Rabbi Arush on the Seder

Preparations for Seder 

I am very careful to have the Seder ready the night before. Why? 

• You must have time to sleep in the afternoon to be awake for the Seder! Men, women and children! The one time that I allow a husband to command a wife is on this day: “You must sleep!!!”
• You also need time to eat well in the afternoon in order to have a longer Seder without rushing due to hunger. 

Remember that it’s forbidden to work after mid-day on Erev Yom Tov, even more serious than working Erev Shabbat!  

It is important to be happy on the holiday because holidays are the aspect of the “heart” and the heart needs to be happy! Make sure to do your preparation with happiness and excitement! 

Remember – keeping the holiday is not one mitzvah. It’s thousands of mitzvot! One hour is 3,600 seconds, which means that there are 3,600 mitzvot every hour! One day is 86,400 seconds, which means 86,400 mitzvot! This is true for Shabbat and all the more so for the holiday! Be happy! Passover is thousands of wonderful mitzvot, even the simplest Jew who doesn’t learn leaves the holiday with tens of thousands of mitzvot! 

Maariv 

Seder night – it’s not night, it’s day! This night has the power as if it was day. 

The evening begins with Maariv! This is when we receive the light of the festival. Also, this is the only night that we say Hallel, and not only one time, but twice! Even women are required to say Hallel twice! At the time of Maariv, they must say Hallel even if they are at home! Ashkenazim and Sephardim! 

On this night all the prayers from the entire year go up to Shamayim (heaven)! Pray! Ask Hashem to help us have “Leil HaSeder k’Seder”! Start praying now to have a proper Seder! 

Seder

The first thing to remember – the Seder begins with emuna!The Seder begins when and how Hashem wants. You must have patience and just be happy and singing. We all want to start with Kadesh right away, but sometimes there are obstacles, big and small. Before Kadesh comes emuna!   

Who wrote the Haggadah? Some say it was Rabbi Akiva, some say Eliyahu Hanavi, and some  say  Anshei  Knesset HaGedolah (Men of the Great Assembly, during the time of Ezra). Either way, it was giants who wrote the Haggadah! There is so much in it! 

For someone who eats everything at the Seder according to its laws, all kinds of healing come into the food! 

Everyone must know themselves. If you can manage wine, fine. If not, maybe 50/50 wine/grape juice, and if not then only grape juice! This is not a night to get drunk. Make sure to say my prayer before every cup of wine! (Available in  Harav  Arush’s  Haggadah in Hebrew).  

Matzah – use hand matzah. Only time that we say the blessing “to eat matzah.” The first portion of matzah should be completely plain, no salatim (salads), no nothing. Thirty  grams is a kezayit (the size of an olive). The best thing is to weigh your matzah before the Seder to know how much is a kezayit. But even the thinnest round hand matzah, has in it at least 4 kezayot. So eat at least a quarter of a hand matzah and you’re fine! Make sure you eat at least a kezayit of the maror as well. 

Say everything with a tune and also say it loudly, even yelling! It says that Hashem “heard our cry.” So this is a night to cry out to Hashem! There is an amazing Zohar on this. It’s a segulah for tikkun habrit. 

To lean – to lean to the left is not enough. You must lean on something. On a pillow, on the arm chair, on whatever – but lean on something! 

Everything has its segulah. Tonight is also a night to remember childless women – the three angels came to Avraham Avinu on Seder night! Sarah Imenu was remembered on Pesach! Certainly you can also be remembered on Passover to find a soulmate if it is also a night to have children. 

Haggadah 

• Karpas – Have in mind that Hashem should have mercy on us. Have in mind to sweeten all the judgments on the Jewish people, and send them all to our enemies!
• The salt water – Water is mercy and kindness. Again, have in mind to sweeten the judgments and bring kindness upon ourselves and Am Yisrael.
• Yachatz – To cut the middle matzah, try to cut the matzah so that the big piece is a “vav” (ו)  and the smaller one is a “daled” (ד). It’s very hard to do so in practice, so it’s enough that you think about it and try. Have in mind to break our Yetzer Hara, bad character traits, evil lusts, and desires.
  • Cutting the middle matzah is also a segulah for parnassah, so have in mind to pray to have good income! Also to have in mind to break the judgments.
  • Rebbe M’Apta holds that it is a segulah to have in mind at the blessing “Hashem who redeemed us” to be redeemed from whatever suffering you have. You  can bring down these salvations at that time! 

• Saying the Haggadah slowly, slowly. What is this 10-15 minutes of speed reading!? Everyone says the Haggadah. The father runs the Seder, comments, etc. but everyone reads the Haggadah for themselves. Saying the Haggadah brings huge segulot  (rectification) for speaking lashon hara (evil speech), to receive kol tov (all good), to receive forgiveness for all your sins! To receive huge spiritual lights! Also to receive yediat haTorah – to truly know the entire Torah. 

• Every child should ask the questions. Let’s explain the questions a little and explain them to the children! 

• We provide not just a cup, but also a chair for Eliyahu HaNavi! 

• Kiss the matzah! It’s a segulah for shmira (protection).

• Through eating the matzah we receive huge things! We can even receive a new soul! So eat the matzah happily!
  
  • Rectifies all gilui arayot, sexual sins, and also to receive humility and lowliness to know that everything is from Hashem.
  • Fixes the sin of the etz hadaat (eating from the Tree of Knowledge).
  • Saves us from all sorts of suffering.
  • Serves as a rectification for eating improper foods in the past. It’s like fasting on Yom Kippur!
  • Serves as “food of healing” according to the Zohar.
  • Chases out of the house all the sitra achra, all the evil. 
  • Rectifies the moach, the mind.
  • Serves as a segulah to bring us from darkness to great light and to cancel our anger and arrogance.

• Using a plastic bowl or cup, take out the 16 drops for the 10 plagues etc., The father pours out a drop of wine for each one, and the wife pours out a drop of water (only the head of the Seder does this, not everyone). The wine signifies the judgments, like the blood, and the water signifies the kindnesses. To remember that in the same cup, the Jew drank water, and the Egyptian drank blood! The wine that remains in the cup is a huge segulah for healing! If a couple has no children, each should drink from this wine and they will have a child. Now everyone at the Seder should drink a drop of that wine specifically, pour for everyone a little bit of what is left in the cup. 

The Meal

Even the meal has segulot! It’s an aspect of redemption!  

• Tzaphon – eating the afikomen. Leave over a tiny bit of the afikomen in a plastic bag for the entire year! Eating it is also a segulah for healing and also for doing  teshuva shleima (to completely return in repentance to Hashem).
• Barech – say the Blessing after Meals with intention, word by word, and you can receive income with abundance! We need to sing, and say Hallel with happiness and in a loud voice.