(ח”ב) the Hamaayan Haggadah Volume II
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The Torah Spring הגדה של פסח ליקוטי שעה ברכה (ח”ב) The Hamaayan Haggadah Volume II Shlomo D. Katz Hamaayan / The Torah Spring, Inc. 10815 Meadowhill Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901 301-775-9623 Send e-mail to: [email protected] Donations to Hamaayan are tax deductible. Introduction With immense gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we are proud to present our readers with a second collection of Divrei Torah relating to the Pesach Haggadah, the Egyptian exile, and Yetzi’at Mitzrayim that have appeared in our weekly publication, Hamaayan / The Torah Spring, over the 14 years since our first Haggadah. Each “piece” appears almost exactly as it was published originally. For the most part, only obvious typographical errors were corrected; also, a modest effort was made render consistent some of the stylistic differences that exist between transliterations in earlier and later issues of Hamaayan. (In addition, some references to Torah scholars who were living when their words originally appeared have unfortunately had to be changed to reflect the fact of their passing.) There is a bittersweet aspect to the publication of this Haggadah, however. As we sit quarantined in our homes, we pray that the few days remaining before the Chag will bring the fulfillment of the prophecy regarding the future redemption (Michah 7:15), “As in the days when you left the land of Egypt I will show wonders.” Who knows whether, in witnessing the world’s greatest economic and military powers brought to a standstill as Egypt was in the days of the Plagues, we are not already seeing those wonders! But, barring an openly miraculous end to our ordeal, Jews worldwide soon will be observing the “Coronavirus Pesach” – a Pesach very different from what nearly all of us are used to. Last year, my wife and I merited to have four generations at our Seder table; this year, we will share the Seder with our two single children and no one else. That’s the “bitter.” As for the “sweet” - It was the realization that this year would be the first in decades when I had not purchased a new Haggadah that impelled me to write my own – the work that is before you now. I pray that the Torah study that results, as well as any enhancement that is brought to the Sedarim of others, will serve as a merit for me, my family, and all of Klal Yisrael. Once again, I would like to thank the readers, sponsors and other supporters of Hamaayan who give me a reason to continue my work. I am grateful to my wife and family who still live with the fact that I am always under pressure to put out the next issue. As his 10th Yahrzeit approaches, who took great pride in his role in ,זצ"ל I cannot omit mention of Moreinu Harav Gedaliah Anemer encouraging Hamaayan’s continued publication. I thank as well the many Rabbonim and Chaveirim who have likewise encouraged my writing and teaching. Finally, my continued thanks to Alan and Fran Broder, who invented Torah on the Internet when they first suggested publishing Hamaayan on that new medium, and to Rabbi Yaakov Menken and his team at Torah.org for their continued distribution of Hamaayan. She’aih) שעה ברכה Like my previous works, I have given this Haggadah the Hebrew title Berachah). Please see the introduction to Volume 1 for the origin of that name. Shlomo Katz ח' יסן ה'תש"פ Pesach At Home The following is a letter written by R’ Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler z”l (1892-1953; Rosh Kollel in Gateshead, England, and Mashgiach Ruchani in the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak) to an unidentified recipient. It is printed in Michtav M’Eliyahu: Kovetz Igrot, p.129. I received your precious letter with your invitation to come visit you and to participate in the Pesach Seder with you. Thank you very much for your invitation. However, I am unable to accept it. With G-d’s help, I will celebrate the holy festival and arrange the Seder where I live. It would seem that, just as it is impossible to invite a ben Torah [loosely translated: “one whose values are derived from the Torah”] to visit a friend for the Ne’ilah prayer on Yom Kippur, so, it seems to me, it is impossible to make a “visit” out of the holy Seder. [The Seder is an occasion to internalize, not a time to be outward-looking.] Fortunate is one who focuses and arranges the Seder within his heart. The Exodus is the source of the Jewishness within us. The Seder must make a convert of our inner selves, which have left their original domain and become animal-like, grossly material. More than that, our inner selves have ceased being Jewish. Woe to our hearts that are lost within our inner selves. A related thought: R’ Shalom Noach Berezovsky z”l (1911-2000; Slonimer Rebbe in Yerushalayim) writes: As applied to some people, the title “Jew” is no more than an accident of birth. Such a person’s Jewishness is not part of his essence; though he fulfills all of the Mitzvot, he is doing nothing more than “acting” Jewish. To really be a Jew means that one’s Jewishness is embedded in the essence of his being, in his innards, his mind, his heart, and all his limbs. We read in Megilat Esther [about Mordechai], “There was a Jewish man . .” [instead of, “There was a Jew”]. His whole personality was Jewish--his beliefs and his outlooks were Jewish, his feelings and aspirations were Jewish; even his physical desires were Jewish, i.e., they were under his control. We read (Vayikra 18:3), “Like the deed of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled--you shall not do, and like the deed of the land of Canaan to which I bring you--you shall not do, and do not follow their traditions.” This means that those things which you are permitted to do, you should not do the way an Egyptian or Canaanite would do them. A true expression of these feelings can be found in the journal entry that the Piaseczna Rebbe Hy”d [R’ Klonimus Kalman Shapira z”l; 1889-1943] wrote upon turning 40: “What can I accept upon myself? To study more? I believe that I don’t waste any time currently. To distance myself from physical desires? Thank G-d, I’m not subjugated to them, G-d forbid. What is lacking in me? Simply to be Jewish. I appear to myself to be a perfectly painted picture of a human being, which lacks only a soul.” [The Slonimer Rebbe continues:] Tzaddikim say that when one recites the blessing, “He did not make me a gentile,” he must examine himself to see whether any part of himself is in fact gentile-like. (Netivot Shalom, Vol. I p.18) R’ Shmuel Eliezer Eidels z”l (Maharsha; Poland; 1555–1631) writes that the dates of all of the festivals are connected to the letters aleph, heh, vav and yud--i.e., the letters found in two of the holiest names of Hashem: Y-K-V-K and A-K-Y-K (see Shemot 3:14). [We have substituted “K” for “heh,” as is customary.] He elaborates: • Aleph has a Gematria of one, representing the first day of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah) and the first day of Nissan (the first Rosh Chodesh in history; also, the day on which the Mishkan was erected). • Yud has a Gematria of ten, representing the tenth day of Tishrei (Yom Kippur) and the tenth of Nissan (the first Shabbat Ha’gadol in history, when lambs were set aside for the first-ever Korban Pesach). • Heh has a Gematria of five, representing Sukkot (the fifth day from Yom Kippur) and Pesach (the fifth day from the first Shabbat Ha’gadol). • Vav has a Gematria of six, representing Hoshanah Rabbah (six days after the beginning of Sukkot) and the last day of Pesach (which, in Eretz Yisrael, is six days after the first day of Pesach). Also, six represents Shavuot, which falls on the sixth of the month of Sivan. • Finally, the sum of these numbers (1+5+6+10) equals 22, the day in Tishrei on which Shemini Atzeret falls. (Chiddushei Aggadot: Yoma 2a) R’ Michel Zilber shlita (Rosh Yeshiva of the Zvhil Yeshiva in Yerushalayim) observes that, despite the above parallels between the holidays of Tishrei and those of Nissan, there is a fundamental difference between them. The holidays of Tishrei reflect the aspiration in the verse (Tehilim 27:4, recited on the Tishrei holidays), “Would that I could dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life.” On Rosh Hashanah, we congregate in shul to hear the shofar. On Yom Kippur, we spend almost the entire day in shul. On Sukkot, we again leave our homes, this time to move into the sukkah. On Pesach, the opposite is true: the Mitzvot focus on our homes. Make sure there is no Chametz in your home. Eat the Korban Pesach only with a pre-arranged group, and only in one home. Do not take any part of the Korban Pesach out-of-doors once the Seder has begun. Our task on Pesach is to sanctify our homes until they (figuratively) have the same sanctity as the Temple courtyard. If we do that, commentaries say, eating Matzah will be equivalent to offering a Korban Minchah / flour-offering in the Bet Hamikdash. How is this possible? R’ Zilber explains that, if not for Adam’s sin, there would have been no need for a Mishkan, for Hashem would have “dwelled” with man.