The Stanmore Haggadah Helper

Some Insights and Ideas about

Pesach for the entire family

- Rabbi Daniel Fine

Dear Community Members,

Pesach is indeed the festival that highlights the obligation we have to educate our children about the exodus from Egypt. It is our duty as parents to teach our children about the exodus, as the voyage that transformed us from Pharaoh’s slaves into the children of G-d, and essentially this became our defining DNA.

The verse tells us “vehigadeta levincha. – And you shall teach your children.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes in an article titled, Teach your children well, “I sometimes ask people what they would speak about if they were in Moses’ shoes? Some say they would talk about freedom, others that they would speak about the destination that lay ahead: the “land flowing with milk and honey.” Yet others, made of sterner stuff, propose talking about the arduous journey that lay ahead, the march across the wilderness with all its hazards.

Any of these would have been a great speech by a great leader. Moses did none of these things. That is what made him a unique leader. If you examine the text in Exodus carefully, you will see that three times he reverted to the same theme: children, education and the distant future. “And when your children ask you, what does this ceremony mean to you?” (Exodus 12:26). “On that day tell your son, I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt” (13:8). “In days to come, when your son asks you, what does this mean?” (13:14).

Moses spoke not about freedom but about education. He fixed his vision not on the immediate but on the distant future, and not on adults but children. In so doing he was making a fundamental point. It may be hard to escape from tyranny but it is harder still to build and sustain a free society.

In the long run there is only one way of doing so. To defend a country you need an army, but to defend a civilisation you need education. That is why Moses, according to Rousseau, the world’s greatest architect of a free society, spoke about the duty of parents in every generation to educate their children about why freedom matters and how it was achieved.

Freedom is not won by merely overthrowing a tyrannical ruler or an oppressive regime. That is usually only the prelude to a new tyranny, a new oppression. The faces change, but not the script. True freedom requires the rule of law and justice, and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others.

Freedom begins with what we teach our children. That is why Jews became a people whose passion is education, whose heroes are teachers and whose citadels are schools. Nowhere is this more evident than on Passover, when the entire ritual of handing on our story to the next generation is set in motion by the questions asked by a child. In every generation we need to cultivate afresh the habits of the heart that Tocqueville called “the apprenticeship of liberty.”

The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever. Freedom is won not on the battlefield but in the classroom and the home. Teach your children the history of freedom if you want them never to lose it.

Rabbi Sacks implores us to embrace the obligation that is incumbent upon every parent to ensure that our children are educated in the ways of Torah and G-d. May we relish in the opportunity to teach our children about Pesach, thereby nurturing in them a deep love and appreciation of their majestic and sacred heritage as the beloved children of G-d

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rabbi Fine who at a moment’s notice produced this outstanding booklet, filled novel ideas, insights and inspiration.

Wishing you a Chag Kasher Vesameach.

Shira Druion

Introduction The Seder night is not just about mentioning, referencing or even telling about the Exodus. It is

about reliving the Exodus and focusing on the plagues and miracles in that process. It is also about

making the themes relevant to us, and to our children. Studies show that the two most observed days

in the Jewish calendar are Yom Kippur and the Seder Night. The Seder night is remembered years

later by children because it is the night that is centred on passing the baton of tradition and Jewish

heritage onto the next generation. It is not about simply reciting words and performing ritualistic

acts. Rather, it’s about making the authentic story of the Exodus enjoyable, meaningful and real. So if

that means (as in my family) Seder Night is paused for the children (and adults) to act out some of

the Ten Plagues, or for me to 'find' an email (!) sent by an ancient Egyptian describing his

experiences with the plagues (for kids, emails are that ancient that they don't notice the

inconsistency!), or any other innovative idea to help get the story across, then do it. The floor is

yours!

Please enjoy our Pesach insights and share them with your family! Next year, we hope to build on

this and put out a full guide of in depth explanations to enrich the Seder.

Here are some palatable ideas and insights to get the ball rolling…

1. Matzah & Chametz Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zt’l noted that matzah & chametz are comprised of the same

ingredients. Yet matzah is a central Torah mitzvah and ingrains one with faith, whilst eating

the other carries a hefty punishment. How do two seemingly identical things become so

different? Rabbi Bernstein, in a graduation ceremony, once answered that the lesson for us is

that we all have talents and skills – but our success depends on how we employ them.

History has seen great orators, with some of those using their talents for good and others for

bad. History has also seen phenomenal inventors, with some having used their skills for

good and others for bad. We too have all been given individual talents - the question is what

we decide to do with those talents, just like matzah and chametz have similar ingredients but

are so so different.

2. The Manishtana The child asks four questions in the mah nishtanah on seder night - but when do we answer those four questions? The Vilna Gaon explains that there is really only one question being asked. The child notices a contradiction: on the one hand we behave like royalty (we lean and dip twice), but on the other hand we act like slaves (we eat maror and matzah). Thus, the child is asking why we do these things that give mixed messages? The answer is that we were slaves in Egypt - so we do things to remember the slavery - and God took us out - so we do actions that express our freedom. This theme is deepened with the deeper concept that in the Divine tapestry, suffering is but a step to achieving redemption or success.

Therefore, the Seder Night is always on the same night of the week as Tisha B'Av (the national day of mourning and tragedy), for in Jewish thought tragedy causes redemption. So on Seder Night when our child is confused by celebrating slavery and freedom it is because he sees them as fully contradictory.

But we open his eyes and show him that suffering is not there to cause pain - it is to give us skills, galvanise us and provide the resilience and dedication needed to have us taken out of Egypt, our national redemption. On this note, it's interesting that we refer to matzah as the bread of affliction - this is actually what the Egyptians fed us in Egypt: cheap food. Yet it became the symbol of freedom and the Exodus, completing the turnaround.

3. Questions & Answers

As Rav Chaim Brisker noted as a key facet of the annual mitzvah of relaying the

Exodus, Seder Night revolves around questions and answers - we do things (such as

raising the Seder Plate, eating karpas etc.) just to get the kids to ask questions. Why is

this so important? One idea is that we do so in order to create the evening into an

evening of experiential induction and not just dry education. We make sure the child

is hungry to ask, and only then will our answers remain with him. On a deeper level,

a question and answer are subtle microcosms of a personal process of enslavement and

redemption. For when one has a real question they are bothered and constricted (a

mini-slavery) and when one finds and answer there is a breadth of expanse of freedom

(a mini-freedom feeling): they thus mirror the Exodus itself.

4. A Pesach Story 1 The Nazis used to enjoy taunting their prisoners, none more so than the Jews. They

would often throw a piece of bread into the lunchroom, to watch gleefully as the Jews

fought over it in their starving and deprived states. Yet there was one older Jew who

retained his dignity fully - he would never scrap for food or engage in any fighting or

scrambling. Amazed by his perseverance, the Nazis eagerly awaited the day he would

'crack'. But he never did - he just stood there watching from afar, not involving in the

melee, and retaining his regal aura. Yet one day as a Nazi threw a potato into the

crowd, our older 'prince' ran for his life into the pile and emerged with some of the

potato - the Nazis couldn't believe what they were seeing, as they had finally scored

their 'victory'. Yet what they did not know was that in a week's time was Pesach, and

this older Jew was not scrapping for the potato out of hunger: he was saving to potato

to make some form of flour to then make matzah - this was an act of freedom, not

slavery.

5. Pesach Story 2

The story is told of the Bluzhever Rebbe who had secretly made some matzos in

the camps, but he could not procure enough for everyone. As they secretly say

down for Seder Night, an argument ensued about who would merit to eat the

matzos, whereupon one lady won the debate with the following impassioned plea:

People, we do not know who will survive this hell. But we do know that if anyone

survives we will need to rebuild individually and as a nation. The people who will

do that are the children. Let us give the matzah to the children so that if and when

they survive they will have the taste of experiencing matzah in Bergen-Belsen and

that way they will be reminded, encouraged and inspired to rebuild. The Bluzhever

Rebbe saw his entire family wiped out during the Holocaust, but survived himself

and married the lady who made that speech at the Seder Night in Bergen-Belsen.

6. Ha Lachma Anya

We begin the Seder Night by inviting guests - we utter the statement anyone who wants may come and eat... But isn't it a tad late to invite guests?! The idea seems to be that we are ingesting within our consciousness that Seder Night is a night for the nation, and whilst we sit with our families and immediate friends, we acknowledge that Seder Night is a national night, and we therefore want to connect with other people and with the nation at large - even by silently and earnestly welcoming all who want come and eat.

7. The 10 Plagues

Here's a potpourri of interesting facts and figures about the Ten Plagues - recommended

reading on (or before) Seder Night. It is mainly taken from the Me’am Loez, seasoned with

some other sources too. Although many deeper ideas have been put forward, the basic

purpose of the plagues was to show God's mastery over all the elements of the world: water,

land, sky, animals and people. Each plague also punished the Egyptians for their acts of

cruelty to the Children of Israel. There is a debate between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi

Nechemiah in the Midrash as to whether each plague lasted for 7 days or 24 days.

1) Dam (blood) - Rabbi Nechemiah says that all forms of water turned into blood. Even

saliva turned to blood, and the Egyptian idols filled up with blood too. In addition, the

Egyptians’ clothes were stained by their beds having collected blood. Children of Israel

became wealthy by selling water to the Egyptians. The plague of blood punished the

Egyptians for banning Jewish women from immersing themselves in the mikveh, as well as

for throwing the Jewish babies into the river. When Pharaoh’s magicians copied this plague

by creating their own blood it was only an optical illusion. They never managed to create

real blood - the fish in their ‘blood’ did not die.

2) Tzfardeya (frogs) - even a cup of water which an Egyptian was holding filled up with frogs. The frogs managed to break through walls to get into people’s houses. They even went inside some people’s bodies and made them impotent, as a punishment for banning the Children of Israel from having children. According to Rabbi Akiva there was one giant frog which split in two, and each subsequent frog would split in two when struck, until the land was full of them. Why did the Egyptians continue hitting them? The Steipler Gaon answers that anger completely circumvents logic. The word tzfardeya comes from the Aramaic words tzafra and da(meaning ‘morning’ and ‘know’) for the frogs had croaking shifts, and it would be clear to all when morning had arrived because the night-shift frogs stopped croaking and handed over the baton to their morning-croaking colleagues. The plague of frogs punished the Egyptians for preventing Jewish women from giving birth - Jewish women had to give birth in secret and could not scream to alleviate their labour pains. Therefore, the Egyptians themselves were disturbed by the incessant croaking (screaming) of the frogs. This was also a punishment for the cries of Children of Israel after seeing their babies mercilessly thrown into the river.

3) Kinnim (lice) - there were either 14 or 24 types of lice which wreaked havoc in Egypt,

and the smallest one was the size of a chicken egg. The lice attached themselves to the

bodies of the Egyptians so tightly that even showering did not remove them. This plague

punished the Egyptians for forcing the Children of Israel to sweep the dust off the streets, as

well as for not allowing Children of Israel to shower.

4) Arov (wild animals) - many different types of animals came to Egypt for this plague, and even

those which would not normally live together made peace with each other to bombard the Egyptians.

The Egyptians realised that the animals did not attack the Jews, and began asking Jews to escort them

wherever they went. However, the animals were given the capability to discern between Jews and

Egyptians, so they still attacked the Egyptians. When the Egyptians saw this violent herd of beasts

approaching they closed their doors and windows to make sure that they could not enter their

houses. Therefore Hashem sent some form of sea beasts to break open the houses and expose the

Egyptians to the marauding herds. Many Egyptians were killed by the wild animals. This plague

punished the Egyptians for sending Children of Israel out into the forests to trap wild animals so that

the animals would attack them. It was also a punishment for Pharaoh’s mass slaughter of 300 Jewish

babies in order to bathe in their (mixed together) blood when he contracted tzaraas. Finally, the

mingled herds of all different animals punished the Egyptians for their widespread sexual immorality

and adulterous practices; the society was one of over-mingling.

5) Dever (animal epidemic) - the domesticated Egyptian animals died in this plague. No

Jewish cattle died at this time, and even animals which were dying anyway survived for the

duration of the plague so that it would be clear that the plague did not affect the Jews

whatsoever. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing Children of Israel to shepherd

their herds for obscenely long hours in order to give them no opportunity to have relations

with their spouses in order to procreate. It also punished the Egyptians for stealing the Jews’

cattle.

6) Shechin (boils) - the boils suffered by the Egyptians included tzaraas, and took up

residence on every part of the Egyptians’ bodies, so much so that it became too painful for

them to bathe. Pharaoh’s magicians actually died from these boils, for it was upon their

advice that the Jewish babies were thrown into the river. This plague punished the Egyptians

for forcing the Jews to clean the Egyptians in the bath. Furthermore, as a punishment for

intentionally preventing the Jews from having babies, these boils prevented the Egyptians

from having relations with their spouses.

7) Barad (hail) - the hail miraculously contained both ice and fire. Moshe warned the

Egyptians of the plague of hail and told them to bring their belongings indoors. Although

Pharaoh sent messengers ordering the Egyptians to leave everything outside, some people

feared the word of Hashem more than that of Pharaoh (Meshech Chochmah). In fact,

Hashem made the hail fall only in outdoor areas - it did not fall on anything covered by a

roof (Brisker Rav). When the Egyptians saw that their cattle was doomed they slaughtered

their animals, hoping at least be able to eat them. However, as they were carrying the

animals home on their backs to eat, huge birds came and snatched the carcasses from their

owners. The Egyptians who did stay outside were frozen to death by the hail’s ice and then

burnt by its fire. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to plant gardens

and vineyards. Additionally, because the Egyptians stoned the Jews and made them cry out

in pain, they were pelted by hailstones and shaken by the loud booming of the thunder.

8) Arbeh (locusts) - all seven types of locust took a trip to Egypt to devour the Egyptian crop for this plague. Normally, locusts do not enter houses, but the locusts in this plague knew no bounds - they went into houses too. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to attend to their fields.

9) Choshech (darkness) - normal darkness does not have an existence in and of itself; it is simply an absence of light, but the plague of darkness was a new creation, a tangible form of darkness which could not be removed by lighting candles (Sforno). The plague was even more painful because no Egyptian helped his friend out (Chidushei HaRim). More than that, it cut the Egyptians off from their material possessions, which formed the basis of their self-image (Rav Lippa Rabinowitz). During the final three days of this plague the darkness was so thick that it stifled movement. The Children of Israel were unaffected by the darkness; they had light wherever they went. This plague punished the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to work late into the night, as well as forcing them to hold torches for them in the streets at night.

10) Makkas Bechoros (the plague of the firstborns) - all Egyptian firstborns died in this plague. Since many children were born as a result of adulterous relationships, many Egyptians found out who their real children were in this plague. Why is makkas bechoros the only plague which has the prefix ‘makkas’? The Midrash (quoted in Tosafos Shabbos 87b) notes that when the firstborns heard Moshe’s warning about the imminent plague of the firstborns, they rebelled against Pharaoh to try and force him to let the Jews go free, and many firstborns died in this rebellion. It is this rebellion that we hint to with the extra word ‘makkas’ (Birkas Chaim). The Ohr Hachaim gives a profound explanation as to why Hashem ‘personally’ performed the plague of the firstborns. Evil can only survive if it is connected to good. Otherwise, it is severed from Hashem and has no survival or existence in this world. In the plague of the firstborns, Hashem revealed Himself to the Egyptian firstborns, and every spark of goodness in the Egyptians automatically flew out to its Source - Hashem, leaving plain evil, which cannot exist if detached from good. So the ‘natural’ result was death, hence the way the Torah phrases the procession of events in a passive tone (at midnight I will go out in Egypt, and all firstborns will die – Shemos 10:4-5), for the natural outgrowth of Hashem revealing Himself was death. The Egyptians’ shortfall was their refusal to admit truth, and their antidote and ultimate punishment was unequivocal exposure undeniable truth.

Datzach Adash Be’Achav:

Rabbi Yehudah ascribed a mnemonic to the ten plagues: Detazah Adash Be’Achav. Why

break them up into these three groupings?

The Haga’os Maimoniyos commentary cites several explanations: the Ra’avan writes that the

first group were performed via Aharon, the second group via Moshe without his staff, and

the third via Moshe with his staff. The Abarbanel explains that the groups represent the

progressive submission of Pharaoh: for the first group Hashem had to command Moshe to

‘wake up early in the morning’ to catch Pharaoh. For the next group it was sufficient to tell

Moshe to ‘go to Pharaoh,’ and by the final group of plagues no introduction was necessary

(by the end Pharaoh was searching for Moshe). Others focus on the different goals of these

three groups and how they showed Hashem’s supremacy over all aspects of the physical

world.

Rabbinic References

The Ohr Hachaim commentary was authored by Rav Chaim Ben Atar, the saintly kabbist and

commentator who resided in Jerusalem and died in 1743.

Rav Chaim Brisker lived in the 20th century and was known for his in-depth analysis and

teaching , as well as his tremendous kindness: often he would wake up to find an abandoned

baby on his doorstep , for whom Rav Chaim would care, raise, or find foster for.

Rav Isaac Bernstein, from Dublin, was a tremendously talented Rabbi and orator who was Rabbi

in New York and Finchley, who was taken from this world at the young age of 55 in 1994

The Vilna Gaon lived from 1720-1797 and attained a mastery of Talmud, Jewish law, mysticism

as well as sciences, music and maths and other disciplines. He was extremely pious and spent

most of the day in his home learning Torah.