Maggid
R' Betzalel z'l, a prominent talmid chochom
from Kelm, quoted what his grandfather the author of the
Malbushei Yom Tov, used to say on the seder
night.
When R' Betzalel's grandfather began reading the
Haggodoh he would announce to everyone: "Just as I am
now sitting in my house and conducting the seder so
are all the Jews in this city, all Jewish neighbors, all Jews
throughout the country, and all of beis Yisroel
wherever they live in the whole world — conducting a
seder of drinking four kossos, eating
matzoh and morror, and reading the
Haggodoh. Everyone living today is conducting this
same seder on Pesach night.
"From where did we learn this? From our fathers who lived
before us. And from where did our fathers learn this? From
their own fathers, and they from their fathers, and so on,
until we reach the generations of the Rishonim, and on
to the Geonim, the Rabonon Savoro'i, the
Amoraim, the Tanoim, the Anshei Knesses
HaGedoloh and nevi'im to the zekeinim of
the generation of Moshe, Aharon, Yehoshua and Kolev . . . the
Dor Dei'ah — the generation who followed the
Anonnei kovod in the Sinai desert and received the
Torah, about whom the Torah attests: "You have seen what I
did to Egypt" (Shemos 19:4). Chazal (Mechilta,
parshas Bechodesh, parsha 2) tell us: "It is neither
tradition, nor the written word that I am sending you, no
witnesses testifying for you, but "You have seen what I did
to Egypt." (R' Eliyahu Lopian, Mishel Ovos)
You Too Set His Teeth on Edge
An "enlightened" Jew once mockingly asked R' Tzvi Yechezkel
of Kalzhen, the av beis din of Plonsk, why the
Haggodoh is so indignant about the wicked son's
question and advises us "to set his teeth on edge"? After
all, the Torah itself in parshas Bo writes calmly and
quietly, "That you shall say, It is the korbon of the
pesach to Hashem" (Shemos 12:27). There is no
mention at all in the Torah of a sharp rebuke.
The gaon answered by first citing another difficulty
in this section of the Haggodoh. Why does the Torah
refer to the other sons in the singular? When referring to
the chochom, the Torah writes "When your son shall
tomorrow ask you" (Devorim 6:20). About the son who
does not know how to ask, it says: "You shall relate to your
son on that day saying" (Shemos 13:8). Only about the
rosho the Torah writes: "It shall come to pass when
your children shall say to you" (Shemos 12:26), in the
plural.
The answer is quite simple. A chochom will ask his
question even when he is alone, since he has no reason to
fear by asking it. But the rosho when he is alone will
generally be afraid to open his mouth in an unbefitting
manner and "ask" all those eating the korbon Pesach,
"Of what use is this avodoh for you?"
However when there are many reshoim and only a few
devout Jews he will act differently. The rosho will
not restrain himself; he will ridicule them.
The Torah's ways are peaceful and HaKodosh Boruch Hu
does not demand of Jews to do more than they are able. Hashem
does not require us to fight against the many and rebuke
them. We are therefore commanded to answer peacefully, "That
you shall say, It is the korbon of the pesach
to Hashem."
In the Haggodoh however, only one rosho is
asking his audacious question. This rosho is not even
afraid of all the Torah-observant Jews around him. For such a
rosho there is no reason to restrain ourselves. We
must retort sharply — "You too set his teeth on edge"
— to abash the scorner. (Mishel Ovos)
The Rosho — What Does He Say?
On the seder night Maran HaRav Aharon Kotler
zt'l, the rosh yeshiva of Lakewood Yeshiva, pointed
out that the rosho does not openly defy Hashem,
chas vesholom. He speaks in a relatively restrained
way in comparison to what we are, Rachmono litzlan,
used to hearing from contemporary reshoim. His
question is so refined that the commentaries offer deep
explanations to differentiate between it and that of the
chochom. The Haggodoh wants to teach us that we
must reflect deeply into what each talmid and child
says to us. Only in that way can we truly grasp their real
character.
We were taught the same by the Baal Shem Tov: "The
chochom — what does he say?" The
chochom's essence is how he expresses himself. So too
the rosho, although he may camouflage his intentions
we can reveal his essence after in-depth study. (Arzei
HaLevonon)
Blessed Is He Who Abides by His Promise to Yisroel
The Shiras Yehudah pens a moshol to help
explain this part of the Haggodoh to us. An affluent
Jew died leaving a wife and an only daughter. Before he
passed away he handed over a large sum to a trustee with
explicit instructions to hand over the money to his daughter
only when she needs it for a dowry to enable her to marry
easily.
The girl matured and the time arrived to find a match for
her, but unfortunately she became ill, dangerously ill. A
vast sum of money was urgently needed to save her life. The
mother approached the trustee and requested the money for her
sick daughter. The loyal trustee, however, refused and
claimed that the money was intended only for a dowry and not
for medical expenses. The mother answered: "If you will not
give me the money for her medical expenses I will not have a
daughter to wed since she is desperately sick." (See Ohel
Yaakov of the Dubnah Maggid in parshas Vayechi
about this moshol.)
What is the moral lesson we can learn from this
moshol?
HaKodosh Boruch Hu told Avrohom at the Bris Bein
Habesorim that there is a gezeiroh of, "Know
surely that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is
not theirs" (Bereishis 15:13). The gezeiroh was
to last for four hundred years, but after two hundred and ten
years Hashem saw that if He does not take bnei Yisroel
out of Egypt immediately there will be no one left to take
out, that is, no seed that could be considered that of
Avrohom would remain. The Rambam (Hilchos Avodoh Zorah
1:17) writes, "In just a short time, the foundation Avrohom
had planted would have been uprooted and Yaakov's children
would have strayed from the proper course as did the rest of
the world . . .." HaKodosh Boruch Hu Himself
"estimated the end" of the gezeiroh to fulfill His
promise. This is what is meant by "Who abides by his promise
to Yisroel." (Telollei Oros)
Detzach, Adash, BeAhav
The Russian government once requested that HaRav Yitzchok of
Volozhin and the Rebbe HaRav Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch
come to St. Petersburg, the capital, to answer many questions
pertaining to Judaism. With Hashem's help, they succeeded in
pleasing the government officials with their answers.
One day a Catholic priest approached them. The rabbonim were
surrounded by many Russia ministers who had gathered to see
whether or not the Jews could refute all the questions about
Judaism. The priest brazenly said: "You Jews. You always say
that you do not need human blood for Pesach, but what will
you answer when I show you in your own book that you all need
blood!"
While speaking he took out from under his coat a Haggodoh
Shel Pesach and pointed with his finger at the passage
stating that R' Yehuda made mnemonic signs of the initials of
the ten plagues: Detzach, Adash, BeAhav. The priest
said that the initials of detzach (daled, tzadi,
chof) are dam tzerichim culchem (you all need
blood). "Now I want you to admit to me," said the priest,
"that you need blood on Pesach."
We can, of course, understand it being undesirable to
admonish the priest for his warped pshat, nor answer
him calmly with an explanation found in the commentaries,
such as according to R' Ovadiah of Bartenura, R' Yehuda made
mnemonic signs of the ten plagues to help him remember them.
The priest would surely not accept that explanation despite
it being true, since he was not seeking the truth but only to
hurt the rabbonim and disgrace the Jews.
The gaon HaRav Yitzchok of Volozhin devised a true
answer that effectively closed the priest's mouth. He said:
"Detzach, Adash, BeAhav. I will explain to you what
the initials that R' Yehuda gave mean. You said that
detzach means dam tzerichim culchem. If so,
adash (ayin, daled, shin) means alilas dam
sheker (a false blood libel), and beahav (beis,
alef, ches, beis) means bnei Avrohom choliloh
bezos (G-d forbid, that the children of Avrohom will do
this)."
Upon hearing this explanation HaRav Menachem Mendel expressed
his agreement to prove it correct. They both looked at the
bewildered priest who neither knew what to answer nor add to
what he had previously said. (Mishel Ovos)
Tyrants Have Sought to Destroy Us
HaRav Mazah, the rov of Moscow, relates in his memories:
"Once while taking a walk I saw a group of German antisemites
disgracefully deriding a Jew standing bent over the river's
edge.
"I rushed over and saw the Jew was in the midst of
tovelling keilim and making a brochoh on the
mitzvah. I immediately recognized him as being HaRav Eliezer
Gordon and greeted him. He did not immediately recognize me
but when I told him my name he hugged me tightly. Afterwards
he made a brochoh of mechayeh hameisim, the
brochoh made when someone sees his friend after twelve
months. I told him that when I saw the Germans deriding a Jew
I rushed over to take part in his sorrow. R' Eliezer grinned
but I saw a tear in his eyes. He asked me: `How can it be
that an enlightened nation such as the Germans can deride a
person who did nothing to them, just for seeing someone
immersing a kelli in the river as he is commanded to
do according to his religion?'
"I answered him: `Don't you know that all nations hate Jews?
They can't tolerate seeing us different from everyone else?
Don't they also clean their glasses before drinking although
they do not clean them in a river, a spring, or a kosher
mikveh, and do not make a brochoh when doing
so? What can we do? Our religion is surely singular and our
minhagim amaze them. For instance, if a German
acquaintance would ask you why it is forbidden to drink from
a glass not previously immersed in a river and a
brochoh made on its tevilloh what would you
answer? The German would immediately suspect we are doing
some kishuf or worshiping rivers and water. There is a
halochoh that an opening between a house belonging to
a Jew and a non-Jew does not need to be checked for
chometz since the non-Jew would suppose we are doing
kishuf. Such suspicions endanger us.'
"R' Eliezer answered: `We are doing this according to
Hashem's command. Our whole existence in the golus is
like being in an opening between Yisroel and other nations.
We must always remember this.'" (Haggodas Telollei
Oros)
