Top 10 Divrei Torah on the Haggadah to Inspire Your Family!

Okay, good afternoon everyone. Shalom aleichem to the Monday afternoon national park kosher. This is our last year before Yom Tov. Today's sheer we're going to share top 10 divrei Torah to inspire your family for the Yom Tov of Pesach. Welcome everybody. Uh few brief announcements. Firstly, this is our last opportunity. Make sure you're well equipped for Pesach. You can get in Russian Magda Kia in Russian you can get the art scroll Haggadah available in stores near you. And make sure you get the latest Siddur and more. Just came to America via Jordan. And if anybody wants to participate in upcoming publications, we have a lot in the queue. The art scroll edition of Siddur the safer Israel of the Chofetz Chaim in English. In English and a number of including Please contact us. And let us begin. Here we go. I want to share with you 10 classic divrei Torah. But not just divrei Torah, not just one-liners, but ideas that reverberate, ideas that are a lens to be able to transmit the main themes of the Haggadah. Okay. We know that on Yom Kippur the minhag is to wear a kittel. And the reason brought in the Rama is to wear white. It's like the heavenly angels. And therefore the minhag is to wear a kittel which is white and clean. Also, the kittel is the beged of mesim, the dead are buried in their kittel, and this subdues our heart on Yom Kippur. Now, the minhag of wearing a kittel at the seder is not as uh documented as the minhag of wearing a kittel on Yom Kippur. In other words, the tradition of wearing a kittel at the seder is not founded in the nice in the as is the minhag of wearing a kittel on Yom Kippur. So, the question is what exactly is the reason to wear the kittel on Yom Kippur? So, the Sofer, not to be confused with the Sofer, descendant of the Sofer, he says the same reason we wear it on Yom Kippur, namely to subdue our hearts, to remind us of our fatality, of our our temporary nature in this world, of the fleeting existence of this world. That is the same reason we do it on seder. But on seder we're doing it for a completely different reason. Cuz you many ask, the last thing that we want to be reminded of on the seder, on the Yom Tov, on the on the time of is our fatality. Nobody wants to be thinking about their death on the on a day of great joy. No, says the Sofer. Actually, we're doing it for a completely different purpose altogether. And that is because even though we are always charged to transmit the values of the Torah and Judaism to our children, which is one of our most important and sacred tasks in this world, to give over the to our children. However, maybe during the other times of the year it's not as conducive and we don't have the ability and the time and our children may not have the receptivity to accept from us and to be attentive to what we're offering to them. But of course there is no night like the seder for the parent to give over to the child the values of Judaism. And therefore to remind the father of what a precious time and moment this is and how one should not let this moment go by the wayside. We gently remind the father. We say remember this is how you're going to be buried. How much time do we have in this world? How many more do we have? Even if somebody has 70, 80, 90 years ahead of them, that's not a lot of days. That's not a lot of days. 70 days is not is not a long time. So, okay, you live in you live in you have 140. 140 days of a year is not a long time. So, on the one day a year that we're able to fulfill our objective in this world more than any other day, we remind ourselves this day doesn't come by all the time and they're not that many of them in our in the rest of our existence. And therefore we put on the kittel to highlight the the urgency of the day, the urgency of the time, the urgency of the moment. To remind us that how many more opportunities do we have to fulfill this sacred task? I'm going to Freedman adds the other reason that we wear a kittel on Yom Kippur also applies on Pesach. The other reason is on Yom Kippur we wear a kittel to resemble the heavenly angels. Well, since it is our responsibility and our our task in this world on the Yom Tov of Pesach to teach Torah to our children, to give over to our children the values of Judaism. You know, the says in there that what kind of rabbi should one attach themselves to? What kind of rabbi should one pursue? Should one uh should one uh learn from? So, the teaches the in there that says you should does the Torah you me should seek from him. That in the if the rabbi is like an angel, you Torah me you should seek Torah from his mouth. Then I'll tell you to you. Otherwise, don't seek Torah from his mouth. So, now on this sacred night when we're charged to teach Torah to our children, our children might say Dad, Daddy, Father, I would like to take advantage of the opportunity to learn Torah from you, but the says that only if your rabbi is like a heavenly angel should we learn Torah from them. So, we say, "Kid, look at me. At least one day a year I'm wearing the kittel. I'm like one of the heavenly angels." So, in order to fulfill our task of being like to give over to our children, to give over Torah to our children, we put on [clears throat] this outfit, almost costume. At least on this occasion we're like now. It's interesting. I remember there was uh a year from Krakow in two garden hills who I had I was close with. Uh his name was David Cooperman. The say I say to you he was a survivor of the Holocaust. He published many of Jews who lived in Krakow like the and I think he also published from the Hamda. He was uh a great philanthropist. And he would say as follows. What does it mean that if your rabbi is like an angel, you should learn Torah from him? There are three things we know about the angels. There are three things we know about the angels. Number one, they're straight. They're straight. They're straight. So, the one the first thing is if you want a rabbi, he has to be a straight guy. Forget the holiness part. Forget the the sanctity. Is he straight? If he's straight, he has that quality of an angel that you should seek Torah from him. Number two, it says The angels, they cover their face with two of their wings, they cover their legs with two of the wings, and they flap with two of the wings. They only reveal part of their ammunition. But a lot of what they do remains hidden. So, too, the rabbi. If he tells you everything he does and everything he knows, no, he's not like an angel. But if he's mostly hidden and he only reveals a bit of what's going on, so in general his approach is that of modesty. That is a quality of a worthwhile rabbi. And the third quality is Adam. They need to be down to earth. They need to be normal. They need to be normal. If they're up in the heavens and they can't relate to the affairs of this world? No, they're not doing the malchus of pneihem pnei adam. They have to be down to earth. Okay, that's what he used to say. And I remember at his levaya there were gdolei Yisrael who said that over in his name. Okay, that's the first idea on the seder, >> [clears throat] >> the the the message of the kittel. A, the urgency of the moment, and B, that we have to assume a very big role the night of the seder. Number two, kadesh urchatz. The famous question is, we said this over by shaal shudus this week, that the one night of the year that we pride [clears throat] ourselves that we do things in order, we do them out of order. As the Shem Mi Shmuel, usually the the procedure is verach tzvas v'sant v'sam simlai sayach. Usually you wash something and then you paint it, you wash it, and then you shine it, you wash it, then you polish it. And yet the night of the seder, instead of following the procedure of sor mera and then fa'aseh tov, we do kadesh, we jump into kedusha and only then we do urchatz and only then we cleanse ourselves, only then we clean. That's that's order? That's out of order. It's the one time a year that we have this program of seder and we do things completely out of order. So, what's the explanation for this? Why are we Why the night of the year that we pride ourselves that we're doing things in order, do we do things out of order? So, the Shem Mi Shmuel would say from the Avnei Nezer as follows, that in yetzias Mitzrayim, there was a special order. When Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim, we were on the 49th level of tumah. Had we remained there a moment longer, we would fall into the point of no return. We had a slave mentality. We had low morale. We had no mitzvahs. We were airuvin b'araya. And Hashem tells us on that night, kadesh, just jump into kedusha. It's the it's an opportunity. It's the one time a year we do things specifically out of order. That we're not afraid to jump into kedusha despite our shortcomings despite our tumah, despite our lowliness. The order of the night of the seder is one that is out of order. It's a unique opportunity. Shabbos Hagadol, we spoke about how Pesach is issarusa d'eilah. It's an inspiration from on high. So, even when we're unworthy, even when we're uh on a very low level, we're able to jump into kedusha and we worry about cleaning off our sins, we worry about it for a different time. Friend, my the third idea is from the Chasam Sofer. Even though I don't think the Chasam Sofer said this, it's found in the Haggadah of the Chasam Sofer and they quote the drashos of the Chasam Sofer. I do not think it's in the drashos of the Chasam Sofer. If anyone there if anyone out there knows where in the writings of the Chasam Sofer this originally appeared, please tell me. It's a beautiful idea. I like it because I remember I heard it as a kid. And the only thing is when I looked it up, it wasn't there. And I don't think it's there. But it's a beautiful idea nevertheless. It's attributed to the Chasam Sofer. By the way, you know I always say, you know, some people say have this beautiful dvar Torah. Who says it? Um uh I don't remember who says it. Pal, could What do you mean you don't remember who says it? So, what exactly are you telling me? You you made this up? You found it somewhere? No, it's only as good as where it came from. You need to know where where you saw it. He said, I saw it on a parsha sheet. You you didn't look it up? You need to look it up. Otherwise, how do you know it's true? No, if it's on a holy parsha sheet, it must be true. No. No, that has no bearing on reality. You must look up things in their original source. Otherwise, it could be a series of tales that people spun until it got to the last sheet that you saw. No, you must have the learning sophistication to be able to look things up in their original source. So, that's why I'm admitting to you. This what I'm showing you now is not from the original source. It is a beautiful idea nevertheless. Yes, there is a concept. There are certain ideas that stand on their own merit. There is a safer called Chiskuni al haTorah, one of the Rishonim that would not quote his sources because he was afraid when you quote your sources, then sometimes people say, "Oh, the Chasam Sofer says it, then it's for sure." Yeah, sometimes you there is value in judging things by their content and their credibility and their compelling inherent nature. Nevertheless, uh notwithstanding that, it is very important always to try to find the source of something. Um but when it comes to this dvar Torah, I do not think the Chasam Sofer says it. And it goes as follows. Why do we start the Haggadah in Aramaic? I mean, come on. Reb Tzvi, you speak Aramaic? You speak Aramaic at home? I don't Not usually. Usually when I talk to you, we speak in English. I don't know too many people here on the shiur that speak in Aramaic. Imagine if I came to on the shiur, "Tzafra tav l'chulcha", you know? That would be weird. That would be a little strange. We don't speak Aramaic. Why would the Haggadah begin in Aramaic? Okay, the Ritzva says it was uh it was enacted in the times of the Bavli. But it is attributed to the Chasam Sofer the following idea based on the Gemara in Shabbos daf yud beis amud beis, that when Rebbi Elazar would be mevaker the choila, he would be mevarech them in Aramaic, rachmana yidkarinach l'shalam. And the question is, but uh chazal tell us that if you ask for your needs in Aramaic, the heavenly angels do not assist in bringing up your tefillah. And Rebbi Elazar would respond by a choila, it's different because the shchinah is above the head of the choila, like it says, "Hashem yisadenu al eretz divai." And the Chasam Sofer uh supposedly attribute extrapolated that just like when you're davening in the presence of a choila, you could daven in Aramaic because of the presence of the shchinah, so too when at you're at the leil seder, the Zohar Hakadosh says Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself, b'chol pamalya d'eilah, with his whole retinue of angels, comes and is at the seder. So, if the Ribono shel Olam himself is at the seder, you don't need the angels to bring him the tefillah. The Ribono shel Olam himself hears the tefillah. So, we don't need the malachei hashareis. So, in order to set the tone, in order to set the table, so to speak, and bring out the idea that is none other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself who's present at our seder, we start by davening in Aramaic in order that to convey to our company, to our family, to our children, that we're not just sitting here in the privacy of our homes, but we're in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself. And just like when you're at the bedside of a choila, you could daven in Aramaic, so too the night of the seder, we begin in Aramaic. Here's an idea that Rebbi Moshe Shapiro brings from none other than the Ram Mi Pano. The Arizal teaches that matzah is called lechem oni. Oni is spelled ani. The numerical value of lechem oni without a vav is 208. You know why? Because of the arba banim. Echad chacham v'echad rasha v'echad tam v'echad she'eino yodea lishol. Ben ben ben ben. Four times ben is 208, lechem oni. Okay, that's the Arizal. Says Rebbi Moshe Shapiro, another point. You know, we ask the question. I'm going to take a poll over here. I don't know if anyone's actually listening, but the poll goes to you, Reb Tzvi. You're going to answer. Um and at your seder, do they say the Mah Nishtanah? No. No, I didn't think so. But no, you're just joking. Of course they do. And the Mah Nishtanah begins with They say it quietly, but not loudly. Mah. Mah Nishtanah. Mah. So, how many children say Mah Nishtanah? So, so you would think four. No, not four. The chacham says mah ha'eidus v'hachukim The rasha says mah avodah zo lachem. The tam says mazois. But the she'eino yodea lishol doesn't say mah. Yeah? So, only three kids are saying mah. Fine, just pointing that out. We ask these questions. Why do we eat matzah the night of the seder and every other night of the year we eat chametz and matzah? So, that question maybe we'll come around to answering toward the end. And why we eat maror? Okay, maybe we'll get to. Why we lean? We never answer that question. Isn't that interesting? We ask the question, we never give an answer. What about dipping? We never answer the question about dipping. You know? where do we at? And by the way, Jews got so into the dipping, they get they're so confused by the question of dipping that as the years goes on, by every Shabbos table, more and more dips. They dip six times, seven times, eight times. Why? Because they're traumatized. They've been asking their parents for centuries, why do we dip? Why do we dip? And they don't have an answer. So, they It's amazing. Every as the year goes on, there's more and more dips. So, what's the answer to these questions? We don't answer the question. Says Reb Moshe Shapiro from the Ramami Pano, the answer to the three mas, ma ma ma, 135, matzah is gematria, ma ma ma. Matzah is lechem demeyhemenusa is the bread of emunah. Matzah is the bread of faith. Once you eat the matzah, all questions are answered. We don't have any questions. We have nothing to We have no queries anymore. We have no questions anymore. So, uh the significance of the gematria of matzah is 135 45 45 45 equals 135. Okay. Next. Now, I'm going to ask a very personal question. What do you do for simcha on Yom Tov? Or on a Yom Tov? Okay, you need to drink wine. You have to drink wine on Yom Tov. Okay, fine. You need to eat meat on Yom Tov. What about are you allowed to just like stay up all night? No, it's you're afflicting yourself. I don't know about you. I find sleep is part of on a Yom Tov. That's why I'm I feel very honored that Yom Tov night between Mincha Maariv, it's I feel it a very big honor. I get to speak. And if I could do Yidden a chesed and give them some good sleep, then I'm giving Yidden simchas Yom Tov. Sometimes people come, "Rav, I had so much simcha from your drasha. You really gave me simchas Yom Tov." And I really did. I did. Like they never had before. The whole day, you know, they're home, the their wife says, "Could you take the kids out? Could you clean up the table? Could you help me out a little bit?" And there by the time the day is up, they're they're groggy, they're tired, they're cranky. They're going to wring someone's neck. And then they come to Mincha, they have They're like livid during Mincha. And it's amazing, my my talents, that within minutes, their breathing gets much slower. They're so calm. And then under 10 minutes, they're mamesh bemenuha. I'm just afraid they already went to Olam Haba. So, I try to at one point I try to get them get them back. And then they come over, "Rav, that was the best drasha I ever heard." They said. It's amazing. And I feel I feel very good. I have a tafkid in this world, you know, to give Yidden simcha. So, s- sleeping on Yom Tov is a very very big Actually, one time there was a rav, he was able to put people uh to sleep so proficiently that as he's walking up to the podium, the guy was already out cold. The rav was livid. He said, "I didn't even start yet." Guy said, "Rav, I trust you. I have faith in you." So, um Anyway, sleep on Yom Tov is a great simcha. It's simchas Yom Tov. Could somebody please tell me why there were three five tana'im Reb Eliezer ben Reb Eliezer Rebbi uh Rebbi Yehoshua Rebbi Eliezer ben Azarya Rebbi Akiva Rebbi Tarfon Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai and they were talking about Yitziat Mitzrayim the whole night. What do you mean the whole night? That's afflictive. That's painful. That's painful. Don't tell me they enjoyed staying up after 2:00. After 1:00, I don't even uh my mind doesn't even work anymore, you know? 2:00 a.m.? Uh you know, like a zombie. What exactly What were they doing at 2:00 in the morning? They're still talking about Yitziat Mitzrayim. By the way, to add insult to injury, there's a Lamda Shikasha in the Mishkenos Yakov. The Mishkenos Yakov asks that Rebbi Eliezer ben Azarya holds that Korban Pesach is only till chatzois. And if Korban Pesach is only till chatzois, matzah is only till chatzois. And if matzah is only till chatzois, sippur Yitziat Mitzrayim is only till chatzois. So, what was Rebbi Eliezer ben Azarya doing talking about Yitziat Mitzrayim after chatzois? The mitzvah is over. That's like a guy coming into shul on on Shiv'a Asar Betamus shaking a lulav and esrog. Imagine a guy came in on Shiv'a Asar Betamus. He's shaking a lulav and esrog. So, what are you doing? I'm being mekayem the mitzvah of lulav and esrog. Tell but it's not Sukkos. You know, there's zemanim for a mitzvah. Why would Rebbi Eliezer ben Azarya be speaking about Yitziat Mitzrayim after chatzois? Says Rebbi Abravanel, these shleimim, I love that terminology when referring to the tana'im. In other words, the ultimate You know, there's a big big machlokes between gedolei haposkim, what's the right mahalach in life? Is the right mahalach in life just learn Torah? Or is the right mahalach in life thank you Hashem? Right? The the two two streams of of Jewish practice is the Is it just learn Torah or thank you Hashem? And the answer is the model of ideal Jewish observance is to be a shalem. Shalem means that one is steeped in learning, in scholarship, complemented by yiras Shamayim, complemented by deveikus Hashem, complemented by middos tovos. What do you call that? You don't call it just learn Torah. You don't call it thank you Hashem. You call it shleimus. Shleimus. Anyway, don't tell anybody I said that, you know. Okay. But any um be it as it may, says Rebbi Abravanel, these shleimim were fulfilling a completely different objective. The objective is, aside from the technical mitzvah of sippur Yitziat Mitzrayim, there's a mitzvah to relive the experience. Chayav adam The Rambam's nusach is leharos es atzmo. You have to show yourself as if you yourself left Mitzrayim. And when we left Mitzrayim, we were leaving the entire night. That night, they were osek in mitzvos in matzah and maror. And then they So, these shleimim spent the night being mesaber Yitziat Mitzrayim. Um The Rebbi Abravanel says that when Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim, they spent the first part of the night being osek in the mitzvos, matzah Pesach matzah maror, and then they left. So, these shleimim emulated in order to reenact and act out and feel that they themselves were leaving Egypt, they stayed up all night not to fulfill the technical requirement of sippur Yitziat Mitzrayim, but to fulfill the mitzvah of chayav adam leharos es atzmo ke'ilu yatz'a Mitzrayim. Next. The amazing words of Rav Saadia Gaon, brought in Rabbeinu Yonah. You ready for this? You know what? I'm going to come to something else first and then come back to it cuz it'll be much better. I want to tell you this fast emes. You know, how many makos total were in Egypt? Anybody know? I know you know the song. 10 makos makos Yeah, but there it was it was a little bit more than that. There was a machlokes Rebbi Akiva and Rebbi Eliezer and Rebbi Akiva Rebbi Eliezer ben Azarya Rebbi Was it 10 in Mitzrayim 50 al hayam? 50 in Mitzrayim 200 al hayam? 50 in Mitzrayim 250 al hayam? So, the Seder says, "Let's count it up." 10 and 50 50 and 200 50 and 250 is 610 plus the tzav v'ozav v'achav. That's 613. There's 613 makos. Whoa. 613 makos? That's amazing. 613 makos? Well, just like there are aseres hadibros and they branch out to 613 mitzvos, there are 10 makos that branch out to um makos. Which gives us there was there was a transition of the The principles of faith are fundamentally 10 that branch out to 613 branches, and they were then concretized when Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the 10 Commandments that branched out into 613 mitzvos. Now, I want to ask you something. All these 613 makos, with how many words did the Almighty say he's going to bring 630 13 makos? Vegam es hagoy asher ya'avodu two words, dan anochi. And with two words, you know, the the Rabbeinu Yonah is going on the words of the Mishnah, emor me'at va'aseh harbeh. Speak little, do a lot. The ultimate example of that is the Rebono shel Olam. Speak little, do a lot. Hashem said don on ochi and boy did he wallop the Egyptians. Says Rab Saadia Gaon, and with how many words did Hashem say he's going to redeem us and bring the achris hayomim? With how many words did Hashem express the miracles of the end of days? With hundreds and thousands of words in Yeshayahu, in Yechezkel, in the Trei Asar, in all the words of the Nevi'im. Says Rab Saadia Gaon, when the Almighty says two words, don on ochi, look at the magnificent gamut of hundreds of makos that the Rebono shel Olam brought to fulfill and to have be mekayem the two words don on ochi, then just imagine the scope, just imagine the scope of the miracles of the asid lavoi. And on that note, I think, personally, what I'm about to say is the most important idea on the Haggadah. I mentioned it in Shabbos Haggadah and I know you were there and I know afterwards you listened to it many times, but still in the Haggadah we say al achas kama v'chama toiva kefula umchupeles. We thank Hashem for the miracles of Egypt, we call them multi-layered. Kefula umchupeles, we call them multi-layered. How were the miracles of Egypt multi-layered? Says the Haggadah masa nisim of the Haggadah masa nisim is from the Baal HaNess u'Mishpat. He says because all the miracles of Mitzrayim were the dress rehearsal, the pre-enactment, the precursor, the paradigm of the future redemption. Like the Navi says, kimei tzeischa mei'eretz Mitzrayim arenu niflaos. That just like Sefer Bereishis, all the activities of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov created the destiny of the Jewish people, the events, the miracles of Yetzi'as Mitzrayim created the destiny of the Jewish people. If your children say, Abba, Daddy, Tati, why are we still telling a story that happened so long ago? We don't talk about what happened to our zaydes in Russia 200 years ago or in Poland 200 years ago. We don't even talk so much about what happened 50 years ago. Why is it Why are we still talking about what happened 3,300 years ago? It was so long ago. And the answer is Shayfula, Mamala, Yingela, it's not really about what happened in the past. You see, what Hashem did for us in the past is going to repeat itself. And those events are what will create the destiny of the Jewish people. So, tonight is not about the past, tonight is about coming attractions for the Jewish people. And therefore, the Haggadah begins hashata hacha l'shana haba'ah b'aretz Yisrael, l'shana haba'ah b'Yerushalayim. Because the whole story and narrative of Mitzrayim was in order to create the final redemption. Next, next is also one of my My mom is one of my favorites. By the way, I want to tell you a very important thing. The night of Pesach, we do a lot of mitzvos. You'll agree with me, once we do them, we might as well get credit for them. It would be really a shame if we did them and we didn't get credit for them. Now, we hold mitzvos tzrichos kavana. In order to get credit for a mitzvah, you have to have a formal intent to fulfill that particular mitzvah. Therefore, remember, before you eat the matzah, have kavana to be mekayem the mitzvah d'oraisa of matzah. Before you eat maror, have kavana to be mekayem the mitzvah d'rabbanan of maror. Before you drink the dalet kosos, have in mind I have kavana to be mekayem the first of the dalet kosos, the second, the third, the fourth. Before you say the Haggadah, have kavana to be mekayem the mitzvah d'oraisa of sippur yetzi'as Mitzrayim. Question, if sippur yetzi'as Mitzrayim is a mitzvah d'oraisa, why in the world do we not make a bracha on sippur yetzi'as Mitzrayim? You made a bracha on your tefillin this morning, you made a bracha on your tallis. You're going to make a bracha on matzah. Why would we not make a bracha on sippur yetzi'as Mitzrayim? So, the Rishonim say Rab Amram Gaon, other Rishonim, we do. The bracha is asher ge'alanu on the second kos. The problem is What do you mean the bracha on the second kos? Since when do we make brachas after we do mitzvos? Oh, one second. Yeah, I put on tefillin this morning. Baruch atah Hashem asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al hanachas tefillin. No. Kol habrachos mevorchos me'eisam oiver la'asiyasan. We always make brachas before. Why? How could you understand that the bracha on sippur yetzi'as Mitzrayim is asher ge'alanu? Says the Chasam Sofer, there's one situation where we make a bracha after. That is when a gentile comes to convert, when a ger comes to convert, does he make the bracha before he goes in the mikvah or she goes in the mikvah or after? They make the bracha after they go into the mikvah. You know why? It's very difficult to make a bracha and say asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav if they're not Jewish. So, they have to first go into the mikvah and become Jewish and then they say the bracha al hatvilah. Says the Chasam Sofer, you know, it's very important to reenact the Exodus and reenact the bondage, but part of reenacting the bondage is maschil b'gnus umesayem b'shvach. We say mit'chila oivdei avodah zarah hayu avoseinu. By the way, that's not something that you want to mention if a shadchan calls. Shadchan says, "Tell me a little bit about your family." Uh my family, my zayda, my zayda had a a Buddha in the closet. The Buddha had eight arms and three bellies and he used to bow down to it every single day until that was my great-grand Tell my grandfather smashed the whole store and set the zayda straight. Got to be out of your mind. No, no, no. You say, "Uh tell me about your family." Uh my tata was the Rabbinical College of America and the zayda was the rebbe's rebbe, meaning when a rebbe needed a yeshua, he came to my zayda, yeah. And what about the elter zayda? No, I'm I don't remember. I don't remember. You don't talk about the the elter zayda with avodah zarah. You don't talk about that. The night of the seder, we start off the seder what? We let everything out of the bag. Too much TMI. So, says the Chasam Sofer, not not only do you need to remember mit'chila oivdei avodah zarah hayu avoseinu, you have to reenact it. When you start off the seder and you're as if you're in Egypt, you view yourself as if you're an oived avodah zarah. You hear this? It's not enough to reenact the freedom, it's not enough to reenact the bondage, you also have to reenact the mit'chila oivdei avodah zarah hayu avoseinu. Does everybody have to reenact the mit'chila oivdei avodah zarah? Only if your mother's Jewish, you have to act like you're an idolater. A real idolater is not allowed to act like an idolater. But a Jew, the night of the seder, you have to be you have to relive mit'chila. So, you know what we do? We start off the seder, we break the matzah in half. You don't make a bracha. Uh the rest of the year when you break the challah, you make a bracha. No, no, we don't make brachas. Who What are We don't make brachas. No brachas. Ha lachma anya, no brachas. But you're saying the sa- You're saying the Haggadah. No, no, no brachas. We're like geirim, we don't make brachas yet. We're not up to that yet. Not until we count we count the whole story and we reenact that God took us out, which means he saved us physically and spiritually. Once we say asher ge'alanu, it's It's in reality, it's like a ger who doesn't make the bracha on the mikvah until he is immerses in the mikvah. Says the Chasam Sofer, we need to relive not only the ge'ulah, not only the shibud, but even the status of not being not being the am hanifchad. And therefore, we break the bread yachatz without a bracha and we don't even make a bracha on sippur yetzi'as Mitzrayim. So, we do make kiddush cuz we need to activate the day. If we don't activate the day, we're not back in Egypt. As soon as we make kiddush, we activate the day, we're back We're in Mitzrayim now. We're We're oivdei avodah zarah hayu avoseinu. And finally, the 10th idea, which has two parts to it, is in a way, the two strongest questions on the Haggadah. The two the simplest, most common sense questions on the Haggadah. We get up to Rabban Gamliel hayah omer and Rabban Gamliel says, "Whoever doesn't say these three things on Pesach, lo yatza yedei chovaso." Pesach, matzah, umaror. Here's the problem. The order is the most counterintuitive order you could possibly imagine. Matzah and then maror? Matzah commemorates the freedom. Maror commemorates 210 years of bondage. What kind of order is that? You should first eat the maror, commemorate the bitterness, and then eat the matzah to commemorate the freedom. Why in the world would the Seder be organized and arranged matzah and then maror? It's so obvious. Everybody with Do you think about it for a moment would realize it should be maror and then matzah. That's not one question. Question number two. This is These are the questions of the Nesi'us Hamishpat in his Haggadah Matzah Nisan. Question number two. B'chol dor vador chayav adam liro'es es atzmo k'ilu hu yatza miMitzrayim. Why would we be obligated to imagine things that never happened? By the way, I've been to many places. I've been to uh the Middle East. I've been to uh I've been to I guess Asia. I've been to Africa. I was never in Egypt yet. I was never in Egypt. I would like to go there one day, but I was never there. Why should we imagine something that never happened? And this is not recommended. It's obligatory. Chayav adam liro'es es atzmo k'ilu hu yatza miMitzrayim. Why? Why? Why? Oh, because if Hashem didn't take us out, we would still be there. That's great. So, then we should apply that in the times of Purim. Chayav adam liro'es es atzmo k'ilu Hakadosh Baruch Hu hitzil oiso meHaman. Chayav adam liro'es es atzmo k'ilu hitzil oiso me'ananei hakavod. Chayav adam liro'es es atzmo k'ilu hu amad b'Har Sinai. Chayav adam liro'es es atzmo k'ilu hu yashav tachas ananei hakavod. No, no, no, and no. You don't have to imagine yourself as as if you stood on Har Sinai. You don't have to imagine yourself as if you were under ananei hakavod. You don't have to imagine yourself as if Hashem saved you from Haman. You have to be grateful to Hashem that Hashem saved your forefathers from Haman, and that Hashem gave your forefathers ananei hakavod. Why imagine something that never happened? And the answer is because we don't understand what happened. There are two things that happened. One is primary and one is secondary. The secondary thing that happened is that things were disastrous in Egypt. We were brutalized, and then Hashem freed us. And that benefit was only for our forefathers. Was not to us. No matter how active of an imagination you have, you were not in bondage in Egypt. No matter you want to hypnotize yourself, you want to convince yourself, you were not working in Egypt. And there is no obligation from that aspect to imagine that you were in bondage in Egypt. The benefit of physical freedom does not accrue to you. But another thing happened. Why did Hashem take that people out of Egypt? Because he wanted that people to be his chosen nation. He acquired that people. He was kinyan that people to be avadim to Hashem. The select clergy who are dedicated They dedicate their lives to serve the Almighty. Hashem selected us. Now, question. Did Hashem select those people, and we happen to be the descendants of those people? Or did the Almighty who lives above and beyond time say, "I choose this nation. I choose them and their children and their grandchildren for all time." And the answer is God selected the kiyuma shel ama of the Jewish people. He selected Am Yisrael. He selected the people who left Egypt, and he chose our children, and he chose us, and he chose our parents, and he chose the nation of Israel. He chose Klal Yisrael. He chose Knesses Yisrael. And that benefit accrues to us equally as much as it accrued to the nation that went out. And therefore, in order to appreciate that the benefit of going out of Mitzrayim accrues to us as much as it accrued to them, we're obligated to imagine as if we were in Egypt. You know why? Because in reality, the benefit of leaving applies to all generations equally. Because the fact that there was a nation that served and was brutalized and was free is only a secondary benefit of leaving. That's a side point. And because it's a side point, and the main point is God took us. He selected us. He chose us. We imagine as if we were there and God took us out because the benefit of going out accrues to equally to us. And therefore, says the Nesi'us Hamishpat, you know, when you pass by a place that a miracle happened to your forefather, you make a brachah she'asah nes avoseinu b'makom zeh. That's when God saved your great-grandfather's life. So, you pass by the pit, some say, you go to Auschwitz, your your grandfather survived Auschwitz, you make a brachah she'asah nes avoseinu b'makom zeh. But it happened to him, and you're the beneficiary. We don't make that brachah the night of the Seder. Night of Seder we make the brachah asher ga'al anu. He acquired us. He acquired us all equally. We're all equally acquired. And therefore, says the Nesi'us vice, first the matzah and then the maror. If we would have the maror first and then the matzah, then we would think the main freedom is God liberated us from maror. He liberated us from bitterness. So, we say, "No, it doesn't matter that it was bitter. The fact that God took us out of bitterness, that's an added benefit. The main thing is matzah, that Hashem freed us, and he freed us to acquire us, to be kinyan us, to take us to be his beloved nation." And that's a benefit that accrues equally to the nation that went out together with the nation uh together with all future generations of the Jewish people. So, these were 10 ideas on the Haggadah. The message of the of the kittel, namely, the urgency of the time, as well as that the great role we have to fulfill of transmitting the values of Torah like an angel. Number two, the unusual order of the Haggadah, kadesh urchatz. We jump into kedushah, then we clean ourselves. Number three, the chametz u'matzah. That we begin the Haggadah with Aramaic to show Hashem is personally attending our Seder. Number four, the numerical value of matzah. The three questions, mah mah mah. The answer to the questions, you eat the matzah, you have emunah, and there are no more questions. The uh the lamdus of the Abravanel, that these tana'im stayed up all night, not necessarily to fulfill the specific technical requirement of relating the events of yetzi'as Mitzrayim, but to relive the experience which took place all night. Rav Sa'adiah Gaon points out that Hashem performed hundreds of miracles merely with two words. So, imagine the scale of miraculous events for the ge'ulah asida. How the Sfas Emes says that in total, if you add up all the makos, 613, how the makos of yetzi'as Mitzrayim were kefulo mechupeleh, multi-layered. We do not make a brachah in the beginning of the Seder cuz we're reliving even the state that we were in of mitcheila avdei avodah zarah. And then the idea that the main benefit of yetzi'as Mitzrayim was not the liberation, but the ge'ulah. Ge'ulah means kinyan, that Hashem took took us to be his people. If you want, there'll probably be some more shiurim before Pesach. This was the officially last shiur. So, I'm going to officially wish you wish you a good Yom Tov. If you want, you could come tonight to Sha'arei Emunah at 8:45. There's going to be a shiur on the Haggadah. And Yud Gimel Nisan, which is tonight, which is the yahrtzeit of the Beis Yisrael Safe. And we have other uh beautiful ideas on the Haggadah. And maybe there'll still be other shiurim before Yom Tov. But either way, I wish everyone a beautiful Yom Tov, a chag kasher v'same'ach. Enjoy. Get some sleep. Make sure you also stay up the whole night, and figure out how to do both of those things. And we should be zocheh to mekayem all the mitzvos properly. And we should be zocheh to see how all these miracles are mechupeleh, that they bring the the miracles of the ge'ulah asida. Have a great rest of the day, kol tuv, good Yom Tov, good Yom Tov. Chag kasher v'same'ach. Thank you. You're welcome. Good Yom Tov, good Yom Tov.