The Nachum Segal Network - Rav Daniel Glatstein on the Haggadah, NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH & FRENCH

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com um Believe It or Not Today is the 25th of Adar which means we are less than three weeks away from pesak and that gives us a chance to speak with one of our favorite guests that's Danel gladstein or by gladstein you may recall has a hagada that has been a very successful bestseller called r danil gladstein on the haa revolutionary insights into the hagada The Exodus and the Final Redemption and the big news is that now for this season of pesak 5785 art scroll and or gladstein have taken the um the haod safer and it has been translated into Spanish and French yet another indication of a bestseller r danil gladstein a pleasure to welcome you back to JM and the am good morning how are you what an honor I appreciate that an honor to have you back great to speak with you and am I right or wrong that if you're already uh watching your work be translated into a sorted languages it's the sign that we're dealing with a bestseller well uh I'm very touched that people uh are enjoying the safer and getting good use at it of it and you know we tend to think we're the center of the universe right we here in in New York we think that that's where Judaism uh starts starts and finishes yeah starts and ends but they're Jews of all Stripes uh all over the world and uh not everyone English is their native language or Hebrew uh and it's very interesting to study in which countries Jews are speaking French you know you would imagine right that predominantly it's the Jews of France but there there literally thousands tens of thousands of Jews in Israel right who are French Jews and uh French is their language of choice right um nonetheless with all the um uh with all the uh um the way you're describing how this has happened in terms of it being translated you have to admit it is a rarity it's not every day we hear about you know something that's made an impact in the world of uh printed judaa and all of a sudden we're you know exploring to have it um set to different languages so I mean I I I hope you you uh you appreciate the enormity of that I think it's a big deal uh when people go ahead and uh and feel that something's worthy to in fact be translated into other languages they obviously feel it's worthy for it to reach as as many people as possible yeah well uh even though this sounds like something revolutionary uh and something new it's really amazing to think about the historical context of translations because one of the earliest works that were translated are is a work that is many people's favorites the mayam Lo right the mayam Lo which was originally written in Lino which was what Yiddish is to German Lino was to Spanish right and the author of this work mayam loise uh RAB Yakov Kuli was one of the most eminent sages of the times and people wondered why would someone of his caliber you know he's responsible for writing very authoritative works like parim and he edited M why would he write something for the m is and translated into the vernacular and in his introduction he says I know you're thinking that I know you're wondering why he would do something like that he said we have no one uh less than mosu to look up to who upon receiving the tah explicated it by which Rashi says means into 70 languages so mosu himself made the Torah available in every possible language and uh it's responsibility it's it's really responsibility to make the tar accessible and share it um in as many ways as possible and you know uh many people always speak about uh the the dangers of technology and certainly there are right but this is this is one of the if you could call it the blessings of it because in earlier Generations if there was a rabbi in New York uh his his his teaching would not reach uh the the countries that it's able to reach today because the world has been condensed one one of my one of my great rabim said that in this world you could sit in your four cubits in your Dal and you could reach the whole world I think about what you're doing you're in your Studios and people around the world are listening to you and that's a very powerful tool and we have to be able to use that tool for hashem's Torah so today uh Torah New York reaches uh the four corners of the world that's an understatement R gladin is with us live via telephone and I don't want to harp on this because we I I do want to speak about a couple of themes from your haa but uh the point you're making is uh is pretty amazing that we're now and I think 2025 it's probably even more so than just 5 10 years ago you don't have to even go back a full generation we're now in an era where it is uh you know where translation is you know at at one's fing fingertips literally and I'm not suggesting that you tossed your manuscript into Google translate and came out with a French safer trust me I'm not at all at all suggesting that but I would imagine that even in a situation like this where you want to very carefully and meticulously have something translated into another language no matter how painstaking a process it is it must be a million times easier uh than it was years ago and and again I don't know how much you know about this end of it because I don't know if that is your responsibility you know to oversee the actual translation but I'm sure you were told this many times that that whatever you know projects been undertaken in order to get this done uh and in order to make this translation a reality it it it it's it's so much easier today just a few years ago yeah look uh you technology has uh transformed our lives in many ways for the better and for the worse and uh like any tool you have to use it correctly right but but the the the uh who are involved in translating are very talented and arod and they have to be familiar with the the nuances of language both in the original English and in Spanish the in in French Spanish and English there's a French spr and there's a Spanish and there's an English one thing I did learn is that art scroll does have access to Scholars that are fluid in French and Spanish at least I learned that yeah right it's pretty it's amazing and you see what they've done with their shot in and it's obvious that they have a very qualified staff all right Danel glad on the it's time to talk a little about PES folks you know and I don't remember this is one of the this is one of the um maybe it's a benefit actually of not having a good memory because I don't remember which themes we spoke about last time but I did find a couple of interesting things that I wanted to speak to you about parro's name parro's name and it's it's funny because just the other day uh someone said to me that in in one of the classes they were in the only thing they've learned so far about pesak was parro and I said wow that's so unusual that that that a that a MOA or a rebi would start with parro as opposed to you know so many of the other important things the makos and K yamu Etc that are such important themes when it comes to pesak but you suggest that the name of parro hints at speech speech the spoken word folks hints at speech is a foundation of gim and of course the word pesak uh then because that symbolizes Freedom takes takes that theme and turns it around could you give me a little bit on this about how the name of parro teaches us an important lesson yes so this this is a very powerful and important theme regarding P that aside from from what we're familiar with that we were physically enslaved in Egypt there is a call it a cabalistic concept that our faculty of speech was enslaved in Egypt that is symbolized by the king of Egypt Paro or it could be a confound word per the evil Moun the evil tongue right and our faculties of speech were enslaved and it's amazing because the location the Torah ENT identifies as the point of Freedom was P the mouth of Freedom you know we we just we're still familiar with it we just L it we just read it but literally means the mouth of freedom and even exactly Liberation and mosu himself had a was Heavy of speech so we see that even our leader his speech was affected and the word p the Aral teaches could be read the mouth that Converses that speeches that that speaks and there p is the time that we celebrate the liberation of our speech and we have to therefore dedicate it and sanctify it with the Mitzvah of relating the events of and we have this reminder the more we speak the more we talk about it um and there many references to to this in the story line and therefore utilizing our speech in the proper fashion is a fundamental aspect of of the holiday you know um the the the association with most is is really what got me here uh I mean the per and the P all that is wonderful and and certainly an important message but but it made me realize that just how much of this story is speech related the way mosenu speaks to parro or doesn't speak to parro depending on his you know depending on his angle uh Aron AO Aron aoin and what he does in terms of presentation and even uh frankly parro and the way he speaks to you know mosenu in Reverse uh and and um you know when when one thinks about what it means and this is always a hard expression to convey uh what it means that Hashem hardened parro's heart the method with which he did it was with what ended up coming out of parro's mouth that he rejected the idea of letting the Jews go that he you know felt they have to you know work even harder etc etc so so much of this story like I guess so much of our existence has to do with speech and I never even thought of the meaning if you're spending your time speaking you know worthwhile themes and words that's a good use of time and obviously if one's doing the opposite it's a terrible use of time and this could be extended to everything because we know about you know obviously the ills of L and Hara and we know about how important it is to spend as much time and concentration on doing and important you know speech related matters so all of this had never struck me before as being such an important part of the holiday well I'm uh I'm glad to to share this insight and you know one other aspect of it which is really fascinating is in uh Jewish uh practice we emphasize not only you know not uh slandering somebody else but even the concept of clean speech right where the talama teaches us that certain times the Torah will refer to an animal that's uh not Kosher the Torah will say not pure instead of saying T it's contaminated where the Torah uses delicate speech and what's really incredible is the subject of delicate speech is the very first topic discussed in the detracted the about and many wonder what's it doing there it has nothing to do with P seems like a random subject but according to this idea it's not random at all it's the very Foundation of P using your mouth not only not to slander someone but in a delicate modest uh dignified way is how we show our Liberation from Egypt wow and how many stories do we know that have happened in Jewish history where where it it looks like somebody you know is likely not going to be you know favoring the Jew in the story but because of the way that Jew always spoke to them they felt they had to you know be kinder they had to be you know uh they they had to show some type ofid toward them yeah all because of speech all because of you know a good morning or of word exactly The Power of Words is unbelievable and this really gave me a tremendous insight into it all right let's do one more I I never thought of this either um and that is I should say it differently I never discovered this the the most offs sited PUK the most often cited PUK in the ha is and I assume you have a statistic on this right Rabbi yeah yeah yeah yeah I had my my fact check Checkers and you know statis so for those of you who are trivia experts make sure to use this one the most of often cited p is it comes from and it's and it's referen where Rabbi gladin brings it in his ha in response to Russia and it is cited in full full in the response meaning it's a major part of thees four Sons part of the ha so the the um th this this PK encapsulates according to what you tell us in this ha the entire structure of the ha it's not just a coincidence it's not just a coincidence that's the most cited P ha is literally structured along the lines of this puz yes you really zeroed in on on a great highlight um from from this work I'll I'll I'll I'm sorry go ahead yeah you want to share that well I was gonna say we could do this step by step and and if you want to add something on each step please do so you start with V which corresponds to the four questions of the Manana and the answers that are given to the four Sons as I just pointed out so that's who on that day corresponds toes which again is an important uh what would we call it a ttic discussion there's always a discussion at the Seder after that paragraph you know certain paragraphs fly by this one this one always seems to have you know someone saying something about it so that's an important discussion B Lear refers to the full discussion corresponding to meaning that that's the real meat of the AA right as we go through Jewish history yeah yeah and it's amazing how in one word of God right it encapsulates so much uh information says one word and how much is contained in that right because that's pages and pages right wow uh then of course as the puzle continues B because of this in reference to the reasons gives to the three mitz of PES and of course we are referring to pesak meaning the corbon pesak matah meaning the eating of matah and mor meaning the eating of M when we refer to that um and then it's clear reference to right I mean this concept Rabbi gladstein this concept that we have to sit at the Seder and think of and act as we are the ones who are uh who are the ones who left Egypt it's literally a PK I mean you're pointing out how you know there's somewhat of a I don't know if I'd use such a strong word but you get my point to actually you know keep this in mind during the S it's not just a nice concept you know to to get us more into the mood for the PES Sader yeah yeah and and you're right the the sages do formulate practically an obligation to to view it that way it's amazing I never even thought of it that it was that much of a requirement but uh sure enough if it's got a source in a pusle you have to assume it is and finally I sawm Lee when I left Egypt and this final part refers to Hal of course because Hal and one of its highlights and certainly one of its themes as we say at the beginning of Hal is and it's I think this also gives us a whole um um positive perspective on the concept that sometimes it's hard for us to understand when it comes to things like Kish and shma Etc it's all about ysus mitan and and and I know that the L seder it should be the easiest night to remember that it's all about yusan but it's so many things in our daily lives that are all about ysus mitam and all about remembering ysus mitam and I think all of this especially this PK and the way it's broken up and the way it's structured for the ha I think that helps us remember that that you know no matter what we're doing it doesn't even have to be satanite this is where it all began with eus M yeah that's the of the Cornerstone events the Cornerstone event Cornerstone event in our in our history and we know that all the events of and The Exodus were the pre-enactment were the the the rehearsal so to speak of the events of the future Redemption so whatever happened in Egypt will replay itself uh for us and we hope very soon in our time times every time we do a Mitzvah to commemorate The Exodus whether it's KES or whether we look at Aza or what or the uh recitation of the hag it's not only about past history it's about our destiny and what we could look forward to for the future yeah so the hag book ended with it's really its primary theme because we start off these this year we're here next year we hope to be in Israel and we end off this is not only this is not just wishful thinking but this encapsulates the main theme of the ha and that is everything that happened will very soon replay itself and how significant is what you're saying when you think about how we end or how we start the final part of the ha if this is all a reference to future gulas uh future redemptions how appropriate because people might think what is this doing here why are we inviting ELO Andi why are we pouring a cup for him why is he such an important component to what's now going to be the final part of the ha but we insist that the only way to say this halel which is of course you know gratitude to the one above the only way is to and to you know as you just said acknowledge that this is the basis of all future gulas of all future Redemption uh the only way to do that is with you know is thinking about inviting in and offering wine to the one and only elvi yeah and look you know think about it for our times in the land of Egypt there was a land no no prisoner no hostage ever escaped right and when the day came Hashem took us all out and that to give us for our times he started off for on day 526 today's 536 yeah 536 536 and we were in Egypt quite a long time we never thought it would happen but but it did and Hashem was M you one of the the the number four is a major theme the night of the St because the four types of people who need to give gratitude to Hashem and we hope in that sense the events of time will be ominous a a pre-enactment for for uh Redemption in our time and uh the Redemption that we're hoping for uh immediately for for our brothers and sisters who still need to come out of uh prison and come out of the terrible situation that they're in oh call that you mentioned that and yes they're being held captive by the enemy we thought maybe the enemy was eradicated when they were drowning in the uh in the yamu but obviously uh the enemy lives on as we know um and uh hopefully in fact as you just said our brothers and sisters will be released as soon as possible one of the other things by the way that you know you you mentioned that you mentioned this early on in your analysis of the a we we have to remember and it's such an important thing to remember based on what you just said the Gish mitz Rim did not last as long as it was supposed to and you know and and the Jews got out of Egypt a lot earlier than anybody would have predicted who was familiar with the Covenant between God and Abraham so we have to remember that that that when when things look hopeless you know Hashem can can can make it happen you know in a lot less time than than than we would think uh you know would naturally happen yeah you know we say we say and to a common reframe we say right and I never paid attention why do we repeat that phrase my Soul Longs for God more than those who yearn for the morning yearn for the morning hey hey we just said that why are we repeating that right and the the malum explains so beautifully we say God my soul yearns for your Redemption for your salvation more than the guard of night Longs for the morning imagine the guard who's guarding the fort at night right just waiting to's waiting for a glimpse of light to make his life a little easier or maybe to so the next guard could come and start the next shift right but imagine how How Deeply he Longs for the morning the only thing is he's just longing for the morning and the morning cannot come any sooner than predetermined but y but we await for you and that we know that your Redemption could come much earlier because of your kindness so we could say we await the Redemption more than the guard awaiting for the morning because he's just waiting for the morning and that's fixed but our Redemption is not fixed just like in Egypt it came early we pray that it our Redemption should come the very soon sooner than sooner than uh it was determined amazing absolutely amazing I could do this all day with you by gladstein uh well ladies and gentlemen the news is that are my glad scen I G is available in French and Spanish but for this audience the real news is that you got to make sure to get R gladin before PES and you can get the English one Danel gladin on the ha revolutionary insights into hagada the Exodus and the Final Redemption if you've enjoyed the themes that we've discussed this morning there's a lot more in here that you will enjoy uh it's a great work uh obviously with tremendous lasting value because it's gotten to the point now a couple of years later where it is being translated into other languages but again you can go uh to artscroll.com and purchase the the one in English R Daniel gladin on the and you go to artscroll.com make sure to use promo code radio for your major discount and free shipping that's on anything plenty of great stuff there for PES including glad on the glad I take this opportunity to wish you a and I do know that a lot of Jewish households are going to have an enhanced seder because of the work you put into this a i vot to you thank you for your kind words and I wish you as well a happy enjoy this y watch over you and your family thank you uh here and in and uh amen thank you so much R danil gladin we always love speaking to him make sure to get the hag r danil gladin on the hag go to Arts sc.com make sure to you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com