reclining, just as Hashem did when he took the Jewish people out from Egypt.” The Midrash understands the verse to mean that Hashem made the people recline on the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds. Just like they reclined, we recline during the Seder. (From the Rav Nebenzahl Haggadah)

The Obligation of Reclining By Itai Merlin

When drinking and even eating throughout the Seder, one is obligated recline. One must sit in a chair with pillows, so that he can recline with comfort. The Jewish people are obligated to recline, as we are trying to portray our royalty. It is important that everyone show their royalty during the Seder because on this night it is proper to act in such a way, as seen when Ramban writes in his that each Jew must act as if he is being freed from Egypt on the night of the Seder. As a result, we recline to illustrate our freedom. Additionally, the Me’iri says on Mishnah Pesachim that Jews are obligated to recline, to show our redemption, and to “set our hearts to sing praises to the One Who bestowed upon us this good”. One is obligated to recline to his left side, and eat and drink with his right hand, without any exceptions. According to halacha, a son is prohibited to recline in front of his father, but on the Seder night it is permitted, as he wants them to feel as if they are being redeemed from the slavery in Egypt. However, a student should not recline in front of his rabbi, unless the rabbi gives him permission. In the Torah, explaining the Exodus from Egypt, the Torah states “And God made the people go around, towards the desert” (Shemot 13:18). The Sages believed that due to the similarity of the words “go around” and recline, every Jew is obligated to recline. Moreover, most Ashkinazic women do not recline, but Sephardic women usually do. However, when eating maror no one should recline because it portrays bitterness which is the opposite of redemption. According to some, karpas is similar to maror and as a result, one should not recline when eating it. However, some believe that one must recline when eating karpas. If one did not recline when eating matzah, he/she should recline and eat the required portion of matzah again but without a bracha on the matzah. One should also do the same if they forget the second cup of wine.

28 מֵּנִּיחַ אֶת הַקְ עָרָ העַ להַשֻׁ לְחָן.הַמַ צוֹת תִּהְ יֶינָה מְ גֻׁלוֹת בִּׁשְ עַת אֲמִּ ירַ ת הַהַ גָדָ ה. עֲבָדִ ים הָ יִינּו לְפַרְ עֹה בְמִצְרָ יִם17, וַיוֹצִיאֵ נּו ה’ אֱ ֹלקינּו מִשָ ם בְ יָד חֲזָקָ ה ּובִזְרוֹעַ נְטּויָה.וְאִ ּלּו ֹלאהוֹצִיא הַקָ דוֹשבָ רּוְך הּוא אֶׁת אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו

However, when it comes to Kiddush and and the third and fourth cups of wine, people disagree, whether one should drink the wine again. According to most Ashkenazic customs, if someone forgets to recline when he drank wine, he should not drink the cup a second time, unless he forgot the second cup which everyone agrees that one must recline when drinking that cup. However, the Sephardic custom is different. If any of the four cups of wine are forgotten, one must drink a second time and recline, without the bracha. The Sephardic custom is to also eat the portion of the afikoman again if one forgot to recline, unless they have already benched (said the grace after the meal). If one has a custom to recline when eating karpas and forgot to recline it is prohibited to eat it again. It is admirable to recline the whole night of the Seder, unless at a certain point your custom is to not recline. Additionally, it is also commendable to have many guests at the Seder, as a remembrance of the Beit Hamikdash. Some even state that having many guests is part of the obligation of reclining. (From the Heritage Haggadah By Eliyahu Kitov)

17 Slaves to Hashem By Abigail Rosenfeld According to Rav Moshe Feinstein, the answer to the ma nishtanah is that we were led with a strong hand. If Hashem ,ביד חזקה from Egypt. The Torah tells us that Hashem took us out would have taken us out of Egypt in an insignificant and natural way we would have assumed that it was not Hashem who took us out. As a result of Hashem taking us out of Egypt in a unnatural and extraordinary way B’nei Yisrael were able to see that Hashem was not only taking us out to save us from the Egyptians but also to become our G-d. Therefore, we celebrate Pesach and tell the incredible and miraculous story of Yetziat Mitzrayim every year, in order to remind ourselves that after Yetziat Mitzrayim we were no longer slaves to a king but to Hashem. This year, we will remember once again that we are free from slavery and now are only slaves to Hashem and his mitzvot. I think that it was so important that Hashem took us out in such an incredible way because as a result of Yetziat Mitzrayim Hashem became our G-d who we can always turn to in times of trouble. This Pesach when we gather to tell the story once again of how Hashem took us out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm we should remember that the freedom we were granted at Yetziat Mitzrayim is eternal and has never left the Jewish people. (From the Reb Moshe Haggadah)

Ma Nishtana: The Real Question By Freddy Dresdner

The Vilna Gaon asks, when during the Seder night do we answer the questions of Ma Nishtana? He explains that the real question the children are asking is not ‘why maror?’, ‘why matza?’, ‘why do we dip twice?’ etc. Rather, we are asking why do we talk about slavery and

29 מִמִצְרָ יִם, יהֲרֵ ָאנּוּובָ נֵינּו ּובְ נֵיבָ נֵינּו מְ שֻעְבָדִ ים הָ יִינּו לְפַרְ עֹה בְמִצְרָ יִם. וַאֲפִ ילּוכֻּלָנּו חֲכָמִ ים, כֻּלָנּו נְבוֹ נִים, כֻלָנּו זְקֵ נִים, כֻלָנּו יוֹדְ עִ ים אֶׁ ת הַ תוֹרָה, מִצְ וָהעָלֵינּו לְסַ פֵר בִיצִ יַאת מִצְרַ יִם18. וְכָל הַמַרְ בֶׁ ה לְסַ פֵר בִיצִ יַאת מִצְרַ יִם יהֲרֵ זֶׁה מְ שֻבָ ח.

royalty together? For slavery we eat matza and maror, and for royalty we lean and dip twice. We are doing very contradictory activities at the seder and this is the real question being asked in the Mah Nishtana. We answer this question in the next song, where we say ‘avadim hayinu lepharoah bemitzrayim vayotzienu’. This says that we were in slavery but Hashem brought us into royalty. So we do things both to remember our slavery as well as the freedom that Hashem gave us after the slavery. (From shortvort.com)

עבדים היינו By Amit Bitansky

.we say that we were slaves in Egypt and not that they were slaves in Egypt עבדים היינו In Why do we say us? I have two answers. One is that we are supposed to think that we were slaves and feel as if we just left. The second reason is יציאת מצרים because it is a mitzvah to remember that we are still in the exile of and we will only come out when Mashiach comes. Therefore, we feel as if we are also slaves.

18A New Commandment? By Eli Brickman

The Torah obligates us to mention the Exodus once each day and again at night. The question to be asked is why does the Torah issue a new commandment to tell the story of the Exodus on Pesach night at the Seder? According to Rav Chaim Soloveitchik there are three reasons why. First off he says that the daily mitzvah can even be fulfilled by merely remembering the story while at the Seder one must tell the story to another or even to oneself. Secondly, he says that the daily mitzvah only requires us to mention leaving Egypt. The requirement for retelling the Exodus story on Seder night is that it must be told by first describing the initial slavery of Israel before the Exodus. Rav Chaim Soloveitchik’s last reason is that on the Seder night we must mention not only the story but the mitzvot and reasons for the mitzvot of Seder night- pesach, matzah and maror. That is why the Torah issues a new law of retelling the story of the Exodus.

A Special Story By Ethan Sinnreich

If you have to retell the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim every year why does it interest children so much? When people tell kids stories, kids start to lose interest in the book and fall asleep. But when children hear the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim they are interested in the story for longer than another story. Children like Yetziat Mitzrayim because there is a moral to the story which is how

30 מַ עֲשֶׁה בְרַבִי אֱלִיעֶׁזֶׁרוְרַ בִ ייְהוֹשֻעַ וְרַבִיאֶׁ לְעָזָר בֶׁ ן עֲזַרְ יָה וְרַ בְ י עֲקִ יבָ א וְרַבִ יטַרְ פוֹן שֶׁהָ יּומְ סֻבִין בִבְ נֵיבְרַ ק, וְהָיּו מְסַפְרִ ים בִיצִיַאת מִצְרַ יִם כָל אוֹתוֹ הַ ּלַיְלָה עַד שֶׁ בָ אּותַ לְמִ ידֵ יהֶׁם וְ ָאמְ רּו לָהֶׁ ם: רַ בוֹתֵ ינּו, הִ גִיעַ זְמַןקְרִ יַאת עשְמַ שֶׁל שַ חֲרִ ית19. ָאמַ ר רַ בִ י אֶׁ לְעָזָר בֶׁ ןעֲזַרְ יָה: הֲרֵ י אֲנִי ןכְבֶׁ שִ בְעִ ים שָ נָה, וְ ֹלא זָכִ יתִ י שֶׁתֵָאמֵ ריְצִ יַאתמִצְרַ יִםבַ ּלֵילוֹת עַד שֶׁדְרָשָ ּה בֶׁ ןזוֹמָ א: שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר, לְמַ עַן תִזְכֹר אֶׁ תיוֹם צֵאתְָך מֵאֶׁרֶׁץ מִצְרַ יִם כֹל יְמֵי חַ יֶׁיָך, יְמֵי חַ יֶׁיָך - הַ יָמִ ים, כָל יְמֵי חַ יֶׁיָך - הַ ּלֵילוֹת.וַחֲכָמִ יםאוֹמְרִ ים: יְמֵי חַ יֶׁיָך - הָ עוֹלָם הַזֶׁה, כֹל יְמֵי חַ יֶׁיָך - לְהָבִ יא לִימוֹת הַמָשִ יחַ . בָרּוְך הַמָ קוֹם20,בָרּוְך הּוא. בָ רּוְךשֶׁ נָתַ ןתוֹרָ הלְעַמוֹ יִשְרָאֵ ל, בָ רּוְך הּוא.

you should never turn down Hashem and He will always help the Jewish people. We can always know that we are safe under the eyes of Hashem. When children get a chance to hear this story it lights up their world because they know their ancestors were there when Moshe split the sea. The kids also learn a lot by playing a role in the Seder. Kids will keep this story forever. A story usually gets old when told too many times; but not this story because it’s always unforgettable!

19 Why Four Rabbis? By Dylan Klein

We are currently just going through the Seder and all of a sudden we start reading about four rabbis. Why? Here is the backstory. Four rabbis were at a Seder in . They were busy discussing the Pesach story until a student came to the house and said, “Rabbis, it is time to say the morning prayer!” This teaches us that even if we already know the whole Pesach story we should still go through it and discuss the miracles that happened. It also teaches us that one can get so excited about the story that they can completely lose track of time! (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

20 Baruch Hamakom By Tali Novick

In Maggid, we say a tefillah that talks about the greatness of Hashem. In the first verse we say “Baruch Hamakom”, which means Hashem is blessed. Here Hashem is referred to as Hamakom which means “the place”, but why? The Shibolei Haleket says that we refer to Hashem as the place because He is the universe. This is saying that Hashem can’t be controlled by space

31 כְ נֶׁ גֶׁד ַארְ בָעָה בָנִים21 דִ בְרָ התוֹרָ ה. אֶׁחָד חָ כָם, וְאֶׁחָ ד רָשָ ע22, וְאֶׁחָ ד תָ ם23, דוְאֶׁחָ שֶׁאֵ ינוֹ יוֹדֵ עַ לִשְ אוֹל.

because He is everywhere. The next phrase is “Baruch Hu”, which means He is blessed. But if the phrase before already said that Hashem is blessed then why do we need to repeat it? The reason for this is because at the seder, the head of the seder used to say “Baruch Hamakom” and everyone else would respond “Baruch Hu”. The past phrases are giving thanks to Hashem for all of our items because they are talking about how Hashem is everywhere so whenever we need any items He will be there for us. The next two phrases are “Baruch Shenatan Torah Liamo Yisroel” and “Baruch Hu”. These phrases are saying how Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people. This shows us that Hashem can also help us with our spiritual needs. From this prayer we can learn that Hashem is like a father and that we can ask him for anything. (From the Artscroll Haggadah)

21 The Four Sons By Sarit Greenwood

The Wise, the Wicked, the Simple and the One Who Does Not Know How to ask. Why would the Wicked son get to speak and ask his question right after the wise? Shouldn’t the Tzadik be placed far from the Rasha, so the Rasha’s evil will not rub off on the Tzadik? This teaches us that the wise cannot ignore their wicked brethren, because we are all responsible for one another. Now, I titled this Dvar Torah “The Four Sons” based on the Haggadah. But, the Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) says that there is actually a fifth son. A son that has no interest in the ways of the Jewish people and Hashem’s covenant, and hasn’t even come to the seder. Don’t leave that “Lost Child” behind. I hope that you learned an important lesson: No one can be left behind. We are all responsible for each other. (From .org)

The Four Children By Eli Fishbein

There are many types of children. Some are good, some are the best. Some are clever, and some not so clever. Seder night gives us a taste of how much Hashem believes in them. Sometimes you see people that are a little “off.” They are that way because they had no one believing in them. It is easy to get off the highway when no one is guiding you to stay on. The Chachamim teach that the chacham, the clever son, is beautiful as long as being clever is everything. He is intellectual, but he needs to be taught. How about stopping being only intellectual? How about tasting the Afikoman, tasting the depths of life, feeling deep emotion and serving Hashem with it? The chacham is not very far from the Rasha. Who is the Rasha? Someone who was never told how holy he is. Here is a beautiful Belzer Torah. The Haggadah says, “When you talk to the wicked son blunt his teeth.” It is heartbreaking. He came to the Seder when he was not forced to. The word bad; but the inside letter is ,רע form ,ע and ר is made up of three letters. The outside letters ,רשע

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symbloize Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. If every Jew is ש The three lines that make up a .ש connected to the forefathers, his soul is to. So we say “blunt his Shinav, his shin.” If you want to educate the boy, knock his shin loose from the rest of him; bring out the Avot from within him. The tam, simple son, is something different. The tam is just what his name says; he’s perfect. He wants to know the deepest depths of everything. There are two hebrew words for “this”: zeh and zot. Zeh is something you can point at, and zot means as if it’s dark, but I know that thing is there in the darkness. “Show me the deepest depths behind everything,” says the tam. We tell him, “Hashem will show it to you. He took us out of Egypt. There are certain deep lights that only Hashem can give you.” The last son, she’eino yodeia lish’ol, doesn’t know how to ask a question. He is so glad to be alive, so glad to be a Jew. He says he wants everything, but even if he has nothing he will still be glad. At p’tach lo, “You open for him.” Hashem will open the gates to him. Tonight, he opens the gates. (From the Carlbach Haggadah)

22 Wise Vs. Wicked? By AJ Keiser When discussing the four sons there is something that does not quite make sense. It seems that the Haggadah is comparing the wise son and the wicked son as if they were opposites, even though they are not. Would it not make more sense to have the wise son and the foolish son or the righteous and the wicked? From this, Rav Shach teaches us that embracing the Torah and the Torah’s way of life-wisdom and common sense- is the first thing that should be expected of a person. One should be able to take something and understand and assess it. Rav Shach once said that a good person is one who can look at the world around him and use his wisdom to realize that the world was made with a purpose. He will then realize that that purpose is for mankind to fulfill the Creator’s will. Through this, it is obvious that wisdom leads to being righteous. The Sages said in Sotah 2a, that “no person sins unless he is possessed by a spirit of foolishness.” This is understood to mean that if one lets their intellect make them lose sight of eternal truths, they will be drawn to sin and vice versa. This means that when the time for judgement comes, a sinner will have to deal with his intellectual failing and will be forced to answer questions like, “Why did you allow yourself to fall into foolishness?” Through understanding this, the Haggadah is able to justify itself for presenting wise and wicked as opposites. (From the Rav Shach Pesach Haggadah)

The Wise Son By Laila Klugmann and Gaby Nazarov

On Pesach, during the seder, there are many of topics to discuss. During the seder there is a discussion about the four sons. There is a wicked son, a son that does not know how to ask, a simple son, and a wise son. The wise son has the best traits and characteristics. He has a great attitude toward his elders and Judaism, asks the best questions, and makes good and positive So, why .רשע because it is the opposite of a צדיק decisions. Although, shouldn’t he be called a Rabbi responds that any other ?צדיק and not חכם does it say accomplishment is not as valuable as wisdom. If one has wisdom, you can make better decisions, and your abilities expand. Having wisdom is being even higher than righteous; it is not just one trait or characteristic. There are many different ways one can be wise in their own way. Wisdom is

33 חָ כָםמָ ה הּוא אוֹמֵר? מַה הָעֵדוֹתוְהַחֻקִ ים וְהַמִשְ פָטִ ים ראֲשֶׁ צִ ּוָה ’ה ’ה ֹלקינּו אֱ אֶׁתְ כֶׁם? וְ ַאף האַתָ ראֱמָ לוֹכְהִ לְכוֹת הַפֶׁסַ ח: אֵין מַפְטִירִ ין ַאחַר הַפֶׁסַח אֲפִ יקוֹמָ ן. ערָשָ מָ ההּוא אוֹמֵר? מָה הָ העֲבֹדָ הַ זֹאת לָכֶׁם?24 לָכֶׁם - וְ ֹלא לוֹ. ּולְפִ י שֶׁ הוֹצִיא תאֶׁ עַצְ מוֹ ןמִ הַכְ לָל כָפַר בְעִקָ ר. וְ ַאף אַתָ ה הַקְ הֵ ה אֶׁת שִ נָיו

beyond one’s lifetime and is taken with one to Olam Habah. Wisdom is a guide in life and the quality of wisdom can push you to do the right thing, and make one a better person. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

Two Sons By Rebecca Wiater and Gabi Gruber

The wise son comes directly before the wicked son. Why? Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson explains that the wicked son must be close to the wise son so that he can look up to the wise son. The wise son also has to realize that his brother needs to be taught to be a better person. The wise son can also end up being bad so he needs to always be humble. (From the Chassidic Haggadah)

23 The Simple Son By Huvi Hirschey and Callie Poleyeff

The Haggadah does not list the four sons in the same order as the Torah does. The Haggadah first lists the best son which is the wise son. Then it lists the opposite which is the wicked son. Afterwards, it lists the simple son who is on a lower level. Lastly it mentions the one who is unable to ask. In the Torah, the simple son is described before the wise son. Why did the Haggadah not follow the same order as the Torah? Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says that the Torah doesn’t go by a level of wisdom; it goes by who receives the most information. Therefore, the simple son is mentioned first. We also learn that the way we are supposed to learn information is to start simple and then gather more and more as we go. The third son is seen as the simple son but as we’ve learned he is able to grow into a more intelligent and bright person.

24 Your Words Make a Difference By Sophia Eisenberg

Every Pesach as we read the story about the four sons, it paints a picture for the reader that portrays the second son as evil. But is he really so wicked? The Yalkut Shimoni explains that the wicked son was not trying to go against the Torah; he was simply stating that he did not agree with the idea of the korban pesach. He thought that a korban pesach was not an appropriate way to show our love and devotion towards Hashem. From this, another question comes up. If the wicked son was not actually wicked, why is he portrayed this way? He is looked at this way just because of the way he phrased his words. Since he said that he did not agree with something from the

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Torah he is assumed to be wicked just because of one small sentence. This can teach us a very big lesson. We always have to be careful of what we say because sometimes our words will not be heard the way we want them to be. (From the Reb Moshe Haggadah)

Wicked By Gila Klibanoff and Ashley Katz

Everyone thinks that when the rasha is asking, “what is this service to you,” he is talking about all of Judaism but he really is not. What he was really asking is why it is necessary to perform the service of Hashem. He wants to know why we cannot just be good Jews in our hearts. Why do we have to keep all of the halachot and mitzvot? Why can we not just know them in our hearts? To the rasha’s question we answer that “It is because Hashem did for me when I left Egypt.” The answer is for the person answering the question, not for the rasha. If the rasha had been there he would not have been redeemed. He wouldn't have been redeemed because he wouldn't have done the mitzvot and he wouldn't have followed the halachot. So as you can see the wicked son wasn't asking about why we have all of Judaism. He is just asking why we have the physical actions of Judaism. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

The Know It All By Racheli Burack and Dalya Stroock

Every Pesach we read from the haggadah and learn from our scholars about Yetziat Mitzrayim. While everyone at the table has an important role, such as reciting the “Ma Nishtana” as well as greeting Eliyahu at the front door, a father is obligated to teach his sons about Yetziat Mitzrayim. The first of the four times that the Torah informs us that a father should teach his son about Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Torah says that the son will say, “What does this seder mean to you?” Or in other words, “What does this korban mean to you?” R’ Zalman Sorotzkin notes that the Haggadah determines that this paragraph relates to the wicked son, based on the inference of “to you” but not “to me”. The Wicked son shows no interest in learning about the Seder or even the korban. This son does not ask his question politely but states his “question” instead. The other sons show interest and enjoy hearing their father’s answers. However, the wicked son already “knows” all the answers and wants us to hear his opinion, not vise versa. This is the only paragraph that refers to “sons”, as opposed to “your son”. Unfortunately, the Torah predicted that the time would come when more than one person would fit into this category of “the wicked son”. From this, we can see that respecting our parents, elders and others is something very important and we should not take our relationships with the ones closest to us for granted. We should not act foolishly because, if our good actions reflect on others, the category of the “wicked sons” will begin to decrease and the Pesach Seder can return back to normal. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

35 וֶׁאֱ מֹר לוֹ:בַעֲבּור זֶׁה עָשָ ה ’ה לִי בְצֵאתִי מִמִצְרָ יִם. לִי - וְ ֹלאלוֹ. אִ יּלּו הָ יָהשָם, ֹלא הָ יָה נִגְָאל. תָםמָ ההּוא אוֹמֵר?מַ ה זֹאת? וְ ָאמַרְתָאֵ לָיו: בְ חֹזֶׁק יָדהוֹצִ יָאנּו ’ה ’ה מִמִצְרָ יִם, מִ בֵ ית עֲבָדִ ים.

The Rasha of Pesach vs. the Rasha of Sukkot By Daniel Simon

On Sukkot we have the mitzvah of the four species. The Medrash states a connection between the four species and the four sons on Pesach. The etrog, citron, that has both a nice taste and smell, represents someone who does good deeds and learns Torah, the chacham. The hadassim, myrtle, which has a good smell, but no taste, is compared to one who does not learn Torah, but has good deeds, the sheino yodeah lishol. The lulav, palm branch, that has no smell, but a good taste, represents a person who learns Torah, but does not have good deeds, the tam. The aravot, willow branch, personifies a person who doesn’t learn Torah or have good deeds, the rasha. However, on Sukkot, the aravot, rasha, is still part of the mitzvah, whereas on Pesach, the rasha is rejected. Why is this so? The answer is that the rasha of Sukkot is united with the other species, allowing him to be part of the mitzvah. Even if he disagrees with them, this is the feature that redeems him and allows him to still take part in the mitzvah. The rasha of Pesach observes his family celebrating Pesach and the Seder , but still rejects them and asks, “what good is all this to you anyway?”, and has no redeeming features. He is therefore excluded from the mitzvah. This is a very valuable lesson for our lives because if a person is not spiritual, but is affected by spiritual people, he can still experience spirituality.

What’s Wrong With the Question? By Shmully Hyams “Of what purpose is this service to you?” Why is the wicked son’s question considered so improper? After all, he is only trying to reduce the yoke of Torah observance by concentrating more on the underlying concept and less on the ritualistic details. The Chafetz Chaim illustrated the problem behind the wicked son’s statement with a parable: A man walked into a store and began hauling away loads of merchandise and throwing it into a nearby river. Those who witnessed the man’s odd behavior looked on with pity and thought, “The poor man. He must have lost his mind!” There was one wise man among them who corrected their oversimplified conclusion. “It is not absolutely certain that the man is insane,” he marked. “But one thing is for sure - the man who is throwing the merchandise into the river is not the owner of the store!” This is how we look at the wicked son’s attitude as well. When someone shows a willingness to do away with even one of the mitzvot of the Torah, he shows clearly that this “merchandise” is not his; with his words he betrays his attitude that this service is “yours” not his. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

36 וְשֶׁאֵ ינוֹ יוֹדֵ עַלִשְ אוֹל - אַתְ פְתַ ח לוֹ 25, שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וְהִ גַדְתָ לְבִ נְָך בַ יוֹם הַ הּוא לֵאמֹר, בַ עֲבּור זֶׁה עָשָ ה ה’ לִי בְצֵ אתִי מִמִצְרָ יִם. יָכוֹלמֵ רֹאשחֹדֶׁ ש, תַ לְמּוד רלוֹמַ בַ יוֹם הַ הּוא, יאִ בַ יוֹם הַ הּוא יָכוֹל מִבְ עוֹד יוֹם, תַ לְמּוד לוֹמַ רבַ עֲבּור זֶׁה - בַ עֲבּורזֶׁה ֹלא יָאמַרְתִ אֶׁ לָא בְשָ עָה שֶׁ יֵש מַּצָ הּומָ רוֹרמֻ נָחִ ים לְפָנֶׁיָך. מִתְחִ ּלָה יעוֹבְדֵ עֲבוֹדָ ה זָרָ ההָ יּו אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו, וְעַכְשָ יו קֵרְ בָנּו הַמָ קוֹם לַעֲבֹדָ תוֹ,שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: רוַיֹאמֶׁ יְהוֹשֻעַאֶׁ ל כָ ל הָעָם, כֹה ָאמַ ר ’ה אֱֹלהֵ י ’ה

25 Starting the Conversation By Emma Plotsker and Abigail Diamond

The sheino yodeah lishol, the son that does not know how to ask questions, is the fourth son that we read about. He is neither wise nor wicked like his brothers before him. He is able to learn, but unable to ask the questions like they are. The Shibolei Haleket says that when we say the words, we have to “open for him”, it means that you need to open the conversation for him. He can learn and understand, but we need to start off the conversation to help him learn. We need to teach him about the story of Mitzrayim until he is interested enough to ask the questions and ready to learn and understand. (From Chabad.org)

Encourage Your Child By Avrumi Arnow

What does the Haggada mean by the odd expression, “opening up for him”? The Netziv explained that this expression is based on Mishlei 31:8: “Open up your mouth for the mute one.” That verse employs a figure of speech, and refers to someone who is unaware of his options (“mute”) in the face of legal proceedings. We are enjoined to speak with our mouths to him so he may learn how to present his position with his mouth. Here too, the Haggada intimates to us that we should try to engage the “son who is unable to ask” in conversation and try to prod him into asking the questions that he has not been able to formulate on his own. But, how does the Haggada know that this is the approach to be taken with the “son who is unable to ask”? Where does it see this idea insinuated in the words of the Torah? The Netziv answers that the Haggada derives this meaning ,נגד and you shall tell). The three-letter root of the word is) והגדת outlook from the word “to draw something out.” The fact that the Torah uses this word rather than the more common you shall say), as it does for the other three sons (Shemot 12:27, ibid., 13:14, Devarim“) ואמרת 6:21), alludes to the fact that we are expected to “draw out” words from his mouth, encouraging him to ask questions to which we can respond.

37 יִשְרָאֵ ל: בְ עֵבֶׁר הַ נָהָ ריָשְ בּואֲ בוֹתֵ יכֶׁם מֵ עוֹלָם, חתֶׁרַ יאֲבִ ַאבְרָ הָ ם וַאֲבִ י נָחוֹר, וַיַעַבְ דּו אֱ ֹלקים אֲחֵרִ ים. וָאֶׁקַחאֶׁת אֲבִ יכֶׁם אֶׁ תַאבְרָ הָם מֵ עֵבֶׁ ר הַ נָהָ רוָאוֹלְֵך אוֹתוֹ בְ כָלאֶׁרֶׁ ץ כְ נָעַן, וַָארְ בֶׁהאֶׁ תזַרְ עוֹ ןוָאֶׁתֵ לוֹאֶׁ ת יִצְחָ ק, ןוָאֶׁתֵ לְיִצְחָק אֶׁ ת יַעֲקֹב וְאֶׁתעֵשָ ו. ןוָאֶׁתֵ לְעֵשָו אֶׁת הַ ר שֵעִ יר תלָרֶׁשֶׁ אֹתוֹ, וְ יַעֲקֹבּובָ נָיו יָרְדּו מִצְרָ יִם26. בָ רּוְך שוֹמֵר הַבְטָחָ תוֹ לְיִשְרָאֵ ל,בָ רּוְך הּוא. שֶׁהַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְך הּוא חִשַ ב אֶׁת הַקֵ ץ, לַעֲשוֹתכְמַה שֶָׁאמַ ר לְַאבְרָ הָ םָאבִ ינּו בִבְרִ ית בֵ ין הַבְתָרִ ים, שֶׁנֶׁאֱמַ ר:וַיֹאמֶׁ ר לְַאבְרָ ם, יָדֹע עתֵדַ יכִ גֵר יִהְ יֶׁהזַרְ עֲָךבְאֶׁרֶׁ ץֹלא לָהֶׁ ם27,

26 One Stronger Than the Other By Naftali Malovany

Yakov and Esav have very different destinations. The Talmud states: “Caesarea and Jerusalem: if someone tells you both have been destroyed, do not believe him. If someone says both are settled, do not believe him. But if he tells you that Caesarea has been destroyed and Jerusalem settled, or that Jerusalem has been destroyed and Caesarea settled, believe him, as it states, ‘I will fill the destroyed one.’ If one is settled the other is destroyed; if one is destroyed, the other is settled.” Rav Nahaman son of Yitzchak derived this principle from the verse Genesis 25:23, which states, ‘One kingdom will be stronger than the other kingdom.’ Therefore, in keeping with this relationship, the verse tells us that as Esav inherited Mount Seir, Yaakov immediately went down into Egypt.” (From the RabbI Joseph B. Soloveichik Hagaddah)

27 Why Avraham Was Punished By Ethan

There are three reasons why Avraham was punished by having his descendants enslaved in Egypt. The first one was that he turned or used Torah scholars as soldiers as it says in the passuk, “he armed his disciples” (Bereishit 14:14). Another reason why Avraham was punished was because he simply did not have enough faith in Hashem that He would give him the promised land, as it says in the passuk, “whereby shall I know that I am to inherit it” (ibid 15:8). Still, there is one more reason why Avraham was punished with Bnei Yisrael’s enslavement in Egypt. The third and final reason why he was punished was because he passed up the opportunity to convert some non-Jews to Judaism. This was by giving the King of Sodom the captives Avraham had taken during the war against the five kings. Keren Orah believes that the three reasons why Avraham was punished is linked to the three punishments that Hashem told to Abraham. Since Avraham did not have enough faith in Hashem that the Promised Land would be given to his descendents, Hashem told him, “your offspring shall be aliens to a land not their own” (ibid 15:13). Since Avraham guided Torah scholars to confinement, Hashem subjected his descendents

38 וַעֲבָ דּום28 וְעִ נּו םאֹתָ ַארְ בַ ע מֵ אוֹת שָ נָה. וְ גַם אֶׁת הַ גוֹי ראֲשֶׁ יַעֲבֹדּו דָ ן ָאנֹכִ י יוְַאחֲרֵ כֵן יֵצְאּו בִרְ כֻש גָדוֹל. מְ כַסֶה אֶתהַמַ צוֹת ּומַ גְבִּיהַ אֶ ת הַ כוֹס. וְהִיאשֶׁ עָמְדָ ה לַאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּווְ לָנּו! שֶׁ ֹּלא אֶׁחָדבִ לְבָד דעָמַ עָלֵינּו לְכַּלוֹתֵ נּו, אֶׁ ּלָא שֶׁבְ כָל דוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִ ים עָלֵינּולְכַּלוֹתֵ נּו,וְהַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְך הּוא מַּצִ ילֵנּו מִ יָדָ ם. יַנִּיחַ הַ כוֹס מִּ יָדוֹ וִּיגַלֶה אֶת הַמַ צוֹת. צֵא ּולְמַדמַ ה בִקֵ ש לָבָןהָאֲרַמִ ילַעֲשוֹת לְיַעֲקֹבָאבִ ינּו. שֶׁ פַרְ עֹה ֹלא גָזַר אֶׁ ּלָא עַל הַזְ כָרִ ים וְ ןלָבָ שבִקֵ לַעֲקוֹר אֶׁת הַ כֹל29, שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַר: אֲרַמִ י אֹבֵ ד to enslavement, as Hashem said unto Abraham “and in that land that is not their own, they shall work for them” (ibid). Since Avraham oppressed people from converting to Judaism, Hashem declared that they will be oppressed for hundreds of years. All of this was happening to Avraham even though his intentions were for Heaven’s sake. This shows us that Hashem judges all of us and treats all of us equally including even some of the biggest tzaddikim in the Torah. We also see how merciful Hashem is because even when he said that Avraham's descendants would be enslaved for hundreds of years, he said that they would leave with so much more than when they entered. These are two of the lessons that we can learn from the three punishments of Abraham. (From the Gedolei Yisroel Haggadah)

28 Why Punish the Egyptians? By Zachary Cohn

If Hashem decreed that the Jews should be enslaved why were they punished? The Ramban answers that the Egyptians not only enslaved them, but also tortured the Jews and tried to wipe them out. The Noda Biyehudah answers that the Egyptians enslaved the Jews not only physically but spiritually also. The Jews were not allowed to do any mitzvot. The Avnei Kodesh answers that the Egyptians were only supposed to enslave the men. Pharoh enslaved the women and children too. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

29 Lavan’s Plan By Alex Brand and Max Orbach

In the Haggadah it says that Lavan wanted to uproot Yaakov. “Uproot” is understood as killing. Where do we ever see that Lavan wanted to kill Yaakov? The Anah Dodi Haggadah explains that Lavan didn't want to kill Yaakov physically but spiritually. He wanted to influence Yaakov's children to do Avodah Zara, which is equal to death. That's why Yaakov left the

39 ָאבִ י, וַיֵרֶׁד מִצְרַ היְמָ וַיָגָר םשָ יבִמְתֵ מְ עָט, יוַיְהִ םשָ לְגוֹי גָדוֹל, עָצּום וָרָ ב. וַיֵרֶׁד מִצְרַ יְמָ ה - ָאנּוס עַל פִי הַדִ בּור. וַיָגָר שָ ם - מְ לַמֵ דשֶׁ ֹלא יָרַ ד יַעֲקֹבָאבִ ינּולְהִשְתַקֵ עַ בְמִצְרַ יִםאֶׁ ּלָא לָגּור שָם,שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:וַיֹאמְ רּו אֶׁל פַרְ עֹה, לָגּור בָָארֶׁ ץ בָ אנּו, כִי אֵ ין מִרְ עֶׁה לַּצֹאן ראֲשֶׁ לַעֲבָדֶׁ יָך,כִ י כָבֵ ד הָרָ עָבבְאֶׁרֶׁ ץכְ נָעַן. הוְעַתָ יֵשְ בּו נָאעֲבָדֶׁ יָך ן.בְאֶׁרֶׁ ץ גֹשֶׁ בִמְתֵ י מְ עָט - כְמַה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:בְשִ בְעִ יםנֶׁפֶׁש יָרְ דּו אֲ בוֹתֶׁ יָך מִצְרָ יְמָ ה, ’הוְעַתָה שָמְ ָך אֱֹלהֶׁיָך כְ כוֹכְבֵי הַשָמַ יִם לָרֹב30. וַיְהִ י שָ ם לְגוֹי - מְ לַמֵ דשֶׁהָ יּו יִשְרָאֵל מְ צֻיָנִים שָ ם. גָדוֹל, עָצּום - כְמה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:ּובְ נֵייִשְרָאֵ ל פָרּווַיִשְרְ צּו וַיִרְ בּו וַיַעַצְ מּו בִמְ אֹדמְ אֹד,וַתִ מָ לֵא הָ ָארֶׁ ץ אֹתָ ם. וָרָ ב - כְמַ ה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:רְ הבָבָ כְצֶׁמַ ח ההַשָדֶׁ נְתַתִ יְך, וַתִרְ בִ י וַתִ גְדְ לִי וַתָ בֹאִ י בַעֲדִ י עֲדָ יִים, שָדַ יִם נָכֹנּו ּושְ עָרְֵךצִמֵחַ ,וְאַתְ עֵרֹםוְעֶׁרְ יָה. וָאֶׁ עֱבֹר

presence of Lavan. (From the Anah Dodi Haggadah)

30 Dust and Stars By Beth Glantz Our forefathers were promised that their descendants would be compared to “the dust of the earth” and the “stars of the heaven”. Why are both of these metaphors needed and what is the deeper meaning of them? Rabbi Moshe Feinstein explains that “the dirt of the earth” is the source of life. It has all of the materials that are necessary for life. Bnei Yisrael are compared to the dust because Hashem promised that the rest of the world would receive their sustenance from the Jewish people. They are also compared to the “stars of the heaven” so that we would not focus on our lowly state as just mere dust. The Jewish people should not underestimate their importance by being compared to just the “dust of the earth” because they can also shine like the stars. (From The Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva Volume 1)

40 עָלַיְִך וָאֶׁרְ אֵ ְךמִתְ בוֹסֶׁסֶׁתבְדָמָ יְִך, רוָאֹמַ לְָךבְדָמַ יְִך חֲיִי, רוָאֹמַ לְָך בְדָמַ יְִך חֲיִי. וַיָרֵ עּו31 אֹתָנּו הַמִצְרִ ים וַיְעַנּונּו, וַיִתְ נּו עָלֵינּו עֲבֹדָ ה קָשָ ה.

31They Made Us Bad By Sammy Cohen

This sentence talks about how the Egyptians did evil to us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor upon us. The Abarbanel, Rashbatz, and others explain that this phrase teaches that the Egyptians considered us evil. This is what it means when it says, “they made us bad.” They saw us as a threat to their stability in their land and society. The Egyptians thought that we were a treacherous people but they were wrong; we are not a treacherous people and we are good people. (From the Sephardic Heritage Haggadah)

Hope: The Jewish People from Mitzrayim to the Holocaust By Jason Singer

Hope is a four letter word that means you want something to happen and a feeling of trust. This simple four letter word is one of the great characteristics that we, the Jewish People, have. We always have hope and remain faithful to Hashem even when it seems that all hope seems lost. Throughout history many nations tried to get rid of us as a nation but here we stand and enjoy the atmosphere of Pesach while they are just a chapter in a history book. We have survived through the worst situations and always stayed, just like when we were in Egypt. In Egypt, the Egyptians tried to turn us against Hashem and worship their gods as well as to destroy the Jewish nation as a whole. We resisted and were made into slaves doing brutal work which unfortunately killed many of us. We, however, resisted and kept loyal and faithful to Hashem. In the Haggadah, the word vayarayoo comes from the root word which means bad. The Haggadah is saying that the Egyptians were bad to us. They made us slaves and tried to work us to death. However, we kept hope and faith in Hashem until the day Hashem sent Moshe to free us. Even when people are bad to us, we always find the silver lining and always keep hope. When the Holocaust started in 1939, the Germans invaded and we, the Jewish People were again in trouble. The Nazi party was out to get the Jewish people and wanted to kill every last one of us. Again the word vayarayu meant that we were in trouble again. They burned our belongings and did everything in their power for us to give up. However, they forgot something that we, the Jewish People, all have in our hearts- hope. Today, we hear stories from our ancestors who fought for Judaism during this terrible time. We learn from them how they kept hope and faith in Hashem even when all hope seemed lost. Today, we celebrate the beautiful holiday of Passover and read from the Haggadah of our victory over the Egyptians. In all of us and in all of our hearts we have hope. With hope we can accomplish anything and overcome any obstacle as long as we keep hope in Hashem because he promised us we will never be destroyed. So, for this Pesach just remember to always remember the four letter word, hope. (From the Holocaust Haggadah)

41 וַיָרֵ עּו אֹתָנּו הַמִצְרִ ים - כְמָ השֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: הָבָהנִתְ חַכְמָ הלוֹ פֶׁן יִרְ בֶׁ ה, וְהָ יָה יכִ תִקְרֶׁ אנָה מִ לְחָמָהוְ ףנוֹסַ גַם הּוא עַלשנְאֵינּו וְ םנִלְחַ בָ נּו, וְעָלָה מִ ן הָ ָארֶׁ ץ. וַיְעַנּונּו - כְמָהשֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וַיָשִ ימּו עָלָיו שָרֵ י מִסִ ים לְמַ עַן עַנֹתוֹבְסִבְ ֹלתָ ם. וַיִבֶׁן עָרֵימִסְ כְ נוֹתלְפַרְ עֹה. אֶׁת פִ תֹם וְאֶׁת רַ עַמְסֵ ס. וַיִתְ נּו עָלֵינּו עֲבֹדָה קָשָ ה - כְמָ השֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וַיַעֲבִדּו מִצְרַ יִם אֶׁ ת בְ נֵי יִשְרָאֵ לבְפָרֶׁ ְך. ’הוַנִצְ עַק אֶׁ ל אֱֹלהֵי אֲ בֹתֵ ינּו, וַ ’היִשְמַ ע אֶׁת קֹלֵנּו,וַיַרְ אאֶׁ תעָנְיֵנּו וְאֶׁ ת עֲמָ לֵנּו תוְאֶׁ לַחֲצֵ נּו. ’הוַנִצְ עַק אֶׁ ל אֱֹלהֵי אֲ בֹתֵ ינּו - כְמָהשֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וַיְהִ י בַ יָמִ ים הָרַ בִים הָהֵ ם וַיָמָת מֶׁ לְֶׁךמִצְרַ יִם, וַיֵָאנְחּו בְ נֵי יִשְרָאֵ ל מִן הָ עֲבוֹדָ ה וַיִזְעָ קּו, וַתַ עַל שַוְעָתָם אֶׁל הָ אֱ ֹלקים מִן הָ עֲבֹדָ ה. ’הוַיִשְמַ ע תאֶׁ קֹלֵנּו - כְמָ השֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וַיִשְמַ ע אֱ ֹלקים תאֶׁ נַאֲקָתָ ם, אֱ ֹלקי ם אֱֹלקיםוַיִזְ כוֹר אֶׁת בְרִ יתוֹ אֶׁ ת ַאבְרָ הָם, תאֶׁ יִצְחָק וְאֶׁ ת יַעֲקֹב. וַיַרְ א תאֶׁ עָנְיֵנּו - זוֹפְרִ ישּות דֶׁרֶׁ ְךאֶׁרֶׁ ץ, כְמָ השֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וַיַרְ א אֱ ֹלקים אֶׁ ת בְ ני יִשְרָאֵ ל וַיֵדַ ע .אֱ ֹלקים תוְאֶׁ עֲמָ לֵנּו - אֵ ּלּוהַבָנִים. הכְמָ שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: כָל הַבֵן הַ יִּלוֹד הַ יְאֹרָ ה תַשְ לִיכֻהּו32 וְכָל הַבַת תְ חַ יּון.

32 Jewish Babies By Naomi Klein

When Pharaoh commanded that all Jewish babies get thrown into the sea, there was an amazing miracle that happened. The Egyptian babies caused the Jewish babies to cry, and the soldiers found them. They threw them into the Nile, and everyone thought that they were dead. Rav Shimshon says that another amazing miracle happened: none of the 600,000 actually died.

42 תוְאֶׁ לַחֲצֵ נּו - זֶׁההַדְ חַ ק,כְמָה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:וְ גַם ירָאִיתִ אֶׁת הַ ּלַחַץ אֲשֶׁ ר מִצְרַ יִם ֹלחֲצִ ים אֹתָ ם. ’הוַיוֹצִאֵ נּו מִמִצְרַ יִם 33 בְ יָדחֲזָקָ הּובִזְ רֹעַנְטּויָה, ּובְ אמֹרָ גָדֹל, ּובְ אֹתוֹת ּובְ מֹפְתִ ים. ’הוַיוֹצִאֵ נּו מִמִצְרַ יִם 34 - ֹלא עַל ייְדֵ מַ לְאָ ְך35, וְ ֹלא עַל ייְדֵ שָרָ ף, וְ ֹלא עַל יְדֵישָ לִיחַ, אֶׁ ּלָא הַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְךהּוא בִכְ בוֹדוֹ ּובְ עַצְ מוֹ,שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וְעָבַרְתִ י

they turned back ,קראת ים סוף Instead, they turned into fish and lived for another 8 years! Then, at into humans and were reunited with their parents! The lesson we can learn from this is that even if something seems terrible and tragic, like the killing of 600,000 Jewish babies, a miracle can happen and anything can turn into a great thing with Hashem’s help. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

33 Moshe Where Are You? By Jessie Tuchman

And the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” Hashem“ - ”ויוציאנו ה' ממצרים“ ,The Haggadah says sent Moshe Rabbeinu as a messenger to speak to Pharaoh. Therefore, one could possibly mistake Moshe for being the one to free the Jews from Mitzrayim. If one makes the mistake of believing Moshe was the one who freed the Jews, they may wonder why he isn’t directly mentioned in the Haggadah. The Yeshiva University Haggadah explains that it was G-d who brought us out of Mitzrayim, not Moshe. By including Moshe in the Haggadah, the chances of one thinking he was the one who took the Jews out of Mitzrayim would be higher and Hashem wants people to understand that Hashem is the one in the “driver’s seat”. This is meaningful to us, because this reminds us that Hashem controls everything and we wouldn’t be here without Him. (From the Yeshiva University Haggadah)

34 The Love Between Hashem and His People By Adir Kaynan

were leaving Egypt the angels could not understand why Hashem was בני ישראל When .at that time) was at the bottom of the scale of holiness) בני ישראל making such a decision because .out of Egypt because Hashem cares for us like a father to a son בני ישראל Hashem decided to take Even though we make mistakes and sometimes do bad deeds, Hashem still loves us like a father would still love his son. The Mishna in Avot says that love that is unconditional will last forever. The fact that Hashem took us out of Egypt, even though we were at a low point in our spirituality, proves that Hashem’s love is unconditional. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

43 בְאֶׁרֶׁץ מִצְרַ יִם בַ ּלַיְלָה הַזֶׁה,וְהִ כֵיתִ י כָל בְ כוֹר ץבְאֶׁרֶׁ מִצְרַ יִם מֵָאדָ ם וְעַ ד בְהֵמָ ה, ּובְ כָלאֱ ֹלהֵימִצְרַ יִםאֶׁ עֱשֶׁ ה שְ פָטִ ים. אֲנִי .’ה וְעָבַרְתִ י בְאֶׁרֶׁץמִצְרַ יִםבַ ּלַיְלָה הַזֶׁה - אֲנִיוְֹלא מַ לְאָ ְך וְהִ כֵיתִ י כָל בְ כוֹרבְאֶׁרֶׁץ מִצְרַ יִם - אֲנִי וְ ֹלא שָרָף ּובְ כָלאֱֹלהֵ ימִצְרַ יִםאֶׁ עֱשֶׁ ה שְ פָטִ ים - אֲנִי וֹלא הַשָ לִיחַ . ’האֲנִי - אֲנִי הּוא וֹלא ַאחֵ ר. בְ יָד חֲזָקָ ה - זוֹ הַדֶׁ בֶׁ ר, כְמָ השֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַר: הִ נֵה יַד ’ה הוֹיָהבְמִקְ נְָך אֲשֶׁ ר בַשָדֶׁ ה, בַ סּוסִ ים, בַחֲמֹרִ ים, בַגְמַ ּלִים,בַבָקָ רּובַּצֹאן, דֶׁ בֶׁ ר כָבֵד מְ אֹד. ּובִזְ רֹעַ נְטּויָה - זוֹ הַחֶׁרֶׁ ב,כְמָ ה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:וְחַרְ בוֹ שְ לּופָה בְ יָדוֹ, נְטּויָה עַל יְרּושָ לַיִם. ּובְ מֹרָ א גָדֹל - זוֹ גִּלּוי שְ כִ ינָה, כְמָ השֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: אוֹ הֲנִסָ ה אֱ ֹלקים לָבֹא אֱ ֹ ל קי ם תלָקַחַ לוֹ גוֹי במִקֶׁרֶׁ גוֹי בְמַ סֹת בְ אֹתֹת ּובְ מוֹפְתִ ים, ּובְמִ הלְחָמָ ּובְ יָד חֲזָקָ ה ּובִזְ רוֹעַ נְטּויָה, ּובְ מוֹרָאִ יםגְדֹלִים, כְ כֹל ראֲשֶׁ העָשָ לָכֶׁם ’ה ’ה אֱֹלהֵ יכֶׁםבְמִצְרַ יִםלְעֵינֶׁיָך.

35 All By Himself By Isaac Mendelson

Why did Hashem do the plague of the firstborn alone without help from any of his angels? Hashem did the plague of the firstborn alone because the angels thought that the Jewish people were worshipping idols. Because of this mindset, they didn’t think the Jewish people were worthy of having a big and holy miracle of Hashem happen to them, so they didn’t want to have anything to do with this miracle. Also, the angels didn’t help Hashem kill the Mitzrim because by killing the Mitzrim, that would be protecting the Jewish people. At this point in time, the angels didn’t think that the Jews deserved to be protected because the angels’ role is to protect Tzaddikim, and they didn’t think the Jewish people were acting like Tzaddikim. As a result, they let Hashem do the plague of the first born alone. But, since Hashem loves us so much, he chose to help us even when we didn’t deserve it. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

44 ּובְ אֹתוֹת - זֶׁה הַמַטֶׁ ה, כְמָ ה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וְאֶׁת הַמַטֶׁההַזֶׁה חתִקַ בְ יָדְ ָך, ראֲשֶׁ תַ העֲשֶׁ בוֹאֶׁ ת הָ אֹתֹת. נוֹהֲגִּיןלְהַטִּ יף טִּ פָה מִּן הַ כוֹס36 בַאֲמִּ ירַת דָ םוָאֵּ ׁש..., עֶשֶר הַמַ כוֹת דְ צַ "ְך עַדַ "ׁש בְַאחַ "ב, בְ יַחַ ד, ט"ו פַעַ ם. ּובְ מֹפְתִ ים - זֶׁה הַדָ ם, כְמָה שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וְ ינָתַתִ מוֹפְתִ יםבַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ, דָ ם וָאֵ ש וְתִ ימְ רוֹת עָשָ ן. דָ רבָ ַאחֵ ר: בְ יָד חֲזָקָ ה - שְתַ יִם, ּובִזְ רֹעַנְטּויָה - שְתַ יִם, ּובְ מֹרָ א גָדֹל - שְתַ יִם, ּובְ אֹתוֹת - שְתַ יִם, ּובְ מֹפְתִ ים - שְתַ יִם.אֵ ּלּו עֶׁשֶׁ ר מַ כוֹת37 שֶׁהֵבִ יאהַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְך הּוא עַל הַמִצְרִ ים בְמִצְרַ יִם, וְאֵּלּו הֵ ן:

36 The Custom of Removing Wine By Hailey Singer

There is custom at the Seder for everyone to dip their pinky finger into the wine when saying the ten makkot that the Egyptians were punished with in the Torah. This shows that we feel bad that Hashem’s creatures were destroyed. Rabbi Yehuda explains this concept a little deeper. He shows us how to actually hold our hand. We hold our hand straight but only our pinky moves when dipping it into the wine and onto our plate. It is special that Bnei Yisrael feel sad about another nation. This is why this a special time in the Seder just like the whole Passover experience is unique and special. This is a very important custom because we see that even though the Jews had been slaves and were in exile they learned from their experience to be compassionate people.

37 The Ten Plagues By Hannah Koppel

Because of all the hardships the Jews had to endure as slaves, Hashem sent the miraculous ten plagues to save them. These plagues made life for the Egyptians a nightmare and caused them to suffer like they never had before. We are left asking the following question about the ten plagues: Hashem had the ability to wipe the Mitzrim out in one plague; why did he send ten plagues? R’ Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky answers that each of the plagues were made to show Hashem’s greatness and power. For example, the first plague of blood in the water represents Hashem’s control over the water. Another example is the ninth plague of darkness, which showed the Mitzrim Hashem’s power over darkness and light. The other eight also represented Hashem’s power. He sent all ten plagues to show how He controls everything. From these plagues, we learn that Hashem has control over the whole world, and even if we are at a time of distress, we always

45 need to recognize Hashem’s greatness no matter where we are. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

The Ten Plagues, if They Happened Today By Boaz Fox

We all know that the ten plagues were extremely powerful and brought devastation to the Egyptians but we might not understand their true magnitude and the havoc they would wreak on the modern world. For example, if Makat Bechorot happened today, about 78,425,000 people would die in the U.S. alone. During another plague, Makat Barad, based on the amount of people killed during the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945, the fires alone would kill a little less than a billion people if it happened worldwide. Many people don't realize the importance of the Nile River to the Egyptians. They literally worshipped it. It also was their source for water and nutrients for crops. The Nile turning to blood would be as if all the water in the Great Lakes would become extremely polluted. No farmers would be able to farm with the polluted water. Another plague, Makat Arbeh, would have more locusts than humans in America in a mere 2 miles. A locust swarm across the planet would destroy the Earth’s supply of food, starving the world. After seeing the effect on the world from these plagues, it’s easy to see why Pharaoh let the Jews out of Egypt and how great Hashem really is. (From Chabad.com, U.S. Census Bureau, Time.com, and National Geographic)

Understanding Miracles By Daniel Bitansky

We have to deal with this idea of miracles because the modern and scientific mind says, "Come on! What do you mean miracles?" So, let's understand. There are two sets of laws operating in this world. One is the "laws of nature" and the other is the "laws of miracles." If you would say to people that there is enough energy in a little bomb to blow up an entire city, they'd say, “You're crazy – how could there possibly be so much energy in that little thing?” The fact is, the energy holding bonding elements and atoms together is immense, and when you release that bonding, nuclear fission produces tremendous energy. This law of physics always existed. It just wasn't until the 20th century that we understood how to unlock that energy. That's the law of nature. But nature can be superseded by miracles. "Miracle" means there is a spiritual level where nature can be overridden. That was the key to Moshe’s ability to lead the Jews through the plagues and the splitting of the Sea. Through the Ten Plagues, the Egyptians and the Jews were forced to realize that all of nature has another level to it – a spiritual level. Everyone came to understand that G-d runs everything and all of it can change. The plagues touched every aspect of the physical world, starting with the lowest forms and working higher. The plague of blood affected "water." The next plague was frogs. Creatures who live in the water then came onto dry land. Then lice infested the dirt. Then came wild animals, a higher form of species. Then pestilence hit the cattle. The next plague already affected human beings; boils appeared on their skin. Hail is higher still, coming from the sky. Locusts are animals of the sky. Then darkness affected the basis of life, light and dark. Finally, the killing of the firstborns took the soul. G-d touched everything. But, there was still one higher level. Eventually, the Egyptians chased the Jews and the Red Sea split. There

46 דָ ם38, צְ פַרְ דֵ עַ 39, כִנִים40, עָרוֹב , 41דֶׁ בֶׁר42, שְחִ ין, בָרָ ד43, ַארְ בֶׁ ה, חשֶׁ ְך44, מַ כַת בְ כוֹרוֹת45.

you see that not only does G-d run everything, but nature itself responds to good and evil. G-d split the sea for the "soul" – the Jewish people, but it swallowed up the "body" – the Egyptians.

So Many Plagues By Temi Fooksman

The plagues caused huge effects on the Egyptians, and they learned that G-d was in charge of the world. The Egyptians realized that G-d was the leader of water when He turned water into blood. The Egyptians understood that G-d was the controller of light when He made Egypt all dark. The Egyptians also learned that G-d is the master of animals when He summoned wild and untamed animals into Egypt. Then the Egyptians admitted that G-d was in charge of flying creatures and wind when He made grasshoppers eat the Egyptian’s plants. There are ten plagues instead of one plague so that way the Egyptians could know that G-d is in charge of everything! (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshivah)

38 Why Was Blood First? By Scarlett Mandil

Rabbi Shmuel of Sochatchov ?מצרים Why was Blood the first punishment Hashem gave says that blood is the source that keeps us alive. The Nile River was the source of life for the Egyptians because it gave them water and helped their crops. Hashem showed them that He is really in control by turning their water of the Nile River into blood. (From the Chassidic Haggadah)

What Happened to the Fish? By Rivkah Kesselman and Talia Horn

When the .מכת דם so does ,תורה often refer back to other stories in the תורה As stories in the מכת דם occurred, the sea creatures were pardoned and all the other animals died. In the case of מבול s animals died, but the sea creatures died first. What did the sea creatures do to suffer’מצרים all of !they are innocent, while all the other creatures are guilty פרשת נח such a severe punishment? In Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto says, it's not what the sea creatures did. Since they were made for the purposes of mankind, when mankind sins the world that surrounds him is punished.

No Blood For Pharaoh? By Noa Hassan and Rina Rogers

Some explain that the first plague of Blood didn’t harm Pharaoh personally. Our question affect Pharaoh on a personal level? Rabbi Moshe Weissman דם is why didn’t the plague of answers with three points:

47

1. Moshe was raised in Pharaoh’s palace. Since he raised Moshe, this was Pharaoh's reward. Hashem has mercy on even the most evil of .תשובה Hashem wanted Pharaoh to do .2 people and was giving Pharaoh a chance to pray to Hashem for redemption before the plagues started affecting him. 3. Hashem wanted Pharaoh’s downfall to be greater. If the plagues didn’t seem to touch him yet, then it would make Pharoah seem more powerful. Then he would receive a greater loss from the plagues when it would make it clear that Hashem is truly the greatest. This is meaningful to us because it shows Hashem has mercy even on people who are genuinely cruel. (From the Little Midrash Says Haggadah)

The Bloody Plague By Carmela Warshaw and Abby Feiertag

The Haggadah says that the first plague was blood. When reading about makat dam, a question popped up. If Hashem told Moshe to turn the water of the river into blood, why does Moshe tell Aaron to do it instead of doing it himself? Chazal say that since Moshe was saved by the Nile River when he was a baby, he could not, out of gratitude, put blood into the river. It shows that the concept of gratitude applies to non-living objects too. Even though Moshe did not specifically listen to Hashem's exact command he had good intentions, so therefore, he did not get a punishment. This story can show us that we should always be good to the living or non-living things. We can also learn that we should always be respectful just like Moshe. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshivah)

39 What Does the Frog Plague Teach Us? By Shoshana Goldberg

The frog plague teaches us an important lesson on how to respond to anger. The plague began with one single frog. The Egyptians got angry when they saw it and so they hit it. This caused the frogs to multiply until they were all over the land. This tells us that we should think before we act because acting out of anger causes situations that we don’t really want. For example, if someone says a hurtful comment to you, you shouldn’t say something back in the moment because it will start a fight. Instead, you should walk away and, once you are calm, deal with the situation. In conclusion, the frog plague explains how to deal with frustrating situations. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshivah)

Frog or Frogs? By Ayelet Stauss and Lily Kaplan

Rashi, quoting the Medrash, tells us that the plague of Frogs began with one frog but every time the Egyptians struck the frog it multiplied and became more and more and more until they “covered the land”. The question is why did they keep on hitting the frogs if they realized it would keep on multiplying? R’ Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky said the answer is anger. When people are upset with something they do things without thinking. Personally, we think that there are other reasons that

48 the Egyptians kept on striking the frog. When one Egyptian struck the frog, and did not succeed the next Egyptian thought that they could destroy the frog, and so on. Since everyone thought that they could destroy the frog instead of the next that's why the land was covered in frogs, besides for anger. This teaches us a lesson of humility. We shouldn’t think we are better than anyone else and we also should try not to get angry. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

Frogs vs. Dogs? By Arnold Ginsberg

We know that during tzfardea the frogs jumped into ovens and they did not die while during makat bechorot the dogs did not bark. As a reward, Hashem gave the dogs treifah meat that otherwise would have been thrown out. The frogs were not rewarded. Isn’t sacrificing your life a greater mitzvah than not barking for a few minutes? The Tolna Rebbe answers, “Apparently not”. Jumping into a fire for Hashem is a great act of mesirut nefesh that deserves a good reward. But when someone doesn’t talk or bark when they usually would, their level of mesirut nefesh is off the charts because that is very hard to control. The Beis HaLevi adds that dying “al kiddush Hashem” is less of a mitzva than “living al kiddush Hashem”; therefore the dogs got a greater reward than the frogs. (From the Generation to Generation Haggadah)

Leaping Lessons By Eila Flumen and Mari Kaufman

The plague of the frogs seems subtle compared to the other plagues. However, the plague of the frogs has a strong connection to the plague of the fiery serpents in Sefer Bamidbar. The fiery serpents came to terrorize Bnei Yisrael because they spoke Lashon hara. When the Egyptians were being disrupted by frogs there was an immediate cure. On the other hand, when the fiery serpents terrorizing Bnei Yisrael, there was no immediate cure. A question that can come up is why did the plague of frogs have an immediate cure but the plague of the fiery snakes did not. First of all, the plague of the fiery serpents was caused by Bnei Yisrael speaking lashon hara which required a bigger punishment. Second, after the plague of the fiery serpents, Bnei Yisrael begged Moshe to daven to Hashem for them, rather than davening as a whole nation on their own. When Hashem brought the plague of frogs on the Egyptians, they prayed as a whole nation which caused Hashem to eradicate the affliction. From this, we can learn to be careful about speaking lashon hara. It also shows that there is a bigger impact if we daven as a whole nation. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshivah)

The Torture Against Egypt By Ellie Coopersmith and Leah Rubinstein

The Egyptians made the Jews start their hard labor at dawn. How did the plague of frogs make the Egyptians suffer in the same way? The Egyptians woke the Jews so early and let them go to sleep so late so they were angry, groggy, and annoyed because they needed and wanted more sleep. The plague of the frogs made the Egyptians angry, groggy, and annoyed also because they

49 weren't able to fall asleep from all the croaking of the frogs. We learn from this that whatever you do, it comes back to you, whether it’s good or bad. It’s like an eye for an eye. If you do something good, something good will happen to you, but if you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. The Egyptians didn’t let the Jews bathe and made them feel dirty. How does lice make the Egyptians feel the same way the Jews did? The lice made the Egyptians feel itchy, which made them feel dirty. When you feel dirty, it doesn’t feel good. We learn from this that we should appreciate that we are able to have a shower. What’s more, we learn that we should be thankful that we don't get treated how we got treated then. We are grateful that we are no longer slaves so we have freedom to do things that we couldn't do in Egypt. We should always be grateful for everything we have no matter the size or importance of it. We should acknowledge all of our blessings. If we write them down we will always remember how much we have and how much we should appreciate.

The Big Frog By Gavriel Lowell

The Medrash tells us that a big frog came out of the river. When the Egyptians started to hit the frog, tons of frogs started to emerge! When the Egyptians saw this what did they do? They kept hitting it! Why is this? According to Rav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, the Steipler Gaon, when people get angry they do things that make no sense and will continue doing it even if it is harmful to themselves.

40 Why Lice Bugged the Jews By Tamara Sragow and Molly Cohen

In the Torah, when describing the makkot, it doesn’t say whether or not the lice affected the Jews. The answer is that yes, it did affect them. So our question is why did lice, of all plagues, affect the Jewish areas? In the Roshei Yeshivah Haggadah, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin says that since the lice came from the soil, Hashem made it that they would also come out in the Jewish areas as well. The reason for this was because Bnei Yisrael used the soil to make the bricks, and when the lice came, it ruined the soil. Therefore, Bnei Yisrael would not have to make bricks for the rest of their time in Egypt. This is meaningful to us, because this shows that no matter what, Hashem is always there to help us get through hard times, and if not alone, then together. (From the Roshei Yeshivah Haggadah)

Hashemin אמונה By Avigayil Simon

think that it was Hashem that was doing the plagues? Did Pharaoh מצרים Did anyone in have anything to say? Here is an example of Pharaoh’s sorcerers’ belief in Hashem. Rashi says that after the plague of lice, the sorcerers said to Pharaoh, “it is the finger of god that is causing this.” They were saying that the plagues were not done by sorcery, but by G-d. They admitted that there was someone who had more power than them, and that Moshe and Aharon were not doing this on their own. But when taking a closer look, they didn't say was that it was the finger of G-d,

50 rather the finger of the Lord. This shows that they still recognized someone else’s power; just it wasn´t Hashem’s. Although they didn't actually say it was specifically Hashem, they still recognized someone’s power. This is a good example of someone who wasn't a Jew but still had in Hashem; they just have to believe in themselves אמונה in Hashem. Anyone can have אמונה some and in G-d.

41 The Mission of the Wild Animals By Bracha Zalmanov and Sheva Rothstein

The Haggadah says, that all the frogs and lice died after they were done with the plague but as for the wild animals when the plague was over the animals just left; they did not die. The question is, why didn’t the wild animals just die like the lice and frogs? The Baal Haturim answers that the reason the frogs and lice died after the plague is because they were all created for that plague. Once the plague was over Hashem didn’t have a need for them, so they died. The wild animals on the other hand left because they were from different parts of the world and they were going back to where they came from. This is meaningful because, now we get a better understanding of what happened during this plague and why it happened. We learnt that everybody has a job in life, human or not. We all have a mission in life. Hashem killed the lice and frogs after the plague because that’s what Hashem made them for-that certain purpose; after they finished their job with the plague Hashem killed them because they fulfilled their mission. As for the animals, they weren’t just created for that plague. They came from all over the world and they probably went back to go and finish their mission. (From the Gedolei Yisroel Haggadah)

Wild Beasts in Egypt By Arielle Feiler and Dalia Kushnir

wild beasts, it quotes Shemot: “If ,ערוב ,When the Haggadah talks about one of the plagues you do not send out my people, behold, I am sending against you… wild beasts and the house of Egypt will be filled with the wild beasts, and also the land upon which they are.” Why does it say “the land upon which they are”? After hearing the answer, we took it a step further and asked why ?is even a great miracle at all. Aren’t there animals in Egypt anyway ערוב The Chafetz Chaim explains that most of the animals that Hashem sent to Egypt wouldn’t be able to survive in Egypt’s environment. The miracle is that the animals survived at all. Hashem allowed Egypt to be like “the land upon which they are” so that they could survive there and attack the Egyptians. What is meaningful about this, to us, is that even if something does not seem like such an amazing phenomenon, you should look further to really recognize Hashem's presence and miracles.

42 Pestilence By Elan Goldman

During the splitting of the Sea, the Torah says that not even one Egyptian remained. The Sages believe that the phrase “until one” is referring to Pharaoh himself. This same phrase is used during the defeat of Sisera as well. This phrase is also used by the plague of Pestilence. The Torah

51 says that not even one of the Jew’s livestock had died. Malbim explains that this meant that Pharaoh thought that one of them had died from being owned by an Egyptian and Jewish couple. It died because it was partially owned by an Egyptian but Pharaoh thought it died because it was partially owned by a Jew. Because Pharaoh believed that one Jewish animal died, he was able to harden his heart and not send the Jews out. Additionally, why does Torah say that Hashem’s hand was saving the Jew’s livestock in this plague, but not any others? The Haflaah believes that this is because the plague had five parts and five fingers makes up a hand. Torah Temimah, on the other hand, believes that it was because it was the fifth plague and five fingers makes up a hand. (From the Gedolei Yisrael Haggadah)

43Hail and the Yetzer Hara By Sara Weisz

The Rabbis explain that there are two fires. One is inside of a person’s heart, which reminds us of the yetzer ha’ra. The other one is inside hail. In hail, the frozen ice keeps the fire inside of it. Like the hail, a person must try to contain his or her fire instead of letting it out in one angry breath. A person can keep the yetzer ha’ra under control as long as he or she tries, such as trying to get calm quickly in a bad situation. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshivah)

Hail, Hail Go Away Come Again Another Day By Elizabeth Rubin

The Haggadah points out that Hashem said, “at this time tomorrow I shall cause very heavy rain to come down.” My question is why would Hashem say that there would be hard rain and not hail, if in fact the plague is ¨hail¨? Rashi answers that the first downpour was like rain (not so deadly) because he wanted to see if anyone would do teshuvah but no one did. Once Hashem saw that the Egyptians were not doing teshuvah, He made it rain even harder until it was hailing. This is meaningful to us because we should always to do teshuvah no matter what the situation is. Sometimes, Hashem gives us signs that should remind us to do teshuvah. Hopefully, we can see these signs and remember to do teshuvah. (From the Haggadah Shiras Yehudah)

Pillar of Fire By Ella Djebali and Leah Jablonka

From the plague hail we learn a lesson straight from Hashem. R’ Moshe Feinstein compared the hail to the yetzer hara because it is like a pillar of fire trapped inside the human body of flesh and blood. The hail was fire on the inside and ice on the outside so why didn't the fire extinguish the water? Hashem wanted it to represent the human body. One may have a sin inside of them but they can't let it take over. This is important for us to know because as much as someone has a desire to do something they should think about how it will affect everyone. You can't let things take over. (From the Haggadah Of The Roshei Yeshivah)

52

Fire and Ice By Avi Grad

Why was there fire inside of ice by the makka of Barad? Many people look at fire inside of ice as a miracle. It is a miracle, but why was it necessary? I think the answer to this question is that it resembled the hearts of the Egyptians. Just like the hail which is cold on the outside had a fire on the inside, so too the Egyptians’ hearts which were cold on the outside were actually warm on the inside. Hashem was telling the Egyptians that even though they acted cold on the outside there was warmth inside of their hearts. The Egyptians failed to recognize this warmth and as a result continued to refuse to let the Jews leave and did not recognize the Hand of Hashem.

?Such a Bad Plague חושך Why Was 44 By Eden Bendory

This plague was after all the .מכת בכורות right before ,מצרים fell over חושך The plague of This brings up the question of why this .מכת בכורות others; therefore it was the second worst after plague was so terrible. Darkness is a terrible plague, but why is it worse than boils or wild animals? The plague was described as a darkness so thick that one could not see his brother. This is what made the plague so terrible. The Egyptians relied upon one another to fight through the plagues. The fact that they could not see one another made the plague all the more horrific. always have one another to turn to in times of need, as this is how a nation gets בני ישראל had to fight through this plague without the rest of their מצרים through hard times. While the בני ישראל made חושך nation, the Jewish people always have others in hard times. The plague of realize that they always have someone by their side, other than their brothers: Hashem. In our lives, the way we cope with bad is having Hashem to turn to and send help. We must always remember that what makes our nation special is that even if we cannot see our brothers, Hashem is always watching and waiting to aid us. (From the Generation to Generation Haggadah)

Can Someone Read This To Me, I Can't See: The Plague of Darkness By Tamar Dattelkramer

The Haggadah states that Hashem made the plague of darkness so that only the Egyptians were affected by the plague and not the Jews. My question is, didn't Hashem say that he would never stop day and night, but yet he stopped light for a whole day? The Kaf HaChaim answers that he did not break his promise because day and night didn't stop throughout the whole world. Rather, it only stopped for the Egyptians as a punishment to them. The lesson is that Hashem can do anything that He wants. He has the ability to stop the light and make darkness for just one country or people. It shows us how amazing Hashem is. (From the Gedolei Yisroel Haggadah )

45 Is There More To Makat Bechorot Than You Thought? By Buzzy Brickman Below are three separate but fascinating insights into the plague of the firstborn.

53 רַבִ ייְהּודָה הָ יָהנוֹתֵ ןבָהֶׁם סִמָ נִים: דְ צַ "ְך46 עַדַ "ש בְ ַאחַ "ב.

Why is Makat Bechorot named after its casualties, the firstborns, and not after the agent of the plague like all the others are - blood, frogs, lice, etc.? The answer is that when the Egyptian firstborns heard that they were going to be killed, they demanded of their fathers and elders that they release the Jews. When their fathers and elders refused, the firstborns took swords and killed six hundred thousand Egyptians. Therefore, the plague is called Makat Bechorot to commemorate their killing of so many fellow Egyptians before they died by the hand of Hashem. In the plague of Makat Bechorot the Torah says, “Pharaoh rose up at midnight” and Rashi comments that he rose up “from his bed.” Why does Rashi add these words? The answer is that by the time of the last plague, Makat Bechorot, Egypt was in total turmoil, and on that night there was more chaos since they had been warned that the firstborns would die. In spite of all this, Rashi tells us that Pharaoh rose “from his bed” which shows us how insensitive and wicked Pharaoh was. He was able to sleep soundly while tragedy was about to strike! It says in Shemot, “But against all the Children of Israel, no dog shall whet its tongue.” Why does the Torah point out that the dogs remained quiet? One answer is to show that the Angel of Death played no role in Makat Bechorot because we learn that when the Angel of Death is in a city the dogs there howl, and during Makat Bechorot they did not howl. Another answer is to show that it was a miracle in and of itself that the dogs did not howl. It was a miracle because dogs usually howl in the middle of the night, yet during Makat Bechorot, which took place at midnight, the dogs remained silent. (From the Gedolei Yisroel Haggadah)

The By Sammy Berk and Ben Huppert

Why are the firstborns supposed to fast the day before Pesach? Firstborns are supposed to fast the day before Pesach because Pharaoh was the leader of Egypt and since he was a firstborn all the firstborn children besides Jews were killed. Hashem was showing Pharaoh that no matter who Pharaoh is, Hashem has the power to take out the firstborns. Pharaoh tried to kill every Jewish infant boy but Hashem only judged the firstborns. The reason why we fast is because Hashem didn't kill any Jews that were the firstborns and we want to thank him for that on every Pesach. (From the Torah Anthology)

46 Blood, Frogs and Lice By Adam Commer

One of the lessons we learn from the plagues is that we show gratitude to the people who helped us and to recognize that we owe so much to HaKadosh Baruch Hu who is always doing good for everyone. Moshe wouldn’t hit the Nile River because the water saved his life when he was a baby. In fact, Moshe did not perform the first three makkot because each one required hitting the water or the sand to which he was grateful for for saving his life. Hakarat hatov is a commandment Hashem gave to us to show our appreciation to those who help us. This will develop within us an appreciation for what Hashem constantly does for us. This is especially true

54 רַ בִ י יוֹסֵי הַגְלִילִי אוֹמֵר: מִ נַיִן אַתָ ה אוֹמֵ ר שֶׁ ּלָקּו הַמִצְרִ ים בְמִצְרַ יִם עֶׁשֶׁ ר מַ כוֹת47 וְעַל הַ יָםלָקּו חֲמִשִ ים מַ כוֹת? בְמִצְרַ יִם המָ הּוא אוֹמֵ ר? וַיֹאמְ רּו הַחַרְ טֻמִים לאֶׁ פַרְ עֹה: אֶׁצְ בַ ע אֱ ֹלקים הִ וא, וְעַל הַ יָם המָ הּוא אוֹמֵ ר? אוַיַרְ יִשְרָאֵל אֶׁת הַ יָד הַגְדֹלָה אֲ שֶׁ ר עָשָ ה ה’ בְמִצְרַ יִם, וַיִירְ אּוהָעָם אֶׁ ת ה’, וַיַאֲמִ ינּו בַ ה’48 ּובְמשֶׁ העַבְ דוֹ.כַמָ הלָקּו בְאֶׁצְ בַ ע?

of our parents. They love us and care for us so we have to feel that appreciation to them and show it as well. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

47 The Lesson of the Plagues By Ben Orbach

Why did Hashem bring specifically these ten plagues to the Egyptians? The blood demonstrated Hashem's complete control over the water. The frogs taught them that sometimes a person must sacrifice himself to follow G-d's commands. The lice demonstrated Hashem's control of the land. The wild beasts showed Hashem's rule over the animal kingdom. The locust proved Hashem's authority over the bird kingdom and the wind. The boils confirmed that Hashem has control of a man's health. The plague of hail demonstrated Hashem's rule over rain and weather. The plague of darkness proved Hashem's control over the celestial beings. Finally, the plague of the firstborn demonstrated Hashem's control over a human's life. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

48 Believe: Just Do It, But Slowly By Eytan Mobilio

Even after the Jewish people witnessed 250 miracles at sea and finally believed in Hashem, they still go on to speak against him and Moshe. They challenge his ability to give them water and bread, leaving only one question: How? How could a nation treated so well with miracles performed by a G-d who loves them, possibly have the audacity to challenge him? The truth is that faith has to be built up gradually. The Jews witnessed these miracles and believed, but that was it. Their belief wasn't slowly created; it was just there all at once, and so they couldn't see past the miracles they saw. We use a thread of techeilet, which resembles the sea, which resembles the heavens, which resembles the Throne of Glory, as our model for building faith. We have to build up our faith before envisioning the Throne of Glory, so that it is strong and unbreakable. This is in fact the reason that a tallit made entirely of techeilet still requires tzitzit. The Jewish people’s faith was on a great level right after all of Hashem’s miracles occurred, but it wasn’t a solid belief. They were just like a tallit made entirely of techeilet and they tested Hashem because of their lack of a rooted belief. Therefore, we must build up our own belief gradually, so that we will be able to maintain a strong level of faith and belief. (From the Reb Moshe Haggadah)

55 עֶׁשֶׁ רמַ כוֹת. אֱ מוֹר מֵ עַתָ ה: בְמִצְרַ יִם לָקּו רעֶׁשֶׁ מַ כוֹת וְעַל הַ יָם לָקּו חֲמִשִ ים מַ כוֹת. רַ בִיאֱלִיעֶׁזֶׁר אוֹמֵ ר: מִ נַיִןשֶׁ כָל מַ כָה ּומַ כָה שֶׁהֵבִ יאהַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְך הּוא עַל הַמִצְרִ יםבְמִצְרַ יִם הָ יְתָה שֶׁ לַארְ בַעמַ כוֹת?שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: יְשַ ּלַח בָ ם חֲרוֹן אַ פוֹ, העֶׁבְרָ וָזַעַם וְצָרָ ה, מִשְ לַחַת מַ לְאֲכֵי רָ עִ ים. עֶׁבְרָ ה - ַאחַ ת, וָזַעַם - שְתַ יִ ם, וְצָרָ ה - שָ לש, מִשְ לַחַת מַ לְאֲכֵי רָ עִ ים - ַארְ בַ ע. אֱ מוֹר מֵ עַתָה:בְמִצְרַ יִם לָקּו ַארְ בָעִ ים מַ כוֹת וְעַל הַ יָם לָקּו מָאתַ יִם מַ כוֹת. רַבִיעֲקִ יבֶׁ א אוֹמֵר: מִ נַיִן שֶׁ כָל מַ כָה ּומַ כָה שֶׁהֵבִיאהַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְך הּוא עַל הַמִצְ רִים בְמִצְרַ יִםהָ יְתָהשֶׁל חָמֵ שמַ כוֹת? שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: יְשַ ּלַח בָ ם חֲרוֹן אַ פוֹ, עֶׁבְרָ ה וָזַעַם וְצָרָ ה, מִשְ לַחַ ת מַ לְאֲכֵי רָ עִ ים. חֲרוֹן אַ פוֹ - ַאחַ ת, עֶׁבְרָ ה - שְתַ יִם, וָזַעַם - שָ ֹלש, וְצָרָ ה - ַארְ בַ ע, מִשְ לַחַ ת מַ לְאֲכֵי רָ עִ ים - חָמֵש. אֱ מוֹר מֵ עַתָ ה: בְמִצְרַ יִםלָקּו חֲמִשִ ים מַ כוֹת וְעַל הַ יָם לָקּו חֲמִשִ ים ּומָאתַ יִם מַ כוֹת. כַמָה מַ עֲלוֹת טוֹבוֹת לַמָ קוֹם עָלֵינּו!49

49 Preparing for Praise By Gavi Dickman

When we sing Dayenu, we seem to say some odd things, like “if Hashem had split the sea for us and had not crossed us through on dry land, it would have been enough.” How could this have been enough? We would not be alive! What does Dayenu (it would have been enough) mean? The Malbim explains that the recitation of Dayenu serves a very important purpose. When we reach Dayenu, we have completed saying all the verses that speak about our life in Egypt. We are finished with the part of telling over what happened when we left Egypt. At this point, the next appropriate step is to thank Hashem for saving us. The way the nation of Israel usually does this is by saying Hallel. Before we start saying Hallel, we want to be sure that we truly appreciate all that Hashem did for us. After all, Hashem is not interested in empty and meaningless expressions of thanks. Dayenu serves the purpose of reminding us of all that Hashem did for us. The truth is that Hashem deserves thanks for each one of these steps individually. Of course, if Hashem had just split the sea for us and not brought us through on dry land, Hashem would definitely deserve our thanks. Would it have been enough as a nation? Probably not. However, that is not what Dayenu means. Dayenu means that this act alone would have been enough to bring us to thank Hashem! When we say Dayenu, we thank Hashem for fifteen different acts of kindness he performed for us.

56 אִּלּו הוֹצִ יָאנּו מִמִצְרַ יִם וְ ֹלא העָשָ בָהֶׁם שְ פָטִ ים ,50 דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו עָשָ ה בָהֶׁ םשְ פָטִ ים,וְ ֹלא העָשָ בֵאֹלהֵיהֶׁ ם, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו עָשָ ה בֵ אֹלהֵיהֶׁ ם, וְֹלא הָרַגאֶׁ תבְ כוֹרֵ יהֶׁ ם, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו הָרַג תאֶׁ בְ כוֹרֵ םיהֶׁ וְ ֹלא ןנָתַ לָנּו אֶׁת מָ מוֹנָם, דַ יֵינּו. אִ ּלּו ןנָתַ לָנּו תאֶׁ מָ מוֹנָם וְ ֹלא קָ רַ ע לָנּו אֶׁת הַ יָם, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּוקָרַ ע לָנּואֶׁ תהַ יָם וְֹלא הֶׁ עֱבִ ירָ נּו בְ תוֹכוֹ בֶׁחָרָ בָ ה, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו הֶׁ עֱבִירָ נּו בְ תוֹכוֹבֶׁחָרָ בָה51 וְ ֹלא שִקַ עצָרֵנּו בְ תוֹכוֹ, דַ יֵינּו.

Each one alone is enough for us to offer thanks and praise to Hashem. How much more so are we able to praise Hashem when we are presented with these fifteen acts together! After reading through Dayenu, we should most certainly be inspired so that when we arrive at the praises of Hashem in the Seder, we say these praises sincerely, and with a full and thankful heart. (From Torah.org)

50 Hashem’s Mastery Over the World By Jack Helprin

We all know that Hashem brought upon the Egyptians ten different plagues. Why did he choose to do the process in ten plagues when all he had to do was bring out one big plague and bring them to their mercy? R’ Yaakov Kanievsky says the reason for this is that Hashem wanted to show all his power in the world. By making ten different plagues, he was able to show ten different aspects of His strength, but He was still able to bring the Egyptians to their mercy. For instance, some of them show His power over the water and what is in it. Another is how He can control all animals- those that fly and those that walk on ground. Some more are that He can control the winds and the dust. Another one is that He can control the livestock and whether they die or live. The most important two are: first, that He can control the fate of humans and second that He can defy the “laws” of what is known to happen in the world if He wants something done really badly. Finally, we learn from this that Hashem can do whatever He wants, so we shouldn't underestimate him. (From the Haggadah of The Roshei Yeshivah)

57 אִּלּו שִקַ ע צָרֵ נּו בְ תוֹכוֹ וְ ֹלא סִ פֵק צָרְ כֵנּו בַמִדְ בָ רַארְ בָעִ ים שָ נָה, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּוסִ פֵק צָרְ כֵנּובַמִדְ בָ רַארְ בָעִ יםשָ נָה וֹלא הֶׁאֱכִ ילָנּו אֶׁת הַמָ ן, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו הֶׁאֱכִ ילָנּו אֶׁ ת הַמָןוְ ֹלא נָתַ ןלָנּו אֶׁ ת הַשַ בָ ת, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו נָתַ ן לָנּו אֶׁ ת הַשַ בָ ת, וְ ֹלא קֵרְ בָנּו לִפְ נֵי רהַ סִ ינַי, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּו קֵרְ בָנּו לִפְ נֵי הַר סִ ינַי, וְ ֹלא ןנָתַ לָנּו אֶׁת הַ תוֹרָ ה, דַ יֵינּו52.

51 Would it Have Been Enough? By Hannah Munk

How can we say that splitting the sea would have been enough even if we had not crossed it? One answer to this question is that when Hashem split the sea he made it very comfortable for us. He could have made it muddy or not easy to cross in some other way, but he let us cross on dry land which made crossing easier and more comfortable. The following story, developed by R’ Chaim Shmulevitz, displays this idea. When Dovid killed Goliat, he killed him with a stone. When Goliat died he fell forwards while the impact of the stone should have made him fall back. The Medrash tells us that this was for Dovid's convenience. It would save him the trouble of walking 12 extra cubits to cut off Goliat’s head. But, Dovid was young. He could have walked those extra steps without any trouble at all. R’ Chaim explains that this can be compared to another mashal. A father will buy his son what he needs regardless of his behavior. However, a father might hug his son while giving him what he needs if he is good while if the son is bad his father won’t hug him. Hashem will always help. He is the father and he gives us what we need. Hashem wanted to reward Dovid for his bravery and therefore he made it more convenient for Dovid. This was Hashem;s way of giving a “hug”. This can also be applied to the story of Channukah. The real miracle was winning the war, but the celebrated miracle is the oil which was Hashem's way of showing affection for us. At Kriyat Yam Suf, it would not have been enough for Hashem to split the sea and not have us cross through it; however, Hashem made it more comfortable for us, which showed Bnei Yisrael his ultimate love for them. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

52 What We Learn From Dayenu By Miriam Bash

and recognize Hashem’s endless דיינו Every year at our Pesach Seder we sing the song miracles which brought us out of slavery in Mitzrayim. Most people recognize Hashem countless אשר יצר times every day, whether they are saying a beracha on their morning snack, or reciting so דיינו after they go to the bathroom. This leaves us with the obvious question - What makes

58 אִּלּו נָתַ ן לָנּו אֶׁ ת הַ תוֹרָ ה וְ ֹלא הִ כְנִיסָ נּו לְאֶׁרֶׁ ץ יִשְ רָאֵל, דַ יֵינּו. אִּלּוהִ כְנִיסָ נּולְאֶׁרֶׁ ץ יִשְרָאֵלוְ ֹלאבָנָה לָנּו תאֶׁ בֵ ית הַבְחִ ירָ ה, דַ יֵינּו. עַלַאחַת, כַמָ ה וְכַמָ ה, טוֹבָ הכְ פּולָהּומְ כֻפֶׁלֶׁתלַמָ קוֹםעָלֵינּו: שֶׁ הוֹצִ יָאנּו מִמִצְרַ יִם53, הוְעָשָ בָהֶׁם שְ פָטִ ים, וְעָשָ ה בֵ אֹלהֵיהֶׁ ם, וְהָרַג אֶׁ ת

we are recognizing the good that Hashem did for us, while דיינו special? In each part of simultaneously stating how his miracles weren’t needed because it would’ve been enough before. Things like manna and Miriam’s well weren’t completely necessary for the nation’s survival, but Hashem gave it to them anyways. We didn’t need the Beit Hamikdash when we already had the .דיינו Mishkan. All these ideas are represented in states that it would’ve been enough just to be brought to Har Sinai דיינו One of the lines in without having been given the Torah. Many people question this because being given the Torah was the birth of our nation. Even today, the Torah is like the glue that holds all of Am Yisrael together around the world. An interesting response to this is the idea that when Bnei Yisrael arrived at , they arrived united as one nation, “as though they were one person with ואהבת ,one heart.” They were fulfilling what is the basic rule of Torah according to Rabbi Akiva ,loving others as you would like to be loved. They were united as Am Yisrael, and that ,לרעך כמוך would’ve been enough. The message here that is so powerful is that treating others properly ,דיינו and loving your fellow Jews can go an incredibly long way. As we celebrate this memorable holiday of Pesach, we should all try and feel the achdut, the togetherness that our nation felt many years ago at Har Sinai. We should all work on bettering ourselves and helping other people on this celebratory and meaningful holiday. (From the Rabbi Berel Wein Pesach Haggadah)

53 The Miracle of Pesach By Zach Jacobs

In the early 1900’s there was a great rabbi named the Chofetz Chaim. He once went to visit a doctor who said that after the tragedy of World War I when thousands of Jews were killed, he didn’t believe in Hashem anymore. The Chofetz Chaim wanted to help with the problem and convince him to believe in Hashem again. The Chofetz Chaim said to the doctor that he does not believe that he is a licensed doctor. The doctor replied that he can prove it. “Look at my medical diploma and license that is hanging on the wall. “That was 40 years ago”, said the Chofetz Chaim. How do I know that you are still a doctor now?” The doctor replied, “Once you get your diploma and license you can practice forever.” “Exactly,” said the Chofetz Chaim. “Hashem took us out of Egypt with great miracles. This was Hashem’s diploma showing that he controls the whole world. Hashem doesn't need to renew his “diploma” in every generation.” On the Seder night we strengthen our faith in Hashem by relating the miracles that Hashem did for us. This is a testimony to His constant presence in our lives. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

59 בְכוֹרֵ יהֶׁ ם, וְ נָתַ ן לָנּו אֶׁת מָ מוֹנָם, עוְקָרַ לָנּו אֶׁת הַ יָם, וְהֶׁ עֱבִ ירָ נּו בְ תוֹכוֹ בֶׁחָרָ בָ ה54, עוְשִקַ צָרֵ נּו בְ תוֹכוֹ,וְסִ פֵקצָרְ כֵנּו בַמִדְ רבָ ַארְ בָעִ ים שָ נָה, וְהֶׁאֱכִ ילָנּו אֶׁתהַמָ ן, וְ נָתַ ןלָנּו אֶׁ ת הַ שַ בָ ת55, וְקֵרְ בָ נּו לִפְ נֵי הַר סִ ינַי, וְ נָתַ ן

54 Comfortable Miracles By Serviss

Hashem shows his love through His miracles by making it comfortable for B’nei Yisrael. During the splitting of the sea there is an emphasis on the word “on dry land”. The emphasis on “dry land” is because Hashem made it the most comfortable by letting us cross on dry land. How can we say that the splitting of the sea would have been enough without even crossing through it yet? Hashem went one step further with the miracle because of his love for B’nei Yisrael and made passing through comfortable also. This is like when David struck Goliath and he fell forward so David didn’t have to walk a few extra steps. These two miracles are similar because Hashem went one step further from the minimum to make it the most comfortable for B’nei Yisrael. Despite everything, Hashem shows his love for B’nei Yisrael through the comfort He gives us during His miracles.

?connected מן and שבת How are 55 By Alexandra Degen

In the brief paragraph that links Dayanu with Rabban Gamliel’s Pesach, Matza and Marror the Haggadah recounts many of the reasons why we owe a tremendous hakarat ha’tov to Hashem. and for giving us מן Within this paragraph the Ba’al HaHaggadah juxtaposed thanks for providing are not related or never mentioned together in the Torah, but שבת and מן This is unusual as .שבת is mentioned is at the end of the six days of creation שבת there is a connection. The first time that among 14 מן in Sefer Breisheit. The Mishna in Pirkai Avot, Perek five Mishna eight, lists the items that Hashem created immediately before the creation of Shabbat on erev Shabbat. The ,to each other. Further שבת and מן creation of each, at almost the same moment, forever links .”is “blessed and sanctified שבת Hashem during the creation of Shabbat said that the day of is שבת Chazal ask: How so? How was this day “blessed and sanctified”? The sages explain that so מן he gave them a double portion of ,בני ישראל to מן blessed because when Hashem was giving is שבת They continue to explain that .מלאכה and do שבת that they would not need to collect it on day. So, what is the relation between these two different שבת fell on the מן sanctified because no matters? R’ Gedaliah Schorr, the Rosh Yehsiva of Yeshiva Torah V’Da’as said that when the in the desert, for their מן meal, it is linked to when their ancestors ate שבת Jewish people have a .meal. Even though we usually eat this food during the week, it is really a spiritual experience שבת was in merit of מן The .אלוש were in בני ישראל started to fall when מן Chazal say that the to knead dough for food for the angels who came to their tent in the שרה as he told ,אברהם beginning of Parshat Vayera. What is the connection between these two actions? R’ Gedaliah ,took ordinary mundane food, when the angels source of nourishment is spiritual אברהם states that ,did. It was spiritual food מן and turned this mundane food into spiritual food. This is what the were able to eat it. The lesson בני ישראל from Hashem, and was turned into physical food so that

60 לָנּואֶׁת הַ תוֹרָ ה, וְהִ כְנִיסָ נּו ץלְאֶׁרֶׁ יִשְרָאֵ ל,ּובָ נָהלָנּו אֶׁ ת בֵ ית הַבְחִ ירָ ה לְכַפֵר עַל כָל עֲוֹנוֹתֵ ינּו. רַבָן גַמְ ללִיאֵ הָ יָהאוֹמֵ ר: כָל שֶׁ ֹּלא ָאמַ ר שְלשָ ה דְ בָרִ יםאֵ ּלּו בַ פֶׁסַ ח, ֹלא יָצָא יְדֵ י חוֹבָ תוֹ, וְאֵּלּוהֵ ן: פֶׁסַ ח, מַצָ ה, ּומָ רוֹר56.

that we can learn from this is that everything comes from Hashem even if it is spiritual or physical. Also, we learn that everything that comes from Hashem has a purpose and is connected in some way. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva Volume 3)

56 The True Meaning of the Words Pesach, Matzah, and Maror By Gabe Nelson

the seder, and those three words are יוצא As we all know, we need to say three words to be ‘Pesach, Matzah, and Maror.’ But the real question is, why do we need to say these things? Rav Moshe Feinstein addresses this question with a great answer. He says that all of the words are connected to praising Hashem, and we say them in order to praise Hashem. He says that all the words are connected to stating that Hashem is responsible for everything, and each word states one specific part of Hashem’s greatness. The concept of ‘Pesach’ teaches us that Hashem does miracles for us all the time even when we do not know about it. For example, if one goes somewhere by foot or by car, and does not get into an accident, he should not think that that was supposed to happen. Rather he should think that it was a miracle from Hashem that he is still alive, and that Hashem protected him from bad drivers and other sources of harm. Although we should think this all the time, we know that because of human nature, one does not think that he is always surrounded by Hashem's miracles. A person only believes a miracle has happened when he witnesses it with his own eyes. When someone realizes that their life has been spared, that is the only time that a person stops and thanks Hashem for his supervision. Rav Moshe teaches us that we learn this from the miracles that ,it says ,פרשת שמות of פרק יב פסוק כז Hashem did for us on Pesach. In which means, “Who ”אשר פסח על בתי בני ישראל במצרים בנגפו את מצרים ואת בתינו הציל ויקד העם והשתחוו“ passed over the houses of the Children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and spared our houses, and the people bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.” From this we see that realized that Hashem did a great miracle, they expressed their thanks for being בני ישראל only after because it relates to the greatness יוצא spared from harm. We say the word Pesach in order to be also saying the word Pesach when it was פסוק of Hashem's miracles, and we see this from the talking about Hashem’s miracles. The concept of ‘Matzah’ teaches us that Hashem does not need any preparation to do something. He can do miracles in an instant just like He suddenly took the Jews out of Egypt. Rav Moshe teaches us that we learn from this that if one is having misfortune, they should not despair because salvation from Hashem can come in an instant. From the word matzah, we also learn that a person should believe that anything can happen in an instant, and that Hashem is because יוצא always protecting everyone from misfortune. We say the word matzah in order to be

61

פֶסַ ח57 שֶׁהָ יּואֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו אוֹכְלִים ןבִזְמַ שֶׁ בֵית הַמִקְדָש הָ יָה קַ יָם, עַל שּוםמָ ה? עַל שּום שֶׁ פָסַח הַקָ דוֹש בָ רּוְך הּוא עַל יבָתֵ אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו בְמִצְרַ יִם, שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: םוַאֲמַרְתֶׁ זֶׁבַ ח חפֶׁסַ הּוא לַ ה ', אֲשֶׁ ר פָסַ ח עַל בָתֵ י בְ נֵי יִשְרָאֵ לבְמִצְרַ יִםבְ נָגְפוֹאֶׁת מִצְרַ יִם, וְאֶׁתבָתֵ ינּו הִּצִ יל, וַיִקֹד הָעָם וַיִשְתַ חֲוּו. מַרְ אֶה אֶת הַמַ צוֹת לַמְ סֻׁבִּים וְאוֹמֵּ ר:

were בני ישראל it relates to how Hashem could do things instantly, and we see this because when trying to bake bread, Hashem suddenly took them out of Egypt and their ‘bread’ ended up being matzah. The concept of ‘Maror’ teaches us that even if a person is in a country exceptionally kind to Jews, we have to realize that enemies could suddenly turn on us and make our lives bitter instantly. At first, in Egypt the Jews were on the receiving end of such kindness, but suddenly the Egyptians enslaved them. Rav Moshe teaches us that from this we learn that we should not depend on the government, but rather we should pray that Hashem should bring us redemption. (bitter) מר because it relates to how people could be so יוצא We say the word Maror in order to be to the Jews, and we see this from how in Egypt, out of nowhere, the Egyptians made the Jews lives extremely bitter. (From the Reb Moshe Haggadah)

57 Korban Pesach By Gilad Smith

a mitzvah without a given reason. However, if you review the ,חוק The Korban Pesach is a laws of Korban Pesach closer, you can see that there is a message in them. The halachot are 1) you must eat it with a group 2) no bone can be broken 3) the korban must be roasted 4) anything left over must be destroyed 5) it has to be eaten in one night which means you will need help to eat it. These halachot may seem like they have nothing to do with each other, but they do. They all unity). For example, the idea of eating it with a group and not being) אחדות fall into the category of able to eat alone is an obvious example of unity. Less obvious ones are, bones not being able to be broken similar to the idea that every little part in the Jewish nation matters which displays unity again. Another one is when you roast an animal it stays more compacted so it doesn’t fall apart, again showing that we must be together and have unity. Lastly, the idea of not leaving anything over of the korban demonstrates again that no Jew should be left out. One can see that the halachot of the Korban Pesach are in fact connected. (From Touched by the Seder)

62 מַצָ ה זוֹ שֶׁ ָאנּו אוֹכְלִים, עַל שּום מָ ה58? עַל שּום שֶׁ ֹלא הִסְ פִ יק בְצֵקָ ם שֶׁ ל אֲבוֹתֵ ינּולְהַחֲמִ יץ עַד שֶׁ נִגְלָה עֲלֵיהֶׁם מֶׁ לְֶׁך מַ לְכֵי הַמְ לָכִים, הַקָ דוֹש בָרּוְך הּוא, ּוגְָאלָם,שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וַיֹאפּו אֶׁתהַבָצֵ ק ראֲשֶׁ הוֹצִ יאּו מִמִצְרַ יִם59 עֻגֹת מַ ּצוֹת, כִ י ֹלא חָמֵ ץ,כִ י גֹרְשּו מִמִצְרַ יִםוְ ֹלא יָכְ לּו לְהִתְמַהְמֵּהַ, וְ גַםצֵדָ הֹלא עָשו לָהֶׁ ם. מַרְ אֶה אֶת הַמָ רוֹר לַמְ סֻׁבִּ ים וְאוֹמֵּ ר: מָ רוֹר60 זֶׁהשֶׁ ָאנּו אוֹכְלִים,עַל שּום מָה?עַל שּום שֶׁמֵרְ רּו61 הַמִצְרִ ים אֶׁת חַ יֵיאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו בְמִצְרַ יִם,שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:וַיְמָרֲרּו תאֶׁ חַ יֵיהֶׁ ם בַעֲבֹדָ ה קָשָ ה,

58 The Reason For Matzah By Elisheva Kaplitt and Jasmine Halpern

There are many different reasons that we eat matzah on Pesach. The most famous reason is because we should be reminded of the time when Bnei Yisrael were escaping Egypt and also making bread that didn't have time to rise and became what we know as Matzah. Another reason is that Matzah represents our basic needs without anything extra. During the year, we eat bread which represents all the luxuries in our life that are not most important. But, on Pesach we focus on what is really important in our lives like our freedom. It is okay to enjoy the extra things we have in our lives if we take the time to understand that they are extra. Over Pesach we need to acknowledge all the important things we have in our lives. (From Aish.com and Chabad.org_

59 Matzot on Our Shoulders By Jacob Sabag

The Medrash tells us that when we left Egypt each Jew had 90 donkeys. But we chose to carry the matzah on our shoulders. This shows us that even if we can let go of a mitzvah, we do not. That is why they left the matzah on their shoulders. That is why some Jews have a custom on Pesach to put matzah on their shoulders to show their kids that mitzvot are important. It is like when we go on a plane. Where do we keep our precious things? We keep it in our carry-on so we know it's safe. The moral that we learn from here is to appreciate how special mitzvot are.

60 Maror- Hashem’s Mercy By Gabe Indyk

can חסה lettuce) for maror since the word) ”חסה“ The Talmud tells us that one should use which means Hashem has mercy. But, it doesn't seem to make חס ה‘ be broken down to mean sense to use the maror which reminds us of our slavery and also reminds us of Hashem’s mercy at the same time. The Noda Biyehudah suggests that even in the most bitter of experiences,

63 בְחֹמֶׁר ּובִ לְבֵנִיםּובְ כָל העֲבֹדָ בַשָדֶׁ האֶׁ ת כָל םעֲבֹדָתָ אֲשֶׁ רעָבְ דּו בָהֶׁ ם בְ פָרֶׁ ְך. בְכָל דוֹר וָדוֹר חַ יָב ָאדָ ם לִרְ אוֹת אֶׁת עַצְ מוֹ כְאִ ּלּו הּוא יָ צָא מִמִצְרַ יִם62, שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:וְהִ גַדְתָ לְבִ נְָךבַ יוֹם הַ הּוא לֵאמֹר, בַ עֲבּור זֶׁה עָשָ ה ה’ לִי

Hashem’s mercy can be found. An example of this can be seen from the following story. On Tuesday November 18, 2014 two terrorists entered Kehillas Bnei Torah Synagogue killing four people and injuring many people. Rabbi Yaakov Tavin who regularly davened at that time davened that day at an earlier minyan. This is because every Tuesday he davened earlier in order to help his wife with their son who had a disability. When his son was born, Rabbi Tavin didn’t see his child’s disability as a blessing but now 13 years later he realized that his son was a blessing. Because of him Rabbi Tavin survived. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

61 “Bitter” Herbs? By Dani Bank is an מרור ?can he swallow it without tasting it ,מרור If one doesn't like the bitter taste of the all פסח It brings the lesson of .פסח but not only because of the story of ,סדר important part of the ,has the same gematria as the word מרור is all about reaching perfection. That is why פסח .together which means to reach perfection. If we can’t eat the bitter herbs and reflect on ourselves then תמו there is no way that we can reach individual perfection. Therefore, one must taste the bitter herbs, accept it, and make them as sweet as we can make ourselves. It is best to focus on our mistakes .until we come to tears to really make ourselves better people ,מרור while eating the (From the Chassidic Haggadah)

62 What is the Purpose of Pesach? By Roey Novick

You are probably sitting down at the Pesach table. You may be dining with your family or with your friends. Now, I am going to ask you a question. Why are you sitting at the table? Why are you reading this Haggadah? What is the meaning of Pesach? Take a moment to think about the question. Are you done? Good. There is not one right answer to this question, but I want to share with you my thoughts about this holiday. Pesach is a holiday where we all gather together and appreciate the miracles Hashem did for us. He sent the ten plagues, He split the Red Sea, and He helped us survive in the desert. Is there more to Pesach then that? I feel that the reason we celebrate Pesach is not just to recognize Hashem’s miracles and not just to have a break from school and work. The purpose of Pesach is not to celebrate the story of Egypt and the Jews, but to be there; to experience the miracles and not just hear about them. When trying to appreciate a good deed one does for another, we have to experience the deed or the mitzvah and not just here about it. If we intend to take seven or eight days out of our lives to learn about Yitziat Mizriam, we should go back thousands of years ago and live it and take those days out of our lives to be there when Hashem saved us, when he did the unthinkable.

64 בְצֵאתִי מִמִצְרָ יִם. ֹלא אֶׁ תאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו בִ לְבָד גַָאל הַקָ דוֹשבָ רּוְך הּוא, אֶׁ ּלָא ַאף אוֹתָ נּו גַָאל עִמָהֶׁ ם, שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר: וְ אוֹתָ נּו הוֹצִ יא מִשָ ם, לְמַ עַן הָבִ יא אֹתָנּו, לָתֶׁ ת לָנּו אֶׁת הָ ָארֶׁ ץ ראֲשֶׁ נִשְ עבַ לַאֲ בֹתֵ נּו. מַ גְבִּיהִּ ים תאֶ הַ כוֹס עַד הַ לְלּויָה. לְפִ יכְָך אֲ נַחְנּו חַ יָבִ ים לְהוֹדוֹת, לְהַ ּלֵל, לְשַ בֵחַ, לְפָאֵ ר, לְרוֹמֵ ם, לְהַדֵ ר, לְבָרֵ ְך, לְעַּלֵהּולְקַ ּלֵס לְמִ ישֶׁ העָשָ לַאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו וְ לָנּו תאֶׁ כָל הַ נִסִ ים הָאֵ לּו: הוֹצִ יָאנּו מֵ עַבְ דּותלְחֵ רּותמִ יָגוֹן לְשִמְ חָ ה,ּומֵאֵבֶׁל לְיוֹם טוֹב, ּומֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹר גָדוֹל, ּומִשִ עְ בּודלִגְאֻ ּלָה.וְ נֹאמַ ר לְפָנָיושִ ירָ ה חֲדָשָה:הַ לְלּויָּה. הַ לְלּו קּה הַ לְלּו עַבְדֵ י ה’63 הַ לְלּו אֶׁ ת שֵ ם ה’. יְהִ י שֵ ם ה’ מְ בֹרְָך מֵ עַתָ ה וְעַד עוֹלָם. מִמִ זְרַח ששֶׁמֶׁ עַד מְ בוֹאוֹמְ הֻּלָל שֵ ם ה’. רָ ם עַל כָל גוֹיִם ה’

There may be one more question you may be asking. Why do we want to be like the Jews back in Egypt? The Jews were whipped, starved, and abused! Why do we want to experience the wrath of Pharaoh? First of all, we are supposed to experience Pesach without the torture. Also, there was one thing they had that we didn´t. They had a high level of kedushah. We live in a day when we don't feel that we have to rely on Hashem as much as we used to. We have phones to call the police, ambulances, etc. When sitting down at the table with our family and friends, living Pesach again and again, we should feel that we need Hashem. When we feel the Shechina, when we feel that Hashem is watching over us, we feel complete, and Pesach is being fulfilled. There is one more question I want to address. If Hashem was supposed to protect us and help us in all circumstances, what was he doing in the Midbar? He put us through terrible conditions, and what for? Why didn’t he send us straight to Israel and give us luxurious food? The answer is simple. Hashem wanted us to understand what he does for us, and in this case, why Israel so great. He puts us in hard situations to show us that when we reach to be closest to him, when we can feel his presence, when we can all be in Israel for the first time in a long time, we can appreciate what Hashem has given us and what Hashem was generous enough to give to our people. He wanted us to walk into Israel and think, “Wow this place is greater than any place I have seen before. The Midbar was hot and terrible, Egypt treated us cruelly, but this land is beautiful, a land where we can grow as one large family and as one large nation together.” This is what Pesach is. Pesach is a time to get together, experience Hashem’s miracles, .has done for us הקב''ה rejoice with friends and family, and recognize and appreciate all that

63 A Special Hallel By Chloe Katz

Pesach is a special holiday full of unique traditions. We eat matzah instead of bread, wash twice instead of once, and drink four cups of wine. Our routines are always completely rearranged

65 עַל הַשָמַ יִם כְ בוֹדוֹ. מִ י כַ ה' אֱ ֹלקינּו הַמַ יגְבִיהִ לָשָ בֶׁ ת. הַמַשְ פִ ילִי לִרְ אוֹת בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ. ימְקִימִ מֵעָפָר לדָ מֵאַשְ פֹת יָרִ ים אֶׁבְ יוֹן. לְהוֹשִ יבִ י עִ ם נְדִ יבִים עִ ם נְדִ יבֵ י עַמוֹ. מוֹשִ יבִ י תעֲקֶׁרֶׁ הַבַיִת אֵם הַבָנִים שְמֵחָה הַ לְלּו יָּה. בְצֵ את ליִשְרָאֵ מִמִצְרָ יִם בֵ ית יַעֲקֹב מֵ עַם ֹלעֵז. הָ היְתָ יְהּודָ ה לְקָדְ שוֹ יִשְרָאֵל מַמְשְ לוֹתָ יו. הַ יָם רָ ָאה וַיָנֹס הַ יַרְ ןדֵ יִסֹב לְָאחוֹר. הֶׁהָרִ ים רָקְ דּו כְאֵ ילִים גְבָ עוֹת כִבְ נֵי צֹאן. מַה ּלְָך הַ יָם כִיתָנּוס הַ יַרְ דֵן תִ סֹב לְָאחוֹר. הֶׁהָרִ ים תִרְקְ דּו כְאֵ ילִים גְבָ עוֹת כִבְ נֵי צֹאן. מִ ּלִפְ נֵיָאדוֹן חּולִיָארֶׁ ץ מִ ּלִפְ נֵי אֱ לוֹּהַ יַעֲקֹב. הַ הֹפְכִיהַ ּצּור אֲ גַם מָ יִם חַ ּלָמִ יש לְמַעְ יְנוֹ מָ יִם. מַ גְבִּיהִּ ים אֶ ת הַ כוֹס עַד גַָאל יִּשְרָ אֵּ ל. רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁךהָ עוֹלָם, ראֲשֶׁ גְָאלָנּו וְ גַָאל אֶׁת אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו מִמִצְרַ יִם,וְהִ גִיעָנּו לַּלַיְלָההַזֶׁה לֶׁאֱכָלבוֹ מַּצָה ּומָ רוֹר. כֵן ’ה אֱֹלקינּו ’ה וֵאֹלהֵ י אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו יַגִיעֵנּו לְמוֹעֲדִ ים וְלִרְ גָלִים אֲחֵרִ ים הַבָאִ ים לִקְרָאתֵ נּו לְשָ לוֹם, שְמֵחִ ים בְבִ נְיַןעִירֶׁ ָך וְשָשִ ים בַ עֲ בוֹדָתֶׁ ָך64. וְ נֹאכַל שָ ם מִ ן on the Seder nights. However, when it comes to the changes in Hallel, not only is our routine contradicted, but a passuk from Tehillim is as well. “Praise, you servants of Hashem, you who stand in the House of Hashem,” Tehillim proclaims. How can we say Hallel sitting during the Seder when one of the most notable books from our libraries specifically tells us to stand? Some commentaries believe that the answer lies in the themes of the night: freedom and leisure. By standing right after our meal, with full glasses of wine in our hands, we would be inconveniencing ourselves. Throughout the night, we put a large effort into showing our gratitude to Hashem for our freedom and ability to relax, and if we are subject to the discomforts of standing with a heavy glass of easily spilled red wine, then we would be contradicting ourselves. This concept teaches us to take advantage of our freedom. Our ancestors in Egypt would have given up so much to have what we have-the opportunity to enjoy- and therefore, we must utilize it to the best of our abilities. Even if it means changing our routine, we should make sure to honor all of the struggles that our people endured. (From the Gedolei Yisrael Haggadah)

64 Beyond Gratitude By Jason Adams

Leah had a son named Yehuda, based on the hebrew word hoda’ah. The word means “thank you”. The Chozeh of says that people who receive something from Hashem should

66 הַזְבָחִ ים ּומִ ן הַפְסָחִ ים65 אֲשֶׁ ר יַגִיעַ דָמָ םעַל קִ ירמִ זְבַחֲָך לְרָ צוֹן, וְ נוֹדֶׁ ה לְָך שִ יר חָדָ שעַל גְאֻ ּלָתֵ נּו וְעַלפְ דּות נַפְשֵ נּו66. בָרּוְך אַתָ ה ה’ גַָאל יִשְרָאֵ ל67.

ask for more berachah right away. After Leah said thank you to Hashem she stopped having children because she did not follow it with requesting a berachah. The Klausenberger Rebbe uses this idea to explain the berachah we recite on the second cup of wine. Since we just thanked Hashem for redeeming us from Mitzrayim, we don’t stop there but we ask Hashem that we should experience the coming Yom Tov in the Beit Hamikdash. (From the Eishes Chayil Hagadah)

65 How We Can Prepare for the Rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash? By Danielle Felderman

Every day, in all of our tefillot, we ask Hashem if he can rebuild the Beit Hamikdash. Although we always ask for this request to come true, it hasn’t happened in around 2000 years. If Hashem rebuilt the Beit Hamikdash, we would need to find Kohanim that know what they need to do. They would have to learn all the halachot and teach everyone what sacrifices to give according to the situation. During the time that all the Kohanim would be learning the laws and the halachot, the Beit Hamikdash would not be used. The Chafetz Chaim gives us a mashal to help us understand why Hashem is not letting us rebuild the Beit Hamikdash due to those reasons. There was a man who was extremely excited for preparing and organizing everything for his son’s Bar Mitzvah celebration. He got caterers to work the day he needed and customized a beautiful invitation that they sent out to all of their family and friends. In a few weeks all of their guests arrived at their house which was where the simcha was taking place. When they arrived, the host family was not ready and not prepared for the simcha to begin. All of the guests had to wait a long time for them to get ready for the simcha. In this case we are the family hosting the Bar Mitzvah celebration. We are waiting for Hashem to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash, so that we know when to start preparing and learning all of the mitzvot. However, what we need to be doing is preparing for the Beit Hamikdash to come right now so that when he arrives we can start using the Beit Hamikdash the minute it is finished being built. If we start preparing for the Beit Hamikdash now, it will arrive sooner. We can all make Mashiach arrive faster by changing some of our ways and by having a stronger connection with Hashem. By following all of the mitzvot and learning Torah and halacha every chance we get, we have a better chance of Mashiach coming sooner than we expect. A life lesson that we can learn from this scenario is to always prepare and learn about something before you ask for it so that when it comes you will know exactly what to do and how to use it. In life we should always prepare ahead of time and never wait until the last minute. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

67 רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם אבוֹרֵ יפְרִ הַ גָפֶׁן68.

66 Deliverance of Our Souls By Boaz Smith

In Parshat Behaalotcha why do the Jewish families beg for meat? To understand my Dvar Torah you need to know that if someone dies without doing teshuvah then Hashem may reincarnate them into a kosher animal. In order for their soul to reach atonement, they must be shechted. The Chasam Sofer, Rav Moshe Sofer says that during the 9th plague of darkness, Chazal say 4/5 of the Jewish population died due to a lack of belief in salvation that Hashem promised to provide. Now, fast forwarding a little to Behaalotcha, the Jewish people were begging for meat. Moshe, being a great tzaddik always saw the good in everybody and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. So while the Jewish people were begging for meat, Moshe thought that they really just wanted to help the lost souls of their relatives and friends. As mentioned above, shechting the meat would free the reincarnated souls. This Dvar Torah connects to the Pesach haggadah because in the haggadah it says: “Then we shall eat of the sacrifices and of the Pesach offerings whose blood shall be sprinkled on the wall of your altar for acceptance; and we shall thank you with a new song for our redemption and for the deliverance of our souls. Blessed are you, Lord, who redeemed Israel.” In other words, we are thanking Hashem for the freeing our souls.

67 We Want Mashiach Now By Tommi Ratzker

There was once a businessman who would travel to another city pretty often to tend to his investments. Whenever he would be in that particular city he would stay at the same inn every time. But one day, when he arrived in the city he decided not to stay at his usual inn and went to stay at a different hotel. The next day, he happened to cross paths with the man who owed the inn and he asked the businessman why he had not decided to stay at his usual inn. The businessman answered that the last time he had stayed at that inn he was mistreated. The owner of the inn had explained that he had been away that week and his staff had been unaware of the importance of this guest. The businessman agreed to go back to his normal inn to stay, but only under the condition that nothing like this should ever happen again. If the owner would agree to this he would be happy to return. The businessman preferred to stay at a place where he was well-treated. This is just like in Mitzrayim when we were in Galut; it should have made us lose hope. But no; Hashem promised us that He would return to us and never put us in exile again as long as we would promise to correct our mistakes and never go astray again. The same promise Hashem made thousands of years ago still applies to us today. We are in Galut at the moment, but if we make sure to keep all of the mitzvot in the best possible way there is no doubt Mashiach will be on its way. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

68 Who is Obligated to Drink Four Cups? By Nessa Keiser and Adira Moesh

Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi says that women are obligated to drink four cups of wine because they were a part of the miracle. They are obligated to be a part of all the mitzvot at the

68 ׁשוֹתִּ ין אֶת הַ כוֹס בְהַסָ בַת שְ מֹאל. רָחְ צָ ה נוֹטְ לִּים אֶת הַ יָדַ יִּםּומְ בָרְ כִּ ים רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁךהָ עוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְשָ נּו בְמִצְ וֹתָ יו וְצִ ּוָנּו עַל נְטִ ילַת יָדָ יִם.

מוֹצִּיא מַצָ ה69 יִּקַח הַמַ צוֹת בְסֵּדֶ ר ׁשֶהִּ נִּיחָן, הַפְרּוסָ ה בֵּיןׁשְתֵּי הַשְ לֵּמוֹת, וְיֹאחַ ז ׁשְלָׁשְתָ ןבְ יָדוֹ וִּיבָרֵּ ְך "הַ מוֹצִּ יא" בְ כַּוָנָה לעַ הָעֶלְיוֹנָה ו"עַל אֲכִּ ילַת מַצָה" בְ כַּוָנָה לעַ הַפְרּוסָ ה. ַאחַ ר כְָך יִּבְצַ עכְ זַיִּת מִּ ן הָעֶלְיוֹנָה הַשְ לֵּמָ ה וְכַזַיִּת ׁשֵּ נִּי מִּן ההַפְרּוסָ וְיֹאכַלבְהַסָ בָה ׁשְ נֵּי הַ זֵּיתִּ ים

young boys are also ,פסח and the mitzvot of פסח Seder. If they are old enough to understand and the פסח obligated to drink four cups of wine. A young girl that is old enough to understand is obligated to drink four cups of wine because it will train her in the mitzvot פסח mitzvot of performance. The Chok Yaakov writes that a child’s cup should have the same amount of grape juice as adults but if the child can’t drink it all he doesn't have to. (From the Kol Dodi Haggadah)

69 Matzah/Mitzvah By Lilly Steiner

Is it a coincidence that the word matzah sounds like mitzvah? No! The word matzah is closely related to the word mitzvah. For matzah to be not chametz it must be baked within 18 minutes. When baking matzah you must be quick and act with haste. There is a comment of Chazal that says: Mitzvah haba leyadcha, al tachmitzena , meaning “if a mitzvah comes your way, do not lose the opportunity." The word mitzvah and matzah are interchangeable here, and the root word of tachmitzena is chametz. The lesson we learn from this is that the way we act making matzah- in the moment, with concentration, enthusiasm and haste, is the same way we should act when doing a mitzvah. We should seek the opportunity and the inspiration to do a mitzvah before it passes us by. (From Short Vort)

69 רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם הַ מוֹצִ יא םלֶׁחֶׁ מִ ן הָ ָארֶׁ ץ. רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁךהָ עוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁרקִדְשָ נּו בְמִצְ וֹתָ יו וְצִ ּוָ נּו עַל אֲכִ ילַת מַּצָ ה.

מָ רוֹר70 כָלאֶחָד מֵּהַמְ סֻׁבִּ יםלוֹקֵּחַ כְ זַיִּתמָ רוֹר ּומַטְ בִּ לוֹ בַחֲרוֹסֶ ת, חוֹזֵּרּומְ נַעֵּר הַ חֲרוֹסֶ ת, מְ בָרֵּ ְךוְאוֹכֵּל בְ לִּי הַסָ בָה. רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְשָ נּו בְמִצְ וֹתָ יו וְצִ ּוָנּו עַל אֲכִ ילַת מָ רוֹר. כוֹרֵּ ְך כָלאֶחָד מֵּהַמְ סֻׁבִּ יםלוֹקֵּחַ כְ זַיִּת ןמִּ הַמַצָ ההַשְ לִּיׁשִּ ית םעִּ כְ זַיִּת מָ רוֹר וְכוֹרְ כִּ ים יַחַ ד, אוֹכְלִּים בְהַסָ בָ הּובְ לִּיבְרָ כָה. לִּפְ נֵּיָאכְ לוֹ אוֹמֵּ ר. זֵכֶׁר לְמִקְדָ שכְהִ ּלֵל.כֵן עָשָה הִ ּלֵל ןבִזְמַ שֶׁ בֵית הַמִקְדָש הָ יָה קַ יָם: הָ יָה

70 Maror- Demonstrating Hashem’s Love By Rebecca Nussbaum and Brianna Halpern

Maror symbolizes bitterness. Matzah and Pesach both symbolize freedom. We are told that Matzah and Pesach remind us of the Exodus and the miracles that Hashem created while bringing us out of Egypt. Maror is the complete opposite. We consider Maror the symbol of the enslavement in Egypt. But, Maror can also be seen in a good way; it also symbolizes the miracle of being brought out of Egypt. In the Midrash it says that usually it takes some time for a woman to get ready for her wedding in order to know that she wants to continue with her wish to get married to this man. Hashem also thought of Bnei Yisrael as a wife but did not want to wait to take them out of Egypt. They needed to suffer so that Hashem would have a reason to take them out sooner than planned. The connection between our dvar Torah and this Midrash is that Hashem chose Bnei Yisrael and decided not to wait to exile them out of Egypt. After reading this Midrash, Maror is not only symbolizing bitterness; it also is symbolizing that Hashem loves us and always will. (From the Shiras Yehuda Pesach Haggadah)

70 כוֹרְֵך מַּצָ הּומָ רוֹר וְ אוֹכֵלבְ יַחַ ד, לְקַ יֵם המַ שֶׁ נֶׁאֱמַ ר:עַל מַ ּצוֹת ּומְ רֹרִ ים יֹאכְ לֻהּו. נוהגים בקצת מקומות לאכול בסעודה ביצים זכר לאבלות ׁשֻׁ לְחָ ןעוֹרֵּ ְך אוֹכְלִּים וְׁשוֹתִּ ים הַסְ העּודָ הָ עֲרּוכָה וְנוֹהֲגִּיםלֶאֱכוֹל תְחִּ לָהבֵּיצִּ ים מְ בֻׁשָ לוֹת71.וֹלא יֹאכַל יוֹתֵּ ר מִּדֵּ י, שֹלא תִּהְ יֶהעָ לָיו אֲכִּ ילַת אֲפִּ יקוֹמָ ן אֲכִּ ילָה גַסָ ה.

71 Why the Egg?? By Sam Rinn and Mitchell Liebov

The roasted egg is a symbol of the holiday offering we brought to Hashem when they were visiting Yerushalayim on Pesach and Sukkot. There is a clue to this korban in the Torah when it says, “You shall slaughter the , sheep and cattle.” (Deuteronomy 16:2). We know that the Pesach sacrifice was only supposed to be a lamb, and therefore we are certain that when the Torah states “sheep and cattle” it means that the cattle is to be brought for other holiday sacrifices. From these sacrifices they had joy because it gave the people meat for holiday festival meals in Yerushalayim. Overall, the egg is a symbol of new life and is therefore a symbol of our wishes toward building a new Beit Hamikdash.

Shulchan Orech By Danny Falda

Why is it the custom to begin the meal with a hard-boiled egg? It is custom to begin the meal with a hard-boiled egg in commemoration of the destruction of the Holy Temple. The first day of Pesach always comes out on the same day of the week as Tisha B’. When one is happy on Pesach he should always remember the destruction of Jerusalem and pray Hashem that the Holy Temple should be rebuilt and that every Jew should someday gather there.

Eggs and Salt Water By Jacob Rutner

The Rama states that on the Seder night we should eat an egg. This is supposed to be a sign of mourning for the Beit Hamikdash since the Seder always falls out on the same day of the week as Tisha B’av. He also states that matzah should not be dipped in salt when eating it. As a result, many people do not put salt on the table for the Seder. Because there was no salt on the table,

71 צָ פּון ַאחַר רגְמַ הַסְ עֻׁדָ ה לוֹקֵּחַ כָל דאֶחָ מֵּהַ מְ סֻׁבִּ יםכְ זַיִּתמֵּהַמַצָה ׁשֶהָ יְתָ ה צְ פּונָה לַאֲפִּ יקוֹמָ ן72 וְאוֹכֵּלמִּמֶ נָהכַזַיִּת בְהַסִּ בָ ה. וְצָרִּ יְך לְָאכְ לָּה קֹדֶ ם חֲצוֹת הַ לַיְלָה. אין לאכל שום דבר אחר אכילת האפיקומן

people started to dip the egg in salt water. Others did not dip at all. (From the Rav Haggadah)

The Significance of the Egg By Gabe Halpern Why do some people eat an egg at the seder? The Rema explains that eating the egg which is round reminds us of the circle of life. The Mishna Berura answers that it reminds us of the korban chagigah. Rav Meir Shapiro answers that an egg is unique because the more one cooks it, the harder it gets. So too, the more the Egyptians increased their labor the more the Jews flourished. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

The Egg and Mourning By Yael Fink

At the seder we eat a lot of things we would not normally eat. Many examples include maror, matzah, charoset, karpas and more. A good example of this is dipping a hard-boiled egg in saltwater. Why in the world do we do that? A good reason for it is that the first night of Pesach is always the same day of the week as Tisha Bav. The egg is a sign of mourning. Hope you have a Happy Passover! (From the Peninim Pesach Haggadah)

The Meaning of the Egg By Yaakov Itshakov

One of the reasons we have the egg at the Seder is because it symbolizes the beginning of life, and Passover marks the very beginning of our national existence. (From the Chabbad Passover Haggadah)

72 The Missing Afikomen By Ben Matthew

During the Seder we break half of the matzah and we put aside the larger piece to eat later for the afikoman. Why is there a custom to hide and steal the afikomen? Isn’t stealing against the Torah’s values? The Chasam Sofer answers that the gemara tells us that dogs are important because when there is a robbery they will bark and scare away the robber. During makkat bechorot

72 בָרֵּ ְך מוֹזְגִּין כוֹס שלִּיׁשִּי ּומְ בָרְ כִּ ין בִּרְ כַת הַמָ זוֹן. the dogs did not bark. This possibly could have allowed robbers to steal without the risk of the owners being alerted. Therefore we “steal” the afikomen to remember this miracle. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

Room For More? By Laila Friedman

The Gemara tells us the afikomen should be eaten after everyone is satisfied. Why do we eat the afikomen after Shulchan Orech when we are already full? Ahavas Shalom states that we can get a better understanding of this halacha by reading what the Or Ha-Chayim says on a passuk in Vayikra. It says, “You shall eat your bread with satisfaction” (26:5). When we fulfill Hashem’s will, the matzah will become even more tasty. We are showing that this mitzvah is a pleasure to do, because even after we are full, we still have the delightful opportunity to taste the matzah and feel even more satisfied. We can learn that we should try to have the same enjoyment for mitzvot besides eating the afikomen. (From the Yeinah Shel Torah Haggadah)

Until When Can We Eat the Afikoman? By Benjamin Lando

The Tannaim disagree about when the deadline is for eating the pesach sacrifice. Rav Elazar ben Azaryah says that the sacrifice should be eaten before midnight, but Rebbe Akiva says that you can eat it until daybreak, all night long. Even now, people disagree about when to eat the afikoman. Even though we don’t have the pesach sacrifice nowadays, we commemorate it with the afikoman, and want it to be eaten when we would eat the sacrifice. The last time to eat it is either at midnight or daybreak. To stay safe the halachah states that it should be eaten before midnight. The midnight deadline is often difficult to observe, and since you should enjoy the meal, many people would prefer an extension of time to eat the afikoman. The Avnei Nezer offers a solution based on the assumption that Rav Elazar ben Azaryah who says that you have to eat the afikoman by midnight, also says that the prohibition of eating after the afikoman also expires at midnight. So the Avnei Nezer suggests that just before midnight one can take a k’zayit of matzah and say ,“If Rav Elazar ben Azaryah’s opinion is the correct one, and the afikoman must be eaten before midnight, then let this piece of matzah be my afikoman; if Rav Akiva is correct, then let this be just an ordinary piece of matzah.” Then he can eat another piece of matzah after midnight to fulfill his obligation to eat the afikoman according to Rabbi Akiva. Many people have adopted this “strategy” in search of a way to make a longer Seder. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva, Volume 2)

73

שִ יר הַמַ עֲלוֹת בְ שּוב ’ה אֶׁת שִ תיבַ צִ יוֹן הָ יִינּו כְ חֹלְמִ ים. ָאז יִמָ לֵא שְ חוֹקפִ ינּוּולְשוֹנֵנּו רִ נָהָאז יֹאמְ רּו בַ גוֹיִם הִ גְדִ יל ’ה לַעֲשוֹת עִם אֵ ּלֶׁה. ’ההִ גְדִ יל לַעֲשוֹת עִמָנּוהָ יִינּו שְמֵחִ ים. שּובָ ה ’ה תאֶׁ שְ בִיתֵ נּו כַאֲפִיקִ ים בַ נֶׁגֶׁב. הַ זֹרְ עִ יםבְדִמְ עָה בְרִ נָה יִקְ צֹרּו.הָ לוְֹך יֵלְֵךּובָ כֹה אנֹשֵ מֶׁשְֶׁך הַזָרַ ע בֹא יָבוֹא בְרִ נָה נֹשֵא אֲ לֻמֹתָ יו. ׁשְלׁשָה ׁשֶ ָאכְ לּו כְאֶחָד חֲיָבִּ ין לְזֵּמֵּןוְהַמְ ןזַמֵּ פוֹתֵּחַ : ְך!רַ בוֹתַ י, נְ בָרֵ הַמְ סֻבִ ים עוֹנִים: יְהִ י שֵ ם ’ה מְ בֹרְָך מֵ עַתָ ה וְעַד עוֹלָם. הַמְ זַמֵ ןאוֹמֵ ר: בִרְ שּות מְרָ נָן וְרַ בָ נָן וְרַ בוֹתַ י, נְבָרֵ ְך )בעשרה אֱ ֹלקינּו( שֶׁ ָאכַלְנּו מִשֶׁ לוֹ. הַמְסֻבִים עוֹנִים:בָ רּוְך )אֱֹלהֵ ינו( שֶׁ ָאכַלְנּו מִשֶׁ לוֹּובְ ט ּובוֹחָ יִינּו. הַמְ ןזַמֵ חוֹזֵר וְ אוֹמֵ ר:בָ רּוְך )אֱ ֹלקינּו(שֶׁ ָאכַלְנּו מִשֶׁ לוֹ ּובְ טּובוֹחָ יִינּו. בָ רּוְך ’האַתָה ֹלקינּו אֱמֶׁ לְֶׁךהָ עוֹלָם הַזָןאֶׁת הָ עוֹלָם כֻּלוֹבְ טּובוֹ בְחֵ ן בְחֶׁסֶׁ דּובְרַ חֲמִ יםהּוא נֹתֵ ןלֶׁחֶׁ ם לְכָל-בָשָר כִ י לְעוֹלָםחַסְ דוֹ ּובְ טּובוֹ הַגָדוֹל תָמִ יד ֹלאחָסַ ר לָנּו וְ ַאל יֶׁחְסַ ר לָנּומָ זוֹן לְעוֹלָםוָעֶׁד בַ עֲבּור שְ מוֹ הַ גָדוֹל כִיהּוא אֵ ל זָן ּומְ פַרְ נֵס לַכֹלּומֵטִ יב לַכֹל ּומֵכִ ין מָ זוֹן לְכָל- בְרִ יוֹתָיואֲשֶׁ רבָרָ אבָרּוְך אַתָ ה ’ה הַזָן אֶׁת הַ כֹל. נוֹדֶ ה ’הּלְָך ֹלקינּו אֱ עַל שֶׁהִ נְחַ לְתָ לַאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּואֶׁרֶׁ ץ החֶׁמְדָ הטוֹבָ ּורְ חָבָ ה וְ עַלשֶׁ הוֹצֵאתָ נּו ’ה אֱֹלקינּו מֵאֶׁרֶׁ ץמִצְרַ יִם 73 ּופְדִ יתָ נּו מִ בֵ ית עֲבָדִ ים וְעַל

73 The Meaning of Mitzrayim By Moxe Meiri

The Ben Ish Chai, Chacham Yosef Chaim zt’’l, writes that the word “Mitzrayim”, which symbolizes that when Bnei Yisrael came into the ”ם “ and ends with a closed ”מ“ begins with a land, it was open to them. Later, however, when they wanted to leave, it was closed off.

74 בְרִיתְ ָך שֶׁחָתַמְתָבִבְשָרֵ נּו וְעַלתוֹרָתְָך שֶׁ ּלִמַדְתָ נּו וְעַלחֻקֶׁ יָך שֶׁ הוֹדַעְתָ נּו וְעַל חַ יִים ןחֵ וָחֶׁסֶׁדשֶׁ חוֹנַנְתָ נּו, וְעַל אֲכִ ילַת מָ זוֹן השָאַתָ זָן ּומְ פַרְ נֵס אוֹתָ נּו תָמִ יד, בְ כָל יוֹםּובְ כָל עֵת ּובְ כָל שָ עָה. ’הוְעַל הַ כֹל ֹלקינּו אֱאֲ נַחְ נּו מוֹדִ ים לְָך ּומְ בָרְ כִ יםאוֹתָ ְך, יִתְ בָרַ ְך שִמְ ָך בְפִ י כָל יחַ תָמִ ידלְעוֹלָם וָעֶׁד, כַכָתּוב: "וְָאכַלְתָ וְשָ בַעְתָ ,ּובֵרַ כְתָ אֶׁ ת ’ה ’ה אֱֹלהֶׁיָך עַל הָ ָארֶׁ ץ הַ טוֹבָה אֲשֶׁ רנָתַ ןלְָך". בָ רּוְך אַתָ ה ’ה , עַל הָ ָארֶׁ ץ וְעַל הַמָ זוֹן. רַחֶ ם ’הנָא אֱֹלקינּו עַל ליִשְרָאֵ עַמֶׁ ָך, וְעַליְרּושָ לַיִםעִ ירֶׁ ָך, וְעַל צִ יוֹן מִשְ כַןכְ בוֹדֶׁ ָך, וְעַלמַ לְכּות בֵית דָוִ דמְשִ יחֶׁ ָך, וְעַל הַבַיִת הַ גָדוֹל וְהַקָ דוֹש שֶׁ אנִקְרָ שִמְ ָך עָלָיו. אֱ ֹלקינּו,ָאבִ ינּו,רְ עֵנּו, זּונֵנּו, פַרְ נְסֵ נּו וְכַלְכְ לֵ נּו וְהַרְ וִיחֵ נּו, וְהַרְ וַח לָנּו ’ה ֹלקינּו אֱ מְהֵרָה מִ כָלצָ רוֹתֵ ינּו. וְ נָא ַאל ’התַצְרִ יכֵנּו אֱ ֹלקינּו , ֹלא לִידֵי מַתְ נַת רבָשָ וָדָם וְ ֹלא לִידֵי הַ לְוָָאתָ ם, כִ י אִם לְיָדְ ָך הַמְ לֵָאה הַפְתּוחָההַקְ דוֹשָהוְהָרְ חָבָ ה, שֶׁ ֹלא נֵבוֹש וְ ֹלא נִכָלֵם לְעוֹלָם וָעֶׁד. בְׁשַ בָ תמוֹסִּיפִּ ין: רְ צֵּה ’הוְהַחֲלִיצֵ נּו ֹלקינּו אֱ בְמִצְ וֹתֶׁ יָך ּובְמִצְ וַת יוֹם הַשְ בִיעִ י הַשַ בָת הַ גָדוֹלוְהַקָ דוֹש הַזֶׁה.כִ י יוֹם זֶׁה גָדוֹל וְקָ דוֹש הּוא לְפָנֶׁיָך לִשְבָת בוֹוְ לָנּוחַ בוֹ בְ ַאהֲבָ ה כְמִצְ וַת רְ צוֹנֶָׁך.ּובִרְ צוֹנְָך הָ נִיחַ לָנּו ’ה ’ה ֹלקינּו אֱשֶׁ ֹּלא תְ הֵא צָרָ ה וְ יָגוֹןוַאֲ נָחָ הבְ יוֹם מְנּוחָתֵ נּו. וְהַרְ אֵ נּו ’ה ’ה ֹלקינּו אֱבְנֶׁחָמַ תצִ יוֹן עִירֶׁ ָך ּובְבִ נְיַן יְרּושָ לַיִם עִ יר קָדְ שֶָׁך כִי אַתָ ה הּוא בַעַלהַ יְשּועוֹתּובַעַל הַ נֶׁחָ מוֹת.

The name for "Egypt" in Hebrew is "Mitzrayim" which is from the Hebrew word "metzar" meaning "narrow," or "constriction." Egypt was the ultimate place of constriction. No slave had ever escaped from there, let alone an entire nation. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

75 ֹלקינּו אֱ יוֵאֹלהֵ אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּויַעֲלֶׁה וְ יָבֹא וְ יַגִיעַ וְ היֵרָאֶׁ וְ יֵרָ צֶׁ ה וְיִשָמַ ע וְיִפָקֵ ד וְיִזָכֵרזִכְ רוֹנֵנּו ּופִקְ דוֹנֵנּווְזִכְ רוֹןאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּווְזִכְ רוֹן מָשִ יחַ בֶׁ ןדָוִ דעַבְדֶׁ ָך וְזִכְ רוֹן יְרּושָ לַיִם עִ יר קָדְ שֶׁ ָך וְזִכְ רוֹן כָל עַמְ ָך בֵית יִשְרָאֵ ל לְפָנֶׁיָך לִפְ לֵיטָ הלְטוֹבָ ה לְחֵ ן דּולְחֶׁסֶׁ ּולְרַ חֲמִ ים לְחַ יִ ים )טוֹבִ ים( ּולְשָ לוֹם ביום חג המצות74 הזה זָכְרֵ נּו ה’ אֱ ֹלקינּו בוֹ לְטוֹבָ ה ּופָקְדֵ נּו בוֹ לִבְרָ כָה וְ הוֹשִ יעֵנּו בוֹ לְחַ יִיםטוֹבִ ים.ּובִדְ רבַ יְשּועָהוְרַ חֲמִ ים חּוס וְחָ נֵנּו וְרַ חֵ ם עָלֵינּווְ הוֹשִ יעֵנּו כִי אֵ לֶׁיָך עֵינֵינּו כִ י אֵלמֶׁ לְֶׁך חַ נּון וְרַ חּום אָתָ ה: ּובְ נֵה יְרּושָ לַיִם75 עִיר הַ קֹדֶׁש בִמְ הֵרָ הבְ יָמֵ ינּו. בָ רּוְך אַתָ ה ה’, בוֹנֵה בְרַ חֲמָ יו יְרּושָ לַיִם. ָאמֵ ן.

74 Chag Hamatzot or Chag HaPesach? By Zeke Rabinowitz

The Torah calls Pesach Chag Hamatzot. Why don’t we call Pesach Chag Hamatzot? The answer is that matzot in Hebrew can also be read as mitzvot. That means that by leaving Egypt and getting the Torah we have the opportunity to do mitzvot. Pesach means passed over. Hashem passed over the houses of Bnei Yisrael. By calling the holiday Pesach it is focusing on what Hashem did and not what we did. We focus on what Hashem did for us while in the Torah, Hashem focuses on what we do for him. (From Ohr.edu)

75 The Origin of the Word ¨Yerushalayim¨ By Zachary Younger

we mention the word ¨Yerushalayim¨ many times. How did ¨Yerushalayim¨ get its ברך In name? In Parshat Vayera, Malki Tzedek called Yerushalayim ¨Shalem¨and Avraham called it ¨Yir´eh¨. Hashem took both of those names and combined them into ¨Yerushalayim¨. What is the deeper meaning behind the name ¨Yerushalayim¨? Why wasn't the name that Malki Tzedek gave placed first since the name ¨Shalem¨ was given before the name of Avraham- ¨Yir´eh¨. Rav Meir Shapiro explains that Malki Tzedek strictly focused on the beauty of Yerushalayim calling it “Shalem” which means whole and physically perfect. Avraham recognized the spiritual beauty of the city so he called it ¨Yireh¨ which means that Hashem will see. The Torah says, “The eyes of Hashem your G-d, are always upon it.” Because of this Chazal tell us that Hashem picked Yerushalayim as the city to hold the Beit Hamikdash. Hashem did this even before creation itself. Therefore, just as spiritual beauty should proceed physical beauty, Avraham's name precedes Malki Tzedek’s name. When the Beit Hamikdash comes we will feel the holiness of Hashem in that very city. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

76 בָ רּוְך ’האַתָה , ֹלקינּואֱמֶׁלְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם, הָאֵ ל ָאבִ ינּו, מַ לְכֵנּו, ַאדִ ירֵ נּו, בוֹרְ אֵ נּו, גֹאֲ לֵנּו, יוֹצְרֵ נּו, קְ דוֹשֵ נּו קְ דוֹש יַעֲקֹב, רוֹעֵנּו רוֹעֵ ה יִשְרָ ַאל, הַמֶׁ לְֶׁךהַ טוֹב וְהַמֵטִ יב לַכֹל,שֶׁבְ כָל יוֹם וָיוֹםהּוא הֵטִ יב, הּוא מֵטִ יב, הּואיֵיטִיב לָנּו. הּוא גְמָ לָנּו הּואגוֹמְ לֵנּוהּוא יִגְמְ לֵנּו לָעַד, ןלְחֵ ּולְחֶׁסֶׁ ד ּולְרַ חֲמִ ים ּולְרֶׁ וַחהַּצָ לָה וְהַצְ לָחָה, בְרָ כָה וִישּועָה נֶׁחָמָה פַרְ נָסָ ה וְכַלְכָלָה, וְרַ חֲמִ ים וְחַ יִים וְשָ לוֹם וְכָלטוֹב; ּומִ כָל טּוב לְעוֹלָם עַל יְחַסְרֵ נּו. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יִמְ לוְֹךעָלֵינּו לְעוֹלָם וָעֶׁד. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יִתְ בָרַ ְך בַשָמַ יִם ּובָָארֶׁ ץ. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יִשְתַ בַח לְדוֹר דוֹרִ ים, וְיִתְ פַָאר בָ נּו לָעַד ּולְנֵצַח נְצָחִ ים, וְיִתְ הַדַ רבָ נּו לָעַד ּולְעוֹלְמֵ י עוֹלָמִ ים. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְפַרְ נְסֵנּו בְ כָבוֹד. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּואיִשְ בוֹר עֻּלֵנּו מֵ עַל ּצַּוָארֵ נּו, וְ הּוא יוֹלִיכֵנּו קוֹמְמִ יּות לְַארְ צֵ נּו. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יִשְ לַח לָנּו בְרָ כָה מְרֻבָה בַבַיִת הַזֶׁה, וְעַל שֻלְחָןזֶׁה שֶׁ ָאכַלְנּו עָלָיו. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יִשְ לַח לָנּו אֶׁ ת אֵ לִיָהּוהַ נָבִ יא זָכּור לַטוֹב, וִ ריבַשֵ לָנּו בְ שוֹרוֹת טוֹבוֹתיְשּועוֹת וְ נֶׁחָ מוֹת. בבית אביו אומר: הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְבָרֵ ְךאֶׁ ת יָאבִ ימוֹרִ בַעַל הַבַיִת הַזֶׁה, וְאֶׁת יאִמִ ימוֹרָתִ בַ עֲלַת הַבַיִת הַזֶׁה.

77 נשוי אומר: הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְבָרֵ ְך אוֹתִ י, )אם אביו ואמו בחיים: וְאֶׁ ת ָאבִ י מוֹרִ י,וְאֶׁ תאִמִ ימוֹרָתִ י,( תוְאֶׁ אִשְתִ י, וְאֶׁ ת זַרְ עִי, תוְאֶׁ כָל אֲשֶׁ ר לִי. אשה נשואה אומרת: הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְבָרֵ ְך אוֹתִ י, )אם אביה ואמה בחיים: וְאֶׁ ת ָאבִ י מוֹרִ י, וְאֶׁת יאִמִ מוֹרָתִ י,( וְאֶׁ תבַ עֲלִי, תוְאֶׁ זַרְ עִי, וְאֶׁ ת כָל אֲשֶׁ ר לִי.76 אורח אומר: הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְבָרֵ ְך אֶׁ ת בַעַל הַבַיִת הַזֶׁה וְאֶׁת בַעֲלַת הַבַיִת הַזֶׁה, אוֹתָ ם וְאֶׁ תבֵ יתָם תוְאֶׁ זַרְ עָם וְאֶׁ ת כָל ראֲשֶׁ לָהֶׁ ם. יְהִי רָ צוֹן,שֶׁ ֹּלא יֵבוֹש בַעַל הַבַיִתבָ עוֹלָםהַזֶׁה, וְ ֹלא יִכָלֵם לָעוֹלָם הַבָ א, וְיִצְ לַחמְ אֹד בְ כָלנְכָסָ יו, וְיִהְ יּו נְכָסָ יו ּונְכָסֵ ינּו מֻצְ לָחִים ּוקְ רוֹבִ ים לָעִ יר, וְַאל יִשְ ֹלטשָטָ ן ֹלא בְמַ עֲשֵ ייָדָ יו וְ ֹלא בְמַ עֲשֵ ייָדֵ ינּו, וְַאל יִזְדַקֵ ק )נוסח הגמרא: יִזְדַקֵ ר(ֹלא לְפָנָיו וְ ֹלא לְפָנֵינּו שּום דְ בַ ר הַרְ הוֹר חֵטְ א וַעֲבֵרָ ה וְעָוֹן מֵ עַתָ ה וְעַד עוֹלָם. בסעודה משותפת אומר: הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְבָרְֵך אֶׁ ת כָל הַמְ סֻבִ ין כַאן. אוֹתָם תוְאֶׁ בֵ יתָם וְאֶׁ ת זַרְ עָםוְאֶׁ ת כָל אֲשֶׁ רלָהֶׁ ם,אוֹתָ נּו תוְאֶׁ כָל אֲשֶׁ ר לָנּו, כְ מוֹ שֶׁ נִתְ בָרְ כּואֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו ַאבְרָ הָ ם יִצְחָ ק וְ יַעֲקֹב "בַ כֹל"-"מִ כֹל"- "כֹל" – כֵן יְבָרֵ ְך אוֹתָ נּוכֻּלָנּו יַחַד בִבְרָ כָה שְ לֵמָ ה. וְ נֹאמַ ר: "ָאמֵ ן".

76 Honoring Parents in a Way You Could By Isaac Gampel

Rebbetzin Shoshana Aliza left her parents to be a teacher in Holon. Holon is a long drive to Jerusalem where her parents live so she missed her parents very much. Every day when it was time for lunch, she would wash her hands, take a few bites of her sandwich and say Birkat HaMazon. Someone asked her, “Shoshana why do you eat bread everyday if you only eat a little bit? Why don’t you just eat a few crackers so you don’t have to bench?” She just smiled and said, “The reason I bench is that it gives me one opportunity to give a blessing to my parents. My parents are amazing and supportive of me. I eat bread so I can bench and I could give them the blessing one is supposed to give parents. If I would eat only crackers I would not have this opportunity.” (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

78 בַמָ רוֹם יְלַמְ דּועֲלֵיהֶׁם וְעָלֵינּו זְ כּות שֶׁתְ הֵ אלְמִשְמֶׁרֶׁ ת שָ לוֹם. וְנִשָ א ’הבְרָ כָה מֵאֵ ת , ּוצְדָקָהמֵאֹלהֵ ייִשְ עֵנּו, וְ נִמְ צָא חֵן וְשֵ כֶׁל טוֹב בְעֵינֵי אֱ ֹלקים וְָאדָ ם. בשבת: הַרָ חֲמָ ן הּוא יַנְחִ ילֵנּו יוֹם שֶׁ כֻלוֹ שַ בָתּומְנּוחָה לְחַ יֵי הָ עוֹלָמִ ים. הַרָ חֲמָ ן הּוא יַנְחִ ילֵנּו יוֹם שֶׁ כֻלוֹטוֹב, יוֹם שֶׁ כֻּלוָֹארוְֹך, יוֹםשֶּׁצַדִיקִ ים יוֹשְ בִ יםוְעַטְ רוֹתֵיהֶׁםבְרָ םאשֵיהֶׁ וְ נֶׁהֱנִין מִ זִיו הַ שְ כִ ינָה, וִיהִיחֶׁ לְקֵ נּו עִמָהֶׁ ם. הָרַ חֲמָ ן הּוא יְזַכֵנּו לִימוֹת הַמָשִ יחַ ּולְחַ יֵי הָ עוֹלָם הַבָ א. מִ גְדוֹליְשּועוֹת מַ לְכוֹ, וְ עֹשֶׁה דחֶׁסֶׁ לִמְשִ יחוֹ, לְדָוִד ּולְזַרְ עוֹ עַד עוֹלָם. עֹשֶׁה שָ לוֹםבִמְ רוֹמָ יו, הּוא יַעֲשֶׁ ה שָ לוֹם עָ לֵינּו וְעַל כָליִשְרָ ַאל. וְאִמְ רּו: "ָאמֵ ן". ’היְראּו אֶׁ ת קְ דֹשָ יו, כִ י אֵין מַחְ סוֹר לִירֵ ָאיו. כְפִירִ ים רָ שּו וְרָ עֵבּו, ’הוְ דֹרְ שֵ י ֹלא יַחְסְ רּו כָל טוֹב. הוֹדּו לַ ’ה כִ י טוֹב, כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ. פוֹתֵחַאֶׁ ת יָדֶׁ ָך, ּומַשְ בִיעַ לְכָל יחַ רָ צוֹן.בָ רּוְךהַ רגֶׁבֶׁ אֲשֶׁ ר יִבְטַ ח בַ ’ה , ’הוְהָ יָה מִבְטַ חוֹ. נַעַרהָ יִיתִ י גַםזָקַ נְתִ י, וְֹלא ירָאִיתִ צַדִ יק נֶׁעֱזָב, וְזַרְ עוֹ מְ שבַקֶׁ לָחֶׁ ם. ’ה עֹז לְעַמוֹ יִ ’התֵ ן, יְבָרֵ ְך אֶׁ ת עַמוֹ בַשָ לוֹם. רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם אבוֹרֵ יפְרִ הַ גָפֶׁן77.

77 Who Drinks? Who Pours? By Ellie Minsky and Rebecca Dyckman

The Kol Dodi Haggadah answers the question, “who is obligated to drink the four cups?” The Haggadah tells us that women, men, young boys, and girls are all obligated to drink all four cups, but all for different reasons. The reason women are obligated to drink the four cups is says, “women are obligated to perform this mitzvah because they were רבי יהושע בן לוי because, as involved with the miracle that came from Hashem”. Young boys and girls are only obligated to Men must perform this .מה נשתנה perform this mitzvah if they are old enough and are able to say mitzvah for they too were redeemed in Egypt.

79 ׁשוֹתִּ ין בַהֲסָ בַ ת שְ מֹאל. מוזגין כוס רביעי וכוס של אליהו78. פותחים הדלת כדי שנזכר שהוא ליל שמורים.79

Then the question, “who pours the wine?” arises. The Mishna says “they pour for him.” The Rama comments on this Mishnah saying, “the leader shouldn’t pour for himself.” We pour for our “leader” because someone else should pour the wine for us. The reasoning for this is we should not be like slaves, and slaves would pour for themselves but others who were not would have drinks poured for them. (From the Kol Dodi Haggadah)

78 The Fifth Cup By Daniel Lando

The main reason for drinking four cups of wine at the Seder is because they represent the I) ”והצלתי“ ,(I will remove you) ”והוצאתי“ four expressions of redemption. In Sefer Shemot it says I will take you). The fifth cup of wine) ”ולקחתי“ I will redeem you), and) ”וגאלתי“ ,(will save you and I will bring you to the Land). The) ”והבאתי“ -represents the fifth expression of redemption reason we drink the first four cups of wine is because we want to show our appreciation to כוס Hashem for bringing us out of Egypt and making us His nation. The fifth cup, which we call According to Rabbi Moshe .ארץ ישראל is talking about bringing the Jews to the land of ,של אליהו Feinstein, the reason the fifth cup of wine is not drunk is because we're showing that the fifth cup is not as important as the first four. We appreciate that Hashem brought us to a new land but that is not as important as taking us out of Egypt and making us His nation. (From the Haggadah of the Roshei Yeshiva)

79 The Names of Seder Night By Evan Kops

The Seder Night has various names each with its own meaning. It is known as “Leil HaSeder”- At the Seder, we follow a specific sequence of steps formulated by Chazal- kadesh, urchatz… We also call it Pesach since the korban pesach was sacrificed on the 14th day of Nissan. The word pesach means jump or skip, referring to Hashem skipping over the Jewish homes, that had blood from the korban pesach on the side and on top of the door. As a result, only the homes of the Egyptians were struck from the plague of Makkat Bechorot and the firstborn sons of the Jews were spared. It is also called “Leil Shimurim.” The word shimurim here means “anticipation” because on this night we “anticipated” the redemption. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah.)

80 ׁשְ פְֹך חֲמָתְָך אֶׁ להַ גוֹיִם ראֲשֶׁ ֹלא יְדָ עּוָך וְעַל מַמְ לָכוֹת אֲשֶׁ רבְשִמְ ָך ֹלא קָרָאּו.כִ י ָאכַל אֶׁ ת יַעֲקֹב תוְאֶׁ נָוֵהּו הֵשַמּו. שְ פְֹך עֲלֵיהֶׁםזַעְמֶׁ ָך וַחֲרוֹן אַפְ ָך יַשִ יגֵם. תִרְ דֹף בְ ַאף וְתַשְמִידֵ ם מִתַחַת שְמֵ י .’ה הַ לֵּל ֹלא ’הלָנּו ֹלא לָנּו, כִי לְשִמְ ָךתֵ ן כָבוֹד,עַל חַסְדְ ָך, עַלאֲמִתֶׁ ָך. לָמָ ה יֹאמְ רּוהַ גוֹיִם אַ יֵה נָאאֱֹלהֵיהֶׁ ם, וֵאֹלהֵ ינּו בַשָמָ יִם, כֹל אֲשֶׁר חָפֵץ עָשָ ה. עֲצַבֵיהֶׁ םכֶׁסֶׁף וְזָהָב מַ עֲשֵ היְדֵ י ָאדָ ם. פֶׁה םלָהֶׁ וְ ֹלא יְדַ בֵ רּו, עֵינַיִם לָהֶׁ ם וְֹלאיִרְ אּו.ָאזְ נַיִם לָהֶׁם וְ ֹלאיִשְמָ עּו,ַאף לָהֶׁםוְ ֹלאיְרִ יחּון. יְדֵ יהֶׁם וְ ֹלא יְמִישּון,רַ גְלֵיהֶׁ ם וְֹלא יְהַ ּלֵכּו, ֹלאיֶׁהְ גּו בִגְרוֹנָם. כְ מוֹהֶׁ םיִהְ יּו עֹשֵ יהֶׁ ם, כֹל ראֲשֶׁ בֹטֵחַ בָהֶׁ ם. יִשְרָאֵ ל בְטַח בַ ,’ה עֶׁזְרָ םּומָ גִנָםהּוא. בֵ ית ַאהֲרֹן ’הבִטְ חּו בַ , עֶׁזְרָ םּומָ גִנָם הּוא. יִרְ אֵ י ’ה ’הבִטְ חּו בַ , עֶׁזְרָ םּומָ גִנָם הּוא. ’ה זְכָרָ נּויְבָרֵ ְך, יְבָרְֵך אֶׁ ת בֵית יִשְרָאֵ ל, יְבָרֵ ְך אֶׁתבֵית ַאהֲרֹן. יְבָרֵ ְך ’היִרְ אֵ י , הַקְ טַ נִים עִם הַגְדֹלִים. יֹסֵ ף ’ה עֲלֵיכֶׁם, עֲלֵיכֶׁם וְעַל בְ נֵיכֶׁם. בְ רּוכִים אַתֶׁ ם לַ ’ה , עֹשֵהשָמַ יִםוָָארֶׁ ץ. הַשָמַ יִם שָמַ יִם לַ ’ה וְהָ ָארֶׁ ץ נָתַן ’ה לִבְ נֵי ָאדָ ם. ֹלא הַמֵתִ יםיְהַ לְלּו יָּה וְ ֹלא כָליֹרְ דֵ ידּומָ ה. וַאֲ נַחְ נּו נְבָרֵ ְך יָּה מֵ העַתָ וְעַד עוֹלָם.הַ לְלּויָּה: ָאהַבְתִ י כִ י יִשְמַ ע ’ה אֶׁת קוֹלִי,תַ חֲנּונָי. כִי הִטָהָאזְ נוֹ לִיּובְ ייָמַ אֶׁקְרָ א. אֲפָפּונִיחֶׁבְ לֵי מָ וֶׁת ּומְ צָרֵישְ אוֹל מְ צָאּונִי, צָרָ הוְ יָגוֹןאֶׁמְ צָ א. ּובְשֵ ם ’ה ’ה ’האֶׁקְרָא, אָ נָא מַ ּלְטָה נַפְשִ י. חַ נּון ’ה וְצַדִ יק, וֵאֹלהֵ ינּו מְרַ חֵ ם. שֹמֵ ר ’הפְתָ איִם , דַ ּלוֹתִ י וְלִייְהוֹשִ יעַ. ישּובִ ינַפְשִ לִמְ נּוחָ יְכִ י, כִ י ’ה גָמַ ל ’ה עָלָיְכִ י. כִיחִ ּלַצְתָ נַפְשִימִמָ וֶׁת, אֶׁ ת עֵינִי מִ ןדִמְ עָה, תאֶׁ רַ גְלִי מִדֶׁחִ י. אֶׁתְ הַ ּלְֵך ’הלִפְ נֵי בְ ַארְ צוֹת הַחַ יִים. הֶׁאֱמַ נְתִ י כִ י אֲדַ בֵר, אֲנִי עָנִיתִי מְ אֹד. אֲנִי יָאמַרְתִ בְחָפְזִ י, כָל הָָאדָ ם כֹזֵב. ’המָה אָשִ יב לַ כָל תַ יגְמּולוֹהִ עָלָי.כוֹס יְשּועוֹת אאֶׁשָ ּובְשֵ ם ’ה אֶׁקְרָ א. ’ה ’הנְדָרַ י לַ אֲשַ ּלֵם נֶׁגְדָ ה נָ א לְכָל עַמוֹ. יָקָ ר בְ עֵינֵי ’ה הַמָוְתָ ה לַחֲסִידָ יו. ’האָ נָא כִי אֲנִי עַבְדֶׁ ָך, אֲנִי עַבְדְ ָך בֶׁ ן אֲמָתֶׁ ָך, פִתַחְתָ לְמוֹסֵרָ י. לְָך אֶׁזְבַ ח

81 חזֶׁבַ תוֹדָה ּובְשֵ ם ’ה אֶׁקְרָ א. נְדָרַ י לַ ’ה אֲשַ לֵם נֶׁגְדָ ה נָא לְכָל עַמוֹ. בְחַצְ רוֹת ’הבֵית ,בְ יתוֹכֵכִ יְרּושָ לָיִם,הַ לְלּויָּה: לְלּו אֶׁ ת ’ההַ כָל גוֹיִם 80, שַבְ חּוהּו כָל הָאֻמִ ים. יכִ רגָבַ עָלֵינּו חַסְ דוֹ, וֶׁאֱמֶׁ ת ה’ לְעוֹלָם,הַ לְלּויָּה: ’ההוֹדּו לַ כִ י טוֹב כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ. יֹאמַ ר נָא יִשְרָאֵ ל כִי לְעוֹלָם חַ סְ דוֹ. יֹאמְ רּו נָא בֵ ית ַאהֲרֹן כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ. יֹאמְ רּו נָא יִרְ אֵ י ’ה כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ. מִ ן הַמֵצַ ר קָרָ אתִ י קָ ּה, עָנָנִי בַמֶׁרְ חָ ב ּהקָ 81. ה’ לִיֹלא אִ ירָ א, המַ יַעֲשֶׁ ה לִי ָאדָ ם. ה’ לִי בְ יעֹזְרָ וַאֲנִי אֶׁרְ האֶׁ בְ שנְָאי. טוֹב לַחֲסוֹת בַ ה’ מִבְ טֹחַ

80 The Blind Man By Jacob Mandil

Rabbi Moshe Sofer, the Chasam Sofer asked why the nations of the world should praise Hashem for the kindness he has shown the Jewish people. He explained it with a story. A blind man made his way down the road carefully moving along with great caution. A wicked man passing by saw him and placed a rock in his path. Miraculously, the blind man passed the rock completely unharmed. The blind man did not realize what he was saved from and what kind of miracle occurred for him. However, the wicked man who placed the rock understood it very well. The same is true in our case. There are nations in every generation that want to destroy us and Hashem in his great mercy saves us from their hand. The Jewish people may not be aware of the terrible plans that were messed up but our enemies understand very well that Hashem has rescued the Jews. Therefore the nations who realize that Hashem protects Bnei Yisrael praise Hashem. (From the Eishes Chayil Haggadah)

81 Keep Playing By Ruthie Isler

which translates to “Out of ,מן המצר קראתי ק-ה ענני במרחב ק-ה ,The Haggadah says in Hallel narrow confines I called to G-d, G-d answered me with abounding relief.” What does this mean? There was a mother who took her small .משל Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter z”tl answered this with a son to a famous pianist's concert. While she was not looking, her son climbed up onto the stage. When the spotlight turned on, the small boy was up by the piano playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.” The famous pianist came onto the stage. The boy stopped playing. The pianist stood behind him and said “Don’t quit. Keep playing.” The boy continued playing while the pianist helped him. The meaning of this story is that we are playing the piano and Hashem is behind us saying “Don’t

82 בָָאדָ ם. טוֹב לַחֲסוֹת בַ ’ה מִבְ טֹחַ בִ נְדִ יבִ ים. כָל גוֹיִם סְ בָ בּונִי, בְשֵ ם ’ה ’ה כִיאֲמִ ילַם. סַ בּונִי גַם סְ בָ בּונִי, בְשֵ ם ’ה כִי אֲמִ ילַם. סַ בּונִי כִדְ בֹרִ ים, דֹ עֲכּו כְאֵ ש קוֹצִ ים, בְשֵ ם ’ה כִי אֲמִ ילַם. דָ חֹה דְחִיתַ נִי לִנְפֹל, וַ ’ה עֲזָרָ נִי. ’ה עָזִיוְזִמְרָ תיָּה יוַיְהִ לִי לִישּועָה. קוֹלרִ נָהוִ ישּועָה בְ ָאהֳלֵי צַדִיקִ ים, ’היְמִ ין עֹשֵָה חָ יִל. יְמִ ין ’ה רוֹמֵמָ ה, יְמִין ’ה עֹשֵָה חָ יִל. ֹלא ָאמּות כִ י עֹשֵָה חָ יִל. ’ה אֶׁחְ יֶׁה,וַאֲסַ פֵרמַ עֲשֵ ייָּה. יַסֹר יִסְרַ נִי יָּה, וְ לַמָ וֶׁתֹלא נְתָ נָנִי. פִתְ חּו לִי שַעֲרֵ י צֶׁדֶׁ ק, ָאבֹא בָ ם,אוֹדֶׁ היָּה. זֶׁה הַשַ עַר לַ ’ה , צַדִיקִ ים יָבֹאּו בוֹ. אוֹדְ ָךכִ י עֲנִיתָ נִיוַתְהִ י לִילִישּועָה. אוֹדְ ָך יכִ עֲנִיתָ נִי יוַתְהִ לִי לִישּועָה. אֶׁבֶׁן מָאֲסּוהַ בוֹנִים הָ היְתָ לְרֹאשפִ נָה.אֶׁבֶׁן מָאֲ סּו הַ בוֹנִים הָ יְתָ ה לְרֹאש פִ נָה. מֵאֵ ת ’ה הָ היְתָ זֹאת הִ יא נִפְ לָאת בְ עֵינֵינּו. מֵאֵ ת ’ה הָ יְתָ ה ’ה זֹאתהִ יא נִפְ לָאת בְ עֵינֵינּו. זֶׁה הַ יוֹם ’העָשָה נָגִילָה וְ נִשְמְ החָ בוֹ. זֶׁה ’ההַ יוֹם עָשָ ה נָגִילָה וְ נִשְמְ חָ ה בוֹ. נָא.’האָ נָא , הוֹשִ יעָה נָא.’האָ נָא , הוֹשִ יעָה ’האָ נָא , הַצְ לִיחָ ה נָא. ’האָ נָא , הַצְ לִיחָ ה נָא. בָ רּוְך הַבָ א בְשֵ ם ’ה , בֵרַ כְ נּוכֶׁם מִ בֵית ’ה . בָ רּוְך הַבָ א בְשֵ ם ’ה , בֵרַ כְ נּוכֶׁם מִ בֵ ית ’ה ’ה. אֵל וַיָאֶׁ רלָנּו. אִסְ רּו חַ ג בַעֲבֹתִ ים עַד קַרְ נוֹת ’ההַמִ זְבֵחַ. אֵ ל וַיָאֶׁ רלָנּו. אִסְ רּו חַ ג בַ עֲבֹתִ ים עַד קַרְ נוֹת הַמִ זְבֵחַ . אֵ לִי האַתָ וְ אוֹדֶׁ ךָ, אֱ ֹלהַיאֲ רוֹמְמֶׁ ךָ.אֵ לִי אַתָ ה וְ אוֹדֶׁ ךָ,אֱֹלהַ י אֲ רוֹמְמֶׁ ךָ. הוֹדּו ’הלַ יכִ טוֹב, יכִ לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ. הוֹדּו לַ ’ה כִ י טוֹב, כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ.

יְהַ לְלּוָך ה' ֹלקינּו אֱכָלמַ עֲשֶׁ יָך, וַחֲסִ ידֶׁ יָךצַדִיקִ ים עוֹשֵ ירְ צוֹנֶָׁך, וְכָל עַ מְָךבֵ ית יִשְרָאֵ לבְרִ נָהיוֹדּו וִיבָרְ כּו, וִישַבְחּו וִיפָאֲ רּו, וִ ירוֹמְ מּו

quit. Keep playing.” Hashem will always be there for us and will always answer us with “abounding relief.” (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

83 וְיַעֲרִ יצּו,וְ יַקְדִ ישּווְ יַמְ לִיכּואֶׁת שִמְ ָך, מַ לְכֵנּו. יכִ לְָך טוֹב לְהוֹדוֹת ּולְשִמְ ָך נָאֱה לְזַמֵ ר, כִ י מֵ עוֹלָם וְעַד עוֹלָם אַתָה אֵ ל. הוֹדּו לַאֲ דֹנֵי הָאֲ דֹנִים - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְעֹשֵ ה נִפְ לָאוֹת גְדֹלוֹת לְבַ דוֹ - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְעֹשֵה הַשָמַ יִם בִתְ בּונָה - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְרוֹקַע הָ ָארֶׁ ץ עַל הַמָ יְם - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְעֹשֵ ה אוֹרִ ים גְדֹלִים - כִי לְעוֹ לָם חַסְ דוֹ אֶׁת שהַשֶׁמֶׁ לְמֶׁמְשֶׁ לֶׁת בַ יוֹם - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ אֶׁת הַ יָרֵ חַ וְ כוֹכָבִ ים לְמֶׁמְשְ לוֹת בַ ּלַיְלָה - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְמַ כֵה מִצְרַ יִם בִבְ כוֹרֵ יהֶׁ ם - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ וַיוֹצֵ א יִשְרָאֵל מִ תוֹכָם - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ בְ יָדחֲזָקָ הּובִזְ רוֹעַנְטּויָה - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְגֹזֵר יַם סּוף לִגְזָרִ ים - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ וְהֶׁ עֱבִ יר יִשְרָאֵל בְ תוֹכוֹ - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ וְ נִעֵר פַרְ עֹה וְחֵ ילוֹבְ יַם סּוף - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְמוֹלִיְך עַ מוֹ בַמִדְ בָ ר - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְמַ כֵה מְ לָכִים גְדֹלִים - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ וַיַהֲרֹג מְ לָכִ ים ַאדִ ירִ ים - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ לְסִ יחוֹן מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָאֱ מֹרִ י - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ ּולְעוֹג מֶׁ לְֶׁך הַבָשָ ן - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ וְ ןנָתַ ַארְ צָם לְנַחֲלָה - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ נַחֲלָה לְיִשְרָאֵ ל עַבְ דוֹ - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ שֶׁבְשִ פְ לֵנּו זָכַר לָנּו - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ וַיִפְרְ קֵנּומִ ּצָרֵ ינּו - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ נֹתֵ ןלֶׁחֶׁ ם לְכָל בָשָ ר - כִי לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ הוֹדּו לְאֵל הַשָמָ יִם - כִ י לְעוֹלָם חַסְ דוֹ:

84

נִשְמַ תכָל חַ י תְ בָרְֵך תאֶׁ שִמְ ָך, ’ה אֱ ֹלקינּו, וְרּוחַ כָל בָשָ ר תְ פָאֵ ר ּותְ רוֹמֵ םזִכְרְ ָך, מַ לְכֵנּו, תָמִיד. מִ ן הָ עוֹלָם וְעַד הָ עוֹלָם אַתָה אֵ ל, ּומִ בַלְעָדֶׁ יָך אֵ ין לָנּו מֶׁלְֶׁך לגוֹאֵ ּומוֹשִ יעַ, פוֹדֶׁ הּומַּצִ יל ּומְ פַרְ נֵס וְ עוֹנֶׁה ּומְרַחֵם בְ כָלעֵת צָרָ ה וְצּוקָה. אֵ יןלָנּו מֶׁ לְֶׁך עוֹזֵרוְ סוֹמְֵךאֶׁ ּלָא אָתָ ה. אֱֹלהֵיהָרִ אשוֹנִים וְהַָאחֲרוֹנִים, אֱ ֹלּהַ כָל בְרִ יוֹת, אֲ דוֹן כָל תוֹלָדוֹת, הַמְ הֻלָל בְ רֹב הַתִשְ בָ חוֹת,הַמְ גנַהֵ עוֹלָמוֹ דבְחֶׁסֶׁ ּובְרִ יוֹתָיו בְרַ חֲמִ ים. וַ ’ה ’ה עֵר הִ נֵה ֹלא יָנּום וְֹלא יִישָן הַמְ עוֹרֵ ר יְשֵ נִים וְהַמֵקִ יץ נִרְ דָמִ ים, וְהַמֵשִ יחַ אִ ּלְמִ ים וְהַמַתִ יר אֲסּורִ ים וְהַ סוֹמֵ ְך נוֹפְ לִים וְהַ ףזוֹקֵ כְפּופִ ים וְהַמְ פַעֲנֵחַ נֶׁעֱלָמִ ים. ּולְָךלְבַדְ ָך אֲ נַחְ נּו מוֹדִ ים. וְאִּלּו פִ ינּו מָ לֵא שִ ירָ ה כַיָם, ּולְשוֹנֵנּו רִ נָה כַהֲמוֹן גַּלָיו, וְשִ פְ תוֹתֵ ינּו שֶׁ בַ ח כְמֶׁרְ חֲבֵ ירָקִ יעַ, וְעֵינֵינּו מְאִ ירוֹת כַשֶׁמֶׁ שוְכַיָרֵ חַ ,וְ יָדֵ ינּו פְ רּושוֹ ת כְנִשְרֵ י שָמַ יִם,וְרַ גְלֵינּוקַ ּלוֹתכָאַ יָלוֹת אֵ יןאֲ נַחְנּו מַסְ פִיקִ ים לְהוֹדוֹת לְָך, ’ה ’ה ֹלקינּו אֱוֵאֹלהֵיאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו,ּולְבָרֵ ְך,אֶׁת שִמְָך מַ לְכֵנּו עַל ַאחַת,מֵ ָאלֶׁף, ַאלְפֵי אֲ לָפִ ים וְרִ בֵי רְ בָ בוֹת פְעָמִ ים, הַ טוֹבוֹת שֶׁ עָשִ יתָ םעִ אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו וְעִמָנּו. מִמִצְרַ יִםגְַאלְתָ נּו, ’ה אֱ ֹלקינּו, ּומִ בֵ ית עֲבָדִ ים פְדִ יתָ נּו, בְרָ עָב זַנְתָנּוּובְשָ עבָ כִלְכַלְתָ נּו, מֵחֶׁרֶׁבהִ ּצַלְתָ נּו ּומִדֶׁ בֶׁ רמִ ּלַטְתָ נּו, ּומֵחָ לָיִם רָ עִ יםוְרַ בִ יםוְ נֶׁאֱמָ נִים דִ ּלִיתָ נּו.עַד הֵ נָה עֲזָרּונּורַ חֲמֶׁ יָך וְ ֹלא עֲזָבּונּו חֲסָדֶׁ יָך, וְַאל תִטְשֵ נּו, ’ה אֱ ֹלקינּו, לָנֶׁצַ ח.עַל כֵן אֵבָרִ יםשֶׁפִ ּלַגְתָ בָ נּו וְרּוחַ ּונְשָמָ השֶׁ נָפַחְתָ בְאַ פֵינּווְ לָשוֹן אֲשֶׁרשַמְתָ בְפִ ינּו הֵן םהֵ יוֹדּו וִיבָרְ כּו וִישַבְ חּו וִיפָאֲ רּו וִ ישוֹרְ רּו וִ ירוֹמְ מּו וְ יַעֲרִ יצּו וְ יַקְדִ ישּו וְ יַמְ לִיכּו אֶׁת שִמְָך מַ לְכֵנּותָמִ יד. כִ י כָל פֶׁה לְָךיוֹדֶׁה, וְכָל לָשוֹן לְָך תִשָ בַ ע וְכָל בֶׁרֶׁ ְך לְָך תִ כְרַ ע,וְכָל הקוֹמָ לְפָנֶׁיָך תִשְתַ חֲוֶׁה, וְכָל לְבָבוֹת יִירָ אּוָך, וְכָל קֶׁרֶׁב ּוכְ לָיוֹתיְזַמְ רּו לִשְמֶׁ ָך, כַדָ בָ רשֶׁ כָתּוב, כָל עַצְ מֹתַ י תֹאמַ ’הרְ נָה: , מִי כָמוָֹך מַּצִ יל עָנִי מֵחָזָק מִמֶׁ נּו וְעָנִיוְאֶׁבְ יוֹןמִ גֹזְ לוֹ. ימִ יִדְ המֶׁ ּלְָך ּומִ י יִשְ וֶׁה ּלְָך ּומִ ייַעֲרָ ְך לְָך הָאֵל הַ גָ דוֹל, הַגִבוֹר וְהַ נוֹרָ א, לאֵ עֶׁלְיוֹן, קֹנֵה

85 שָמַיִםוָָארֶׁץ. נְהַ ּלֶׁלְָך ּונְשַ בֵחֲָך ּונְפָאֶׁרְ ָך ּונְבָרְֵך תאֶׁ שֵם קָדְ שֶׁ ָך, כָָאמּור: לְדָוִ ד, בָרְ יכִ ינַפְשִ אֶׁ ת ’ה וְכָל קְרָ יבַ אֶׁת שֵם קָדְ שוֹ. הָאֵ לבְתַ עֲצֻמוֹתעֻזֶָׁך, הַ גָדוֹל בִכְ בוֹד שְמֶָׁך, הַגִבוֹר לָנֶׁצַח וְהַ נוֹרָ א בְ נוֹרְ אוֹתֶׁיָך, הַמֶׁ לְֶׁך הַיושֵ ב עַל כִסֵ א רָ ם וְ נִשָ א. שוֹכֵןעַד מָ רוֹם וְקָ דוֹש שְ מוֹ.וְכָתּוב: רַ נְנּו צַדִיקִ ים בַיהוה, לַיְשָרִ ים נָאוָה תְהִ ּלָה.בְפִ י יְשָרִ ים תִתְ הַ ּלָל ּובְדִ בְרֵ י צַדִ יקִ ים תִתְ בָרַ ךְ ובִ לְשוֹן חֲסִ ידִ ים תִתְ םרוֹמָ ּובְקֶׁרֶׁ ב קְ דוֹשִ ים תִתְ קַדַ ש. ּובְמַקְ הֲלוֹת רִ בְ בוֹת עַמְ ָךבֵ ית יִשְרָאֵלבְרִ נָהיִתְ פָאֵ רשִמְ ָך, מַ לְכֵנּו, בְ כָל דוֹר וָדוֹר,שֶׁ כֵןחוֹבַ תכָל הַ יְצּורִ ים לְפָנֶׁיָך, ’ה אֱֹלקינּו יוֵאֹלהֵ אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו, לְהוֹדוֹתלְהַ ּלֵללְשַ בֵחַ ,לְפָאֵ רלְרוֹמֵ םלְהַדֵ רלְבָרֵ ְך, לְעַּלֵהּולְקַ ּלֵס עַל כָל דִ יבְרֵ שִ ירוֹת וְתִשְ בְ חוֹתדָוִד בֶׁ ן ייִשַ עַבְדְָך, מְשִ יחֶׁ ָך. יִשְתַ בַחשִמְ ָך לָעַד מַ לְכֵנּו, הָאֵל הַ מֶׁ לְֶׁךהַ גָדוֹל וְהַקָ דוֹש בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ, ילְָך נָאֶׁ ה, ’הכִ ֹלקינּו אֱ וֵאֹלהֵ י אֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו, שִ יר ּושְ בָחָה, הַ ּלֵל וְזִמְרָ ה, עֹז ּומֶׁמְשָ לָה, נֶׁצַ ח, גְדֻ ּלָה ּוגְבּורָה, תְהִ לָה וְתִ פְאֶׁרֶׁ ת, קְ דֻשָהּומַ לְכּות, בְרָ כוֹת וְ הוֹדָ אוֹת מֵ עַתָ ה וְעַד עוֹלָם רּוְך אַתָה ’הבָ , אֵל מֶׁ לְֶׁך גָדוֹל בַתִשְ בָ חוֹת, אֵ ל הַ הוֹדָ אוֹת, אֲ דוֹן הַ נִפְ לָאוֹת, הַ בוֹחֵר יבְשִירֵ זִמְרָה, מֶׁ לְֶׁך אֵל חֵי הָ עוֹלָמִ ים.

רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם אבוֹרֵ יפְרִ הַ גָפֶׁן. ׁשוֹתֶ ה בַהֲסָ בַ ת שְ מֹאל רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁך הָ עוֹלָם,עַל הַ גֶׁפֶׁן וְעַל יפְרִ הַ גֶׁפֶׁן, עַל תְ נּובַ ת הַשָדֶׁה וְעַלאֶׁרֶׁ ץ חֶׁמְדָ הטוֹבָ הּורְ חָבָה שֶׁרָצִ יתָ וְהִ נְחַלְתָ לַאֲ בוֹתֵ ינּו לֶׁאֱ כֹל מִ פִרְ יָּה וְלִשְ בֹעַמִ טּובָ ּה רַ חֶׁ ם נָא ד' אֱֹלקֵ ינּו עַליִשְרָאֵ לעַמֶׁ ָך וְעַל

86 יְרּושָלַיִם עִירֶׁ ָך וְעַל צִ יוֹןמִשְ כַן כְ בוֹדֶׁ ָך וְעַל מִ זְבְחֶָׁך וְעַלהֵ יכָלֶָׁך ּובְ נֵה יְרּושָ לַיִם עִירהַ קֹדֶׁ שבִמְ הֵרָ הבְ יָמֵ ינּו וְהַ עֲלֵנּו לְתוֹכָּהוְשַמְ חֵ נּו בְבִ נְיָנָּה וְ נֹאכַל מִ פִרְ יָּהוְ נִשְ בַעמִ טּובָ ּה ּונְבָרֶׁ כְָך עָלֶׁיהָ בִקְ הדֻשָ ּובְטָ הֳרָ ה )בְשַ בָ ת: ּורְ צֵהוְהַחֲלִיצֵ נּובְ יוֹם הַשַ בָת הַזֶׁה( וְשַמְ חֵ נּו בְ יוֹם גחַ הַמַ ּצוֹת82 הַזֶׁה, כִיאַתָהד' טוֹב ּומֵטִ יב לַכֹלוְ הנוֹדֶׁ ּלְָךעַל הָ ָארֶׁ ץוְעַל פְרִ יהַ גָפֶׁן.בָ רּוְך אַתָ הד' עַל הָ ץָארֶׁ וְעַל יפְרִ הַ גָפֶׁן. נִּרְ צָ ה חֲסַל סִ דּור83 פֶׁסַח כְהִ לְכָתוֹ, כְכָל מִשְ פָטוֹ וְחֻקָ תוֹ. רכַאֲשֶׁ זָכִינּו לְסַדֵ ר אוֹתוֹ כֵן נִזְ כֶׁה לַעֲשוֹתוֹ. זְָך שוֹכֵן מְ עוֹנָה, קוֹמֵם קְ הַ ל עֲדַ ת מִי מָ נָה. בְקָ רוֹב לנַהֵ נִטְ עֵי כַנָה פְ דּויִם לְצִ יוֹן בְרִ נָה.

82 Chag HaMatzot By Sapir Filhart

The Torah calls Pesach "Chag HaMatzot," but we call it "Pesach". Rav Chaim Volozhiner asks why this is the way it is. This is the way it is because the word Matzot and Mitzvot are spelled the same in Hebrew. This means that you could interpret the name as "Chag Hamatzot" or "Chag Hamitzvot". The holiday is called "Chag Hamatzot" because the Jewish people left Egypt and received the Torah and then could earn reward for it. Pesach means that Hashem passed over the Jewish houses and we emphasize that Hashem passed over our houses and killed the first borns of the Egyptians. Since we don’t to mitzvot just for the sake of the reward we call it Pesach to emphasize what Hashem does rather than what we do. (From the Ohr Somayach Haggadah Supplement)

83 The Meaning of Seder By Sheina Blejer

What does the word Seder mean? Order. What was in order? The way we practice the Seder, as set up by the Sages is in order. Why is it important to follow the Seder? Each detail and minhag has very important and deep meaning. What is the point of following without understanding? Even without understanding we can become lifted up and become holier. By following the order we will merit to become closer to the spiritual light. (From the Artscroll Haggadah)

87 לְשָ נָההַבָ ָאה בִירּושָ לָיִם84. יֵּׁש נוֹהֲגִּין בְ חּוץ לָָארֶ ץ בְ לֵּיל ׁשֵּ נִּישֶ לפֶסַ חלִּסְ פֹר כַאן סְפִּ ירַ ת הָ עֹמֶ ר: רּוְך אַתָ ה ’הבָ ֹלקינּו אֱ מֶׁ לְֶׁךהָ עוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁרקִדְשָ נּו בְמִצְ ווֹתָ יו וְצִ וָנּו עַל סְ פִ תירַ הָ עֹמֶׁ ר. הַ יוֹם יוֹם דאֶׁחָ בָ עֹמֶׁ ר. בְ לֵּיל רִּ אשוֹן אוֹמְרִּ ים: ּובְ כֵן יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה ָאז רוֹב נִסִים הִפְ לֵאתָ בַ ּלַיְלָה, בְ רֹאשאַשְ מוֹרֶׁ תזֶׁה הַ ּלַיְלָה, גֵר צֶׁדֶׁ קנִּצַחְ תוֹכְ נֶׁחֱלַק לוֹ לַיְלָה, יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. דַ נְתָ מֶׁ לְֶׁך רגְרָ בַחֲלוֹם הַ ּלַיְלָה, הִפְחַדְתָ אֲרַמִ יבְאֶׁמֶׁ ש לַיְלָה, וַיָשַ ריִשְרָאֵ ללְמַ לְאָ ְך וַיּוכַל לוֹ לַ יְלָה, יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. עזֶׁרַ בְ יכוֹרֵ פַתְ רוֹס מָחַצְתָ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה, חֵ ילָם ֹלא מָצְ אּו םבְקּומָ בַ ּלַיְלָה, תטִיסַ נְגִיד חֲרשֶׁת סִ לִיתָ בְ כוֹכְבֵ י לַיְלָה,

84 L'shana Haba B'Yerushalayim By Nate Savitz

The last formal part of the Seder is L'shana Haba B'yerushalayim which translates to next year in Jerusalem. This verse that we say references the coming of Mashiach and everyone going to Jerusalem. One of the songs we sing before L'shana Haba B'yerushalayim says that G-d will ultimately redeem us. The Talmud has a question on the phrase. Can G-d quicken the arrival of the Mashiach if he comes at a set time? The answer is that if Bnei Yisrael merit the Mashiach, then he will quicken himself and if they don't he will come at a set time.

88 יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. יָעַץמְ ףחָרֵ לְנוֹפֵף אִ ּוּוי הוֹבַשְתָ פְ גָרָ יו בַ ּלַיְלָה, עכָרַ בֵל ּומַצָ בוֹ בְאִ ישוֹן לַיְלָה, לְאִ יש חֲמּודוֹת נִגְלָה רָ ז חֲזוֹת לַיְלָה, יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. מִשְתַ כֵר בִכְ לֵי קֹדֶׁ ש גנֶׁהֱרַ בוֹבַ ּלַיְלָה, ענוֹשַ מִ בוֹר אֲרָ יוֹת רפוֹתֵ בִ עֲתּותֵ י לַיְלָה, שִ נְָאה נָטַר אֲ גָגִי וְכָתַב סְ פָרִ ים בַ ּלַיְלָה, יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. עוֹרַרְתָ נִצְ חֲָךעָלָיו בְ נֶׁדֶׁ ד שְ נַת לַיְלָה, הפּורָ תִדְ רוְֹך לְשוֹמֵר מַה מִ לַיְלָה, צָרַ חכַשוֹמֵ רוְשָ ח אָאתָ בֹקֶׁר וְ גַם לַיְלָה, יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. קָרֵ ב יוֹם ראֲשֶׁ הּוא ֹלא יוֹם וְ ֹלא לַיְלָה, רָם הוֹדַ ע יכִ לְָך הַ יוֹם ַאף לְָך הַ ּלַיְלָה, שוֹמְרִ ים דהַפְקֵ לְעִירְ ָך כָל הַ יוֹם וְכָל הַ ּלַיְלָה, תָאִ יר כְ אוֹר יוֹם חֶׁשְ כַת לַיְלָה, יוַיְהִ בַחֲצִי הַ ּלַיְלָה. בְ לֵּיל שֵּ נִּי אוֹמְרִּ ים: ּובְ כֵן וַ אֲמַרְתֶׁ םזֶׁבַח פֶׁסַ ח אֹמֶׁ ץ גְבּורוֹתֶׁ יָך הִפְ לֵאתָ בַפֶׁסַ ח, בְ רֹאש כָל מוֹעֲדוֹת נִשֵאתָ פֶׁסַח, גִלִיתָ לְאֶׁזְרָחִ יחֲצוֹת לֵיל פֶׁסַ ח,וַאֲמַרְתֶׁ םזֶׁבַח פֶׁסַ ח. דְ לָתָ יו דָ פַקְתָ כְ חֹם הַ יוֹםבַפֶׁסַ ח, הִסְ עִ יד נוֹצְצִ ים עֻגוֹת מַ ּצוֹת בַפֶׁסַ ח, וְאֵל הַבָקָ ר רָ ץזֵכֶׁר לְשוֹר עֵרֶׁ ְךפֶׁסַ ח,וַאֲמַרְתֶׁ ם חזֶׁבַ פֶׁסַ ח.

89 זוֹעֲמּוסְ דוֹמִ ים וְ לוֹהֲטּו שבָאֵ בַפֶׁסַח,חֻּלַץ לוֹט מֵהֶׁ םּומַ ּצוֹת ָאפָה בְקֵ ץ פֶׁסַח, טִאטֵ אתֶׁ ַאדְ מַ ת מֹף וְ נֹף בְ עָבְרְ ָךבַפֶׁסַ ח,וַאֲמַרְתֶׁ ם חזֶׁבַ פֶׁ סַ ח. קָ ּה רֹאשכָל אוֹן מָחַצְתָ בְ לֵילשִ מּור פֶׁסַ ח, כַבִ יר, עַל בֵ ן בְ כוֹר פָסַחְתָ בְדַ םפֶׁסַ ח,לְבִ לְתִי תֵת מַשְחִ יתלָבֹא יבִפְתָחַ בַפֶׁסַ ח, םוַאֲמַרְתֶׁ זֶׁבַ ח פֶׁסַ ח. מְ סֻ תגֶׁרֶׁ סֻ הגָרָ בְעִ יתוֹתֵ פֶׁסַ ח, נִשְמְדָה מִדְ יָן בִ צְ לִיל שְ עוֹרֵ י רעֹמֶׁ פֶׁסַ ח, שוֹרפּו מִשְמַ נֵיפּול וְ לּוד בִ דיקַ יְקוֹד פֶׁסַ ח,וַאֲמַרְתֶׁ םזֶׁבַח פֶׁסַ ח. עוֹד הַ יוֹםבְ נֹב לַעֲמוֹד עַד גָעָה עוֹנַתפֶׁסַ ח, פַס יַד כָתְ בָה לְקַ עֲקֵ עַצּול בַפֶׁסַ ח, צָפֹההַּצָפִית עִָרוְֹך הַשֻלְחָ ן בַפֶׁסַ ח,וַאֲמַרְתֶׁ םזֶׁבַח פֶׁסַ ח. קָהָ לכִנְסָ ההֲדַסָ הלְשַ ּלֵש צוֹם בַפֶׁסַ ח, רֹאש מִ בֵ ית רָשָע מָחַצְתָ בְ עֵץ חֲמִשִים בַפֶׁסַ ח, שְתֵי אֵ ּלֶׁה רֶׁ גַע תָבִ יא לְעּוּצִ ית בַפֶׁסַ ח,תָ עֹזיָדְ ָך וְתָ רּום יְמִ ינְָך כְ לֵיל הִתְקַדֵש חַ ג פֶׁסַ ח,וַאֲמַרְתֶׁ םזֶׁבַח פֶׁסַ ח.

כִי לוֹנָאֶׁ ה,כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ר]כֶׁתֶׁ מְ לּוכָה[. ַאדִירבִמְ לּוכָה, בָ חּור כַהֲלָכָה,גְדּודָ יויֹאמְ רּו לוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָך יכִ לְָך, לְָך ַאף לְָך, לְָך ’ה הַמַמְ לָכָה,כִ י לוֹ נָאֶׁ ה, כִ י לוֹ יָאֶׁ ה]כֶׁתֶׁ ר מְ לּוכָה[. דָגּולבִמְ לּוכָה,הָ דּור כַהֲלָכָה, וָתִיקָ יו יֹאמְ רּולוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָךכִ ילְָך, לְָך לְָך, לְָך ’הַאף הַמַמְ לָכָה, יכִ לוֹ נָאֶׁה,כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ר]כֶׁתֶׁ מְ לּוכָה[. זַכַאי בִמְ לּוכָה, חָסִ ין כַהֲלָכָה טַפְסְרָ יו יֹאמְ רּו לוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָך יכִ לְָך, לְָך ַאף לְָך, לְָך ’ה הַמַמְ לָכָה,כִ י לוֹ נָאֶׁ ה, כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ]כֶׁתֶׁר מְ לּוכָה[. יָחִיד בִמְ לּוכָה,כַבִ יר כַהֲלָכָה לִמּודָ יו יֹאמְ רּולוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָךכִ ילְָך, לְָך לְָך, לְָך ’הַאף הַמַמְ לָכָה, כִ י לוֹ נָאֶׁה,כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ר]כֶׁתֶׁ מְ לּוכָה[. מוֹשֵל בִמְ לּוכָה, נוֹרָ א כַהֲלָכָה סְבִ יבָ יו יֹאמְ רּו לוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָך יכִ לְָך, לְָך ַאף לְָך, לְָך ’ה הַמַמְ לָכָה,כִ י לוֹ נָאֶׁ ה, כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ]כֶׁתֶׁר מְ לּוכָה[. עָנָיו בִמְ לּוכָה,פוֹדֶׁ ה כַהֲלָכָה, צַדִיקָ יו יֹאמְ רּולוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָךכִ ילְָך, לְָך

90 לְָך, לְָך ’הַאף הַמַמְ לָכָה, יכִ לוֹ נָאֶׁה,כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ר]כֶׁתֶׁ מְ לּוכָה[. קָ דוֹש בִמְ לּוכָה, רַ חּום כַהֲלָכָהשִ נְַאנָיויֹאמְ רּו לוֹ:לְָך ּולְ ָך, לְָך יכִ לְָך, לְָך ַאף לְָך, לְָך ’ה הַמַמְ לָכָה,כִ י לוֹ נָאֶׁ ה, כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ]כֶׁתֶׁר מְ לּוכָה[. תַקִיף בִמְ לּוכָה, תוֹמֵ ְך כַהֲלָכָה תְמִימָ יו יֹאמְ רּו לוֹ: לְָך ּולְָך, לְָך יכִ לְָך, לְָך ַאף לְָך, לְָך ’ה הַמַמְ לָכָה, יכִ לוֹנָאֶׁ ה, כִ י לוֹ היָאֶׁ ]כֶׁתֶׁר מְ לּוכָה[. אַדִ יר הּוא יִבְ נֶׁה בֵ יתוֹ בְקָ רוֹב. בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בְ יָמֵ ינּו בְקָ רוֹב. לאֵ בְ נֵה, לאֵ בְ נֵה, בְ נֵה בֵ יתְ ָך בְקָ רוֹב. בָחּור הּוא, גָדוֹלהּוא, דָ גּול הּוא יִבְ נֶׁה בֵ יתוֹ בְקָ רוֹב. בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בְ יָמֵ ינּו בְקָ רוֹב. לאֵ בְ נֵה, לאֵ בְ נֵה, בְ נֵה בֵ יתְ ָך בְקָ רוֹב. הָדּור הּוא, וָתִ יק הּוא, זַכַאיהּוא, חָסִ יד הּוא יִבְ נֶׁה בֵ יתוֹ בְקָ רוֹב. בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בְ יָמֵ ינּו בְקָ רוֹב. לאֵ בְ נֵה, לאֵ בְ נֵה, בְ נֵה בֵ יתְ ָך בְקָ רוֹב. טָהוֹר הּוא, יָחִ יד הּוא, כַבִ יר הּוא, לָמּוד הּוא, מֶׁ לְֶׁךהּוא יִבְ נֶׁה בֵ יתוֹ בְקָ רוֹב.בִמְ הֵרָ ה,בִמְ הֵרָ ה,בְ יָמֵ ינּו בְקָ רוֹב. אֵל בְ נֵה, לאֵ בְ נֵה, בְ נֵה בֵיתְ ָך בְקָ רוֹב. נוֹרָא הּוא, סַ גִיבהּוא, עִ זּוז הּוא, הפוֹדֶׁ הּוא, צַדִ יק הּוא יִבְ נֶׁה בֵ יתוֹ בְקָ רוֹב.בִמְ הֵרָ ה,בִמְ הֵרָ ה,בְ יָמֵ ינּו בְקָ רוֹב. אֵל בְ נֵה, לאֵ בְ נֵה, בְ נֵה בֵיתְ ָך בְקָ רוֹב. קָ דוֹש הּוא, רַ חּוםהּוא, ישַדַ הּוא, תַקִ יף הּוא יִבְ נֶׁה בֵ יתוֹ בְקָ רוֹב. בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בִמְ הֵרָ ה, בְ יָמֵ ינּו בְקָ רוֹ ב. לאֵ בְ נֵה, לאֵ בְ נֵה, בְ נֵה בֵ יתְ ָך בְקָ רוֹב. אֶׁחָד ימִ יוֹדֵ עַ, אֶׁחָד אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ 85. אֱֹלקינּואֶׁחָ ד שֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ:

85 Why These Thirteen Things? By Lexi Berger

some may wonder why it mentions these specific thirteen ,אחד מי יודע ,In the popular tune things. You could say that it is because of the thirteen attributes of Hashem, but if that were true wouldn’t all of the things be the different attributes of Hashem? Why did they choose to write about these specific thirteen things? What is the connection between them? If you look closely, it is all the things that Hashem has given to us. It is everything we, as Jews, appreciate. At the end of

91 שְ נַיִם מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שְ נַיִם אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית. אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּו אֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: שְ לשָ ה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שְלשָ ה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. שְלשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּואֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: ַארְ בַע ימִ יוֹדֵ עַ, ַארְ בַע אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת,שְלשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּואֱ ל יּ שֶׁ בַ שָמַ יִם ּובָָארֶׁ ץ: חֲמִשָה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, חֲמִשָה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. חֲמִשָה חּומְשֵ יתוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת, השְלשָ ָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֱֹלקינּואֶׁחָ ד שֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: שִשָ ה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שִשָ ה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. שִשָ ה סִדְרֵימִשְ נָה, חֲמִשָ ה יחּומְשֵ תוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת, שְלשָ ה ָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּואֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִםּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: שִ בְ עָה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שִ בְ עָה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. שִ בְ עָה יְמֵ י שַ בַתָ א, שִשָה סִדְרֵ י מִשְ נָה, חֲמִשָ ה יחּומְשֵ תוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַ ע אִמָ הוֹת,שְלשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּו אֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם אֱ ֹלקינּו ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: שְ מוֹנָה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שְ מוֹנָה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. שְ מוֹנָה יְמֵי מִ ילָה, שִ בְעָה יְמֵ י שַ בַתָ א, שִשָה סִדְרֵ י מִשְ נָה, חֲמִשָ ה חּומְשֵ י תוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת,שְ לשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּו אֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: תִשְ עָה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, תִשְ עָה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. תִשְ עָה יַרְ חֵ י לֵדָה, שְ מוֹנָה יְמֵ י מִ ילָה, שִ בְ עָה יְמֵ י שַ בַתָ א, שִשָ ה סִדְרֵ י מִשְ נָה, החֲמִשָ חּומְשֵ יתוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת, השְלשָ ָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּואֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִםּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: the Seder, we have finished telling the story of our freedom; therefore, we talk about what Hashem has done for us. Primarily, at the end of the Seder, we are thanking Hashem for everything He has done for us. He’s given us Himself, two tablets, three Avot, etc.

92 עֲשָרָ ה מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, עֲשָרָ ה אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. עֲשָרָ ה דִ בְרַ יָא86, תִשְ עָה יַרְ חֵ י לֵדָ ה, שְ מוֹנָה יְ מֵי מִ ילָה, שִ בְ עָה יְמֵ י שַ בַתָ א, שִשָ הסִדְרֵ ימִשְ נָה, חֲמִשָ ה יחּומְשֵ תוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת, שְלשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד אֱ ֹלקינּו שֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: ַאחַד רעָשָ ימִ יוֹדֵ עַ, ַאחַד עָשָר אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. ַאחַ ד עָשָ ר כוֹכְבַיָא, עֲשָרָ ה דִ בְרַ יָא, תִשְ עָה יַרְ חֵ י לֵדָה, שְ מוֹנָה יְמֵ י מִ ילָה, שִ בְעָה ייְמֵ שַ בַתָ א, השִשָ יסִדְרֵ מִשְ נָה, החֲמִשָ חּומְשֵ י תוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת,שְלשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּואֱ ל י ּ שֶׁ בַ שָמַ יִם ּובָָארֶׁ ץ: שְ נֵים עָשָ ר מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שְ נֵים עָשָר אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. שְ נֵים רעָשָ שִ בְטַ יָא, ַאחַ ד עָשָ ר כוֹכְבַ יָא, עֲשָרָ ה דִ בְרַ יָא, תִשְ עָה יַרְ חֵ י לֵדָ ה, שְ מוֹנָה יְמֵ י מִ ילָה, שִ בְעָה יְמֵ י שַ בַתָ א, שִשָ ה סִדְרֵ י מִשְ נָה, חֲמִשָ ה חּומְשֵ י תוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת,שְ לשָ הָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד

86 Why Does it Say, “I am Hashem Your G-d”? By Hannah Mamet

Everyone sings the song “Echad Mi Yodeiah” at the end of their seder. Does anybody wonder why the Torah needed to say the verse, “I am Hashem Your G-d” in the Ten Commandments? Wouldn’t one assume that of course G-d created the world and everything is created by him? Rav Shach gives an answer in his Pesach Haggadah by telling a story. He had heard all his life how smart professors were but never actually met one. Rav Shach was once visiting a heart- attack victim in the hospital who donated a lot of money to Yeshivot. He went to discuss the patient’s condition with the cardiac doctor; the doctor was a very smart man who had a lot of schooling. Rav Shach said to him, “I am jealous of you! Don’t you have a greater appreciation of Hashem? You spend all your time with his creations. You obviously see the depth of the human body. That must make you such a faithful man.” The doctor responded, “I don’t understand what you are saying. That is just how humans are.” Rav Shach continued to try to tell him that people are the amazing creations of Hashem but, the doctor refused to understand or agree. Rav Shach says the answer is, that the reason why the Torah says, “I am Hashem your G- d” is for people like these. They are so smart but they refuse to understand or realize the depth of G-d’s creations, and that everything comes from Him. We learn from here, that we should always realize how amazing G-d truly is. And although we are not all brilliant scholars, professors, or doctors, we can all see the beauty and depth into G-d’s creations. (From the Rav Shach Pesach Haggadah)

93 ֹלקינּו אֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָ ָארֶׁ ץ: שְלשָ ה עָשָר מִ י יוֹדֵ עַ, שְלשָ ה עָשָ ר אֲנִי יוֹדֵ עַ. השְלשָ עָשָר מִדַ יָא. שְ נֵים רעָשָ שִ בְטַ יָא, ַאחַד עָשָ ר כוֹכְבַ יָא, עֲשָרָ ה דִ בְרַ יָא, תִשְ עָה יַרְ חֵ י לֵדָ ה, שְ מוֹנָה יְמֵי מִ ילָה, שִ בְעָה יְמֵ י שַ בַתָ א, שִשָ ה סִדְרֵי מִשְ נָה,חֲמִשָה חּומְשֵ יתוֹרָ ה, ַארְ בַע אִמָ הוֹת, השְלשָ ָאבוֹת, שְ נֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְרִ ית, אֶׁחָ ד ֹלקינּו אֱשֶׁ בַשָמַ יִם ּובָָארֶׁ ץ: חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא87 דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵ י, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. אוְָאתָ אשּונְרָ וְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. וְָאתָ א כַלְבָא וְ נָשַ ְך לְשּונְרָ א88, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי,

87The Meaning of By David Reich and Josh Teich

What is the meaning of chad gadya? Rabbi Yaakov Emden explains that in the beginning of chad gadya, the father buys a goat. This symbolizes how Hashem, our father, gave us our soul. The father bought the goat for two zuzim. Why two zuzim? Rabbi Emden explains that it's really supposed to be plural for the word , to move, and the soul migrates twice before it reaches our body. Later in the song, it states that the ox drank the water. What is the importance of this? Rabbi Emden explains that one must struggle to redeem oneself. One who thinks that this would happen on its own is considered a shor mu’ad (an ox which has been warned three times for its behavior and must be killed). It states that the slaughterer slaughtered the ox. What is the importance of this? Rabbi Yaakov Emden says that our rabbis state that for every sin that is committed, a destructive force in the world is created. What is the message of this song? Perhaps it’s showing that throughout history the Jews had ups and downs, yet ultimately, Hashem will save us.

88 Dog: Bad or Mad? By Eitan Bitansky

we learn that the dog bit the cat, so we might think that the dog is a bad חד גדיא In the song guy, but what if I told you that maybe the dog was a good guy? Rav Shmuel Salant was once judging and a bloodied and battered man came to him and said, “look how much Yankel hurt me.” Rav Shmuel said to his shamash, “go see what happened to Yankel.” When the shamash found Yankel he was almost dead. So the shamash asked Rav Shmuel, how did you know? Rav Shmuel answered, “the man only complained about what happened to him and not what he did.” Just like

94 חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. אוְָאתָ אחּוטְרָ וְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָ א,דְ נָשַ ְךלְשּונְרָא, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵ י, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. אוְָאתָ נּורָ א וְשָרַ ף לְחּוטְרָ א,דְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָ א,דְ נָשַ ְךלְשּונְרָ א, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. וְָאתָא מַ יָאוְכָבָ הלְנּורָ א, דְ שָרַ ףלְחּוטְרָ א, דְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָ א, דְ נָשַ ְך לְשּונְרָ א, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. וְָאתָ א אתוֹרָ הוְשָתָ לְמַ יָא,דְ כָבָ הלְנּורָא, ףדְשָרַ לְחּוטְרָ א, דְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָ א,דְ נָשַ ְך לְשּונְרָ א, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַ דְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. וְָאתָא הַ שוֹחֵט טוְשָחַ לְתוֹרָ א, דְ השָתָ לְמַ יָא, דְ הכָבָ לְנּורָא, דְשָרַ ף לְחּוטְרָ א,דְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָ א,דְ נָשַ ְךלְשּונְרָ א, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אַבָ א יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. וְ ָאתָא מַ לְאְָך הַמָ וֶׁת וְשָחַ ט לְשוֹחֵ ט, דְ שָחַ ט לְתוֹרָ א, דְשָתָ ה לְמַ יָא, דְ כָבָהלְנּורָ א, דְ שָרַ ףלְחּוטְרָ א,דְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָ א,דְ נָשַ ְךלְשּונְרָ א, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אאַבָ יבִתְרֵ זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא. וְ ָאתָא הַקָ דוֹשבָרּוְך הּוא וְשָחַ טלְמַ לְאְַך הַמָ וֶׁת, דְ שָחַט לְשוֹחֵט, דְשָחַ ט לְתוֹרָ א, דְ שָתָ הלְמַ יָא, דְ כָבָהלְנּורָא, ףדְשָרַ לְחּוטְרָ א, דְהִ כָה לְכַלְבָא, דְ נָשַ ְךלְשּונְרָא, דְ ָאכְ לָה לְגַדְ יָא, דְ זַבִ ין אַבָ א בִתְרֵ י זּוזֵי, חַ ד גַדְ יָא, חַ ד גַדְ יָא.

this, the cat says, look what the dog did to me but the cat doesn’t say what he did to the goat. (From the Torah Tavlin Haggadah)

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חג כשר ושמח! לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה!

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