Secrets of the Seder - Talkline With Zev Brenner

And we're back. It's always great to have Rabbi Daniel J. Glassin with us. He has his own publishing company, Machon Maggid Harakia. He's the rabbi of Tiferes Mordechai in Cedarhurst, and he came out and it came out a little last year, but it's still very relevant. It's on the Haggadah. It's called Rav Daniel Glassin on the Haggadah. Revolutionary insights into the Haggadah, the Exodus, and the final redemption, published by ArtScroll. Good to have you back again. Thank you so much for having me. So I want us Usually we start at the beginning. I want to start at the end. We're close to the end this year. I heard that and and I've spoken for for some reason I heard quite a few people talk Rabbis talking about Shfoch Chamascha, pour your wrath on the non-Jews, and they said there was an alternative version, Shfoch Ahavascha, pour your love onto the nations. So I know you write about it in in the Haggadah also about the blood libels. So let's begin with that. Well, the the phrase Shfoch Ahavascha Lagoyim, pour your love on the gentiles, was uh said tongue in cheek in uh it was in response to the terrible allegations of the blood libels that uh notoriously were always uh drummed up Pesach time, already beginning in the Middle Ages, both in the Christian world and in the Arab world. And by the way, if you think that that was something of the past, there were blood libels in North America, there were blood libels in the United States, in Minnesota, uh not so long ago. And when the State of Israel is accused of genocide, that is nothing short of a blood libel. So, it's something that we face in every generation. And in response to that, it's uh Shfoch Ahavascha Lagoyim. And it's important to know and and the nations of the world should know that they have a they have a very important choice to make in world history because those nations that choose to support the Jewish people and to be our allies will attain great uh rectification and great esteem uh in the end of days. But those who choose to persecute us the verdict of history is they're ultimately relegated to the ash heap of history. So uh that's a choice that mankind has to make uh until this until this day. And the truth is is that Pesach, Passover time, this has become more relevant because they accuse Jews of putting the blood of Christian children into the matzos. Yes. Yes. Actually, that's it's a very uh a stirring topic. How do we understand the concept of blood libel? Actually, Rav Chanan Wasserman discusses this. You know, we have an idea the Talmud teaches us that a falsehood that has no kernel of truth cannot sustain. It eventually it eventually dissipates. And how is it that the blood libel regurgitates and surfaces every single generation? But there nothing could be further from the truth. Everybody knows that uh of all things, the Jewish people stay so far away from even an ounce of blood. You know, for if we crack open an egg and we see a little blood splat, we throw out the whole the whole dozen eggs. So, obviously this has no basis in truth. And Rav Chanan Wasserman actually amazingly I found that Rav Chanan was not the first to make this discovery, but Rav Chanan suggests that the blood libel is a punishment for the sin of selling Yosef, Joseph, where we took his tunic, we dipped it in the blood of a goat, and we told our father, "Do you recognize this?" that we created the first blood libel. And as a punishment, in every generation, God measures out to us he visits upon us a blood libel to remind us that unfortunately the sin of the sale of Yosef, the the fact that we there's a bickering among brothers, the fact that there's a uh a lack of unity among our people, that means that the sin of the sale of Yosef has not been rectified. But actually, I saw Rav Chaim Palagi, one of the great Turkish rabbis of 19th century, he already made the suggestion that the sin the the accusation of the blood libels is a is a punishment for the sale of Yosef. Now Rav Matisyahu Salomon Zatzal Devaracha he asked "Why is it then that the blood libel always is drummed up Pesach time? Why is it specifically Pesach time?" Actually, I found Rav Chaim Palagi asked that question also. Rav Chaim Palagi says that Hashem has mercy on us and he allows it to be drummed up of all times Pesach so that we're protected through the mitzvahs that we do at that time. But Rav Matisyahu Salomon says that Passover is a time that we need to think, "How did we get down to Egypt in the first place?" You know, there are a lot of things we do the the night of Seder to commemorate how we were redeemed from Egypt. A lot of things we do to commemorate the bondage of Egypt. But we should also commemorate how we got down to Egypt in the first place. And that is by selling Yosef. And actually, we do commemorate that. The two dippings two dippings at the Seder. First, we dip the karpas in the salt water. The karpas, Rabbeinu Manoach, one of the Rishonim, says is to commemorate the dipping of the Ksones Pasim. Karpas, kar is a lashon, a language of mecher, sale. Pas is Pasim, the Ksones Pasim of Yosef. So the the dipping of the karpas commemorates the dipping of the tunic of Joseph. And how did we get out of Egypt? When we dipped the Agudas Eizov, the the group of grass, the unit. Agudah means a unit. When we rectified the sin of selling Yosef and we came together by Agudah Achas, in one community, as one people. So the two dippings actually reflect the dipping of what caused us to go down and the dipping of of freedom. So therefore, it's this time of the year when we're supposed to be thinking about, "Hey, how did we get down to Egypt in the first place? And are we still guilty of that same type of crime?" And that's the reason why the the blood libel and the fact that it it stirs up the sin of the sale of Yosef is specifically relevant this time of the year. But also Pesach represents blood, but the Mayim Chaim, we talk about the blood of the bris milah, the blood of the Pascal sacrifice. So it is associated with with Pesach. Right. But of course, uh you know, no no connection. Heaven forbid, you know, for uh any any kind of uh misconduct, yeah. Well, and we say it. I saw a thought which parallels what you're saying. We say that the Jews were forced to eat Ones Al Pi HaDibur, forced because of the divine speech. However, Ones Al Pi HaDibur, the dibur, the speech they're talking about is the dibur ra between Joseph and his brothers. That's the words that caused the Jews to go down to Egypt, which would be consistent with what you're saying now, too. That was the cause and effect. Yes. You know, you bring up a very uh also another fundamental part of Pesach where there's a cabalistic idea that the faculty of speech of the Jewish people was in bondage. And with uh the freedom from Egypt, Pesach the mouth that talks. Pesach could be is like a compound word. Pesach, the mouth that talks, that our our mouths were subjugate, our mouths were in servitude. And we were freed at a location called Pi Hachirois, the mouth of freedom. And the one that subjugated us was Pera, that Paro. Pera, a bad mouth. And we were freed at Pi Hachirois, and we tried to liberate our faculty of speech with Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim by discussing the miracles and by eating with our mouth. And it's it's very interesting. Uh if you look in the tractate of the of Talmud Bavli that talks about the Yom Tov of Pesach, Maseches Pesachim, the the tractate, Maseches Pesachim, the first topic discussed in the Maseches, you would expect it should talk about eating matzah, eating maror, bringing the Korban Pesach. No. The first topic in Maseches Pesachim is why does it say Or L'Yud Daled, the light of the 14th? Why doesn't it say the night? It's referring to the night of the 14th. Why does it say Or? And the Gemara has over one blot, one folio of a discussion of how you should always try to use refined speech. That's the opening subject matter in Maseches Pesachim. So Rav Tzadok Hakohen says that when you have aggadic portions in the Gemara, they're sp- they're tailor-made to the most appropriate tractate in the Talmud Bavli. And since Pesachim is about the liberation of our speech, the opening topic is refined speech. It's an amazing uh observation, yeah. You shed some good light on that topic. Now, what I also I heard and I forgot who said it, Pas Yam, from Pasim to Yam, from the beginning of the coat of Joseph's coat until the splitting of the sea, God was in control of everything, Pas Yam. Nice. >> Pas Yam, which we should Now, by the way, you also mentioned that there were some of the rabbis that said they shouldn't drink red wine because of the blood libel, but drink white wine on Pesach. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that that was uh for for many many centuries that was we avoided doing that to uh to Actually, you know, we say in the beginning of the Haggadah, "Anyone who's hungry, come inside." What do we mean, come inside? The door is locked. Yeah. Originally, the doors were open, but because of the dangers that were precipitated from the blood libels, we had no choice but to but to lock the doors. So then the question is, why when we say Shfoch Chamascha, throw your wrath on pour your wrath onto the nations that don't know you, we open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah the prophet. Eliyahu Hanavi, when he comes to every bris, you don't open the door for him when he comes to every bris. Why on Seder night, considering the danger, do we all still open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi, Yeah. the prophet? Okay, good. There There's an idea that you know Hashem has two modes with which he deals with the Jewish people. One is usually he asks us to take the first step. God says, "You open the door. You You You unlock the door. You take the first step and I'll help you the rest of the way." But in times of Pesach, we had no merits, we had no mitzvahs, we are on a very low level, and Hashem came and through no initiative of our own, he bestowed upon us great spiritual heights. That's what we call isarusa de ela, where the inspiration came from above without any initiation on our part. So, normally we have to open the door. But uh Rav Baruch of Mezhibozh teaches, "On Pesach, God jumped over the door. He jumped over the need for us to open the door." So, you know, on Pesach, so to speak, all the doors are open. You know, the idea of opening the door shows Pesach the door has been opened for us. Our guest is Rabbi Daniel J. Glassin, prolific writer, speaker, author, lecturer, Rav of the Sephardic community in Cedarhurst. Also, uh he has his own publishing company, Machon Magid Harakia, but his book that we're discussing is called the Rav Daniel Glassin on the Haggadah, Revolutionary Insights into the Haggadah, the Exodus, and the Final Redemption, published by Art Scroll. You also have a wonderful story which I've heard before about the the No De um the No De Be Yehuda in in Prague cuz Prague Jews were killed in pogroms and blood libels. You have a wonderful story that one year it was prevented by an act of kindness to an Anju. Yeah. Yeah, so you know, that's a legend where the No De Be Yehuda because of a fear that that the bread was poisoned made an additional day of uh Pesach. You know, I think there was a Christian boy who No De Yehuda helped, right? He's He gave him money. >> he was younger, that the the Jewish community helped this child, he ended up uh saving the community. Yeah. Yeah, he In other words, what happened was is he his father was the baker who was going to poison the Jews because the No De Yehuda showed kindness and gave him money and helped him. So, he went and informed and they extended the day of Passover, Pesach. They said and it was a calendar mistake, extended a day later, and the Jews were saved. That's the legend of the No De Be Yehuda. A fan- fantastic story. Now, you mentioned something earlier with the blood libels. People think that it was in Christian Europe and it was all over the world. We've had it in New York, you know, a century ago, the blood libel. But you mentioned the Arab countries also picked up on the blood libel. Can you define and explain that? Yeah, there there are accounts even in the times of uh Rabbeinu Kalonymus. Actually, I had the privilege this past January to be on Har Hazeitim, the Mount of Olives, and in the Kidron Valley, you have buried there Rabbeinu Kalonymus. And there was once uh a boy who was found dead and he was thrown into the courtyard of the shul. And uh Rabbeinu Kalonymus had to save the community from this uh libel against against the community. So, it made its way even to the the Arab countries as well. So, it knew no bounds. It's It's uh unfortunately in our history, as Rav Chanan explains, there are two sins that we're always always paying the price for, whether the sin of the golden calf, whether the sin of the sale of of uh Yosef Hatzadik. And actually, one year uh when when Yosef's tomb was desecrated, Pesach time, so that was a particularly painful because, you know, it's the time of the year that we have to think about what we did to our brother and uh what we're doing to rectify that. I think Rav Moshe Feinstein said that Yosef never forgave his brothers and that's also part of the promise that we as a Jewish people face, that he never said, "I forgive you." Yeah. Now, one of the things that's nice about Pesach, and we speak you mentioned Jewish unity, and I think it's so important, is that I think majority of American Jews, and I assume in Israel, too, celebrate in some way or form the Pesach seder. And their four sons, one of them, of course, is the wise son, the chacham. You have the rasha, the evil son. You have those that do does not ask, and the simple son. But everybody's together for the seder. The question is, and it's wonderful that we have everybody sitting at the seder. The question is, how we take that spirit of the seder, the unity that we find in in Pesach, and really translate it to year round cuz we desperately need it. Yeah, that's one of one of the calls of the [clears throat] hour is uh the unity of the Jewish people. You know, also very important um something interesting that I saw. Of course, uh the after after the Haggadah begins, even before the Maggid, we wash our hands for the karpas. And there are different interpretations. There's There's a halachic basis for it, of course, because uh you're dipping the the vegetable in the liquid. So, before you touch it, there might be a halachic requirement to wash your hands. But actually, the Rama writes in Darkei Moshe that the reason why we wash our hands is the Haggadah is a form of a prayer. And before we davven, before we pray, we do netilat yadayim. So, we wash our hands in the beginning of the seder cuz the seder's a form of a prayer. So, the question is, what what what's the prayer? How is it a form of a prayer? What do What are we davvening for? We're telling a story. How are we davvening? But the answer is very basic, very important. We're not telling a story. If your children ask you, "Why are we recounting a story that happened thousands of years ago? We don't even remember what happened 200 years ago. I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday. Why every year is it so vital to recount what happened 3,300 years ago?" One of the fundamental uh tenets of the Haggadah is we say a phrase that the benefits that God bestowed upon us were kefula umchupeles. They were multi-layered. Multi-layered mean whatever happened in Egypt was a pre-enactment, a precursor, um a paradigm of what the final redemption will look like. That all of those miracles were a dress rehearsal of sort, that when God brought it down to the world, now it could repeat itself. So, we're We need to tell our families, we need to tell our children, that we're not commemorating ancient history. We're trying to remember what happened to aspire and look forward to coming attractions for the Jewish people. So, the the purpose of the seder is the way it begins and the way it ends. It begins, "This year we're here, next year in the land of Israel." And it ends, "L'shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim." So, in truth, the entire Haggadah is one prayer. The prayer is, "God, you brought the dress rehearsal, you made a pre-enactment. Now, let's bring the real thing, L'shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim." That is the main purpose of the Haggadah, and we wash our hands before to indicate this is a major prayer in the life cycle of the Jew. Oh, so beautiful. And again, we It's one time a year when we can really get together, all different kinds of Jews. And you know what's fascinating is that everybody uses the same Haggadah pretty much, whether you're Orthodox, non-Orthodox, it's the same Haggadah. >> uses Art Scroll. No. >> [laughter] >> But the same with the same language. That was I think Rav Hai Gaon is one who composed it. We did a show about it the other night. But uh that's just the main one of the few times around when we don't use the same sitter, but we use the same Haggadah pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. And uh also interesting, even there there there's even an uh precise number of words in the Haggadah. There are 1,820 words in the Haggadah that are the exact number of times that Hashem's name appears in the Chumash. Wow. Yeah. And Moshe's name really does not appear in the Haggadah. It's the For the most part, right. >> For the most part, all right. I mean, even even Eliyahu Hanavi. By the way, and the final question, why when we say shfoch chamatcha we pour it out on the non-Jews that don't acknowledge you, and we open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi, why don't we acknowledge that in the Haggadah saying we're opening the door for Eliyahu Hanavi? Why We do it as a custom, but we don't actually say. The only reference to Eliyahu Hanavi is in the benching, in the grace after meals. Yeah. Interesting. Actually, some suggest Rav Simcha Bunim Peschus says that Eliyahu is the one who wrote the Haggadah. And he proves it based on uh we know Eliyahu wrote Tanna D'vei Eliyahu, and in Tanna D'vei Eliyahu, God is frequently called Hamakom, which we see in the Haggadah. But somebody suggested, "Well, if he's the author, so he put his name in an allusion in the beginning of the Haggadah." It begins with the word ha. Ha stands for Eliyahu Hanavi. So, you know, so he kept himself uh he kept himself out of it, you know. He wrote it, so he didn't want to I guess take when when Elijah the prophet, when Eliyahu Hanavi come, we lessen that question. Yeah, take away, exactly. Anyway, thank you. What What May I recommend? It's a fascinating Haggadah. It's called Rav Daniel Glassin on the Haggadah, Revolutionary Insights into the Haggadah, the Exodus, and the Final Redemption. What's your next book going to be about? The next book is a book on uh Chinuch Banim, raising children in uh contemporary society. And uh we once discussed the Hebrew edition, and soon to come out for Art Scroll. Looking forward. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Uh good Yom Tov, Chag Kasher V'Sameach. Chag Kasher V'Sameach. Yeah.