(Note: This letter was posted yesterday as a comment on my Open Letter to Girls Who Lost a Parent, a column that I wrote several months ago for Links magazine. Disclaimers: My father passed away before my fourth birthday. I am a regular contributor to Links magazine and greatly admire the efforts of Mrs. Kohn to help orphaned girls.)

R’ Horowitz:

During this joyous time of the year, I appeal to all of Klal Yisroel to please look around and try to be in tune to the needs – and the pain of – the orphans and widows in our communities.

Although this doesn’t apply directly to Pesach, I’d like to bring it up as an example. A widow called me shortly after Sukkos of last year deeply pained. Her 6-year-old son had insisted on going to the men’s side during hakafos as he didn’t want to remain in the women’s section and be ‘different’ than his friends. Hesitantly, his mother sent him down and watched from the balcony to see what would happen. What she saw broke her heart. Her son, shy by nature, stood at the outside of the circle trying to break in. He nearly got trampled, so he backed off and watched close-by. Hundreds of men, his uncles included, passed him by, some nodding their heads in his direction. Nobody thought to stretch out their hands, invite him to join the circle, or perhaps even put him on their shoulders.

Sure, we can be dan l’kaf z’chus (judge favorably) but for the purpose of kabbala al ha’osid (future improvement), can we open our eyes, try to find children who may need a boost and give it to them. A smile costs nothing but gives so much. So does a pat on the back. An outstretched arm. A two-minute conversation.

R’ Horowitz, I hope you don’t mind, but there’s one more story I’ve got to add.

A married man recently told me that when he was orphaned as a young teen (at age 14). He tried to put on a ‘macho man’ demeanor but of course, he was deeply pained. He was a bright boy, a strong learner and very popular. At age 16, he went to learn in an ‘out-of-town’ yeshiva and had a terrific z’man. When he came home for Pesach, he tried to share with his mother all about how wonderfully his learning had been. All of it fell flat. His mother didn’t get the lingo and was busy with the cooking. He told me that at that moment he felt like committing suicide. He said he felt like the entire good feeling of the z’man had been destroyed in his mind, as he had nobody with whom to share his success.

I beg all of you: Please look around and try to be in tune to the needs of others – especially the orphans and children who are living in single-parent households. We can never bring back their parent but we could offer them some time and some love.

Sarah R. Kohn
Editor, Links Magazine
olamhabo@koshernet.com

Rabbi Horowitz Responds

It is a time-honored tradition to begin our Pesach Seder by inviting guests to join us at our tables. Much ink has been spilled and many beautiful Torah thoughts offered to explain why we express this invitation when we are already assembled at our Seder table as opposed to, say, in shul, where we would actually be inviting guests to come home with us.

I would like to suggest that we mention this open invitation to needy people in the very first words of our Pesach Seder to support the notion that this nedivus halev (generosity of spirit) is really the essence and the core message of the Pesach Yom Tov. Sure, there are many mitzvos associated with Pesach. But our ‘take-away’ from the reliving of our exodus from Egypt is to reach out to those less fortunate among us. Freedom has its responsibilities – along with the comfort and security that comes along with being a free people. (Please review this dvar Torah for an insight into the Torah’s admonition to us to treat converts kindly.)

Especially during the Yom Tov season, there are so many opportunities to display this generosity of spirit all around us. All you need to do is to open your hearts and minds to ‘walk a mile’ in the shoes of others for whom Yom Tov brings heartache along with the simchas ha’chag.

Just think for a moment of what it is like to be a single adult sitting at a Seder table listening to his/her nephews and nieces singing the mah nishtana and reciting their Torah thoughts. Please don’t ask them why they are ‘picky’ or offer unsolicited advice. Just provide your friendship and support. Perhaps consider suggesting a shidduch for him/her or hosting a Yom Tov meal for singles in your community where young men and women can meet and perhaps find their life-partner.

– Just think for a moment of what it is like for the children of your spiritual, amazing ba’alei teshuva friends who, like Ruth, gave up the comfort of their families to embrace an Orthodox lifestyle, watch their classmates play with their cousins in shul on Yom Tov. Perhaps consider inviting a ba’al teshuva family over for Yom Tov meal or two and provide friendship and a sense of belonging to them – and their children.
– Just think for a moment of what it is like to be an ‘at-risk teen’ returning to his/her home for Yom Tov. He/she may look brave and his/her counterculture trappings may strike you as an ‘in-your-face’ repudiation of our communities value system. Trust me, please, when I tell you that they are just nice kids trying to sort things out for themselves and deal with their challenges. A ‘cute’ barb from you may be the final straw that informs them that they are unwelcome in our community, while a kind word may be letting them know that they are valued – and wanted. Don’t ask the kids “Which yeshiva they attend?” (They may have just been expelled from school or in a work setting). Just ask them a more generic “How are things going”, or ‘What are you doing’. Take a genuine interest, please. If they say they are going to college, ask them what courses they are taking, etc. And please try using these words when you see a rebellious-looking kid in the back of shul that hasn’t come in a while, “It is so nice to see you.” Or “It’s such a pleasure to have you in shul.” And please make sure that your tone is warm and accepting.
– Just think for a moment of what it is like to be the parent of such a child in our close-knit, ‘fishbowl’ communities. Imagine how difficult it is for the father of an at-risk kid to do the right thing and walk with his child to shul – perhaps even coming much later than usual to tefilah in order to wait for his son to wake up. My home phone rings off the hook in these days before Yom Tov as parents of at-risk kids call for advice on how to navigate the minefield of raw human emotions when their children come home for chagim. Please, please be good friends and good community members.
– Just think for a moment of what it is like not to be able to afford nice Chol Hamoed trips for your children. Perhaps consider going to the home of your child’s rebbi or morah who dedicated their lives to chinuch in the next few days. Write them a personal card thanking them for all they do for your children, and if you can afford it, give them a substantial financial gift and tell them to treat their children to a special chol hamoed trip that they otherwise would be unable to afford.

It is this type of generosity of spirit that will bring the long-awaited redemption and comfort us with the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash where we will once again partake in the bringing of the Pesach offerings.

© 2007 Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, all rights reserved

Special thanks to Rabbi Rosenblum for permitting us to publish this piece. In fact he recently became aware of Beyond BT after Yaakov Astor’s recent post on Divorce and BT.

by Jonathan Rosenblum, Yated Ne’eman, March 21, 2007

My wife has decamped for Poland with a group of seminary students. And my only daughter is busy cleaning her own home for Pesach in Bnei Brak. That leaves only us guys to take care of the last heavy cleaning.

The absence of female hands on deck means that this year I won’t have to listen to the results of surveys in my sons’ yeshivos showing that no good yeshiva bochur has any cleaning responsibilities prior to Pesach. No need to threaten to deduct any money spent on mercenaries from that available to replace shiny suits, misshapen hats, and shoes with holes in them.

Yet I have heard enough anecdotal evidence over the years to know that the informal surveys cited above are not entirely a figment of my sons’ overactive imaginations. And that is too bad.

One can certainly understand how a parent’s heart swells with pride at the sight of a bochur who at the end of a long winter zman still wants nothing more than to put in a full day in the beis medrash. Yet parents would still be well advised to avoid freeing their sons from all Pesach cleaning responsibilities on that account.

Bein hazemanim, as the term implies, is not simply a continuation of the zman in a different setting. Rather it is a time for a different type of growth than can be achieved in the yeshiva. I heard recently from Rav Reuven Leuchter, one of the closest talmidim of the famed Mashgiach Rav Shlomo Wolbe, that bein hazemanim is a time for a type of interaction with the world that cannot take place hunched over one’s Gemara. As the Steipler Gaon used to say, it is hard to even assess a bochur’s middos while he is in yeshivah. After all, did his shtender ever speak back to him or express a contrary opinion?

Talmudic prodigies exist. But there is a certain type of wisdom that only comes with age and life experience, no matter how brilliant a person may be. That is why the leaders of the Torah world are inevitably drawn from the ranks of the ziknei hador. If the first adjective still used to describe a person is ilui, he is probably not yet ready for leadership. Bein hazemanim is the time for acquiring some of the experience of interacting with the world that is crucial for the development of middos and self-knowledge.

The second major reason not to grant draft exemptions from Pesach cleaning is that it fosters a sense of entitlement that can work against true striving in Torah. Contrary to the common impression among yeshiva bochurim, limud Torah is not a general exemption from all responsibilities in life. As one who was zocheh to learn in kollel for nearly 15 years, I view the expansion of kollel learning as the glory of our generation. But nothing will ever come from one who views yeshivah or kollel as life with an E-Z Pass.

One who accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah will, as the Mishnah in Avos (3:6) teaches us, find the yoke of derech eretz lifted from him. That is both a result of the siyata d’Shmaya that he merits and a natural response to his diminished involvement in the material world: the less concerned he is with material objects the less the burden of their attainment weighs upon him.

But acceptance of the yoke of Torah must come first. One does not demand that one be freed from responsibilities in order that one can learn. Nor does the yoke of Torah provide one with a right to demand from others that they take on one’s responsibilities. One of Eretz Yisrael’s leading young poskim was asked why his shul only sponsors a bein hazemanim yeshiva in the morning. He replied that bochurim also have to share in Pesach cleaning. The obligation to clean falls on all members of the house not just the women.

More and more, especially in shidduchim, we hear the attitude expressed that a ben Torah is entitled to be spared all life’s worries and to be able to live in comfort in order that he can learn in peace. Such an expectation is both unrealistic and dangerous. It is impossible to protect oneself from all worries: illness strikes, fathers-in-laws’ businesses go bankrupt, wives who undertook the burden of parnassah find that they are no longer physically or emotionally capable of doing so six children later, or that the children are suffering from having a permanently drained and part-time mother.

The quest for comfort can be inimical to spiritual growth in general and to growth in Torah learning in particular. When the Mishnah in Avos (6:4) describes the way of Torah – “bread with salt shall you eat, water by measure shall you drink, on the earth shall you sleep” – it is hardly describing a life of comfort.

What distinguished the gedolim of pre-War Europe from today’s bochurim was not kishronos, but what they were willing to forego for Torah. As a student in Volozhin, Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer often went days without food, and his nephew Rav Elazar Menachem Shach testified the same about himself. When Rav Aryeh Leib Gurwicz’s father sent his young son across the border to learn in Lithuania, he never expected to see his son again. Knowing that his son would be sleeping on a bench in an unheated beis medrash, he gave him the greatcoat off his back.

Today when even average bochurim often seek the type of lifetime support that was once reserved for future gedolei hador, one still sees that an overwhelming percentage of the greatest talmidei chachamim live in very strained circumstances. That is not accidental. According to their willingness to sacrifice for their learning, do they wax great.

Among the “comfort” items, we hear on some shidduchim lists is that the girl not be too frum – i.e., she won’t push her husband too much – an explicit recognition that comfort and spiritual growth can be tarti de’sasri (mutually exclusive).

Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler’s message to both the chassan and kallah under the chuppah was to dedicate themselves to being givers and not takers. Just as at this moment of your greatest happiness, you are filled with a desire to give to each other, he would tell them, may you always be filled with the desire to give to one another. As soon as that desire begins to wane, so too will your happiness.

Nothing could be more antithetical to that spirit of giving than approaching marriage with the attitude of “What’s in it for me? What are they offering?” When such questions begin to seem normal, there are no limits. An acquaintance told me recently that her brother had been advised against a certain shidduch by his friends. They had pointed out that the girl’s parents were already in late middle-age, and that she had only one sister, so she might end up having to take care of her parents one day. At least her brother was embarrassed when she pointed out: “Oh, so you expect your in-laws to support you for twenty years, but, chas v’Shalom, you should ever have to do anything for them.” No doubt such bald-faced selfishness is rare, but the extreme examples often reveal more than we care to admit.

Surely one of the reasons that early divorces are far more common today than they used to be is marriage is being approached selfishly, i.e., as means of facilitating an easy life, with a minimum of responsibilities. Under the best of circumstances, those who are not committed to building a partnership based on mutual sharing will never know the true joy of marriage. And such a marriage will never be able to survive the types of setbacks and external pressures that are part and parcel of this olam ha’asiya.

If for no other reason than to help prepare our sons for the next stage of their lives, we owe it to them to make sure that they make themselves available for a few hours of helping with Pesach cleaning. Not for our good but for theirs.

Based on a lecture given by Rabbi Raphael Butler at Holliswood Jewish Center, Queens, NY Erev Pesach 1995
Expanded by Neil Harris
You can download this guide here.

“In every generation one is obligated to see himself as though he himself had actually come out from Egypt.”

Major themes in the Seder and symbolism:

The word Seder means “order”- there is a specific order to the Haggadah. The Haggadah and the Seder are meant to be an educational model to teach our children the importance of Hashem taking us out of Eqypt – to give us the Torah. Hashem has reasons why things happen in a certain order in the world and in our life. If you missed a connecting flight, of course, you’d be upset… but what if that plane crashed (God forbid). You’d be singing a different song then.

Matzah- Why does it have to be whole (not broken)? We want to make the mitzvah complete. Every mitzvah I do creates an angel. If I speed through a mitzvah or purposely don’t perform it properly, then the angel created will be incomplete. Matzah is both the free-man’s bread and the poor-man. That’s why we eat it leaning, to symbolize our freedom.

Maror- The bitterness of life. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (author of Messilas Yesharim and Derach Hashem) states that life is full of ordeals. If we don’t have a Torah and Rabbis to teach us how to life our life fully, then life is bitter.

Egg- Symbolizes the Karbon Chagiggah (Festival Offering) during the Beis HaMigdash. An egg is round and symbolizes life, which is a cycle.

Roasted Meat (shank bone)- The Karbon Pesach (Passover offering)- in place of the lamb being sacrificed.

Karpas- Green vegetable with saltwater. Our tears from 210 years of slavery.

The Seder plate is the framework for our experience tonight. It is a time to talk. Freedom is the main theme that is developed through reading the Haggadah and discussion of its contents. Tell the story of what happened. Engage in conversation about the Egypt experience. Did you know that only 1/5 of all Jews left Egypt with Moshe Rabbenu? 80% of our sisters and brothers stayed in Egypt, victims of the “slave mentality”. What does it mean to be free? Ask each person at your table.

Torah Mitzvos:
Matzah
Hagaddah

Rabbinic Mitzvos:
Four cups of wine
Maror
Hallel

Items to be introduced:

Kiddush-freedom with wine. It’s a drink of royalty. Wine is a symbol of free choice. It can be used for holy purposes (Bris, Kiddush, Wedding, Havdalah), or abused and become an addiction.

Parsley/ Celery- What does it mean? Tears of enslavement. It’s an hor d’ourve. It reminds of that we were slaves and now we are free. Not all life is sweet.

Talk about personal slavery. What do you do to keep your Jewish identity in America? Is having a Seder a way of celebrating freedom? We were freed from Egypt in order to receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The freedom we celebrate is the freedom to follow Hashem, to appreciate all that Hashem does for us. We couldn’t do it during the Holocaust. It’s a good thing to be free. We were given the free choice to decide how to serve Hashem, with the Torah as our guidebook.

Kittle-It’s a custom to wear it at the table. White is the color of purity, the symbol of a king.

Separate the Matzah- Put away the Afikomin. Symbol of Moshiach. This is the bread of affliction, not just stomach aches! We had to make it in a hurry. We invite the hungry and needy to our table. This is the only passage in the Haggadah that’s in Aramaic. Why? It was the language of the people. We are all entitled to come and participate in a Seder, it’s a Mitzvah!
Who do you want involved in your Seder? It’s all about dialogue and discussion. What does the Seder say to me?

Four Questions and Answers- Judaism has answers. Searching for the answers is part of being Jewish. Let people at the Seder answer.

Rabbis in Bnai Brak- Different groups of people staying up all night and getting caught up in the excitement of the Seder experience.

Four sons- Diverse personalities. Children are different, even twins!! The real theme with the four sons is freedom. What is our role in the world? How can we help people?

Thanking Hashem:

Develop the trait of HaKoras HaTov (Thanking for the good)
Hashem always saves the Jewish people. Never in history has there been a terrible planned out extermination of a nation of people like during the Holocaust. Yet, we survived. What we think as being man driven is really Hashem driven. Use the Seder to talk about the Hand of God and miracles. What miracles have happened to me? How has Hashem directed my life? Reflect on acts of divine assistance.

Ten Plagues- Miracles upon Miracles. Can you top these miracles?

Dyanu- “Enough”. This is a history lesson. We didn’t deserve anything that Hashem did or does for us. Hashem did 15 steps to help us. We must express HaKoras HaTov. This is a night of appreciation. Hashem sustains us even among challenges and difficulties.

Pesach- Why a lamb? It was the symbol of the main God in Egypt. Hashem command us to destroy it and show that there is only one creator in the world.

Matzah- Poor-man’s bread. Can’t bake for more than 18 minutes. Time is important. How we use time is very important in Jewish life.

Maror-Bitter herbs are symbols of anguish and enslavement.

Quick story by Reb Nachman of Breslov: Two guys, one Jewish and one not Jewish (vagabonds) wonder into a town Pesach night. The Jewish guy says, “Tonight we can get a great meal. After Shul we’ll get invited out and eat a feast.” Well, they each get invited to different homes. The non-Jew sits down at the Seder and is served Karpas with salt water. Yuk!! Then they eat Matzah , pretty dry. What a bad cracker! Then they drink wine and sit and read a book and talk for a few hours. Finally the host announces that the meal is about to begin. Great!! What do they eat…maror!! Guy gets up from the table and leaves.
Later that night he meets his Jewish friend. “What a great meal,” the Jew says. “We had soup and chicken, vegetables, a meal fit for a king.”
“What are you talking about? They gave me salt water, bad crackers, and horseraddish.”
“You fool. If you had stayed two more minutes, then the real meal would have been served”
Lesson: We are too impatient. Our world is a world of instant gratification. This is not the Jewish way. We need to have patience with people and with Hashem. The Seder reminds us that things take time. Good things come to those who wait.

Bentching-Thanking Hashem

Hallel- Praise and reflect on the greatness of Hashem. It’s the highlight of the evening. Most people don’t even get past bentching.

Afikoman- We can’t finish the Seder without it. It’s the dessert and the taste of redemption.

L’Shanah HaBa’ah B’Yershalyim- “Next Year in Jerusalem” This is the final transformation of the Jewish people. Moshiach is coming tomorrow and we must be ready.

A Seder isn’t judged by how good the food was, but by how meaningful it was to us. We should leave the Seder thinking that I want to be part of Klal Yisrael (The Jewish people)! I want to find out more about Judaism and Mitzvos! I want to challenge my mind and my soul.

The challenge of the second night, being in exile, and Judaism is to make it just as meaningful and fresh as the first night.

Posted as a zechus for a refuah shleima for Rivkah Bas Sara Freida

We just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everybody a Chag Kosher V’Someach. We will be posting on Chol Hamoed.

Here is the link for the Beyond BT Guide to the Seder.

Here is the link for all the Pesach posts.

Have a great Pesach!

We are taught in the Mishna in Pesachim and in the Hagaddah, “In every generation a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had come out of Mitzrayim”. The question is how can we fulfill this obligation if we didn’t really come out from Mitzrayim. Are we supposed to trick ourselves into believing that we did?

The Alter of Kelm makes the point that there is a big difference in impact between thinking about something and experiencing it. He brings down the statement of Chazal that the removal of Antichious’ ring to seal the decree against the Jews had a greater impact than all the exhortations of the Prophets to move the Jews towards Teshuva. He also shows from Rabbi Akiva’s statement when he was being killed that all his days he did not understand how he could serve Hashem with his life until he actually experienced it. His third example is the Posuk, “When you will lend money to My people, to the poor with you”, from which Chazal derive that you have to make yourself feel like you are experiencing poverty and then you will help the poor properly.

The Alter is teaching us that you might think that working yourself up and trying to arouse the emotions is not the proper mature approach and that an intellectual approach is more appropriate. But that is incorrect, the effect of a full emotional experience has a much greater impact and we must try to work up to that state to fulfill the mitzvah.
Read more Is it Possible to Really See Ourselves as Leaving Mitzrayim ›

Rabbi Shmuel Simenowitz is a guest contributor and commentor on Beyond BT. Rabbi Simenowitz uses all his resources including his Organic Farm and his smoking electric guitar to bring Jews closer to Yiddishkeit.

Chazal teach us that the overarching theme of the Hagada is “maschilin b’gnus um’sayem b’shevach” -we start off ignominiously and conclude with praise. (what a delightfully appropriate subtext for the “Beyond BT” community!) So having just concluded our lofty, empassioned Hallel and essentially the entire seder, what’s left for us to do?
Read more Nirtzah (Step 15) – Bringing it all Home ›

Rabbi Gershon Seif has been a active participant at Beyond BT from day one. He is an accomplished musician and you can listen to some of his music here. It is very fitting that he has chosen to share some thoughts on Hallel.

So the Seder’s been moving right along. We’ve told the story of our nation’s history, asked the questions and discussed the answers. We’ve tried our best to drink the wine, eat the Matzah, Marror, Koreich, with thoughts on so much symbolism. After weeks of preparation, cooking, inviting friends and family, the meal’s over. Where does this special night’s journey lead us?

Hallel! – Song!
Read more Hallel (Step 14) – Time to sing! ›

Click on this link to listen to Rabbi Label Lam: Pesach – A Question of Four. (To download the file to your computer, click with the right mouse button on the link and select Save Target As)

Rabbi Lam relates a story of how he was once in an office saying an after brocha on his danish, and could not speak to the receptionist. After finishing he explained that he was saying the blessing required after eating. The receptionist responded that in her religion they say grace before meals. He explained that giving thanks before you eat is much easier than thanking after you are full, so in Judaism we say a blessing both before and after. The secretary replied, “Word – That’s the truth.”

Word it is, but the problem is that we often have difficulty Bentching properly. And on Seder night, it can sometimes be even more difficult. But with that difficulty, comes opportunity.

Pesach is a time on which we are dining at Hashem’s table. There are so many Mitzvahs of eating on this night. We truly have an opportunity to transform our everyday act of eating into a spiritual act. And what better way to top it off, then by bentching slowly with Kavannah. Pesach is a time of special protection, of a special love between Hashem and His People. What a great time to reciprocate that love with a beautiful Barech.

The Haggadah relates that:

In every generation a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had come out of Mitzrayim, as it is says: “You shall tell your child on that day, it is because of this that Hashem did for me when I left Mitzrayim.”

In this mp3, Rabbi Moshe Gordon explores some of the classical approaches to understanding and fulfilling this Mitzvah. You can download it here.

The following is dedicted LZecer Nishmas Avivah Rachel bas Malkah Zicronah Livracha whose all too short life was dedicated to Torah, Avodah and Gmilus Chasadim. May her family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

I mentioned in my first post that one of the more frequent issues that arises with respect to Tzafun is that of Chatzos–eating the afikomen before halachic midnight. IOW, your seder is progressing -you have gone through Magid with a lot of Divrei Torah and Shirah and you have started the meal. Depending on the calendar, Chatzos not so suddenly creeps up on you and a halachic issue presents itself-what about the Afikoman?!

The Avnei Nezer, one of the Gdolei Acharonim presented the following ingenious solution.The He suggested that one take a matzah before Chatzos and say-If the Halacha is in accordance with R Eliezer Ben Azaryah , this is the Afikoman. If the halacha is not so, it is just a piece of matzah. Therefore, regardless of who the halacha is like., I can continue to eat because according to R Eliezer Ben Azaryah, since the time for eating the Karban pesach has passed, and according to the Rabbanan, one can eat the Afikoman until Alos HaShachar (sunrise)-all night and before Alos HaShachar I can eat another piece of
matzah to fulfull the view of the Rabbanan. ( See ShuT Avnei Nezer Orach Chaim Siman 251 Sif Katan 5 for the entirety of this fascinating solution).
Read more Tzafun (Step 12) – Halachic Approach to a Common Problem ›

The Mishnah (Pesachim 120a) tells us “ain maftiriin achar Pesach Afikoman. Rav Yehudah in the name of Shmuel states that the Afikoman is the last item eaten at the meal as a remembrance of the matzah that was eaten with the Karban pesach. Although Mar Zutrah quotes Shmuel as permitting one to eat after the Afikoman, the Gemara concludes that one may not do so. The Baalei Tosfos understand that Afikoman is a Greek word that means cessation from eating.

Many Rishonim ( Rambam, Rashbam, ) hold that the eating of the Afikoman is the essential part of the mitzvah of eating matzah. It should be noted that there is a substantial machlokes in the Rishonim and Acharonim as to whether one can drink anything after the afikoman because it would nullify the taste of matzah in one’s mouth .
Read more Tzafun (Step 12) – Eating the Afikoman ›

It is interesting that Shulchan Orech is included as one of the Steps of the Seder. I mean, since when did Jews need to be commanded to eat?! The answer, I think, hearkens back to what we mentioned in the step of Rachtza: one can eat a meal as a pure physical necessity or desire or one can take the physicality in the meal and elevate it to something spiritual.

The Ma’ainah Shel Torah asks the question of how it is possible to split the Hallel that we say at the Seder (half after Maggid and half during the step of Hallel)? Isn’t the eating of an entire meal in between the two halves considered a hefsek (an impermissible interruption)? The answer is that when we properly eat our meal, in a manner that raises it from the physical to the spiritual, the meal itself is really a continuing praise of Hashem and therefore is not an interruption at all.

At this stage of the Seder, we combine the Maror with the Matzah according to the opinion of Hillel. Most haggadahs state at this point: “This is in remembrance of the Temple, as Hillel used to do.” Hillel was of the opinion that in order to fulfill the mitzvos of eating maror and matza (and the passover offering during the time that the Temple stood), they must be eaten together.

The halacha is not like Hillel and we only eat Korech as a rememberance of the Temple. The interesting thing is that while we do find in halacha that we will fulfill a minority opinion if possible but here the minority opinion is incorporated as an actual step of the seder. Why is it that Hillel’s opinion merited to be added as a separate step of the seder and why was it specifically added as a “rememberance of the Temple”?

Hillel was the paradigm of patience and truly embodied the concept of “loving your fellow Jew”. It is Hillel’s example that we must follow in order to merit the construction of the Third Temple. By giving prominence to a minority opinion, we make the ultimate expression of loving your fellow Jew. That is, even if I don’t agree with you, your opinion, when properly formed within a Torah framework, is important. That is why Hillel’s Korech sandwich is incorporated as a step in the seder and that is why it is a rememberance of the Temple. May we all merit to see that Temple rebuilt, speedily, in our days.

The Haggada asks: “For what reason do we eat these bitter herbs?” The answer, known by most, is because the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers bitter by burdening them with back-breaking work.

The Me’am Lo’ez haggada advances a different reason. He explains that there are three words for romaine lettuce in Hebrew: maror, chasa, and chazeres. We have already explained why it is called maror, because of the bitterness we experienced in Mitzraim.

It is also called chasa because Hashem took notice of the Jews suffering in Mitzraim and had mercy (chas, in Hebrew) on them and brought them out of servitude.
Read more Maror (Step 9) – The Eating of the Bitter Herbs ›

On the night of the Seder, we have an obligation to view ourselves as if we left Mitzrayim. This is no small task and many commentators have questioned how it is possible. We have to seriously arouse our emotions for this, and the Seder provides a night filled with emotional stimuli to help.

At the center of these stimuli is the Matzah, a simple food of just flour and water. But it is around this food that we need to do emotional gymnastics. We have to think of Matzah as the staple we ate when we were slaves in Egypt. And at the same time, this is the food that we baked in haste as we left Mitzrayim.

Matzah is to be transformed in our minds and our hearts from slave rations to the food of freedom. Perhaps Hashem is showing us that we can control our thoughts, and through our mind we can control our emotions. The whole night we are being trained to go from thoughts of slavery to thoughts of freedom so that we can actually come to feel that we ourselves, each one of us, actually left Mitzrayim and thank Hashem with all our hearts.

By Rav Lazer Brody

Motzi uplifts a Jew to near perfection. A Jew possess the body of a mammal, yet the soul of an angel. No one but the Jew can take coarse materiality and convert it to spirituality. On Seder night, when the Jew grasps the matzos with his ten fingers, and then says the blessing “HaMotzi” that consists of ten words, he and his family are able to ascend the spiritual ladder of the ten spheres and attain perfect unity with Hashem, as the number ten indicates perfection. Since Hashem is perfection, all who cling to Him and subjugate themselves to Him interfuse with perfection.

On Seder night we make “HaMotzi” on the simplest of pas, the matza shmura that consists of water and wheat with nothing else. Symbolically, this shows that we attain spiritual perfection by minimizing material needs, since interestingly enough there are ten mitzvas in the Torah involving wheat. A happy and kosher Passover.

Our physical bodies are comprised of 2\3 water and the earth upon which we live is made up of more than 2\3 water. That being the case, it is easy to conceive of water as simply a physical, coarse life necessity devoid of spirituality. Of course, we know that not to be true.

Water plays a prominent part in the spiritual life of a Jew. Mikvah, Netilas Yadayim, the water drawing ceremnony in the Temple, etc. Indeed, the torah itself is compared to water. The primary function of water is to remove impurity or lift the spiritual state of an object or person. For example, after we immerse our dishes in a mikvah they become usable, one who is in a spiritually impure state arises from the mikvah in a pure state. There are many such examples.
Read more Rachtza (Step 6) – The Washing of the Hands Preceding the Eating of the Matzah ›

The Maggid step has got to be the most commented upon section of the haggadah. Our vort on Maggid is presented by A Simple Jew. What better section of Maggid for A Simple Jew to discuss than The Simple Son.

The Lesson of the Simple Son
By A Simple Jew

The Simple Son is one of the most overlooked sons in the Haggadah. He does not have a dominant part as do the Wise Son and the Wicked Sons. Who is wise? He who learns from every person. (Pirkei Avos 4:1). Thus, there are lessons one can learn from the Simple Son. Today the term “simple” has a negative connotation. When we say that a person is “simple”, it usually means that we regard the person as naive, unsophisticated, or unintelligent.There are many chassidic stories that honor the simple person and his pure intentions.
Read more Maggid (Step 5) — The Lesson of the Simple Son ›

Rabbi Goldson is a well-known author of numerous pieces appearing on the web and in print media. He has quickly become one of the most popular contributors and commenters here on BeyondBT.

The fourth step of the seder, yachatz, is so brief that it can easily slip past us with little notice, depriving us of one of the most profound symbolic messages of the Pesach evening.

The simple, superficial imagery of breaking the matzah reminds us of the poor man rationing his meager fare and protectively hiding away the larger portion (the afikomen) to guard against an uncertain future. This echoes the symbolism of matzah as lechem oni — poor-man¹s bread, the coarse meal accorded the Jewish slaves by their Egyptian overlords.
Read more Yachatz (Step 4) — A Taste of Things to Come ›