"

TheHaggadahYouHaventHeardBefore
SederPrep&PesachInsights
jrosenfeld@lss.org

RaAYaHKook
OlatRaAYah,
vol.2,p.245

IntroductiontoHaggadah
HelkatYehoshua

IntroductiontoHaggadah
MarcAlainOuaknin


1.
Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah
[Mechon Yerushalayim: 2008]; p. 75 n. 8

Some say that the sign Kadesh includes in it the Mitzvah of the four cups of wine, especially for
those Posekim who hold that we only make a blessing on the first cup...

2. R. Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, Haggadah

Shem mi-Shmuel
; p. 38

It seems that it would have been correct to have written rechatz ukadesh but my holy father
said that because of the fact that at the time of the Exodus there was still a redemption despite
the fact that they werent fitting for it therefore on Passover too, there is a spiritual
atmosphere where one may receive holiness even if they are not technically deserving of it...

3. R. Yehoshua Yehiel of Biala, Haggadah

Helkat Yehoshua
; sec. 2, p. 1

This is to hint that even those things that are considered holy need to be cleansed and checked
through and through to ensure they have been done properly. Or, one might say that we should
wash and purify even the holy things in our lives to make sure to do them without any ulterior
motives
4. R. Shlomo ha-Kohen Rabinowicz of Radomsk, in: Haggadah
Beer ha-Hasidut
; p. 33

Anyone who says vayekhulu... is forgiven for all their sins. This is because vayekhulu is a
testimony to the creation of the world, and therefore one must be; needs to be Kosher for
testimony. If that is so, then if the person has violated a sin, God forbid, they would be
disqualified from testifying. Therefore, ones sins are thereupon forgiven so that they can be
qualified to give true testimony.

5. R. Menachem Nahum Twersky of Chernobyl: ibid, p. 40

Who has brought us to this time: In the month of Nisan we were redeemed, and in the month
of Nisan we will be redeemed. For there are two types of exile: there is a type of general exile,
and that is the exile of the Jewish people amongst all the nations, and then there is a private
exile, which is to be found [in different degrees] in each Jewish individual, that the soul is in exile
due to the evil inclination;

and therefore we have a great rule that in all times that the calendar returns to this time in
perpetuity, when that appointed time comes, we return back to that state in which we were in
at the first time - and that is why we bless: ...that you have brought us to
this
time1
6. R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook, Haggadah
Olat RaAYaH
; p. 254 in: R. Bezalel
Naor, Haggadah
Springtime of the World
[Orot: 2004]; pp. 18-19

7. Haggadah
Leil Shimurim Ohr Chadash vBiur ha-Gra
; p. 8

Wash your hands and dont make a blessing. And according to the [Vilna] Gaon zl, one needs to
make a blessing, and so was his custom.
8. Haggadah
Ki Yishalcha
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ETERNALRETURN.

The Netziv of Volozhin: on this night we perform a remembrance of the Paschal offering that
was in the Temple. We try to re-enact every aspect of that ritual, including the washing of hands
for purification purposes, in order to train ourselves for the time when the Temple will be rebuilt,
so that we can actually eat the offering in ritual purity.

9. R. Shmuel Borenstein of Sochatchov, Haggadah

Shem mi-Shmuel
; p. 42

Yahatz: Our Rabbis said - the bread of poverty/affliction; just as a poor person eats but a mere
slice of bread, meaning that the poor person is missing something, and waits for someone or
something to complete them. And God almighty, His way is to work through broken vessels - to
listen to the downtrodden and then awaits the time in which they will be completed after their
sufferings have passed.
And this is a general rule for all those who raise their eyes to the heavens and await God to
complete their needs, and so it was with the Jewish people in Egypt, in that they had no
natural path towards redemption/saving, and they could only look to heaven for it.
It is in this vein that we symbolize with the piece(s) of Matzah, that we too are incomplete and
that our eyes are trained on God, until He finds favor with us and completes us

10. R. Moshe Wolfson,

Emunas Itecha
; vol. 3, p. 9

11. Haggadah
Otsar Mefarshei ha-Haggadah
, p. 78 n. 22
(),,
"

:
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12. R. Aryeh Tzvi Frommer of Kozhaglov,
Eretz Tzvi
; vol. 2, pp. 40-41

And it is a little difficult: seemingly, we could have written simply yetziat Mitzrayim without the
be... The reason that on Pesach we need to extend our speaking of the miracles is because
during the rest of the year, we simply have to remind ourselves of the Exodus, by way of
memory - recalling something which is not now/present But tonight, the matter of the
6

Exodus resurges within the hearts of all Jewish people, as if it is actually occurring
now
and that
is the explanation - [it is as if we are speaking of the Exodus while in Egypt itself]

13. R. Hayyim Teitelbaum of Sighet,

Atzei Hayyim
; vol. 2, p. 337

...the explanation is that God praises Israel and Israel praises its master that is why in the holy
Torah, it is written Hag ha-Matzot, a praise of Israel. And yet we call it Hag ha-Pesah, in
praise of God. And all this is in the manner of that which is written: when I am to my beloved,
then my beloved is to me

14. R. Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin, Haggadah

Rabbeinu Tzadok ha-Kohen
; vol. 2, pp.
102-3

...and we don't ask about these questions about the rest of the Mitzvot that we do at special
occasions, like sitting in the Sukkah or waving the Lulav, etc. For all the Mitzvot are those of the
Torah which was received at Sinai and thus we were commanded to follow the 613 Mitzvot, and
there is no reason to ask about them, but the Mitzvot tonight were connected to things which
predated the giving of the Torah, and without the preparation and acceptance that was for all
other Mitzvot of Naaseh vNishma; these Mitzvot [tonight] are of darkness, in that the people
were still mired in the depths of darkness of Egypt until the King of all Kings revealed Himself
with great light

15. R. Kalonymos Kalmish Shapiro of Piacezno HYD,

Aish Kodesh
; p. 150

...but the wicked son, who has removed himself from the group, [reveals] that his essence is not
that of the Jewish people, but rather his essence is himself only; then he has rejected the main
thing [=heresy], in that the main thing is the Jewish people.2

16. R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook, Haggadah

Olat RaAYaH
; p. 275

He would say, that the [the wicked sons] removal of himself from the holiness of the Jewish
people, is itself what creates the heresy, because the holy faith of the Torah and Mitzvot is
intimately/intrinsically connected with and stands upon its (relevance?) relation to the entire
Jewish people.

17. R. Shalom Noah Berezovsky,

Netivot Shalom
; Moadim, p. 254-255

,,"',"" 2
"

18. R. Yaakov Moshe Harlap,

Mei Marom
; vol. 9, pp. 51-52

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