"

TheHaggadahYouHaventHeardBefore
SederPrep&PesachInsights
jrosenfeld@lss.org

RaAYaHKook
OlatRaAYah,
vol.2,p.245

IntroductiontoHaggadah
HelkatYehoshua

IntroductiontoHaggadah
MarcAlainOuaknin


1.
Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah
[Mechon Yerushalayim: 2008]; p. 75 n. 8

Some say that the sign Kadesh includes in it the Mitzvah of the four cups of wine, especially for
those Posekim who hold that we only make a blessing on the first cup...

2. R. Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, Haggadah

Shem mi-Shmuel
; p. 38

It seems that it would have been correct to have written rechatz ukadesh but my holy father
said that because of the fact that at the time of the Exodus there was still a redemption despite
the fact that they werent fitting for it therefore on Passover too, there is a spiritual
atmosphere where one may receive holiness even if they are not technically deserving of it...

3. R. Yehoshua Yehiel of Biala, Haggadah

Helkat Yehoshua
; sec. 2, p. 1

This is to hint that even those things that are considered holy need to be cleansed and checked
through and through to ensure they have been done properly. Or, one might say that we should
wash and purify even the holy things in our lives to make sure to do them without any ulterior
motives
4. R. Shlomo ha-Kohen Rabinowicz of Radomsk, in: Haggadah
Beer ha-Hasidut
; p. 33

Anyone who says vayekhulu... is forgiven for all their sins. This is because vayekhulu is a
testimony to the creation of the world, and therefore one must be; needs to be Kosher for
testimony. If that is so, then if the person has violated a sin, God forbid, they would be
disqualified from testifying. Therefore, ones sins are thereupon forgiven so that they can be
qualified to give true testimony.

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

Who has brought us to this time: In the month of Nisan we were redeemed, and in the month
of Nisan we will be redeemed. For there are two types of exile: there is a type of general exile,
and that is the exile of the Jewish people amongst all the nations, and then there is a private
exile, which is to be found [in different degrees] in each Jewish individual, that the soul is in exile
due to the evil inclination;

and therefore we have a great rule that in all times that the calendar returns to this time in
perpetuity, when that appointed time comes, we return back to that state in which we were in
at the first time - and that is why we bless: ...that you have brought us to
this
time1
6. R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook, Haggadah
Olat RaAYaH
; p. 254 in: R. Bezalel
Naor, Haggadah
Springtime of the World
[Orot: 2004]; pp. 18-19

7. Haggadah
Leil Shimurim Ohr Chadash vBiur ha-Gra
; p. 8

Wash your hands and dont make a blessing. And according to the [Vilna] Gaon zl, one needs to
make a blessing, and so was his custom.
8. Haggadah
Ki Yishalcha
"':,.
, ,
.

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.
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ETERNALRETURN.

The Netziv of Volozhin: on this night we perform a remembrance of the Paschal offering that
was in the Temple. We try to re-enact every aspect of that ritual, including the washing of hands
for purification purposes, in order to train ourselves for the time when the Temple will be rebuilt,
so that we can actually eat the offering in ritual purity.

9. R. Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, Haggadah

Shem mi-Shmuel
; p. 42

Yahatz: Our Rabbis said - the bread of poverty/affliction; just as a poor person eats but a mere
slice of bread, meaning that the poor person is missing something, and waits for someone or
something to complete them. And God almighty, His way is to work through broken vessels - to
listen to the downtrodden and then awaits the time in which they will be completed after their
sufferings have passed.
And this is a general rule for all those who raise their eyes to the heavens and await God to
complete their needs, and so it was with the Jewish people in Egypt, in that they had no
natural path towards redemption/saving, and they could only look to heaven for it.
It is in this vein that we symbolize with the piece(s) of Matzah, that we too are incomplete and
that our eyes are trained on God, until He finds favor with us and completes us

10. R. Moshe Wolfson,

Emunas Itecha
; vol. 3, p. 9

11. Haggadah
Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah
, p. 78 n. 22
(),,
"

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

And it is a little difficult: seemingly, we could have written simply yetziat Mitzrayim without the
be... The reason that on Pesach we need to extend our speaking of the miracles is because
during the rest of the year, we simply have to remind ourselves of the Exodus, by way of
memory - recalling something which is not now/present But tonight, the matter of the
6

Exodus resurges within the hearts of all Jewish people, as if it is actually occurring
now
and that
is the explanation - [it is as if we are speaking of the Exodus while in Egypt itself]

13. R. Hayyim Teitelbaum of Sighet,

Atzei Hayyim
; vol. 2, p. 337

...the explanation is that God praises Israel and Israel praises its master that is why in the holy
Torah, it is written Hag ha-Matzot, a praise of Israel. And yet we call it Hag ha-Pesah, in
praise of God. And all this is in the manner of that which is written: when I am to my beloved,
then my beloved is to me
14. Marc-Alain Ouaknin,
Haggadah: The Passover Story
; pp. 87-90

15. R. Shraga Yair of Biala,

Aron Edut
; vol. 2, pp. 120-125
a.

The healer of the brokenhearted, and the one who bandages their sadness: it seems we can
explain this in the sense that God is a healer especially for those who are brokenhearted
through the trait of humility - to these, God sends healing for all their ailments
This is the explanation: Mah/What, meaning to say, it is through the trait of what-ness,
which is humility, that this night becomes different than all other nights. Through this a
person is healed of all their pains and blemishes. This is why we find in the holy Zohar that
Matzah is called the bread of healing, because on the night of Pesach we approach the trait
of humility, as we have explained - this is why through the eating of Matzah, healing can come
to every person. Also, MaTZaH is the numerical equivalent of the word MaH three times.2

"., 2
."".

b.

However, it is known that the righteous - because of their great spiritual level - were able to
transport the past into the present. Because they are considered an aspect of being higher
than the temporal. And so, these tzadikim who were sitting here [Bnei Brak], were able to
transcend time itself, by virtue of their great holiness. This is how they were able to draw forth
the very night of the Exodus, the immense revelation of Godliness, the luminous power of
clarity present at that time.
Thus, we can unpack the language of all that very night, which hints to the selfsame night of
the Exodus, and it was through this theurgical narrative that they wanted to bring about the
future redemption.
We can also answer yet another question; seemingly the language of until their students
came and said - it is now time for the morning Shema is difficult - did these [Rabbis] really
not know that it was time to read the Shema and to accept the yoke of heaven?
[ctnd from below]
However, based on what we have already explained, we might suggest that because these
[Rabbis] had drawn forth the time of the Exodus/redemption from Egypt, and drawn close the
time of the final redemption - but it was not yet the time for that final redemption, as the time
was not fitting for it,
because Gods mercy indicated that the final redemption should be
delayed so that no person who had felt pushed away would be left out
.
And this is what their students meant by it is time for the morning Shema: we are still
within the confines of temporality, and we have yet to attain your spiritual level, wherein
these [Rabbis] could enmesh the past within the present, and correspondingly, they did not
have a time within which to recite the Shema, for they had transcended time...

In the Haggadah, the wicked son is directly juxtaposed with the wise son. This is to teach us
that if a person chooses the path of wisdom and investigation, it is quite easy for them to veer
from that good path and to fall into wickedness, God forbid
The meaning behind this is that the word Af/but hints to anger and incensed, God save us,
to teach that the wicked son causes great anger with his questions;
but it is also the wise
son
,
who sometimes desires to ask and display great insight, can also fall into the pit of
doubts, God forbid.
10

16. R. Avraham Aharon Friedman, Haggadah

Beit Avraham-Beit Aharon
a. Facsimile of Frontispiece

b.
Dvar Aharon
, 37b (inset footnote from my notes)

From the beginning: this means, from the very beginnings of us as a nation and even prior to
that Our forefathers were idolaters: meaning, this was the reason for the exile in Egypt, for
11

one might easily ask - wouldnt it just have been better to never go to Egypt at all [to sink to
those levels of sin], what did we actually gain by it? On this we might answer that for sure we
gained much by the experience, because at the outset, our ancestors were idolaters, and now
God has brought us to
His
service, and for this we were enslaved in Egypt, so that the matter of
idolatry that was ingrained in us from our parents would be shed and stay with Egypt
through this process we would become fit for service of God.3
c.
Dvar Aharon
, 44a

And thereafter they left with great wealth: meaning, after the 400 years. This seems to
indicate that the time for payment had not yet came about, because they were leaving early;
perhaps this is what lies behind the strange language of speak to that nation and borrow,
that [Moshe] commanded us to take the wealth of the Egyptians in the manner of a
borrowing, until the time for the [ultimate] repayment will arrive
d.
Peer Aharon
, 49b

e.
Agudat Ezov
, 51a

,' 3
,,,'',"
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.

12

17. R. Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger,

Sfat Emet al ha-Torah
; Shemot 1878

This is exactly what is meant by the comparison of the Children of Israel [with the stars] now
that they were within the exile of Egypt, because Israels souls are derived from high above
nature and devolve into it, to light up within the darkness like stars similarly, each star is
greater than the entire world so too, the Children of Israel are considered to be meritorious
for all and beneficial for all like the stars; Our descent into this world, all the more so in exile,
is only to be a benefit for all of it, to rectify the shattered worlds that we draw together to the
source of unity.4

In a fiery glow from within the thornbush, in the Midrash: I am asleep but my heart is
awake, this means that God showed Moshe this great vision from within the very exile itself
.5
And thus the question of why the thornbush itself is not consumed, with the force of this
burning - how does the shell, that which darkens these lights endure?
However, in truth, this
is what God desired - to show us that on the contrary, according to the depth of the
'","""" 4
.104',
SUFFERINGRELIGION:,"",ELLIOTWOLFSON." 5

13

darkness and the exile is the hidden great light within it - and that is the concept of
redemption
...

18. R. Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin, Haggadah

Rabbeinu Tzadok ha-Kohen
; vol. 2, pp.
102-3

...and we don't ask about these questions about the rest of the Mitzvot that we do at special
occasions, like sitting in the Sukkah or waving the Lulav, etc. For all the Mitzvot are those of the
Torah which was received at Sinai and thus we were commanded to follow the 613 Mitzvot, and
there is no reason to ask about them, but the Mitzvot tonight were connected to things which
predated the giving of the Torah, and without the preparation and acceptance that was for all
other Mitzvot of Naaseh vNishma; these Mitzvot [tonight] are of darkness, in that the people
were still mired in the depths of darkness of Egypt until the King of all Kings revealed Himself
with great light
19. R. Kalonymos Kalmish Shapiro of Piacezno HYD,
Aish Kodesh
; p. 150

...but the wicked son, who has removed himself from the group, [reveals] that his essence is not
that of the Jewish people, but rather his essence is himself only; then he has rejected the main
thing [=heresy], in that the main thing is the Jewish people.6

20. R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook, Haggadah

Olat RaAYaH
; p. 275

He would say, that the [the wicked sons] removal of himself from the holiness of the Jewish
people, is itself what creates the heresy, because the holy faith of the Torah and Mitzvot is

,,"',"" 6
"

14

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

21. R. Shalom Noah Berezovsky,

Netivot Shalom
; Moadim, p. 254-255

According to 4 sons, which means that there are words of strength and hope in the service of
God for each person, wherever they may be, so that in all spiritual situations a person might
be able to gain strength, for they are always considered children to God.
The wicked son asks: what is this work to you... are we really dealing here with a wicked
person? Rather, he is nevertheless a servant of God, but because of all his failures, every time
he tries to return and he falls again he reaches the point of despair. Therefore, he asks: what
is this work for you - and not for him; you - who has merited to succeed and have divine
guidance and inspiration, and not him - wracked by failures, wrought by the evil inclination
that burns within him, how can he possibly serve God?
To him, the answer would be that if he were there, he would not have been redeemed,
meaning, we too were stuck and mired in the 49 gates of impurity that was Egypt, and only
due to the strength of our convictions - that we did not give up hope for the redemption of our
souls and our bodies - did we get here, and [with your despair] you would not have made it.
Or you might say, that we are not dealing with wicked people who deny the existence
and dont have faith in God, but with one who denies and does not have faith in the
hidden power within the souls of the Jewish people
.
The heart of the matter is that on Pesach all people experience an uplift, even a wicked
person is uplifted on this night, and that which we said if he were there he wouldnt have been
redeemed is to say that this was before the giving of the Torah, but now, one we have the
15

Torah, we are all called children of God [and no one would be left behind]... and this is the
answer we give to the wicked son - connect to the Jewish people, and thus be saved.

22. R. Yaakov Moshe Harlap,

Mei Marom
; vol. 9, pp. 51-52

23. Haggadah
Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah
, p. 78 n. 23
,"
"

"
...just as we were all equals during the enslavement and had nothing, so too with this bread,
which is a symbol and remembrance of that bread, we will all be as equals and all who want
to eat may join in with us.
16

24. R. Shlomo ha-Kohen Rabinowicz of Radomsk,

Tiferet Shlomo
; vol. 2, p. 257

"In the evening (= erev) you shall eat Matzah: this is a language of sweetness and
pleasantness (= areivut)8,
as it is written: please make pleasant the words of Torah in our
mouths so that the Mitzvah of eating Matzah should be sweet to the palate and pleasing to
the soul [soul-food]...

25. R. Herschel Schachter,

Ikve ha-Tzon
; p. 77

(")'""" 7
"'", 8

17