Maggid
R' Betzalel zt'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 kosos, 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 Rabbonon Savoro'i, the
Amoraim, the Tanoim, the Anshei Knesses
HaGedolah 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, parshah 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 Duvnah 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
"calculated the end" of the gezeiroh to fulfill His
promise. This is what is meant by "Who abides by his promise
to Yisroel." (Haggodoh Telollei Oros)
Detzach, Adash, BeAchab
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!" In the middle of 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,
BeAchab. 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 to 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, BeAchab. Now I will explain to you
what all the initials that R' Yehuda gave mean. You said that
Detzach means dam tzerichim culchem (you all need
blood). If so, Adash (ayin, daled, shin) means
alilas dam sheker (a false blood libel), and
BeAchab (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 could
he add to what he had previously said. (Mishel Ovos)
Tyrants Have Sought to Destroy Us
HaRav Mazah, the Rav of Moscow, relates in his memoirs:
"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
toveiling 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 keli 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 tevilah what would you
answer? The German would immediately suspect we are doing
some kishuf or worshiping rivers and water. There is a
halocho 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 Talelei
Oros)
The Heter from the Author of the She'iltos
The following once happened to the author of the Yeshu'as
Yaakov zt'l, the Rav of Levov. On Pesach night a simple
Jew hurried over to the Rav with a she'ilah concerning
Pesach. The Rav understood all the Jew's kitchen utensils to
be involved in the question. The gaon had doubts about
the psak and was hesitant to give a ruling. He
therefore told the Jew: "You are invited to stay with me the
whole Pesach."
But the Jew did not agree. "I do not want to be by the Rav
during Pesach since I prefer being in my own home. My only
question is if the utensils are kosher or not."
The Rav again thought deeply about the halachic question and
after a few moments said: "Kosher!"
The Jew happily returned home, but the gaon was
extremely bothered by the psak he had given even though
he had found the heter in the She'iltos who rules
that the chometz in such a case is boteil
beshishim.
The following morning the Yesho'as Yaakov awoke in a cheerful
frame of mind. He told his household that he had been grieved
terribly by the heter he had given. That night the
She'iltos appeared to him in a dream, thanked him for using
that heter and said, "This is the first time someone
used my heter."
And with that the author of the Yesho'as Yaakov was
content. (An excerpt from Orchos Chasidecho, Episodes and
Behavior of Our Torah Giants)
With Signs — This is the Rod
In the time of the Vilna Gaon a small stone was discovered in
a deserted house in Russia. People invested it with
extraordinary powers but were unable to grasp the source of
its power. The best researchers in Russia were unable to
solve the secret of the stone and they sent it to German
scientists. They hoped that in Germany the scientists would
succeed in understanding the special characteristics of the
stone. However, the German scientists were baffled as well,
and they decided to return the stone to Russia.
Before returning the stone, Moses Mendelsohn advised them to
ask the Vilna Gaon, who was famous for his profound knowledge
of the secrets of nature. The Gaon indeed revealed the stone
to be sanpironon and its nature is to divide water into its
chemical parts. When Mendelsohn heard what the Gaon had
answered he claimed that since Chazal say that the rod of
Moshe was a sanpironon it seems that Moshe split the Yam Suf
in a natural way and not through a miracle. In this way
Mendelsohn hoped to deny the miracle of the splitting of Yam
Suf.
When the Gaon heard what Mendelsohn had said, he wrote to
him: "You are such an apikores! Our Torah writes:
"Horeim matcho (Lift up your rod) and stretch out your
hand over the sea and divide it" (Shemos 14:16).
Horeim means putting it away, as the Torah writes in
parshas Korach "Heiromu (get away) from among
this congregation" (Bamidbar 16:9). By `stretch out
your hand' — and not stretching the rod — was Moshe Rabbenu
able to split it. The Torah explicitly writes that Moshe did
the miracle of the splitting of the Yam Suf with his hand and
not with the rod!" (Haggodoh Talelei Oros)
