Pesach 5770, Haggadah and Seder Tidbits...

Mitzvot of the Seder

Mitzvot of the Seder:
Hagada: Torah level MAGID and really talking
Hallel: Rabbinic both before and after the meal
Simcha: Torah level applies to all of Chag
Marror: Rabbinic today without KP
Matza: Torah level Motzi-Matza Koreich Tzafun
Wine: Rabbinic accompanies 4 aspects of the Seder

~~~

The Cycle of the Four Children

We generally think of the CHACHAM at the “head of the class”, with the TAM further down and the “one who does not know to ask” at the bottom. (The RASHA is in the principal’s office.)

But there is another way to see these children - not as linear, but as cyclic. Beyond the CHACHAM is another “one who does not know to ask”.
Once a CHACHAM has been given an answer to his question, he becomes one who does not know to ask - this time, because he thinks he has all the answers. He most likely does not - only some of them.

And the challenge of the parent, grand- parent, Seder leader… is to draw out new questions, so that this former CHACHAM can advance from SHE- EINO YODEI’A LISH-OL to a new TAM and then to a greater CHACHAM - it goes like this (for example):

KARPAS - reminder of Spring. Know it. 600,000 hard labor. Know it. HaAdama bracha for Maror too. Yep. Got it. Stimulates the appetite - we are noblemen on Seder night. Right. Nothing left to ask. Nothing left to learn about KARPAS.

Not so. AT P’TACH LO. We have to draw out new ideas. Where have we recently heard the word KARPAS?

Ask it; don’t answer right away. Let the child (any age). Pause. Megilat Esther. Its a colorful fabric. Rashi in Vayeishev links KARPAS the fabric with the multi-colored striped coat that Yaakov gave to Yosef. The one that fired the jealousy that led to the sale of Yosef into Egypt and brought us all down. Now KARPAS has another dimension.

~~~

Most Seder “items” have two sides…sad ones that are reminders of slavery and oppression, and happy ones that highlight redemption, Geula, and nobility. E.g. Salt water represents the tears our ancestors shed and also reminds us of Yam Suf, symbol of freedom

~~~

“On this night we dip twice” This also commemorates the brothers’ dipping of Yosef’s coat in blood - an act which began the Egyptian “experience” - and - the dipping of the AGUDAT EIZOV (hyssop bundle) in the blood of the Korban Pesach - an act that signaled the end of enslavement.

~~~

Egg (on the Seder plate) is a mourner’s food, and is considered a commemoration of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. But BEITZA (egg) is the name of the volume of Mishna that deals with Yom Tov, giving the egg a “happy” side, too.

~~~

We are each the Four Children!

Just about every person is made up of part CHACHAM, part TAM, part “the one who doesn’t know to ask”, and even part RASHA. The numbers vary from person to person. One can be a 60/12/24/4 and one be 30/40/18/12. And we each are constantly changing.

• Other Pesach 5770Haggadah and Seder Tidbits...
• There are no related articles.