The Hidden Depths of the Passover Haggadah - Part 1 - Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb

[Music] the first item is the list of the stages of the gutter the 15 stages at the c-money so the 15 of them now one very peculiar element this is not noticed by many people if you say this at your Seder this year you'll definitely get points if you read them 1 to 15 it reads like this 1 & 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 there's an end if you wanted to and from there on out there are no ends that's very peculiar that's very you want the list to be explicit put it in 14 ends join them all together you want to think of it just as as as punctuated by commas leave all the ants out no put one end in and nothing else now the meaning that I attach to this is the following the first one is Kaddish which means sanctify second one is rahat which means to wash without pushing too deeply into symbolism to sanctify means to take something and elevate it make it holy to wash it means there's some something wrong with it something dirty on it there has to be taken off there are two dimensions of self-improvement one is to add to your positive and the other is remove what's negative there is a great discussion in G resources the order in which a person should do that should he first eliminate the things that are bad in him and after that was achieved a certain purity work on improving the positive or the other way that start by improving the positive and only then we're kind of limiting what's bad there's the famous verse that in the Psalms by King David surah Araf isotope turn away from evil and do good seems like you David is telling us that removing the negative comes first and building a positive from second and there are movements of Jewish self-improvement the mr. world that talked about that they definitely talked about that on the other hand in the Shmona sra the second of the blessings of petition we say Hashi vain new aviv thesaurus fo the Corvina volcano lava lucifer bring us back our father to your torah bring us close our King to your service both of those are emphasizing the positive connection to Torah serving God and only after that do we say our names were slain with the vallecula return us in complete Chuba which takes off the negative before you so English - yesterday it looks like we have the opposite order hmm now what does it look like here well the 15 steps one and two or joint man hands so then make a unit the first one is Kaddish which is emphasized a positive and the second is rehearse which means wash off the negative so that sounds like this mother s right and it doesn't sound like the verse of King David and I must tell you that the Hasidic movement definitely stresses that work on building the positive only after you started that way she then turned and try to eliminate the negative well shall we do about the verses King David's verse is a hundred percent Emmis so how we going to reconcile that with this position the answer is King David indeed says remove the negative before you stress the positive but maybe he's not describing steps one and two maybe he's describing steps two and three instead of thinking it a two-step process think of the three-step process and here's the message self-improvement has two two forms as we go as we just mentioned removing the negative and strengthening the positive and it should be obvious that almost always in your life when you think of improving yourself you are working on strengthening the positive almost always you pick out the things that you're already good at and you work to make them better if you are talented at putting a medium-sized bowl and hoop and you are hopeless at hitting a tiny ball with a stick you don't go in for golf you go in from basketball because you're already good at it if you're terrific at equations and when you look at another person you can't tell whether he's depressed or joyful you don't become a psychologist become a mathematician you go into the things that you're good at so the idea here is is a three-stage process first take the things you're already good at and make them better when you do that first of all you gain self-confidence you're making progress you see that you're capable of growing with that self-confidence turn to the things that are negative and you live in eight them which then purifies you and brings you to a position where you can do the positive perfectly without any negatives going on for along for the ride that's what King David's talking about key Dave is talking about getting to the perfect position to get to the perfect position captain laminate the negative before you get there that's true but doesn't it yeah that doesn't tell you how to start you start by working on improving the positive and then use that strength that forward motion forward inertia to eliminate the negative and then finally strengthen the positive to your positive position that would be the hasidic approach and that explains why this eve of an end between the first two steps and not anywhere else where okay what together now the next thing in I gotta skittish and this kiddush has a that's a lot go through a phrase by phrase this young gonna do something which I don't usually do because this year basic comes out of shops and therefore we will have full I would say double kiddush part recognizes Shabbos apart recognizing the holiday and that will have a lot to teach us but let's go through it first phrase by phrase I'm skipping the first part was a quotation from the book of Genesis and the variant often that the name blessing blessed are You Hashem our God King of the universe who chose us from all people lifted us up they probably translate exalted but that's what it means closed up from all languages and sanctified us with His commandments there are a few important morals here what makes us special what makes the Jewish people unique is it that God chose us and gave us his Torah at Sinai where he gave us the Torah that transformed us into a different nation and that's how he became special Kida Shearer says no because sanctifying us with his commandment is third and before that says he chose us from all people and lifted herself above all languages and sanctified those commands comes only after that so obviously we were special before he gave us the Torah and indeed it seems that those two prior conditions are the groundwork for giving us the third so what did they refer to now he chose us from all people God's choices aren't arbitrary you know if you're choosing choosing an item for a project you investigate it evaluate it you compare it with the project that you have and you choose it on that basis it he chose us through all people and he chose us in order to give us the Torah the most something in us that makes us more fit for this project than other people's God is not in habit of shooting himself in the foot I know that sounds flippant but it's a way to get the idea across and if let's say the Chinese or the Nigerians or the Eskimos would be more fit to living the life that the Torah sets for the world God wouldn't choose us we heard one less fit and leave them were loved more fit out of the picture so but the very fact that he chose us it means that we have already acquired characteristics that make us more fit for that project that's what the patriarchs and matriarchs achieved they created for the Jewish people certain basic characteristics that's what our experience up until Sinai created for us including the slavery in Egypt and the salvation from Egypt miraculous liberation from Egypt all of that gave us a certain unique national character which made us more fit to live the life that the Thoreau wants to live then other nations from somewhere that tried a lot of the juice life of their forefathers and they wanted to make that way absolutely right sources also say that for the left 80% died that's a lot so those are the ones who even after eighth place didn't get the message and couldn't elevate themselves to the point that sort of wanted which is the ninth played eight plays they still didn't get the message which one of the three to message them three times you not to go back to Egypt when they're over the oceans before they cost as one and it just got which one it was this is not to go back in this world again [Applause] there are verses that talk about not going back to Egypt and it means okay so it's a complicated story in legal terms at any rate that's that's the verse now what does it mean to say that he exalted us above every language I got to do a real depth job here language is a very complex subject but I want to make my point by playing it off what if French linguist said at the end of the 19th century he said we in France are very very fortunate because the French language is suited to the way people naturally think for example in French the noun comes first and the adjectives come afterwards house big blue expensive not expensive please blue house that's the way the mind thinks and that's the way the French language expresses it and this linguist said pity the poor English since the mind thinks noun adjective adjective adjective and the english-language put the ISIS is first the poor British are handicapped they're crippled because their language doesn't fit with the way the mind works poor fellow it didn't occur to him that maybe language affects the development of the mind and the French mind works the way French expresses itself an English mind works the way the English expresses itself that never occurred to him which is a far more likely hypothesis than thinking that the English walk around crippled because their language doesn't fit the way the line of them the mind works but what you have here is a point I think is very profound the language that you speak has a great deal to do with how you think the words their associations the structure of the language will have an impact on how the mind thinks then it's very important what language to speak and it's very important to pay careful attention to the language and to be very suspicious of translation for example the word Shalom in Hebrew is translated in almost every dictionary as piece that's quite far off because in English peace is a negative concept peace means the absence of disturbance you could say in English that the graveyard is very peaceful and indeed it is there's a noise there no disturbances you could never use the word Shalom in Hebrew for a graveyard you could never do that would be atrocious Shalom comes with a root which means Shalom which means complete whole integrated perfect so when the English negotiator says we're offering you peace and he uses the word Shalom to express it it's a complete distortion we're not looking for putting down the guns we're looking for trust and integration and and solidarity at any rate God chose over every language means the Hebrew language creates a form of thought and a form of experience that is a precursor a precondition for receiving the Torah now we come to the third God sanctified us with His commandments this has a double meaning first of all every time a chill performs a commandment he he achieves a certain measure of sanctity thereby he elevates himself he gives himself a piece of holiness partly because the word mitzvot as the Gemara explains it in part built on the letters society both side above table means to connect summit so automatically connects a person to God when it does that it elevates the person so he could make sanctified us with His commandments by each commandment sanctified the person who performs that's only one half of the meaning however when God gave us the Torah the act of giving us the Torah qualified us with a certain inherent sanctity to be able to perform the commandments if you aren't capable of sanctity you can't perform a come in you can go through those you can go through the motions you can pretend but you will not be performing the command so the double sanctity that took place once and forever by giving us the Torah at Sinai and the extension of that that every time it you doesn't mitzvahs he acquires a certain sanctity that's the third element you gave us a share of our God with love Sabbath's for rest holidays for joy and then holidays at holidays for another kind of joy so I'll come back to the shadows when we get to the end of the paragraph let's talk here about the three words for holiday mo8 hog and Zaman they are very different words with very different connotations well a means a time of meeting a vaad is a committee and he the tent where Moses went to communion with God was called the oh hell no ate the tent of meeting because that's where God and Moses communicated so that sometimes more Ages is translated as appointed time that's it's the way you could understand its use in certain contexts but the literal meaning of the word is a meeting time and that means that you have to think of a holiday as a time when a meeting between you were being and God is available now this idea of a meeting has different applications some of you know that there are three you pilgrimage festivals three festivals when the original mister was to go to Jerusalem from Terraria from toss from Bear Sheva from all over the country go to Jerusalem to appear in the temple that's literally a meeting that's literally meaning the parsha and Mo which describes all the holidays of the year uses this term of mode also for Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur the Brits otic explains better Russia shown when you blow the shofar the Talmud says blowing the shofar is as if you are standing in the Holy of Holies of the temple so you're already projected into a position like the temple so that our likely becomes the time of meeting your Kippur the verse says lift now Hashem Tusshar ooh purify yourselves before God it's as if you're standing before God in the temple so there - although you don't go physically to the temple I wanna show me a kipper but spiritually it's also as if you are there what about Shabbos Shabbos in that context is also called more weight so there the priests alex says something quite striking Shabbos yes Chavez is a time that God is available for meeting also but here it's reversed because as a verse that says Shabbos see the homeless for a second it's Shabbos in all your habitations wherever you are the Shabbos comes to you so yes there's a mo ate a meeting with God on Shabbos but there's because he makes himself available to you don't have to go to him you don't have to go to him physically and you have to go to him spiritually that's mo eight preatty rhetorical coming great great city the word hawk refers to what you do to celebrate the holiday more specifically refers to the sacrifice did you bring in the temple when you appear in the temple and zoom on the words none means time because as everyone knows these are anniversaries anniversaries of events was a shamans anniversary of the creation of the world sort of anybody know how does related to the creation of the world what happened Rosh Hashanah is that Adam was created that's on the sixth day of creation so when we say I want your some of that this is the beginning of the creation strictly speaking is the sixth day but everything else is just backdrop everything else is just backdrop it's just it's just stage props when Adam has created the world has its purpose the real creation is Adam the real creation is that so that's Russian you Kippur is the day when God finally forgave the Jewish people for those golden calf and gave Moses the second tablets Pesach is the anniversary of liberation from Egypt she was to the anniversary of sieving the Torah at Sinai so Chris is the anniversary in a certain sense of the clouds of glory that's a whole story because we got the clouds of glory when we left Egypt what would be doing celebrating the clouds of glory in the fall six months later so one explanation that the two gives is that you're going to celebrate the clouds of glory by leaving your house and going out and living in a fetched roof Hut if you do that in the spring when we indeed left Egypt no one will know that you're doing it to symbolize anything it's cool and it fetched Rufe Hut especially is in Israel where this rainy season is over so you don't need a solid roof people say moving out for your convenience you do it in the fall they won't say that that's what the store system by the way this used to bother me because in Israel it can be quite warm in the fall you'd be quite warm in the fall and actually could be more comfortable and soak in the fall than being indoors so why would anybody catch the symbolism in one of those years were you having what Americans call an Indian summer and it's quite warm this is very simple even if it's warm it's cooler outside you're not gonna move into the cooler habitation three months before the winter starts I'm three weeks before the winter starts that's ridiculous if you want a cooler place to me you'll be there all summer so you move in the fall yeah you'll move in the spring until I can't can't don't stay if you are doing it for convenience sake you wouldn't wait two three weeks before the end of summer to do it you do it in the spring and you spend all summer in that kinetic or comfortable habitation sadly the Torah says he's gonna celebrate it let me celebrate it only the fall because then it would be symbolic they go on the Vilna says something very striking and very exact he says when we created the golden calf one of the punishments was we lost the clouds of work when did they come back they came back in the first day of circus on the fifteenth day of Tishri after Moses came down from the mountain with the second the second tablets and received them we started the construction of the tabernacle they came back in the 15th and that's why we celebrated then we celebrated them because we're celebrating the second clouds not the first class by calling them smiling were saying that these events are anniversaries now I gave an anniversary in Jewish thought is a very deep idea the symbol of of history development history Jewish terms is what some people call a spiral though I've been told and I looked it up that everybody takes it this way or the shape of a corkscrew it's something that looks like this on the one hand there's a circular motion that means each year when you come back to the same date it's the same date another end there's a forward motion also it's the composition of those two motions so that when you go around you're not back in exactly the same place where you were last year put you in the same orientation visa via the circle that means that this year's date is related to last year's date in real terms when a date has a certain event that takes place on it that reveals the character of the date and when you return to that date that character repeats itself we were liberated on the 15th 15th day of Nisan every 15th that the Sun is a Liberation Day that's why when we come back to these anniversaries we do the same thing that they did otherwise why would you celebrate it by doing the same thing that they did we have a seder because they had a seder in Egypt so what they were leaving Egypt I'm not leaving Egypt but I am because the 15th of Nisan is a Liberation Day and so it is throughout the year we like the menorah on Hanukkah because they lit the menorah in the temple we feast on Pesach I'm poor I'm pouring because that's what they did on the 14th and she was on the 15th day of Aadhaar they feasted so we feast because the day has the same potential as it had them that's why calling it as Monde here is very important meaning time date now the kiddies goes on and this day we're celebrating the fact that this day is the day of Chava so as I said we'll come back to and it is hog tomatoes how much this festival of masters the delicious lady has a very profound observation here based on a personal story but it's he applies them observation the the observations who the names of the holidays what holiday is coming up now what's the next time in our calendar day so that's what everybody says everybody calls it that's not what we said here here we said festival Gaga matzos nowhere in the entire Tanakh in a thousand pages of tanaka is this holiday called pizza nowhere that's our name for it not God's name why would we have a different name why would that happen says that the prasada axis lady sorry lady because each of us names the holiday in terms of the other ones reality in terms of the other ones position God's name for the holiday is hobby of mitosis because we performed the Mitzvah of my toes we call the holiday pesum because that's what he did he saved our firstborn when the Egyptian firstborn were being we're being destroyed same is true with Rosh Hashanah nowhere and the entire Tanakh is the beginning of the year called Rosh Hashana never do you know what it's called they're two which are both which are related to one another once called Yom trua very good the day of the shofar blast the other one is it won't ruin the memory of the self replace both of the refer to the Chua why because it shows what we do so guys thing for the holidays in terms what we do our name for the holidays Russia surely because that's what he does yom kippur we have the same name although in hebrew it's yom kippur eve Shabazz was the worship Allah loves me weeks he's weeks why would the holiday be called weeks because we count seven weeks from the end of from the infant and the second day of Asaph until you get this removers we count those seven weeks we county the weeks to get there and the holidays result to that count by the way there is a position that the count is no longer a biblically binding and there's a sub position which says since the count isn't binding but biblically the holiday shoe is is only rabbinic the whole heart is a little bit because you don't count you can't get there not everybody agrees to that but that's how serious it is so God says my name for the holidays what the Jews do the Jews are counting our name for the holidays at service a terrorist means holding back something that otherwise would dissipate God created something they said we'll talk about this in great detail and he held it so it should anticipate it again be first to what God does not what we did so you you have this duality that we're like anything from God's point of view and he's looking at it from our point of view says the dishes lady that's typical of a love relationship when you love someone at least part of you is dedicated to looking at the world through the other one's eyes and that's what's expressed by these coordinated differences between the names of the holidays okay okay now macoco dish means a day that is designated to be holy and this refers to various Smith's oils like dressing and fine clothes and having good meals now survival hey Bruce a new the time of our freedom there are different words in Hebrew for freedom cavus is one word whole fishes in other word coalfish also means freedom whole fish is a negative concept khopesh means released from things that bind you things that restrict you things that hold you back correct it's negative it's actually how it's negative but they see how it's not positive okay I'm you know maybe I use the wrong word I hear I think I hear we are comforted by negative I didn't even bid I just meant it's just it's the absence of something I should say refer you're right I love I take it back there were negative connotes it hurts baby I'm not saying that although OS is a yeah it's it's totally absence there's nothing holding you back nothing tie me down the things that were holding me or preventing me are gone but if that's the whole concept of freedom you have just get out of my way get off my back don't don't restrict me that's your whole concept of freedom then you are in a bad position there's a verse which stresses this by Mason cuff she associates being coffee with death yeah well put freedom without a cause not freedom from without freedom to or freedom for is a terrible condition for human being to be in first of all what about rules of our own they don't bind you what was a morality mean that okay you could just do as the women moves you have to recognize that their responsibilities that the world has to be improved the world has made into a better place you shouldn't be hurt and then this is a philosophical point that I want to make here how should we think about rules maybe I mentioned this to some of you I don't remember but many people think of rules as restricting you because the rule says you have to do this and it's true rules in a certain sense restrict but it can be that the very same rule that restricts also provides you with a freedom you didn't otherwise have you can't say that all laws must be subjective some things cannot be subjective but we can't say like oh well if you want to decide to kill people we can't really find you want anything because how you think about is your video you should respect them that's true it's not the point that I'm making not the point that I'm making some rules that say you can't do X actually create more freedom not less together with telling you you can't do X that create more freedom I'll give you two types of examples first of all consider our terribly victimized plight there are highways roads to drive on every one of us loses 50% of the road 50 percent of the road is off-limits because you can hold these drive on the right side of the road give me the direction you're going in 50% is off limits what a terrible restriction I've lost 50 percent of my freedom of course if you don't have that restriction no one will go anywhere well Chad you say anybody can drive in a direction you want and the hole will get anywhere by depriving you have 50 percent you get the freedom to travel before the main roads it was the first two cars in North America you can look it up both for the first two cars the only two in existence crash into each other really that's amazing okay that's a terrific not to race you're insane that is amazing that's amazing okay now that's one type of example but here's another type of example we're playing a game of chess okay in the middle game I take my knight and I move it forward three paces one two three and I take off your queen and you say you can't do that I say what do you mean very easy what I'll do it again one two three five up with your queen wait a minute wait a minute you can't do that in chess right you can't play chess unless you play by the rules the rules create the game if you decide you're not gonna play by the rules you've lost your freedom to play the game the rules of chess create the freedom to play the game similarly there are rules of language rules how to speak now give me a red-blooded independent American who says don't tell me what to do I speak as I please and and and plus blue yeah you could say whatever you want but you can't communicate cuz if you say has no meaning the rules of English among other things determine what strings of words are meaningful and what aren't and if you want to communicate you've got to abide by the rules that means that the rules make communication possible well the rules say speak this way and not that way they make communication about without them you can't communicate so rules when they tell you you can't do XYZ sometimes create for you opportunities that otherwise you won't have now go back to your example of moral rules but I can make my point in this in this context what about a person that says promises not interested interested I can say I promise but I don't think it seriously I don't necessarily keep them itself as and so on such a person who won't obey the rule of fulfilling promises can't have certain types of human relationships because certain human relationships are based on trust and if he's not trustworthy he can't have those relationships knowable entered the business relationship with him no one's going to commit their lives to him in a serious relationship because he's utterly untrustworthy so the rule of fulfilling your promises make certain relationships possible it creates that freedom so rules can be a two-edged sword every rule says you can't must do something that you can't do something that's true but in say that it may open up freedoms for you that you didn't otherwise have that's who's the word favors in here in Hebrew means freedom - or freedom for my River that's all pointed out that the same letters make the word harus hulless means engraved and if stands were engraved on the tablets in the tablets of the ten pronouncements at Sinai the words were engraved on the tablets then the word that's used in the Hebrew is harus Allah logos my Ruby that's how said when you say is my favor say aye you should think ahead and say I'm looking forward already to shavoo us we'll talk about this in great detail I'm looking for already to Shavuos the time in which I will receive those tablets because my freedom is for the sake of that my freedom is a for the sake of freedom to not just freedom for us it's not whole fish its Harris okay [Music] you