A Night of Opposites - Haggadah Insights - Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen (32:04)

you okay there behind Okay you going take both of these take one of now now anyone need it's useful to you have no what he L me fine okay okay so uh yeah there's two sh we're going to try and uh we not going to go through every like verse and passle going to try and go through some of the ideas yod's principles to do with the ha what we're trying to do introduction and some of the themes that we see going to come through the ha and then we'll try and uh go through some of the some of the some of the details so the first few a few introductory points so firstly there's a lot of like interesting bits in the ha like this man he became like he got his hair became White like 70 lots of little nice details and it's important however all the Bal mus the teachers of what you're supposed to get out of these things point out that the main thing don't get distracted the main thing of hag is an idea of amuna a a building up our our belief our faith in God and what happened The Exodus and how it's so relevant for us and different aspects of our relationship with God that's really what it is we talk about gratitude so everything you're doing in the in the story and all the nice things that should always be the focus okay number one second now this might vary depending on who's at your s or not as we know the Mitzvah well let's go back M Small know this how many mits are there on S remember how many mits R and okay but really just is B how many M like real remember remember I'm not answering nothing you remember five five five so two are from the Torah three we did this few days two are from the Torah three from the rabbis what's from the Torah what's from the rabbis three from the rabbis no Danny to 64 so get three anyone so mat is from the Torah howed he went to the D Mar do a bon four cups of wine very good Roy good one for Roy four cups of wine and H people forget is the ran and the other one which is what we're here today for is from the Torah yeah telling the story of the leaving of Egypt and as we know it says in the Torah he got say to your son so we learn that the mitvah the main Mitzvah is to tell your son can be pastor's daughter as well your children so depending on how old your children are and where you are fa but where there are children around even grandchildren CL IID a bit young uh even grandchild of fries his I his son his son is um to focus on the kids so even though it's always good to have guests and we even say and we talk about everyone should come in nonetheless I've heard many Big Rob even if they have guests they focus on the kids and that is the focus the focus is on bringing out the main thing is not not only just teaching the kids but bringing out the Curiosity and the questions of the Kil so that they you can then tell them the story and they can uh build on that just on a practical sense again everyone has their way in different ways so to get you especially younger kids involved it's good to have some kind of prizes so one year we tried giving them like candies or G didn't work because they kept they're busy eating it during the S and we really realized what what do they do you know the mles custom was to give nuts so what's a 21st Century Kid going to do with nuts right course right so what we do is we give them a you get nuts and then after they can uh exchange it for sweets or candies or probably money after the or whatever candies normally um if they ask a question they get two if they answer they get one asking is better than answer okay fine another important point is remember a lot lot of the things we do are to inculcate Mobility incate the idea of malus we are like special people that's why we lean even though we don't feel that so special but used to be leaning and the Beautiful table and all you know M freedom and all these things so we'll probably know s there's also a big eight to Horrors around you know you got wine you got kids you got spillages you know I looking my old ha there got ha Mar right it's a very big test of mid of of being calm so always says that the nobility most important thing the nobility is being calm and you know this can be hard was kids around over tired or whatever but keeping you know doing it in that kind of way he's not getting frustrated and angry that's not that's not you know it's not a high way of noble way of acting okay so just one thing I idea was just it helps to structure the hag we know there is the structure of kades you know the whole thing but I think in the actual ha if you read it it can be a bit like a bit like random why is that thing after that thing and I'm not answering all those questions but I wrot like eight parts to the I'll just say them out quickly and then we'll we'll get into I did number one is K and that's really introduction number two is man is the question what's going on like could be P introduction as well what's going on number three is we sort of start but we don't fully start weu and then we talk about a lot of things about you know when he's supposed to say the mitv and the night and the day and that's one way putting that together just that's the details of the mitz almost the H details there's nice stories within that that's number three is you start the mitah but get the details of when you do the mitzah how you do the mitzah number four that's the real triple that's when you m all the way really to hollow but I broke it up until we get to the 10 plagues up to the 10 plagues is the whole story of the slavery and the leaving then you have the 10 plues Al part of the leaving but you have the 10 ples and Di and all these things and Hal all those things it's a temple PL chronologically but it's also a big more emphasis I think on focusing on thanking God appreciating God by we talk about is many many details of what God did and H and then the sud the mitzah and the sud and then Hal even the highest level of of Praise one other thing with you YF says is you know at the beginning you start the say there's a lot going on right you do kidish you do the washing you do the car pass all these things and then it goes a bit like you know the Long Haul of the actual reading so he says that for the younger kids who aren't going to last longer that's the beginning all the action and man and all that and then they're dropping off then you know hopefully the older kids that can concentrate a bit more that goes to that it's another like sort of you know each each one depending on their kid but like a foury old 5year old kid isn't going to read the whole you know but you know Le the beginning just get him something and then the older ones hopefully can I saw reading about how gon did their sers that none of them generally did very very long long long long s because people can't concentrate people it's hard most of the talking about insights into the high things that should be the meal but as you go along little things little or you know you know little breaks for the kids you know who has a question or something like that as you go along you know is is good but you know not just for everyone's sake not not very very over long okay used to ask every year the same question and that is what's the Mitzvah there's a Mitzvah every day connected to this what's that Mitzvah dny it's a Mitzvah it's a mitzvah every day to remember leaving of Egypt if you don't know this you should know this because you should have you should have intent to do mitzah and you have the intent to do this mitah when do you do this MIT you say the sh and the third paragraph say you should have in mind in the morning and the evening to do that MIT you do MIT we should have in mind anyway though ask what's what's the what's different about the mids from C what what's different about what's more right I like interaction any ideas it's different how how the way you fulfill the mits for daily was supposed to how they made the way you fulfill the mits for for first firstly why do we if I asked you before this why do you why because it was U we left Egypt in haste and we didn't have time bre rise so that became a tradition which became Mitzvah mitvah so they explain that means that when the cuws were slaves they used to give them to eat because mat fills you up and it's an easy keep thing to do but what's going on I thought we have mat because it's it was in the haste and it symbolizes Freedom yeah I thought M symbolizes freedom but here it symbolizes poverty yeah you hear the question what is it what's so that's the the big the big question here so we'll talk about that bit we get to the other things a bit more min there an idea I heard fromi why does m represent Freedom we're in a hurry okay why does m represent Freedom what is freedom so freedom in a western sense is you're not in prison you can do what you want plenty of people that are free do what they want are not free meaning free is in free in yourself s not addicted to something not you know not addicted to who work work money food drugs alcohol who know lots and lots of things right true Jewish Torah said to Freedom is being internally internally free and we say that real freedom is connected to my soul it connected to my Essence a body and a soul and a lot of a lot of lack of freedom is when I'm M I'm attached to my body I need to eat I need to do this and we should look after our body but fre is going back to my pure Essence which is really my soul okay what's mat versus between and nothing really just a bit of time and gets bigger it fills up so in this way the the the you say m represents person Sal as Essence as at its base without any additions whereas is yeast it's risen it's extra stuff and that's also why you're not allowed on S and most never but some you can but you can never have on S you can't be to the Mitzvah with mat Rich matzah which has juice or honey or things like that right why on this idea because it's additions right it's adding something it's it's not the pure self right the P the the freedom of m is just the pure Essence so on site what we're really doing is getting back to our beginning satanite PES is the birth of the nation so in a sense what we're trying to do as we know holidays is not just remembering something it's reliving it is getting back to our Pure essence of our Pure Souls right that's the freedom of M now that really isn't a contradiction to the poverty of mar so we ask the cues it says here that's the poor man's bread what do you mean I thought it's the bread of freedom is both the poor man's bread not that you have to be poor but the poor man's bread when a person doesn't have anything else he only has himself and he has his soul and the Jews in Egypt had so nothing that they they got they they got to base zero like without anything and then they could have Hashem could fill them up with the and so on right just to flesh out this idea of lansi said in Germany before the when the Nazis were already there before they knew it be a holocaust people realized it was bad and people left the people that found it hardest to live with the wealthiest people why because they had their house they had their things that held them back they became slave to their things a person who looks at his car or his house as part of him how or his money how much what are you worth right what what are you worth £500,000 that then then he's it's not just him he's become a sh you become attached if someone's car gets damaged and he feels like he lost the limb he's attached to it you can use it it's a good thing they all nothing wrong with it but not to be attached to it and nowadays very obviously with technology and iPhones and people you know they can't I read in England my dad sent me a thing in England there was a woman who got made her iPhone waterproof so she could take it to the shower and she actually got a disease from her back being bent you we laugh but look around H off for shabas try to make a shabas app um yeah so p is freedom again you know they have to be poor but the idea of poverty is it enables you to like you don't have anything enables you to get back to your essence I have a very big question on this though because I mean firstly a point that fits with this almost all the time they bought bread um or and things in the basic some English it was it was mat you know that it had to be unleavened had to be mat Le had to be mat and I think that's the same idea because in the bikas it's that normally that same idea of like just pure salt however one time you you bought you bought when was the one time right brought the two breads and they were com so it's very strange I'm saying this whole idea bread represents addition additions bread represents foreign additions to you that you're attached to and PES is as you know starts and it leads to the whole growth process so how can it be you from to then you have that's the worst thing always bother me we talk about how bad is this that the other we have it all year round it can't be that bad right so the answer is it's not bad bad it's not it's not bad to have additional things to use as cim as vessels utensils to get closer to God is what as we know we Jews don't believe in you have to be poor you have to have not eat and all these things when it says says eat bread and salt and live a simple sleep on the floor and all that most commonly say doesn't mean you have to do that but you have to be able to do that right so idea of of p is that's who I by the hope is you you get to the point where you can represent you can use all those additional things and you can to elevate you can use it you can use it for the good you're not M to you're not attached to it anymore understand again just why are we saying Poor Man's bread and yet poor I said M's Poor Man's bread and M's Freedom it's the two together yeah if only if you truly a level of not of poor in a certain way you can be free the other thing are very strange about is like first why inviting people in now door's closed you started the right we're talking about now we're here next you will be in the land of Israel now we're slav next year be free men like what's going on so yeah there a couple of answers I saw m Solomon he says that really it's like show it's not really most people say it's not really inviting anyone in no one's going to come now but says idea being a noble nobleman now we're like we're we're not slaves we're able to invite people in right we're you know people of Bernstein Emanuel Bernstein says opposite thing in in the time of the B you had to have a PES P you had to have a group you had to man you had to like appoint people in the group before p and that was it you couldn't invite anyone else now we don't have to do that you can invite someone now because you don't have a corbon Pacer so he says that this is talking about next will be in Israel this is talking about we don't have the temple and even though we we're free to a degree from from we don't have a temple and we're saying in a sad way whoever can come can come because we don't have the of P where we're not allowed to invite someone now you're not allowed to invite p on P you have to do it before you have to arrange it before so we're s and that's why we're saying this year in Israel next year this year slaves so even though we're free from from from right we're not we haven't got the full girlly yet and we're hoping for that as well so when we say next year um in Israel we are hoping and praying that we'll have the temple right so that's other question we we're in Israel what's the problem is all right you know when they first came back to some people wanted to take out the prayers for in like Tish and what are you talking about this isn't how sh supposed to be this isn't Isel supposed to be diaspora the temple right exactly yeah look at look at the say Isel this not how it's supposed to be yeah okay M turn off you want to sing mother no okay money turn off S on who's the who's the youngest who's the young oldest who's the youngest okay um yeah okay so we know the questions so first just okay but what's going on what's the point and like you know why why do we this night we M and we have vegetables and we have Mar and leaning and all that you ever wondered like what's the answer to these questions do we answer these questions we wondered that on other people now how do we answer the question why do I do all these funny things cuz we were slaves in Egypt no you don't know this you don't know the whole point of the David has answer the questions maybe it is planet thas and the Mora so really you know we are and we we you already said about the Leaning um we are obviously as more of sovereignty on this time how we answering it with saying we were slaves how well when slaves we obviously couldn't distinguish between the various things that are in man that's why the night oh okay oh you say okay so I understood the simple simple is the theme in the questions is we're doing contradictory things on this not in the simple we're doing different with things but they ask you know they ask there other things you could have asked like the four cups of what some things we do we m m represents freedom right and so does leaning on the other hand Mar represents slavery bitterness right so one I forget who says this is we're asking this night is a weird night some things you we talking about being you know freedom and with Noble now we're talking about slavery what's going on this a weird night it's different from everything else one or the other maybe but why both right contradict do weight yeah the answer is I tell you we do the mar we do the mar because we were slaves took us out this is like the short version answer right took us out that's why we have the other part we have the two parts together you hear you hear what I'm saying question is why are we doing why are we doing sad things and happy things and the answer is because we were slaves that's the sad thing and because we came out that's the happy thing why do we need both well we already we said one one reason because you appreciate the good when you uh when you talk about the bad first one aspect of it okay yeah right yeah exactly you could be looking at it more now that in in itself and that paragraph answer the question then like I said the the hag gets to a few details of of things and the and the the Suns and then it gets into the real triple of the so actually really after we've said say that's it we've explain it let's eat let's go let's see my sister does comic the comic based on Me When We Were Young actually the four questions in school the boy there say what are we going to eat and the next picture is we're not eating yet and the third one is we ever that's I was like okay the kids should eat before yeah okay um yeah there another nice idea here we say now who's good at Hebrew grammar here Lila is a feminine word right I wonder the grammar what should it be L is feminine so it should be L is masculine and is feminine ous question why does it say the of God is a whole like deep answer here which I want to share with you a bit the Lila we not too feminist the laa the night is normally a time of quiet what lack of action the day is the time of action in the t view the man is like that the man is out he's the active one and the woman is a more passive or feminine is more passive right I ask you another question question tell me all the mitas in the Torah that you can only fulfill in the night Dy you hear that all the M you can only fulfill in the night any ideas yeah but there's really two parts to it people say but even that you can fill in the day it's the first times it is in the night give you it's two MIT do in the night do in the night and only time you ever do in the night is and again right so the says why is this night different this night is a is masculine this night is full of Mitzvah nights are quiet they're feminine they're quiet they're you know passive this night it's full of MIT yeah says the answer is because we got taken out in the night lat we say it happened in the night happened at midnight and this is why did it happen like this why this is one aspect of the thing we'll talk about more maybe next time is that the whole idea of is turning everything on its head like turning nature upside down breaking the laws of nature and I was extremely significant because that's the beginning of the nation the says a seed right if you have a seed and a tree it becomes a tree when it's a tree if you poke it you know cut it you don't do much the seed if you cut it you you destroy the whole thing you do a lot of damage the beginning the way something develops that has a massive effect on the rest right so the beginning of the creation of the Jewish people was be a defining aspect of it and and a and a key aspect of it is that it was what we say above the laws of nature because that was the foundation that the whole Jewish existence will be above the laws of nature right so I think one aspect of that is had to be in the night turning everything upside down no manag to why is this night different why is this night masc full of mitzvas what's the answer CU they did it in the night because and and with all the Miracles it turning everything upside down okay fine why do we ask we okay to go bit further to 9:30 we started late you okay why do we ask about the mar before the moral what came first the moral the slavery the freedom of the M came second and really the same question later with three things you should say what does he say what's the so again the m is last it should be first yeah so thei says you need to talk about the bad to get to the good but it's too depressing to start with the bad that's one one another slightly deeper idea is I think said this hereas is that you appreciate the good you appreciate the bad once you've seen the good when when something bad's happening you know you know great after the fact you know a lot of difficulties we have in Life or challenges we have in life after everything is good then we can see oh that's why that happened now and then you can even appreciate the bad why it says when something bad happens in this world we say both diem right something good happens we say TR says in the next World we'll say trative on the bad things then we'll see why they were good so too that we're talkinging about the slavery is when we start with the mat we see the freedom we see that the slavery enabled the freedom and slavery helps us appreciate the freedom right and one of the ways the slavery helped us enable the freedom is a little bit like what I was saying before is the freedom again is not just we got free the freedoms became hasem the people of Hashem and we became a nation completely above the laws of nature why because did everything right says we say right he didn't make us like the what does that mean that the nation was made in a different way from the other nations how's a nation made I was reading in about the American Revolution right you have a war you you know F English you have a war you you know and you take over in your place we became a nation not in our country not in Israel in Egypt we were slaves we didn't do anything we became a nation right and that was a foundation that our whole existence is is from God as above the laws of nature that could only happen if we've been slaved because it could only happen if we didn't have anything have any power any level anything because if we did then we could say oh you know it's a bit from us but we can't because we had nothing right yeah so that's why again deeper V why we say the m and the mar the the the the the the M first because then that we appreciate them we appreciate the they call kab it was the like a furnace furnace that cleaned us up and it enabled us to then go out go out of this one okay so that's thanu we stop there people are tired great so we'll car we're not going to fin we'll carry on Sunday