The Hidden Depths of the Passover Haggadah - Part 6 - Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb

[Music] this is the second verse from Deuteronomy which is being explained phrase by phrase from verses from Exodus mostly and we're up to the words by yet knew Elena they put upon us I vote akasha difficult work as it says commotion mr by aveda messiahs bday sale before us they made the Jewish people work thank you very much before means great effort great straining effort I said last time it is explained the one way but a rock with a soft mouth because he instituted a day of national labor which was semi voluntary and then the quotas were taken from the effort they made then and then the juice kept were kept on and the others told to go home there's another message here now for those of you know a little bit about Jewish thinking i'll tell you the idea are you telling me where it comes from tell me where you think who you think the author of this idea is pay raise half can be associated through a coding mechanism called at Bosh with another word hot Bosh means this you associate the olive of the tough the pace with the shin the gibble with a race coming in from both ends this is a Cody that is mentioned in the Talmud it is not something discovered with computers about which I'm very skeptical so if i find the associated letters for pay rash hough using the app bash coding so pay is six from the end of the outer phase which means its associated with the letter love race is three from the end which associated with the letter Kimmel half is 14 from the end it's more than halfway well they're halfway from the end so if you're coming this way it turns out to be Alam it so now we have above a gimbal and allow it now let's take the numerical values of those above is six a gimbal is three and allow it is 30 so now I have above a gimel and alignment byfuglien gibble this nine and alam is 34 total of thirty-nine here's the Lord's the Jews were made to work in Egypt with all 39 categories of labor data forbidden on shabbos which were used in the building of the tabernacle so first you do an ad posh coding and then you do the Gamay trio that's how you get to 39 and the vort is that they were forced to do all 39 types of forbidden behavior not that was written for them but before it all three of those types of behavior in Egypt as slaves who would author such an idea where would that come from so once you get into learning and you absorb some of the normal prejudices you would say oh that must be a Hasidic book after all look at the hints you know far out hits I'd bash coating and engadget the author of that remark is tasteless placeless in the last chapter of something you can't get more authoritative than ptosis so what are the prejudices you may have her here that's it that's a fortunate issues and what it means is that the later historical development when they constructed the tabernacle and when shabbos was instituted so to speak corresponding to what they did in the tabernacle the message of the vort i believe is this not touch doesn't say explicitly but I believe this is his point that the very same work that you were forced to do as slaves to Pharaoh you had an opportunity to elevate and content and dedicate to something holy when you were asked to make them the temperate tabernacle and shabbos is a cessation from that entire sum total of activity so you have a triple connection made by this work from of slavery in Egypt to the building the tabernacle for shabbos now comes a quotation of the whole verse from from Deuteronomy when it's a Coliseum ok of saying we cried out to a chev the god of our fathers wishes koul in a shared our voice you saw our on ya know I explained at us as being impoverished aslam Elaine oh and our great efforts let's not say no and the pressure lock on says pressure versus under pressure he's nervous that was placed upon us so now the gotta go sue phrase by phrase by 10 sec I'll share a locator we cried out to a share our are the god of our ancestors as it says ye by ona arriving my name as what's those great days of many days the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel side because of the slavery and they cried out and their cry rose to assure to a girl looking to God from the work now they're 22 secrets you're on the surface but this is already cuz I'll point out the king of Egypt died in the side and try it out what's one thing got to do the other answer to that is ancient Egypt was like contemporary North Korea the leader is the leader he's semi-divine he's great everything he does is a wonderful of all big successes the only time you could cry is with a leader dies then of course it sounds like you're crying because leader died that's fine can understand that the only time they just click cries when the takia when the pair of each have died and people the Jews were mourning the death of each of the Pharaoh the Jews could cry without without a rising suspect or as a suspicion about why they were crying the government has here a extremely fundamental idea it says twice did you call of the work they cried out because of the work if you look at the book of Exodus the beginning where it describes the Exodus it says over and over again that God took us out of Egypt because he promised our ancestors when Moses says to God God sends him down to shake the Jewish people out Moses says to God what are they done to deserve this what merit do they have God says when they leave Egypt they will serve me on this mountain they will receive the Torah here meaning they don't have any merit I don't deserve to be freed my friend dev is an investment their future not because of anything they did in the past so there's a promise to the patriarchs as a projection for the future but it's not because of them you could ask they were enslaved for 90 years what took so long why didn't God take them out 40 years before the answers that you're thinking in terms of God's responding to them because of what they deserve the answer is don't deserve anything and indeed after the plagues start and there are eight place eighty percent stolen quad eighty percent died in the days of darkness because they're not ready to go out even after eight place the ninth plague plague of darkness that they died says they going to Vilna the promise to the patriarchs does not mean that every person who shares genes with the patriarchs is going to be rescued the promise of the patriarchs doesn't apply to every Jew who has their genes indeed after they leave and the rebelled against God twice twice god says to moses i'm going to wipe them out and if you protest what about the promise of the patriarchs god says i'll make a donation out of you you Moses they'll all be lost and you will be saved you'll make a donation after all you come for the patriarchs so I'll keep my promise of the patriarchs just through you so the promise of Patriots does not mean if you have Jewish genes automatically going to be favored or automatically going to be saved so I'm now explaining the going to Vilnius best I understand it so the going vilnius says you look at contemporary people and you ask does the promised to end to the patriarchs apply to them or not it depends about who they are when a person a contemporary when God looks at the world and sees them that they see the patriarchs in these people are these people continuation the patriarchs do they believe in the patriarchs do they believe what they stood for so they want to continue it develop it in the world if so then the promise the patriarchs applies to them and if not not in here God set up a test he God caused the oppression to become very very severe which means that they were bitterly suffering what will they do with that setup communist cells to overthrow the government or try to break through the walls and escape what are we going to do with this pain answer they cried out to God cried out to God and that shows that they're already related to the original coven with the patriarchs which kind of a crying to the God that they know for the patriarchs so at least those who did this now are relevant and they can be the recipients of the promise to the patriarchs God caused the oppression to become bitter so that they'll cry out so that they'll be connected to the promise so that they could be saved and it's a good example of how little we understand what's going on in the world or in the Jewish community or to each of us as individuals how little we understand I think things are going better than you think we're suffering we think we're halfway suffer losses and we think you know I've been pretty good why doesn't God through there are always calculations behind the scenes and they are always designed for our good individually and collectively and we are often ignorant of what those calculations are there's a good example of how those calculations work now you have a question yeah to say something maybe a bit like that might sound that but I mean even today we don't you know I feel like we're very very close to like just based on the world is going I can be some liquid some going insanely close to it mushy I think stuff like that but I don't see that it really serve it as a whole like is it Jewish mate as bad as it sounds so long and complicated subject so long a copy of the book the most important single thing you have to take into account is God doesn't expect from any one more that they can be reasonably thought capable of doing so you're looking at the outer performance you don't know what our capabilities are and you certainly don't know what our capabilities are compared to others or compared to different different times in history the objection of the critics childish foolish objection of the critics is if you thought that God is running the world why is that the Holocaust hit the Jews in Europe I did hit the Jews in America Jews America were much worse than the Jews in Europe well if you look externally at their performance no question that the Jews performance in America was with much lower the performance in Europe but who were the Jews in America where'd they come from they came from Europe and they were the least connect at least educated least dedicated Jews of Europe the better Jews in Europe state they didn't come how many through over their children on the boat came up and said forget it when it was it's over how many withstood the challenge of working six days a week it was your job at the end of every week the vast majority gave up shabbos right away so you look at them and say their performance is worse than that you performed to Jews in Europe sure it was worse who were they there were the lowest possible level of the Jews in Europe what is back from them so you can't tell by looking externally at their performance how God judges them that's a very very important for the relevant that that still work with enough grid [Music] no I think it I think it work if the king is it desperately ill it will be understood that the Egyptians will cry and when gems are crying and wailing and pray for him because they like because they need that's good for like it so just can't cry also i think i think the Russian doesn't mean difference there in terms of this shot hey smashing was Cole a no sham heard our voice as it says you smell he was like oh so oh and here it is the this next verse proofs but the god of Allah said I just forgot that was here hi sham sham heard their cry and he remembered the covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob okay what's not the captain with the other hear their cry and you remember the Covenant if I were riding it which of course would be idiotic I would write here at that cries so they're suffering and had pity on them and and felted is that they suffered enough it's over no no hear their cry and remember the Covenant says the guntersville that's what it's teaching you they're crying made them relevant to the Covenant had they not cried they would live in relative to the Covenant as I am Elena el jabon you it's a very interesting idea now where I'm owl means effort but as you'll see it has a special connotation these are the choke the sun's commotion Emma as the verse says Club any lower your attacks a whole cluster hi you all newborn male babies should be drowned and the daughters can be kept alive the word among very often means effort that doesn't produce results it's a special word for effort that doesn't razoos results so for example when you finish a check dated atomic there's a long of a celebration and then there's a long recital of a certain text in the middle of that recital it's it's comparing us to others who are not scholars and it says all available hey mamela we make effort they make up every 10 available cabins car in America buscar we make effort Eve rewards for it they make an effort don't receive a reward for it so the hafez crime asked how much must understand this non-scholars work let's take a schumer here he makes shoes make shoes it's paid for the shoes what do you mean they make it effort and don't receive a reward so how's calm explained as follows those days was like telling you going to a shoe store and they're 400 pairs of shoes you pick out sighs the style and all those days you went to the shoemaker he measured your foot and then he made you a shoe for your foot so you go in or the shoes measure your foot too excited you come back and the shoes don't fit do you pay no you do not you only pay for a product that works you don't pay for a mistake so he made effort and he didn't get rewarded what's the comparison in our case we're learning tomorrow and we're struggling and we're trying to understand the commentaries and we fail we don't understand that we don't get it do we get paid yes we do because we get paid for occupying ourselves with tour not for succeeding and understanding but occupying ourselves with study with learning Torah that's not true for the commercial efforts where celebrity only get paid for success you paid for your efforts so that's the idea a mile is where you make effort and you don't achieve the results and that is why I think that I gotta here says I'm out refers specifically to the male children who after birth were drowned means going through pregnancy and birth was effort that had no results no food where's the hot say no to attract rockets and talk mean roughly same thing pressure as it says when he's a la casa sugar I'm local TV no sobs the same word like a slots what the concept is I don't really understand that comes the next verse by Yosi a nutshell mitzrayim car took us out of Egypt viaja circle drawn to you with a strong hand an outstretched arm or a girdle great or awesome events events that produce or also some awesome signs and wonders of various kinds now the the I got it doesn't go through this in detail I just want to make a remark here about a general remark God's strong hand what's the idea God has a strong hand keyboard guys called keyboard sometimes it's translated as mighty what's the idea of associating strength because Scott officially not in the officially not he presents himself to us as if he did and that's a whole story as to how he does that but in an ultimate reality not so it's a very it's a very tricky very tricky subject I can't I can't go into it in detail now what is strength what is strength strength is the ability to overcome resistance you're pushing against something and you can overcome it so the call God strong indicates they were thinking of some kind of resistance and they were saying no God is strong enough to overcome that resistance what kind of resistance will be relevant to God oh listen there is this resistance but God strong he overcomes it excuse me he's the creator of the universe what's the problem the galaxies are revolting I'm not gonna who cares who cares he creates all the-- the only resistance to god that could possibly be relevant is if its internal resistance if he's resisting himself how could that be the answer is this is based on the framework of the cup a lot but really it's in the it's in the Talmud in the Midrash also just have to know how to read it from our point of view what God is beyond us entirely we don't talk about that when I competent to talk about it or think about it all we know is that God acts in certain ways in dealing with the world and their various different ways in which he back in which he acts at least that's what's presented to us and the ways in which he acts can come in conflict with one another one of the ways that he acts is Cressida loving-kindness freely giving because he's a giver not because we've earned it but deserve it but because he's a giver that's one of the ways that he acts another way that he acts is justice if you earned it you get it you haven't earned it you don't get it and there's an interplay between these two different ways of dealing with the world and you can very well imagine there will be circumstances under which free giving says one thing and justice says something else and they aren't coming with one another and then when one characteristic overrides is stronger than the other characteristic and expresses itself that is where a strength is used usually usually strength although to work both ways but usually strength means withholding God's primary purpose is to give and something has to stop that otherwise the giving will be without limit without any without any boundaries so the characteristic of Justice says not that much not now not in that way hold it back because of the ultimate goal sometimes statute of Justice says they've gone over the red line they don't deserve anything even natural justice may say let them be destroyed then the quality of giving overrides that strength refers to God as a one aspect of God's activity overcoming the other aspect of guys activity and that's that's certainly what happened here because in this case the attribute of Justice said you're saving the Jews they don't deserve it they really don't deserve it twice at your Justice said to God they're all I worshipers the vast majority of Jews were also idol worshippers why are you destroying these and saving those so the strength here usually referred to assess he's a hand this is right hand which is all the hand of loving kindness that's that's the strength is being referred to here ok now the I gotta explain where senator mccain share me miss Ryan God took us out from egypt Lloyd a my lawfully this are off not via various different types of angels well the sheliak not via a an agent acting on his behalf el Contador who the photo ottsville control who himself with his honor in his own essence he was there to engineer the the exodus from Egypt xin mi variety Australian balelo said God says I will pass over or pass through talk about Passover a little wild mission of our team as Australian Balala has an hour passed through Egypt on this night the case of hobo harbor at sir I am I will strike down the every firstborn in the land of Egypt a lot of influence people to animals hello hey miss Ryan it's a short thing I will do judgments ania shams each one of the singular pronouns or the singular verbs the Haggadah explains la parte I will pass through an evil o allah the casey i will strike or every firstborn i neva lost enough follow me sorry I'm SS wrote him i will do judgments against Egyptian gods and evil ashleah Aeneas am I am Hashem anyhoo vellore here none other now contrary to the way the words sound on the surface I want you to know that there are those who picture this as God together with a whole retinue of angels who carry out the various parts of this activity and you'll see when we talk about the word PESA that that that will be crucial so what it means this usually so to speak God runs the world from afar he sends various types of angels he sends agents to carry out what needs to be done and he is in essence distant this time he didn't maintain his distance he came but doesn't mean he came along doesn't mean it came alone doesn't mean that he personally did all of these things it just means that he didn't send the messages from afar he personally attended and accompanied and it's in part an important idea because I'm cause stress is this nadasht who knows when when Moses says to Pharaoh you want the plague to stop okay morning you have to let them go I'll let the place out I'll pray to God that the plague should stop the foot 9 foot up by the way nowhere does God say anything about stopping of the place no we're God's isn't we a plague and go and tell the corner of your plague and do a symbolic action and it starts nowhere does he say anything about stopping the stopping is always because Moses prays for God doesn't tell Moses going to be 777 de plate it only stops because Moses price for okay and Moses says to Pharaoh I will leave the city I will pray to god I'll leave the city and pray to God so commentators say why not pray where you are answered because Egypt was full of idols Moses felt that and he was right of course I shouldn't say felt as if he was a mistake was understood that that it was wrong to pray with the presence of so many idols could be that prayers are mediated by angels and angels don't appear under those circumstances there could be a thought that it was so defiled the place was so degraded that it excludes any appearance of something holy fear that's why Moses exits that's why an angel won't appear there and then the false thought would be okay if Moses can't pray there and an angel can't appear there surely God who's the Holy of Holies is it can't won't appear they're off limits no no no no none of these rules by God there no limits to where God can appear and God comes right in front of the idols right in front of the tumor right in front of the degradation he's there there are no limits to what God can do their chemie limits to his agents that can be limits to angels but just only mr. one guy can do so God goes in and says no for me these things are not limitations and the Creator beyond all limitations of that kind and by the way I've the same thing instead about his relationship to the Jewish people I shall hang this is so how I think it is the soul to myself I am there with them when their tummy when their defiled I'm there with them anyway that can't can't stop so that's a very important element here of the fact that he's doing it he's doing it without any limitations says be Akasaka without strong hands or dever these are word associations and I don't have anything more to say about them the it's the cattle sickness where's ever hina Yosh my critical describes God's hand applied to the cattle the animal livestock well let's devic of him are very serious animal disease so a two-year outstretched arm that's now this is very I don't have a chatter but I just tell you what it says this is the sword as it says describing God God sword is outstretched in his hand over yerushalayim this is not a verse from Exodus this is describing much later history where God is threatening you shall I'm with destruction this is very unique all the other verses that are taken to explain are taken to the book of Exodus and they're all positive this is something that's negative so it's very noteworthy that I gotta put this in you might say I don't know it's because I just haven't looked it up it wasn't something that I i focused on there definitely explanations I just don't know it Maura Gothel great awesomeness so give winner or means being conscious or something that's overwhelmingly great overwhelmingly great and in the presence of that I'm nothing I'm infinitesimal I have no no no no existence that means of course brothels presence so to speak the English winner as the verse says oh honey saw a low-key Bob or the Catholic boy ma boy ma suppose was home up yeah those offers again the association of the word yaad I said I sham did it in front of your eyes now here the verse refers to a situation which the I think it's the camera the magic comments on going McCarrick going a nation from the inner [Music] inside another nation from the inside of another nation the house ow liken this to birth it's as if the Jewish people are in the womb of Egypt notice the fetus in the womb was being nourished by the mother be nourished by the mother this isn't just physically and encircled physically enclosed it means that we were skating our sustenance from Egypt that was a turret terribly polluting circumstance the birth here was creating a new identity I spoke about this when we talk about pass off the mouth speaks we spoke earlier the beginning the Hagana this was a transformation of identity transformation of essence identification that's what's that's what's indicated by the phrase going me care of good osos signs which is the matter again the matter the staff the verse says that's what you do the OSIS with both seem is wonders sad done the verse says I placed most see the heavens and the earth not exactly not exactly obvious why the word mostly would be referring to down in particular there is an idea here the plagues break up into two types for of the plagues break nature and six of the plagues show that nature itself can express the will of the creator they're all miracles but they're different kinds of miracles fundamentally different kinds of miracles so the first and the last three break nature water doesn't turn to blood period hailstones don't have fire inside them darkness does not continue for several days and trap people so they become immobile and there is no medical condition known to science that strikes down firstborn children there's no such thing those for utterly break nature they're anti natural events the other six are not like that at all the other six take natural processes and focus them and increase them and they start with Moses's are going to start and the end with moses says they're going to end if clearly miraculous but it's a miraculous use of nature not breaking nature but using nature so the frogs when Egypt was inundated with frogs where the frogs come from the tourists is explicitly came from that from the river that's where frogs breed they breed in the river that's what they always come from wouldn't that be more spectacular the frogs have fallen from the heavens are growing out of flower pots yes it would have been more spectacular wouldn't have the same message the message here is that God uses nature not that he breaks nature but use as long as you can do both very impor that he said he can use nature somo face mole face as a word would refer to breaking nature not using nature the first one of the place was one of the ones that break nature so one can explain why the dumb the blood is associated with the word mole face because of that that connotation now this is part of the verse that's being quoted here Dom by H similasan three types of destructive forces and as the gotta points out many have the custom of pulling out a few drops of wine at this point and again on the next page we go through all ten plagues again drops of wine are pulled out and when buta gives the acronyms wine drops a whiner pulled out as well and then the cup is immediately refilled why are we pulling out drops of wine here is a fundamental fundamental idea that we do not have to say this carefully we do not fundamentally celebrate the destruction of our enemies what we celebrate is our salvation I usually celebrate advisedly that means having a holiday having having a performance to celebrate we celebrate the relief that we have from our enemies not the destruction of the enemies this point is made by the mesh Ahava where he points out that Pesach as a holiday has an official holiday the beginning the end the first day and seventh day and in between days just like circus does that whole structure one in seven has holidays with each in batumi dierry days was commanded in egypt already before we left the seventh day of face off is the day of which the Red Sea was split the Jews were saved Egyptians were destroyed said the magic aqua the reason why the seventh of pesach was declared as a holiday in Egypt is so we shouldn't think that what we're celebrating is the anniversary of destroying the Egyptians we shouldn't think that because the holiday was commanded before the Egyptians were destroyed and he says if you look at the megillah zester you'll see this theme over and over again because the days that we celebrate in porom the 14th of adar everywhere else and the fifteenth of adar in world cities in Shushan the megillah says several times yo I share naaku bohai hooton the day on which the Jews had relief now the days that we destroyed our enemies because those days were the 13th everywhere and the 13th or 14th in xuxa so we don't celebrate the destruction here because the Egyptians were destroyed in the process of freeing us there's a certain reduction a certain reduction drops of wine I spilled out to recognize that there was some loss here in the destruction of the Egyptians [Music] you [Music] you