The Hidden Depths of the Passover Haggadah - Part 7 - Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb

they're gonna just finished listening to ten plagues and now comes a very peculiar trio of progress the other GU Li says forwardly derive that the Egyptians in Egypt was struck with ten plagues and at the sea was struck with 50 obvious these questions about the 50 the 10 is explicit in the text how do we get there were fifty well what is the Torah described in Egypt the Egyptian magicians said to Pharaoh this is the finger of God okay and what does the Torah say about what happened at the sea there it says that Israel saw the hand the great hand that God did against Egypt under people were all of God I believed in God with Moses well how many was struck with a finger in Egypt 10 so let's derive that I need you to be struck with 10 and at the sea they were struck with 50 because and that's my fingers so her fingers 10 a hand makes 50 that's let's go mayor how do we know that every plague that the Egyptians got hit in Egypt was really four-fold literally for not just one before because there's a verse which says God sent among them his fierce anger there are three words which are nuances the same idea some kind of hit anger and a delegation of bad angels so if you start after his burning anger you having a left there and take the licks for as an explanation of the burning anger you get wrath in the nation trouble a band of evil angels that's four four separate things so rebel is it says we should derive from here but in Egypt that they got hit with forty not ten before he because each one of the ten was four and then since at the sea it was five times as much as he think I hit with two hundred maybe kima says how do I know that in Egypt every plague that they got hit with was really five not four but five answer is look at the same verse now excuse me Melissa used that verse to the right four I'm gonna use the very saver still to derive five very easy because instead of taking the first item in the verse as an announcement at the last last for as as a an explanation just take it as a list he sent against the Egyptians now here's the list burning anger wrath alleviation trouble and band of evil evil angels that's five all he did was change the first phrase from the title into an element on the list instead of four you get five Nikita says they're from here you see that in Egypt everyone was really five and then five times five is 250 now what's going on what's going on Nike how am I supposed to take this I'm just serious about this first of all when it says a finger in Egypt the Egyptians are referring to one plague could you generalize it yes sort of I mean it's the fourth plague and Egyptians your magicians could imitate the first three place they couldn't imitate the fourth place so they had to give up and say that it was really God you're gonna say that everyone of the Sun okay maybe so but then they say finger and the text says hand I'm supposed to see from that that hand has five fingers was five times as bad who says so and then using this verse one does he use the verse as an instance of fort he'll use the same person instance of five so I I'm just telling you from familiarity with this literature that when you see something like this you should ask what's going on underneath what's going on again it's not what it seems of the undersurface and too many people if you take it on the surface then it seems less than fully serious it seems like it's just play when anything seems like that you know that you're not getting that there's something much deeper going on behind well let's go back to the first paragraph again the first comparison between finger and hand it's true one verse says it is the finger of God when the Egyptian magicians were expressing themselves and the next one mentions hand but let's read the next one again and read it all in detail Israel saw the great hand a sham laid upon the Egyptians and the people fear a sham or had offer a sham and they believed in a sham and his servant Moses those words are not used to describe the Jewish people's reaction in Egypt no where does it say that was the reaction to the place and it doesn't say that they had all for a chef and for Moses that reaction is not recorded in Egypt that is what tells you what happened that the see was far more spectacular than what happened in Egypt it's that finger in hand to tell you that is the fact that the Torah describes the reaction of the people at the sea uniquely in a way that transcends their reaction in Egypt having established that what happened at the sea is much greater than what happened in Egypt then God it looks for an indication of comparison so then it says in Egypt it says finger in or the see it says hey that's five times as much but the the idea is not based on finger in hand and five times as much the idea is based on the fact that the Jews believed in God and had all for God and further lead to Moses at the sea and not in Egypt that's what established that it was greater it compares me to thinking hey it's just a way of quantifying that I'll be getting so far okay now listen wants to multiply by four and he wants to multiply by five underlying the numbers my names of God the most famous most central name of God has four letters you another name very central not ads but very central very common the name that's spelled a low key all Islamic hated men has five letters those names connote different qualities different types of action different purposes in particular the four-letter name indicates mercy and the five lunar name indicates strict judgment and Punishment what's at stake here is how you see the exodus from Egypt what was the purpose of the process what was its goal what was the underlying dynamic was it mercy for the oppressed Jews or was it justice against the oppressors the Egyptians in truth of course both factors were irrelevant the question is what's the essence of the process in particular what was going on when the Egyptians were hit in Egypt and when they were destroyed it to see what was the dominant factor so you take a verse which does describe the Exodus that verse does describe the excess that God sent among its great anchor and so forth so when you count it up since the first phrase could be a title and the rest could be the explanation you have an option between counting it as four or five four and five it is not based on textual considerations it's based on conceptual considerations how do you understand the nature of the process that's really what's going on in these few paragraphs at least a little piece of it how would together in particular this is related to a verse when God comes to Moses at the burning bush and he says to him go down a rescue the Jewish people Moses has a raft of rejections you're all tradition says that the discussion took place over a week one of the things that Moses says to God is when I come to Egypt they're going to ask me what is your name what shall I tell them Maimonides in the guide queries this statement let's see now Moses is there in the wilderness with God God says to go down and rescue the Jews I was it says when I get there they're gonna ask him what is your name why should I tell them they are gonna ask that why would they yes ma'am what's the point of a question like that what could he possibly tell him tell them what could they be possibly looking for a name that they already know so he knows the name that they know so what what would that prove and then they don't know something could say that's not genuine it's not really his name why is Moses anticipating they're gonna ask him what his name is when there's absolutely no point in that question none whatsoever so a lot of these gives an answer from a philosophical aspect another true answer is from really a Kabbalistic they're going to say to Moses okay God is going to free us from Egypt why is he doing that what's the purpose of his doing that in particular is it mercy for us or justice for the Egyptians and it makes a gigantic difference because if it's justice for the Egyptians and the Egyptians are going to be destroyed and we will be the benefactors the focus is on them they've committed crimes they're going to be punished for it and we will be unburdened if it's mercy for us mercy has to be earned mercy isn't free mercy requires some kind of justification and then the focus could be on the Jews to do something to deserve it so it makes a big difference to them which it is and indeed the answers that God gives to Moses to give to the people indicate two factors neither of which is mercy one of which is a promise that he made to the patriarchs and the other which is that this is serving my purposes that are above and beyond any other consideration their purposes that serve the purpose of the whole of creation and no precondition is necessary no precondition and no cooperation is necessary both are factors in the in the exits at any rate just pointing out that this is something which is already at it at the initiation of the project looking for some understanding what the dynamics are in the project and I think these three paragraphs are other things addressing that question okay now we come to one of the most famous and mysterious parts of our God Ino sing it with great enthusiasm there fifteen stages of the Exodus for each one we say if a Shem had done only that it would have been enough very hard to take this literally let's see if you had brought us out of Egypt that's all in particular he hadn't given us the Torah no Torah hadn't Barthel individual just comedy gypte then you know wander around the Sinai Peninsula maybe two sometimes a place in Ethiopia and how could anyone think that that would be enough Brodus the Mount Sinai and didn't give us the Torah one of the fifty explicit very peculiar verses stanzas the simplest understanding is that when we say that yeah knew me mean it would have been enough to justify celebration about what we would enough to justify celebration not that we could imagine living without it but whatever enough to sit justify celebration that on its own and the second element is that every one of these represents a miraculous interaction that God caused that miraculous event in the world and what we're saying is that if only one had been miraculous and all the rest had taken place in natural means it would have been enough to justify so a celebration as it is all 50 miraculous so at that point I think it becomes at least understandable we're we're expressing our sense of obligation and privilege that we are celebrating what God has done for us and what we're saying is we have 15 elements to celebrate and to justify the celebration one done with an open miracle would have been enough by the way if you look carefully you'll see that they divided up into three fives one is the destruction of Egyptians and the others are freedom and sand supplying us and one is our spirituality you can count them up and you can see that there are five so we could finished with the 15 and we said that anyone would have enough and then we say all the more so that God did all these things for us let me give a list all the way up to the end and then a few words are added the last thing in the 15 separate verses is he built the temple for us then the paragraph that's how much more so goes through or 15 and says built us the temple to atone for all our sins that's the way it is that must tell you for years maybe it was even decades every time I got to that part Gullah my heart would sink we're talking about God's salvation we're talking about God's favoring us and bringing us out of appearance they receive the Torah everything is good everything's positive everything is upbeat ah and then to atone for all our sins I found that very depressing finally it occurred that I asked my review about this question and explained to his father did you you've got it exactly wrong exactly upside down think of the list of what God has done he brought us out of Egypt I said judgments against the Egyptians against their gods through the firstborn gave us stairwells but to see for us let us wind dry land your honor oppressors provide it for our needs in the desert for 40 years fed us manna give us the Sabbath was before Mount Sinai gave us the Torah brother the Land of Israel suppose after all of that we feel him wouldn't it be reasonable appropriate the God to say after all of that you fail me that's too much it's just too much I give up you're hopeless forget it I invested all of that you still turned your back on me some of you still worship idols so it's over it's over no that goddess says that God cares for us so much he's committed to us so strongly that even if after all of what he did for us we fail him his concern is that we should be able to atone for our sins not to give us up not to abandon us but no even after all of that have an agency by which we can atone for our sins so this is an expression of God's love for us which is essentially without women that's what it's coming to see everyone once you explain that to me I felt very differently about this I feel even more happy even more supportive even more exalted I say that he gave us the bill to the Torah to atone for our sins together okay now comes another piece of the Haggadah which needs thought Gamliel said anyone who doesn't recite the following three paragraphs has not fulfilled this obligation the three paragraphs explained the symbolism of the three things that we eat at the Seder the Paschal sacrifice the matzah and the bitter herbs which obligation didn't we fulfill let me describe to you and I Eve Seder comes it that the Seder and see what do we have to do what the rulebook say one rule is tell the excess for Egypt okay let's take out the book of Exodus isn't that where the excess meat is written the book of exes think so and let's read the first 19 chapters good terrific we said really together okay we did that now what else this is a rule book eat Paschal sacrifice matzah and more bring it out we'll be doing this for three and a half hours I'm starving you know bring on the food I'll eat the food there were four bits us to do and we did each of them how could it become they'll say that if we don't read his three paragraphs we didn't fulfill our obligation what didn't we fulfill so first of all you have to know that all the commentators agree when it says you didn't - allegation it means we didn't fulfill it in the best possible way of course you told the story you told the story eight to three hundred the three of them but there's something missing in the performance where is what's missing and here the commentators are divided some say that the telling of the story is missing and some say that the commandments of eating those objects is missing why what's the common theme the common theme is that the recital of the Haggadah is not an intellectual gesture it's a reliving of the experience of the exodus many elements in our go to which indicate that I get to the end I'll go back and go through them again I think I did last week when we started this now if it's a question of reliving what happened to them when they sat down in Egypt the last night in Egypt and they eat bitter herbs what did that mean to them it wasn't just spicy you know like like the Yemenites candy things that just turn put you on fire and somehow they managed to enjoy it they're made of sterner stuff it wasn't just a spice they were just attending 90 years of bitter slavery they knew what bitter herbs meant they know what the matzah meant matzah is something which if you go to the matzo factories to see how it's it's it's it's baked average time for the water hitting the flour - coming out of the oven is 12 minutes don't make a mistake about the 18 minute rule the 18 minute rule is not the length of time it takes to bake the matzo how long you can use the implements without stopping and thoroughly washing and cleaning everything because maybe they're crumbs leftover average time it takes for each dough from beginning of its process to the ends I've 12 this if you're a slave you don't home at night you're exhausted so then you don't want baked Acala which might take two hours you're hungry so you eat something which is simple and direct and quick to prepare they knew what a team at cement and we'll see an extra meaningful mats in a moment Paschal sacrifice the Egyptians are dying all around them - screaming and wailing in the streets and God is saving them so the feast that they had in Egypt was a feast full of meaning if we're gonna relive that event it took place to them we have to eat with meaning if we don't eat with meaning we're not doing what they did so although we filled the fulfilled the bier letter of the law we told the story and we ate those foods there's an element missing because when they ate it it was symbolic for therefore for us it also has to be symbolic and then you could say if you ate it without symbolism that because you failed to tell the story adequately and the others say if you if you ate it without symbolism the eating itself is deficient either way could even do I might be both okay that's introduction now let's see what the symbolism is here I think we have a bit of a surprise Pesach the pastor sacrifice that our ancestors ate in the land in Egypt at that time when the and they I'm sorry and they they ate it when the temple was in existence so you could offer the sacrifice what was it what's the reason for it because Hashem plus off on our houses in Egypt now I know you are trained to read passed over and that's what your translation says because that's what every translation says but I will show you that's not quite the core to many it's not quite correct as it says you shall declare this is the tourists telling us how to celebrate Passover in future years you shall be clear this is the offering of Pesa when Hashem puts us on our houses when he struck the Egyptians the spirit our houses and spirit is now a trick of the translator to avoid difficulties for him because I've been telling I'm gonna show you the translations could be done otherwise the word in the in the Torah is saved not spared but saved he saved our houses and the people bowed down and prostrating themselves now already he put it saved and something sounds funny what's my supposed to picture God is striking down the Egyptian scroll from Egyptian highest magician house if passes over our houses doesn't take any he doesn't interact with our houses that although some Egyptian ousted Egyptian house right so that's true then why our houses needs to be saved what are being saved from another verse says that God will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses maintain her Majesty's love oil but they about take them partly there was a destroyer and God doesn't allow him now let me tell you what the word pisaq at least elsewhere some places elsewhere into time the rock means when Elijah addresses the people who are both worshipping Baal and worshiping God it was what's called what the historians called syncretism it's an amalgamation of two different religious traditions they didn't abandon the Jewish tradition they just added bow worship to their repertoire Elijah says to them how long are you going to jump from one to the other pase I'll stay Hussey whew you're jumping from one position to the other the word there is passe same word that'sa the word test up there means jumping between two positions from one to the other from one to the other landing I want and then landing on the other that's opposed to F knees and since the Torah there says that there's a mattress I'm a destroyer the picture we get now according to this approach is when God came and the Egyptians were destroyed destruction of the firstborn God let loose a destroyer to go through the land and as the destroyer approached a Jewish house God stood at the Jewish house and didn't let it come in and that way he saved the Jewish house not passing over the Jewish houses he's jumping from Jewish house to Jewish house landing on his church house and in that way he saves that you were chalice from the destroyer tired of opposite issue picture entirely opposite picture and that's what justifies in this verse the word save God's action his own personal action was saving not pitting at any rate we eat the corn pass stuff now it becomes very dramatic because you're reading that sacrifice what God says I want you to offer the prayer of sacrifice and put the blood on them as Usos that's the vertical parts of the doorframe and the lintel put the blood there and I will see the blood and I'll pass over you and I will and your houses will not be hit so now that means this the presence of it there is what guarantees being saved now look carefully the text you see that the blood was put on the inside of the house not on the outside of the house but on the inside of the house it isn't as if God needs a visible sign - which one is the Jewish house - no with any method or Schwarz okay so I could assuage God doesn't need that obviously what God wants is that the performance should be a performance that you're proud of but you put there for everyone in the family to see that any question your identification is what God recognizes and what he does is he lands on the house and saves it from the destruction so they knew what that Paschal sacrifice meant it meant the Egyptians are dying and we're not dying because we offered it we're eating it and the blood is on the is on the doorframe if you sit there on the night of Pesach in the temple and you say wow what a nice piece of meat ah this is really great you've missed it you've missed it you're not doing what they did doesn't mean to you what it meant to them that's the first one matzah now here there's a very tricky element I had very elaborate theory about this and then my son-in-law one of my sons the law pointed out that you do have it we're cheaply it's always better to do it cheaper don't have elaborate theoretical machinery when you can do it simply but the point that I wanted to make still is there and I want to bring it out let's read it through and then I'll try to explain to you why do we eat this unleavened bread because the dull of our fathers did not have time to become leavened before the king of kings the Holy One blessed be he revealed himself to them and he deemed that as it is written they bake the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened bread for it is not fermented because they were driven out of Egypt I could not delay nor had they prepared any provisions for the way now there's a lot going on here this verse which the Buddha paragraph ends is describing the experience of the Jews twenty-four hours after the death of the firstborn they're the first one took place at night following warning they left they trekked for twelve hours it was roughly the equinox they trekked for 12 hours till nightfall and encamped set up a camp and then they took the dough that they brought out from Egypt with them they took that dough and they baked it into matzah to unleavened bread there's 16 of the Sun not the 15th this refers to the bread they ate after they left that's what this verse is talking about they bake the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened bread now why did they bake it unlimited because it didn't ferment why didn't it ferment because they were driven out of Egypt they could not delay those words are very important it means that had they been given the opportunity to delay they would have delay they weren't in any hurry indeed they had it go what were they gonna do with it though then we're gonna bake Max's you know Burman watches angel boxes I have some stuff let's try that again sorry got a big bake real cup for the journey following night when they come to a stopping place that's what they're gonna eat the radford saran wrap you know plastic bags and I'll take care of it I you tell me but what I mean it's pacer how could they do that answer that's year the prohibition against comets was only one day and there was no prohibition against only comments only prohibition against eating hummus so they said terrific it's not a seder crackers and only crackers that's all tomorrow morning we're gonna be trekking tomorrow night we'll have commas why not that was their attitude and they had been able to delay some extra time to be able to make to make it into Hollis in Egypt that's what they would have done something special around now but the Egyptians kicked it out push them out these hipsters came to them and said we're all time get up or we're all dead that's what they said they push this explicit in the verses of them using any other any other material now so they get to the end of the trek it's a following night then I kind of baked Colin now they're tired they're hungry and they made matzah at a time when they could have eaten Harlem they could have eaten hummus they made matzah that's what the verse describes so now let's go back to beginning of the paragraph why do we eat this unleavened bread the night of the 15th our Seder the night when they were still slaves or that's a there was there was still Egypt because the dough of our fathers did not have time to become leaven bread for the king of cakes the Holy One revealed us up and redeemed them the message of the power guess what I learned for my son law is only speed it's only speed we're eating matcha to remind ourselves of the fact that we left quickly without delay we left so quickly that the dough that they prepare to eat the following night didn't have time to leaven they couldn't couldn't make collars that they eat not to the following night all that is just to illustrate the speed with which we left them for eating matzah that night because of the speed with which we left which raises a problem you know if you ask me of course nobody's asking me but someone asked me why we eat matzah on our Seder I would say because they've months at their Seder excuse me they were commanded to eat the Paschal sacrifice with matzah why not say we're doing what they did why push it off to something peripheral secondary yes it symbolizes the speed and symbolizing of the speed is taken from a description of the matter of the eight the following night the DOE didn't rise because they were kicked out so quickly why do that why make it why make it a symbol of something other than what actually was going on then part of the reason is that the matzo undergoes a transition in the Haggadah we're not gonna start so we say hold off my onion line it means a bread of poverty Anja means impoverishment means lack of resources here now it's alluding to the bread of freedom the matzah is being described here they ate in the night of the 16th they're already out of Egypt they're free the matzah undergoes a transition and the valar Gerda wants us to focus on the transition to freedom not on the slavery part to then when they ate at the night of the seder it was like a borderline event they weren't slaves anymore but they were still in Egypt two things happened to respect them are to that night one was about four they ate the other was the dog that they prepared to eat when they the following night which stayed unleavened also which stayed matzah like preparation for matzah also and God wants us to focus on the transition to matzah freedom and that's why he uses this peripheral element that's what I believe I believe this might understand more cause the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers in Egypt description of terrible better work that they had to do now every generation is one's duty regard himself as little he personally he's going out of Egypt I pointed out at the beginning when it says we were slaves we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt there it means our nation was slaves the very next sentence says if God had not taken our ancestors out we would have been slaves here he's talking about us as you'll see the power goes on there's a different perspective that we sitting in 2016 have to regard ourselves and please personally going out of Egypt as it says this is versus now you shall tell you something that day there's because of this that I Shem did for me that's the literal Hebrew so your son is asking you one hundred years later a thousand years later about what happened what are we doing this for what's this all about and the father says to the son is because of this that I Shem did for me when I went out of Egypt son hearing those words hears his father was a slave in Egypt and father left and if he has any ambiguity in your mind because of the paragraph before which our ancestors I thought it goes out of its way to tell you exactly what it means it was not only our fathers whom are the Holy One from slavery no not just our ancestors we too were redeemed with them that's absolutely honest as is written he brought us out of there so if I take us to the land when she promised talk about so this here is an expression of what I said before that the whole point of this performance is a rien singh of the exodus so you see that here the goethe actually says it now as a subtle point in this paragraph which is due to the borrow what is the difference between the two verses that I got a sites shall tell you son of that day is because of this that Hashem did for me when I went out of Egypt he brought us out of there so his might take us to the land which I might promise are forever with our Father they're two different perspectives here one is me and the other is us and this is a continuous double dynamic because God has in mind this Jewish people its unique position in the world it's test to accomplish something in the world as a collectivity and he has in mind each and every individual Jew and both are crucial and that Jew has to feel that he took me out as individual and also that I play a role in the nation as a whole and because I play that role I'm associated with I'm part of the mission of the people as a whole both are elements that are relevant to the person's life it's a little bit like the biological structure of the human body where we have few trillion cells and they're divided up into different categories they do very many different things yeah muscle cells and nerve cells and red corpuscles but every one of them has the same DNA it's just a different parts of DNA are expressed in their development so the one hand they're all identical the other hand each one is unique similarly that we play a role it's part of the nation play a differentiated role but you also have an individual individual significance and of yourself not just the differentiated role that you play these have either and the point that's being made is that the exodus from Egypt isn't a one-time event that's just happened in history it will use the right word vague enough its expressive of a continuing potential that this date has human history for us has the visual shape of a spatial shape of a corkscrew what some people call a spiral looks like this you rotate around 360 360 degrees so each time you make a rotation come back to the same point on the circular motion but you're also moving forward so come back to the exact same point in space but you're back to the same orientation and that means that whatever character a date has that character repeats in history over and over again and that means that the seder is a liberation moment for every Jewish individual participates in it understands it and experiences it the appropriate way can be about a liberation point for each and every one then each one can sing because if I left Egypt as well the word mitzraim in Hebrew comes from word which means boundaries mates are means a boundary a wall a stopping place there are times in life when a person feels Walden walled in there's no way out mental resources I can't do it I can't make it and there are times when suddenly a fissure appears in the wall and you'll be able to slide out that's right that's what miss Ryan was reputation with Ryan was no slave ever escaped no slave ever escaped the walls are impenetrable okay and then when God wants it the walls fall down and that similar experience is available to us okay then we start the hollow we then say therefore as I duty thank praise pay tribute and so forth and so on because God provided us with all of this salvation and benefit the word therefore is very important really really this kind of ecstatic praise use of when he was called Shiro as the text will say in a couple of moments is to recognize an experience just reading about knowing analyzing and understanding intellectually does not justify this kind of praising this kind of praise is reserved for actually experiencing it and I think that's why it says therefore the previous paragraph says every generation each person has to look at himself as if he personally left Egypt therefore it's up to us to express that and in this type of this type of phrase now I'll just tell you one little thing the end of this paragraph says let us recite a new song before him wooden Hebrew is Shira then come to progress from Psalms of Apollo which we will analyze tomorrow such a thing comes a paragraph of a blessing and the very end of the blessing it says we will then sing a new song of praise for you and there it's sheer same word just one has a feminine grammar it was a masculine grammar she rose family sheer is masculine commentators say that there's a difference women experience a type of salvation regularly in childbirth first of all they're carrying a baby for nine months and that has its own strains and difficulties and dangers birth is a very dangerous condition it used to be that many babies died many women died in childbirth and the fact that they typically the death rate is very very low today from our point of view it doesn't mean it's not dangerous it's dangerous and we know how to overcome the danger the fact you know how to overcome danger doesn't mean there's no danger when you put insulation on your electric wiring does mean it's like requiring some dangers it means it's not gonna hurt you because you're protected yourself against the danger so Shiro connotes a female type solid salvation which means a temporary salvation but there'll be another danger in the future they hope and pray they'll be another danger threesome is another child right they want that to happen shear in the masculine connotes a salvation that we permanent there won't be and that's why it's when in the end of the last paragraph here is we referring to what will happen the temples rebuilt and then there will be no more dangers no more no more oppressions and that's why it's masculine and feminine just a little piece of vocabulary show you how carefully the text is constructed you