The Very First Haggadah

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

Putting the Pieces Together 

There are a few types of chiddushim (novel Torah ideas). The most amazing chiddush is when you simply start to put together the things that you know as separate facts and begin to see reality as a whole. Such a chiddush comes from a desire to understand what actually happened. 

One of the most talked-about periods in history is Yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt). We are  virtually surrounded by it. Many mitzvot are in remembrance of Yetziat Mitzrayim, and we are  obligated to remember it at least twice a day. In the prayers, as well, Yetziat Mitzrayim is awarded a place of honor. 

The parashot (weekly Torah portions) that tell of Yetziat Mitzrayim accompany us for  approximately a month every year. We find endless midrashim, drashot, and commentaries and about it. But the most significant factor that turns Yetziat Mitzrayim with everything connected to it, into the most talked-about topic in the Torah is, without a doubt, the Pesach Seder. 

The Pesach Haggadah is the book that has been published in the greatest number of editions. Generations upon generations of Jews were raised on the rule: “The more one tells  about   Yetziat  Mitzrayim, the more praiseworthy he is.” This sentence made all Jewish sages, together with good G-d fearing Jews, do their utmost, to produce an endless number of descriptions and ideas.  

Is there anything that we can add to all this?  

What’s amazing in the holy Torah is that it is truly limitless, and there is always something new to add. Sometimes the biggest chiddushim are the result of a simple examination of the text, followed by putting together some facts familiar to all of us.  

Explicit psukim (verses) describe that first night when we left Egypt.¹ We all know about this, having learned it in kindergarten. Bnei Yisrael are sitting in their homes; they are forbidden to go outside. They are all belted, ready to leave, eating the meat of the Pesach korban (offering). 

Many psukim describe also the terrible disaster that comes upon the Egyptians at the very same time, and the great scream that rang out throughout Egypt.¹ This, too, we probably know from our early years in kindergarten. We are also familiar with the tremendous pressure that Pharaoh and all the Egyptians placed on the Jewish nation to leave Egypt quickly, and there is no child who does not know the song, “Pharaoh in pajamas in the middle of the night…” 

But when you put it all together, you get a very interesting picture of this night; it may even be called  weird. And this picture illustrates the emotional state of the Jews that night. But most of all, it provides us with amazing messages about serving Hashem.  

The Night Within and the Night Without 

So, let us begin to draw this picture…

Am Yisrael experiences more than one hundred years of back-breaking slavery. They have a tradition that they will eventually be redeemed from this slavery. We can easily assume that they are longing for this redemption. Then, the redemption process begins, but it doesn’t happen quickly and smoothly, like the Jews probably thought it would. In spite of incredible and unprecedented miracles that force even the greatest non-believers to see Hashem – still, it takes many months to humble stubborn Pharaoh.  

The big night arrives. On the one hand, Bnei Yisrael are commanded to be ‘on the ready’, ready to move. On the other hand, they are forbidden to leave their homes. If someone would have asked us what we should have been doing on the last night, probably there wouldn’t have been even one who would have said that on such a night we should sit down and make a barbeque… 

Bnei Yisrael are sitting at home, in groups, “let him and a close neighbor take a lamb”¹, and they may not go outside. What are they told to do? To slaughter the lamb, roast it on a fire, and then to sit and eat a good meal of meat, serenely and happily. 

And here is where we start putting things together: At that same time, all of Egypt is in an uproar! In every home there is at least one dead person.² Shouts and screams everywhere. Bnei Yisrael are sitting at home and can hear all this, and are asking each other: “What’s happening out there?” But what are Bnei Yisrael doing? They continue to eat and celebrate, and no one goes out to see what’s happening… 

Besides that, the Egyptians are well aware of Moshe’s prophecy, and they know exactly why they are being punished and are suffering. What they do first is to run to the Jews’ homes and beg them to get up and leave, as it says explicitly, “The Egyptians too urged the people to make haste and leave the land. ‘All of us will die,’ they said.”³ Pharaoh himself is running through the streets like one possessed, searching for Moshe and Aharon.  

So we see Bnei Yisrael sitting in their homes and eating, not only when there are shrieks and sirens outside, but also while the Egyptians are knocking on the door and begging them to get up and leave. But the Jews continue to sit calmly, smiling. They’re in no rush. They are in the middle of a festive meal. After all, do you want us to set out on a journey when we are hungry? Why all this pressure? Everything is okay. We are calm, we have time, we have no reason to leave at night like common burglars… 

Even when morning comes, they are not in a hurry. They have a holiday. They have to adorn themselves and borrow from the broken and mourning Egyptians beautiful clothes and much jewelry…⁴ 

Being Redeemed on a Full Stomach  

The picture we get is that the Jewish people are obligated to operate in complete subjugation to Hashem’s instructions, and in complete contradiction to common sense, reality, and their own inner urge. They so much want to leave, but they’re not allowed to do so yet. They hear screams from outside, Egyptians are knocking on their doors, begging them to leave, but they are eating peacefully. True, they want to get out of Egypt, but they remain there for a family barbeque. They don’t want to see these Egyptians anymore, but they are commanded to go from house to house and ask for the Egyptians’ valuables. 

The most interesting thing is that this entire ceremony goes against common sense as well as against what Moshe Rabbeinu himself said. For Moshe never asked to leave Egypt for good, but rather only to leave for a few days to serve Hashem in the desert⁵, and Pharaoh, after the plague of arov (the fourth plague of wild beasts), offered the Jews the possibility of worshiping Hashem in Egypt itself to their hearts’ desire.⁶  

Moshe Rabbeinu answers him with a very logical argument: “That would not be right for us to do; our sacrifice to Hashem our G-d is an abomination to the Egyptians. If, before the Egyptians’ eyes we offer the sacrifice they consider an abomination, will they not stone us to death?”⁷ The sheep was an Egyptian god; such a provocative action in which thousands of sheep and goats are slaughtered would cause an uproar – and a pogrom.  

And here, just before leaving, Bnei Yisrael are doing exactly that: They tie up the sheep for a few days. All the Egyptians understand where this is going and are on alert. And indeed, one fine day the Jews all slaughter the sheep at once. And as if that’s not enough, they also barbeque it, so that the scent of the roasting meat spreads throughout the land. This is a declaration of war! And it is also the opposite of what Moshe Rabbeinu said all along. 

The Torah tells us that Hashem took us out of Egypt at night. Chazal ask: But they left only on the following day! And they answer: This teaches us that the Redemption started at night. In other words, the Redemption is not the actual leaving, but rather that night with all its contradictions and confusions – that itself was the Geula (Redemption). 

So we must search for hints in this event as presented here and try to understand what’s happening here. What should the Jews have learned from this back then, and for all generations? 

Nullification, Wholeness, and Trust 

All Yetziat Mitzrayim is a process that goes against common sense. “… how you followed Me into the wilderness, in a land unsown.”⁸ Bnei Yisrael needed to learn from the very first moment to follow Hashem blindly, nullifying themselves and believing wholeheartedly, without seeing the reality that is screaming for attention – just being at one with Hashem’s will.  

Bnei Yisrael also placed all their personal wishes and urges aside, and they learned to calm down and eat serenely even when the whole world is in turmoil. That is the height of level-headedness. 

And above all, it is complete trust in Hashem yitbarach. Outside, catastrophic things are happening, but we eat serenely. I wondered: What sort of conversations were there that Seder night? We tell our children what happened in the past, but the Jews then had not yet left Egypt, so what did they talk about? What stories did they tell? 

I would think that when the children and the other people in the household heard the screams, their parents said to them:  

Dear children, don’t be afraid. Hashem loves us. Hashem protects us, Hashem is compassionate towards us. Hashem passes over our doorways and strikes our enemies. We are Hashem’s beloved children, and everything that you are hearing is just the punishment that Hashem gives to those who cause distress to His children. But we will have only good, and we will be redeemed and saved, and we will be very rich, and we will leave this land with miracles and with a strong hand, and we will always have only good.  

And that was the first Haggadah of Pesach in history! 

Editor’s Notes: 

¹ Shemot (Exodus) Chapter 12 

² Shemot 12:30, see also Rashi’s commentary  

³ Shemot 12:33 

⁴ Shemot 11:2-3 (Hashem commands Jews to ask for gifts from Egyptians) and Shemot 12:35-36 (Jews actually request gifts from Egyptians) 

⁵ Shemot 3:18, 5:3, 8:27 

⁶ Shemot 8:21 

⁷ Shemot Chapter 22