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Student Testimonial
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Dear Naaleh Friend,
In preparation for the Pesach Seder night, check out this week's printable newsletter: click here. In addition, this week we have featured the class by Mrs. Chana Prero titled Parshat Acharei Mot & Kedoshim: Purity in the Land of Israel. In this shiur Mrs. Prero discusses the requirements to live in the Land of Israel. Please click on the image below to view this class now:
You can also scroll down for the e-mail version of the newsletter. As always, visit our website Naaleh.com to learn more and watch thousands of FREE classes on various Torah and Jewish topics.Chag Kasher V'Sameach!
Ashley Klapper and the Naaleh Crew
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Dedicated in memory of Rachel Leah bat R' Chaim Tzvi
Torat Imecha- Women's Torah
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Galut Mitzrayim: Four Stages of Exile
The Shem Mishmuel writes that the Egyptian exile developed in four stages. The first stage began with the birth of Yitzchak. The forefathers lived in Israel as strangers in a civilization under the dominion of the Cananim. After 190 years, Yaakov and his 70 children went down to Egypt, which began the second stage. When all of the twelve tribes died, a new king arose and the third stage of slavery commenced. The fourth stage of inui was marked by the harsh decrees of Paro to kill the new born baby boys and to torture the Jews with hard labor and suffering.
The Beit Halevi and other commentators postulate that each level was caused by a different sin. The first stage transitioned to the second because of the sin of the sale of Yosef. The third stage was triggered by the sin of moshech orlah, pulling the foreskin back up to cover the sign of the brit. If a Jew is embarrassed of his identity, he fundamentally undoes the purpose of his Jewishness, which is to sanctify the name of Hashem. The Jews tried to find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians by hiding their Jewishness. Therefore, Hashem caused the reverse to happen and they were oppressed even more. The third sin, which caused the progression to the fourth stage of suffering, was their abandonment of the mitzva of milah. The blood of milah is symbolic of dedicating one's life force to Hashem and when they rejected that, the Egyptians killed the babies.
Another possible cause for this last level was that many Jews became informers. Instead of supporting each other in their pain and travail, they became traitors to their people. Only 1/5 of the people who suffered as slaves left Egypt. Those who turned their backs on their brothers died during the plague of darkness.
May we merit to atone for the failure of the previous generations, by sanctify the name of Hashem, standing proud as Jews, and growing in unity and ahavat Yisrael.
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Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Rabbi Hershel Reichman
The Mishna in Pesachim says that at the seder, every person must drink four cups of wine even if a person is so poor that he has to beg money for them. The Tosfot points out the language of the Mishna, Lo yifch'su lo, he should not have less, which doesn't seem to include his family. Therefore, Tosfot learns that the head of the household can be motzi (exempt) others in the performance of their obligation just as he does on Shabbat. This Tosfot seems difficult. The Maharal points out that the general principle of shomea k'oneh (listening and fulfilling the mitzva through someone else's speech) only applies to mitzvot of amira and kriah such as kiddush or megilah. However, mitzvot that must be performed with one's body, such as the four cups where the actual drinking is the mitzva, can't be fulfilled vicariously. Yet Tosfot maintains, bringing proof from the Mishna, that the mitzva is to say the hagadah over the cup of wine, and not the drinking.
Just as in Kiddush we solemnize the words on a cup of wine, at the seder we have four different recitations on the four cups of wine. The first cup is Kiddush. The second cup is poured before Mah Nishtana and drunk at the conclusion of Magid. We recite bentching on the third cup and Hallel on the fourth cup. The Gemara asks, what is the halacha if a person drinks the four cups of wine at once, b'vat achat? Rashi says b'vat achat means pouring all four cups into one giant cup and drinking it. The Rashbam says it means drinking them in quick succession, one after the other. According to Tosfot, one has not fulfilled the mitzva because the mitzva is to recite the Hagadah on a cup of wine. The Rambam and the Rif disagree. As Tosfot maintains, one aspect of the mitzva is reciting the hagadah on the wine, but another aspect is drinking the wine itself. So drinking one cup after the other fulfills the cheirut aspect, but not the seder hadevarim al hakos aspect.
We pour the wine before Magid and Hallel to reflect the opinion of Tosfot. The Shibolei Haleket points out, that just as the cup of wine is lifted for Kiddush, ideally a person should hold the cup throughout the recital of the Hagadah and Hallel.
Tosfot rules that during the year a woman does not have an obligation to say Hallel, a time-bound mitzva, and therefore cannot be motzi her husband. But on Pesach since the Hallel is related to the four cups, which women are obligated to drink, a wife could be motzi her husband.
The Rambam says one should drink most of the cup. Tosfot quantifies that it means a cheek full. The Shulchan Aruch concurs that ideally the one who makes kiddush should drink a cheek full, but it can be divided among the people listening to the bracha, because there's no formal obligation to drink wine. Tosfot holds the same for the four cups. But Rambam says there's a separate obligation to drink the wine. Therefore, ideally a person should drink the whole cup. We rule like the Rambam that there are two aspects to the mitzva of daled kosot, the first of seder devarim al hakos can be fulfilled through the head of the household. But the second aspect of drinking derech cheirut must be done by the person himself.
Why doesn't the Mah Nishtana mention the drinking of four cups? Perhaps one could argue based on Tosfot that the four cups is not so different from Kiddush or bentching on a cup of wine. The Rambam writes that if one has no wine, one could make Kiddush on matzah as one could on Shabbat. One could also recite the Magid and bentching on the matzah. While one won't fulfill the cheirut aspect, one could at least fulfill the seder devarim al hapat.
Each of the four stages of redemption are meaningful and warrants its own expression of gratitude and thankfulness to Hashem. This is a critical aspect of the seder and so we fulfill the fundamental mitzva of the arbah kosot by reciting the Hagadah and Hallel over the four cups of wine.
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Haggadah
Based on a Naaleh.com series by Mrs. Shira Smiles
We begin Magid with Ha lachma anya because the seder is meant to be a collective experience just as the korban pesach was eaten together in a large group. Hashem meant it that way because only Klal Yisrael as a whole can merit redemption. Even if one ends up celebrating the seder alone, spiritually we're meant to feel a part of something greater.
The four questions are questions that no child would ever ask. Additionally, most of the questions have not yet happened in the seder. So why are they asked? The first question addresses emunah. Night symbolizes faith. Day signifies truth. In all other situations that evoke emunah, we have to take into ourselves both leaven foods and matzah, the essence of simplicity. On this night we are meant to have no self and to see only Hashem's greatness. We are meant to perceive His gift of orot makifim (surrounding light), redemption and clarity. The more we internalize this, the closer to redemption we'll be.
In all other experiences we eat any sort of vegetable, but tonight we eat only bitter herbs. Tonight we reject everything that is external. The Maharal says there's no such thing as partial emunah. You're either there or not, and tonight you have to be there. Matzah is called the bread of emunah. It's not that we lift up the matzah, it uplifts us. To get to the state of complete faith, there has to be absolute removal of everything that stands in opposition to faith.
Other nights we don't dip and tonight we dip twice. The first time we dip karpas in salt water, symbolizing the tears of Egypt. The second time we dip maror in charoset, signifying the mortar in Egypt. The charoset is sweet. We sandwich the bitterness with sweetness. The Maharal says there's no redemption without exile. Until one can say I know what I don't want to be, there's no possibility of opening the door to the future.
On all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining. But tonight we recline in royalty. Paro is related to the root word paruah, wild. He ruled the people through his essence which was imagination in its most corrupt form, having no borders or sense of accountability. Mitzrayim was the ultimate place of limitation. Nothing is more restricted than the little space that's enclosed by the human ego. We were slaves to Paro and his subjects in Egypt. We sunk to their level. We closed almost all the gates. And then Hashem took us out with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. A hand is a symbol of fine motor action. Hashem revealed His Divine Providence through the plagues. He showed us that the laws of nature have no binding meaning because they have an author. The zroeh netuyah was the great force that turned things completely upside down. If Hashem didn't take us out of Mitzrayim, we and our children would still be slaves. We would still be lost in the confusion of freedom without boundaries.
The more one talks about yetziat Mitzrayim the more praiseworthy he is, because what you say changes you. The more we talk about redemption, the closer we are to being redeemable. The greater a person is, the more awareness and mindfulness and detail he can include in his recounting of the Exodus. The five sages in Bnei Brak sat and spoke about yetziat Mitzrayim until the students came and said the time has come to say the shema. You could talk about exile and redemption but there's a moment of unity when you have to talk about both of them being one. Saying shema means accepting the yoke of heaven. It is recognizing that Hashem is the source of all things and that He is taking where we are supposed to go. On this night we move beyond our self imposed limitations, and latch on to Hashem's personalized guidance.
The Hagadah takes us to the beginning of our nationhood when our forefathers were idol worshipers. We can't talk about liberation until we talk about the roots of exile. Because Hashem is invisible and seems abstract, the early generations worshiped creation. Still Hashem is great enough that no matter where one comes from, one can find Him. The proof is that Avraham and Nachor who came from the same father, lived very different lives. Avraham found Hashem while Nachor raised a son Betuel who was of such low moral character that he took pride in immorality. Exile gave us a sense of uniqueness and a mission. We saw Hashem's judgment and caring and that He was with us all along. We left b'rechush gadol, with many possessions, not just physical gold and silver, but with the awareness of our purpose as the chosen nation.
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