How to Read Maggid | Rabbi David Zahtz

AI-Generated Summary (AI can be inaccurate. Check important information):

1. *Structured educational model* — The *Haggadah* is not merely a collection of stories but an intentional educational sequence using visual aids like *Matzah* and a question-answer format to provoke deep engagement.

2. *Precursor to the story* — Sections like *Ha Lachma Anya* and *Ma Nishtana* are not the story itself but the technical and thematic framework required to approach the narrative correctly.

3. *Historical macrocosm* — The experiences of *Yaakov Avinu* with *Lavan* serve as a microcosm for the national Egyptian exile; the parallels in language (such as *Vayugad* and *Vayirdof*) reveal that the redemption could have happened generations earlier.

4. *Human responsibility in exile* — While the *Bris Bein HaBesarim* guarantees ultimate redemption, the *Haggadah* hints through the quote from *Yehoshua* that our own actions, specifically fraternal strife like *Mechiras Yosef*, are what lead us into *Galus*.

5. *Covenant of hope* — The blessing of *Baruch Shomer Havtachato* and the song *Vehi Sheamda* transform the predetermined suffering of the *Bris Bein HaBesarim* into a recurring source of faith, proving that *Hashem* preserves the nation through every historical persecution.

6. *Exilic liturgy* — The *Rambam* emphasizes that our version of the *Haggadah* is specifically for *Zman HaGalus*, serving as an expression of *Emunah* and a prayer for the final *Geulah*.

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Especially like הגדה Haggadah and all of בראשית Bereshit. Is that thing recording? Is that recording? Yeah. That would be weird otherwise. And no, no, it's good, it's good, it's good. I was going to record myself so you just send it to me afterwards. Okay, basically what I wanted to do is as follows. I wanted to go through the הגדה Haggadah but I'm not looking to, you know like, okay קדש Kadesh, okay let's say, okay why is it בלשון ציווי Belashon Tziuv, what's the language of קדושה Kedusha, you know like little ווארטלאך Vartlach, that's not what I'm trying to do right now. They're great, but I wanted to focus more on the bulk of the סדר Seder. Because we have the following situation: basically we get into מגיד Maggid and let's call a spade a spade. It happens as follows: calling a spade a spade, it works like this. You know, you start in מגיד Maggid, we all know there's a מצוות סיפור יציאת מצרים Mitzvat Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim. We have מצוות סיפור יציאת מצרים Mitzvat Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim, so fine let's talk about the מצוות סיפור יציאת מצרים Mitzvat Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim. We know that the הגדה Haggadah, מגיד Maggid, okay that's where the bulk is. The question is where actually is it happening and what is actually happening? When you're reading the story or when you're reading the entire מגיד Maggid, it's trying to understand what's the connection between half of the paragraphs. Most ווארטלאך Vartlach and most ideas that we share which are ברוך השם Baruch Hashem they're amazing, and you buy all the different various הגדות Haggadot and you go here and you get this הגדה Haggadah, this הגדה Haggadah, this הגדה Haggadah, whether you get the ראשונים Rishonim or whether you get the אחרונים Acharonim or whether you get the stories or you get all those kind of stuff, most of them focus on small little sections. They ask the basic question like הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya, oh why is it Aramaic? You know all that kind of stuff, and you try to understand it and those are great but they're very very small and very specific. The question is when you learn the הגדה Haggadah, what is the whole what's it made out of? Like what's the big picture of the whole thing? You start with הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya, just give an example. You start with הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya. How is that part of the story? What's the point of it? Forget about the fact that it's Aramaic. What's the point of it in the story? Then you get into מה נשתנה Ma Nishtana and suddenly next thing you know you get to עבדים היינו Avadim Hayinu, oh we're starting to get to the story but honestly that should have been the whole thing. The entire thing should have been עבדים היינו Avadim Hayinu till the end and next thing you know זהו נגמר Zehu Nigmar, we finish the story. How much of the story do we actually need to tell? So part of the questions I want to ask are what's the point of this section and what's the point of this section in contrast or in connection with that which came before and that which comes after? Okay? Because think about what you usually get to. You usually get to a situation where we spent a lot of time מה נשתנה Ma Nishtana, so where are we answering? How is עבדים היינו Avadim Hayinu answering the question? How is it not? All this kind of stuff and you get in all these things. You get into oh בני ברק Bnei Brak, and how we have a story of בני ברק Bnei Brak all the time. Fantastic. We spend all that time and then what do we get to the point of? Then we get to ארמי אובד אבי Arami Oved Avi and next thing okay and we missed the whole and like but is that the main section? Because if that's the main section we're all done by then. I remember growing up ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem in a family of all boys and all my cousins all boys, okay and ברוך השם Baruch Hashem many תלמידי חכמים Talmidei Chachamim in that and they all came back from ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael and ברוך השם Baruch Hashem it was the debate. Forget about אפיקומן Afikomen by חצות Chatzot. That was not like הלוואי Halevai we ever got to that level, okay? But the point is like it was just a oh this שטיקל Shtikel, this שטיקל Shtikel and we're all like where's the chicken soup? When we get to the point of where no one has anything to say because it's just mumble mumble whatever all that kind of stuff, ארמי אובד אבי Arami Oved Avi and everything like that, we lose sight of everything. So when we see the whole picture then maybe we do actually understand how we should focus, okay? And that's really what I want to try and focus on right now. What are we trying to focus on? What is the actual story of the הגדה Haggadah and what are we actually trying to accomplish when we say it? So let's talk, let's start. הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya we begin. What is the point of הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya, how does it fit into the entire story? We're holding up a piece of, we're holding up a piece of מצה Matzah, you point to a piece of מצה Matzah, however you're going to be doing it. מה אכפת לנו Machpat Lanu? Like who cares? So it sounds like at least what's when it talks about education, this is definitely an educational model that we're using here. There's some type of visual component. So we actually are trying to use a visual. I can hear a סברא Sevara for that, makes sense, something visual. Moreover, הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya is דברים שעונין עליו הרבה Devarim Sheonin Alav Harbeh, right? This is what we're going to be talking about. It's more or less giving us a context for the entire story. Have we started the story? We definitely haven't started the story. But it's the precursor to all the stories. But then we get to מה נשתנה Ma Nishtana and then you try to figure out okay how is this part of the story? What is this element? We're asking questions, having the children ask questions, oh ברוך השם כדי שישאלו התינוקות Baruch Hashem Kdei Sheyishalu Hatinokot and everything. רב הירש Rav Hirsch has a beautiful idea when he talks about what's the concept of why does it have to be in this question answer form, because questions are the definition or the basis of all education. You need to start at the beginning with questions. When you open up a question, that's when you have it. But the problem with that, I don't I'm not disagreeing, but מה נשתנה הלילה הזה מכל הלילות Mah nishtana ha-layla ha-zeh mikol ha-leilot isn't really a question. It's not a question. It's a statement. How is this night different than any other night? Because this night we do this and this night we do this, right? It's not really a question, but what the idea is, it's pointing out the differences and it's the precursor to questions. It's trying to show you how do you analyze something by seeing the differences. What's the difference between this night, what's the difference between that night? Oh, suddenly now we have to what's the פשט pshat? I have no idea what the פשט pshat is, right? Start asking the questions and that's when we first start thinking about the questions, asking questions, understanding questions, what's the point of questions? So מה נשתנה Mah Nishtana isn't part of the story. It's not part of הגדה של פסח Haggadah shel Pesach, I mean it's part of הגדה של פסח Haggadah shel Pesach, it's not part of הגדת יציאת מצרים Haggadat Yetziat Mitzrayim, סיפור יציאת מצרים Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim. It's the idea of the technicals of how we engage the story, how we're going to approach the story. It's going to be a style of question-answer, question-answer, question-answer back and forth, back and forth. Finally, oh, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, we get to עבדים היינו Avadim Hayinu. We start with a song, we start singing, everyone does different tunes, some people do the same tunes. My parents had one tune from one family, one from the other family; by the end we just combined them because none of us actually know which one was this family's, this family's, whatever, whatever they might be, and then we all add those words that don't exist in the, עבדים היינו עתה בני חורין בני חורין Avadim hayinu ata benei chorin benei chorin, right? That that is not part of that's not here, just letting you know. I haven't seen a נוסח nusach that actually has those words, but it sticks into the song, so therefore, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem wherever that song came from, okay? Oh, so עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים Avadim hayinu le-Pharoah be-Mitzrayim, oh, fantastic. So we have a story. We started in מצרים Mitzrayim and we were עבדים avadim. Great, amazing, we left. But if you think about it, we don't actually focus on any other part of it, and even when we say that we're going to, it doesn't seem like it doesn't seem like it's giving us the full story. It's not giving us an appreciation for the whole thing. הרי אנו ובנינו ובני בנינו משועבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים harei anu uvanenu uvenei vanenu meshubadim hayinu le-Pharoah be-Mitzrayim, if we weren't taken out. It's giving us an appreciation of understanding of the importance of the story, importance of what's happening in the story. Why are we telling over the story? What's the relevance to us today? If it was just about remembering a story, so אין הכי נמי ein hachi nami, but it's not just about that. It's why is this relevant to me? And the answer is that if יציאת מצרים Yetziat Mitzrayim didn't happen for whatever reason we're going to assume, then טאקע taka we would have assimilated and טאקע taka we wouldn't be where we are today. I remember thinking back in a little child, we would still be under פרעה Pharoah, we would still be, לאו דוקא lav davka we would be under פרעה Pharoah, that's not the point. We wouldn't exist. The nation wouldn't be here. So it's trying to show you the importance of why it's relevant to us, not only the importance of why it's relevant to us and how it's important, and it's not just about you and me, ואפילו כולנו חכמים כולנו נבונים כולנו זקנים כולנו יודעים את התורה מצווה עלינו לספר ביציאת מצרים ve-afillu kulanu chachamim kulanu nevonim kulanu sekeinim kulanu yodim et ha-Torah mitzvah aleinu lesaper bi-yetziat Mitzrayim, וכל המרבה לספר ביציאת מצרים ve-chol hamarbeh lesaper bi-yetziat Mitzrayim, meaning there's a magnitude of expressing the story, of not just saying the story in one sentence. Yes, we were משועבדים meshubadim in מצרים Mitzrayim, fantastic. We were עבדים avadim, great, and we got out, amazing, finished. You can דן dan whether or not you could be יוצא yotzei on your חיוב chiyuv of זכירת יציאת מצרים zechirat yetziat Mitzrayim on every single day level based on just saying that one sentence. But that's not the point of today. That's not the point of the סדר Seder. Some explain that the concept of סדר Seder, סדר Seder, I think I heard this from הרב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss this week, said why the concept of סדר Seder is it's being מסדר mesader your שנה shana. It's not just a סדר Seder where it's an order of fifteen. It's מסדר mesader your entire שנה shana. What that means I didn't finish listening to the whole piece, but the idea is it's a massive day, it's a massive יום yom, it's a massive opportunity. And that's why he says, that's why this, if there's one night that you don't want to just go ad hoc, I'm just going to get to the סדר Seder and whatever, I'm just going to just open up and see, oh, check this guy says this, this guy says, oh, I have מתיבתא Mesivta, oh my god, I'm going to be sitting here for the next hour and a half reading one paragraph. Prepare. טאקע taka prepare. But the idea is that it's relevant to all of us, no matter you've been in ישיבה yeshiva for a year, two years, three years, five years, doesn't make a difference. וכל המרבה לספר ביציאת מצרים הרי זה משובח ve-chol hamarbeh lesaper bi-yetziat Mitzrayim harei ze meshubach. So the idea over here is okay, fine, so we still haven't gotten to the story. It's telling us another precursor. And then we get on this whole story of מעשה ברבי אליעזר ma'aseh b'rabbi eliezer etc. we go through some stories. But again what's it telling us? It's telling us the severity, it's telling us magnitude, it's telling us the importance of what's actually going on. Suddenly we get to the ארבעה בנים arba'ah banim. Is the ארבעה בנים arba'ah banim the story? No, it's also not the story. Like you're starting to ask like where in the world are we getting to a story? כנגד ארבעה בנים keneged arba'ah banim is telling us, is defining us, the תורה Torah talks about speaking to your children four times about this. Because it's telling you there are four different approaches of how you need to do it. Not one approach will work. It's the understanding that every single person needs something different. חנוך לנער על פי דרכו chanoch lana'ar al pi darko isn't just a פסוק pasuk in משלי Mishlei. It's a concept, it's a concept we have to understand that there's a ווארט vort here that it's so important, it's so it's it's such an integral piece of of our of our year. We have to make sure everybody כאפט chaps it. We have to make sure that it's relevant to every single person in whatever capacity we possibly can. So we still haven't started the story. Until finally we get to מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה matchilah ovdei avodah zarah. Right, we have the piece of יכול מראש חודש yachol merosh chodesh also trying to טענה ta'anah and tell you oh this is a ווארט vort okay fine. But suddenly now we get to once upon a time. Once upon a time, that's a good beginning of a story. I get it, we got a great story. So it says מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו ועכשיו קרבנו המקום לעבודתו matchilah ovdei avodah zarah hayu avoteinu v'achshav kervanu hamakom la'avodato. So it was, we were עבדים avadim, and suddenly now ברוך השם baruch hashem הקדוש ברוך הוא hakadosh baruch hu is מקרב אותנו mekarev otanu לעבודתו la'avodato, שנאמר shenemar, and he quotes a פסוק pasuk. He quotes a few פסוקים psukim in פרק כד perek kaf-daled in יהושע Yehoshua. פסוקים psukim say ויאמר יהושע אל כל העם כה אמר השם אלוהי ישראל בעבר הנהר ישבו אבותיכם מעולם תרח אבי אברהם ואבי נחור ויעבדו אלוהים אחרים vayomer yehoshua el kol ha'am koh amar hashem elokei yisrael be'ever hanahar yashvu avoteichem me'olam terach avi avraham v'avi nachor vaya'avdu elohim acherim. Quotes the פסוק pasuk and the פסוק pasuk begins telling us that יהושע Yehoshua tells over to the Jewish people, oh let's go back to our history. תרח Terach the father of אברהם Avraham. ואקח את אביכם את אברהם מעבר הנהר ואולך אותו בכל ארץ כנען וארבה את זרעו ואתן לו את יצחק va'ekach et avichem et avraham me'ever hanahar va'olech oto be'chol eretz kena'an va'arbeh et zaro va'eten lo et yitzchak. And I took אברהם Avraham your father all across ארץ ישראל eretz yisrael and I וארבה את זרעו va'arbeh et zaro I multiplied him, ואתן ליצחק את יעקב ואת עשו ואתן לעשו את הר שעיר לרשת אותו ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרים va'eten l'yitzchak et ya'akov v'et esav va'eten l'esav et har se'ir lareshet oto v'ya'akov uvanav yardu mitzrayim. Oh! Story background, we got something. At least we're beginning to think we got something. The only problem here is, it's really weird the פסוקים psukim in יהושע Yehoshua. Because I get you start with תרח Terach. תרח Terach טאקע taka if you really think about it, you want to talk about who the father of Judaism is, the father of the Jewish people, the father is תרח Terach. He is the father of the Jewish people. Simple. His son was אברהם Avraham and all of the אמהות imahot came from נחור Nachor and הרן Haran. So through those three children all of עם ישראל am yisrael came. Kind of crazy. But so I get we start with תרח Terach, makes sense. We're giving background. We get to אברהם Avraham. Next thing you know אברהם Avraham tours ארץ ישראל eretz yisrael. Why is that relevant to me? I have no idea why that's relevant to me. But okay, בסדר beseder, he's going through ארץ ישראל eretz yisrael. יצחק Yitzchak, יעקב Ya'akov, עשו Esav, not really sure why we have to hear about the ירושה yerushah of עשו Esav, kind of irrelevant for the point. ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרים v'ya'akov uvanav yardu mitzrayim. Excellent. ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרים v'ya'akov uvanav yardu mitzrayim. Beautiful. We're down in Egypt. What should the next פסוקים psukim be? And we were down in Egypt and there was עינוי inuy, there was עבדות avdus, it was horrific, everything פשוט pashut is like ממש mamash the worst of the worst. משה Moshe came along, brought the מכות makkot and then they went through everything and ברוך השם baruch hashem קריעת ים סוף kriat yam suf everything would be great. That would be a great story. And then we'd finish everything. But that's not what we do. Suddenly next paragraph we have ברוך שומר הבטחתו לישראל ברוך הוא baruch shomer havtachato l'yisrael baruch hu. Which is a just right we're going backwards in time. Back to אברהם אבינו avraham avinu. I'll tell you worse than that. I said what should what should the בעל הגדה ba'al hagadah have said? He should have continued with the story of מצרים mitzrayim. Well where would he get the פסוקים psukim from? You know where you get the פסוקים psukim from? The next פסוק pasuk in יהושע yehoshua. ואגוף את מצרים כאשר עשיתי בקרבו ואחרי כן הוצאתי אתכם va'agof et Mitzrayim ka'asher asiti bekirbo ve'acharei chen hotzeiti etchem. ואוציא את אבותיכם ממצרים ותבואו הימה וירדפו va'otzi et avoteichem miMitzrayim vatavo'u hayamma vayirdefu. The whole story's right here. It's like בעל הגדה Baal Hagaddah you missed the point, like you stuck with the אבות Avos. Hello. What about סיפור יציאת מצרים Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim? Why doesn't he do that? Moreover why are we going backwards to אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu? We continue with אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, suddenly we're talking about the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBetarim. And then we get to the beautiful song of והיא שעמדה Vehi Sheamda. What's that talking about? And even worse we're already up to the part of the darshing of פסוקים Pesukim and what are we starting with? צא ולמד מה ביקש לבן הארמי Tze u'lemad ma bikesh Lavan ha'Arami. Where do you want to be בעל הגדה Baal Hagaddah? Do you want to be with בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael in Egypt? Do you want to be with the אבות Avos? But without a doubt you're going way out of order and you're confusing yourself by going back and forth. You want to start with יהושע Yehoshua and tell us over the whole story? Fantastic. Tell us over the whole story. ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרימה vaYaakov uvanav yardu Mitzraimah. Fantastic. Then stick there. Why are you going back to אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu by the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBetarim? And I'll tell you even worse than that. פרק ט\"ו Perek Tes-Vov in ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis, the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBetarim is quite possibly the worst פרק Perek to discuss at the night of the הגדה Hagaddah. Why? What's the worst night? Why? What's the potential question? Like ברוך השם Baruch Hashem I have all מאמינים maaminim here and everyone's like oh פשיטא pashuta. Guys, can one not ask the question: Why are we giving הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu if he put us there? The entire story of ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBetarim is basically saying it has been predetermined you're going to Egypt. If that's the case מה המהומה ma hamehuma? It's ממש mamash this is a great example of PR, playing it your own way. ברוך שומר הבטחתו לישראל Baruch shomer havtachato l'Yisrael. Wow הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu thank you so much for keeping your promises. חישב את הקץ לעשות כמו שאמר לאברהם אבינו בברית בין הבתרים שנאמר ויאמר לאברם ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום ועינו אותם ארבע מאות שנה Chishev et haketz la'asot k'mo she'amar l'Avraham Avinu biBris Bein HaBetarim shene'emar vayomer l'Avram yadoa teida ki ger yihiyeh zar'acha b'eretz lo lahem va'avadum v'inu otam arba me'ot shana. Already in the time of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu you said what? You said that they're going to be spending 400 years in ארץ לא להם eretz lo lahem. ועבדום ועינו אותם va'avadum v'inu otam. וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנכי ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול vegam et hagoy asher ya'avodu dan anochi ve'acharei chen yetze'u berechush gadol. And at the end of the day, yeah, okay בסדר beseder you go out with rewards. But honestly if you read the פסוקים pesukim in לך לך Lech Lecha, to be fairly honest you would have looked at it and you said הקדוש ברוך הוא באמת HaKadosh Baruch Hu be'emet? Seriously? With all due respect, I'll forgo the רכוש גדול rechush gadol and forgo the 400 years. What is this? This is what you want to bring? Oh ברוך השם Baruch Hashem you kept your promises. You kept your promises, don't put us there in the first place. And of course the worst case, the worst scenario is והיא שעמדה Vehi Sheamda. What's והיא Vehi? פשטות Pashtus is והיא Vehi is on the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBetarim. Heard a cute ווארט vort. What's really the והיא Vehi? What? The wine? When you raise the wine. Not the והיא Vehi of the wine. It's the לחיים lechaim that you give a ברכה bracha to. But anyway בקיצור bekitzur heard that from some חב\"ד Chabad Rabbi. Anyway okay anyway בקיצור bekitzur בקיצור bekitzur what is going למעשה lema'aseh going on in this whole story especially when you want to talk about how ארמי אובד אבי Arami oveid avi at the end of the day if this is going to be the עיקר ikar דרשות drashos back and forth trying to explain the whole story. We're tired by here. We're tired by this. We spent so much time figuring out why רבי אלעזר בן עזריה Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya's beard got white. Like why are we like why are we doing this and what are we going to get to when we get to this? Okay so in order to understand this let's try and focus a little bit on the following. פסוק Pasuk says we'll start like this. When the when we say והיא שעמדה Vehi Sheamda. So let's stay with פשטות pashtus. והיא שעמדה Vehi Sheamda is dealing with what? והיא שעמדה Vehi Sheamda is saying that the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBetarim is a recurring covenant and promise that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu has with עם ישראל Am Yisrael. The problem with that is... Who says that? If you read פשט pshat in פרק ט\"ו Perek Tes-Vav in בראשית Bereishis, that is not the פשט pshat of the פסוקים psukim. The פשט pshat of the פסוקים psukim is simply הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is revealing to אברם Avram something that will happen in the history of the Jewish people. They are going to be in גלות Galus, going to be 400 years, they're going to suffer, but don't worry, I'm going to דן Dan them and I'm going to take them out. מכי תיתי Mikhi taysi it's recurring. מכי תיתי Mikhi taysi, oh no, right, you see the beautiful טייטש הגדה Teitsch Haggada, and it gives you all the different images of all of the pogroms throughout all the years and everything like that. מכי תיתי Mikhi taysi? It's a beautiful, it's a beautiful idea, and it's important, but why? How do we see that in the פסוקים psukim? How should we be able to see that in the פסוקים psukim? Rav Soloveitchik has a whole has a whole idea that I think is extremely important, if you've heard it before, it's worthwhile going over it again and seeing it inside. But if you read those פסוקים psukim, Rav Soloveitchik understands and he explains the idea of the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim, you have to ask yourself a question. The ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim was between הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu and אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. Who else then knew about it? It's always a good question to ask, right, whenever you're dealing with נבואות nevuos and so on. נבואות nevuos going forward in terms of let's say בית שני Bayis Sheni, right, before עזרא Ezra, how much did they know? How much did they know of ירמיהו Yirmiyahu and all of the other נבואות nevuos throughout that we see the whole picture, right, we have the beauty of we see everything. But what did they know? We see the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim, but after אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu passes on and goes to יצחק Yitzchak, does יצחק Yitzchak know about this thing? It's an interesting question to understand, but trying to understand פשט pshat in it is the problem because when you look at פרק ט\"ו Perek Tes-Vav, it reads and this is the פסוקים psukim you can look it up in the הגדה Haggada also, but he says, you know, there are two פסוקים psukim that just don't seem to align. And those פסוקים psukim are as follows: when the פסוק pasuk says, ויאמר לאברם ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אתם ארבע מאות שנה Vayomer le'Avram, yadoa teda ki ger yihyeh zar'acha be'eretz lo lahem va'avadum ve'inu osam arba me'os shanah. We're talking 400 years. But if you skip forward down three פסוקים psukim later, what do you have? ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום תקבר בשיבה טובה ודור רביעי ישובו הנה Ve'atah tavo el avosecha beshalom tikaver beseyvah tovah, vedor revi'i yashuvu henah. The fourth generation is going to come back. If anyone ever asks you how long is a generation, I don't know, 25 years or whatever, I mean nowadays it's probably less than that, but the point is not 100. It's not 400 years. So how do you put 400 years and דור רביעי dor revi'i? How does that work? So Rav Soloveitchik has an unbelievable idea, and he points out as follows: he points out all of the אבות Avos knew the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim. The family understood we're going to גלות Galus, but ברוך השם Baruch Hashem we're coming back. We're going to be in a place לא לנו lo lanu, whatever, לא שלנו lo shelanu, we're going to suffer, and we're going to come back. How it's going to look, אף אחד לא יודע af echad lo yodea. No one in the end will really know. But I want to show you a פסוק pasuk. The פסוק pasuk says as follows, the פסוק pasuk says, that's not the one פסוק pasuk I didn't write down, look at that, how amazing, ah, no, in פרק ל' Perek Lamed in בראשית Bereishis, פרק ל' Perek Lamed, פסוק כ\"ה pasuk kaf-hey: ויהי כאשר ילדה רחל את יוסף ויאמר יעקב אל לבן שלחני ואלכה אל מקומי ולארצי Vayehi ka'asher yaldah Rachel es Yosef, vayomer Yaakov el Lavan shallcheni ve'elcha el mekomi ule'artzi. As רחל Rachel gave birth to יוסף Yosef, יעקב Yaakov suddenly says to לבן Lavan שלחני ואלכה shallcheni ve'elcha I'll go home. רישא סיפא Reisha seifa, what's the connection? חז\"ל Chazal already tell us, right, חז\"ל Chazal already tell us that when יוסף Yosef is born, oh, he's the להבה lehavah, he's the אש eish against עשו Eisav who is the קש kash, next thing you know, oh, now we can take on עשו Eisav. סדר Seder, מדרש Medrash, very nice. What's פשט pshat in פסוק pasuk? What is the connection between יוסף Yosef and the request of יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu to say שלחני shallcheni, let me go back? It seems to be that because of the because of יוסף's Yosef's birth now I'm ready to go home. What's the idea? Think very simply. יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu, the first of all of the children of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu who absolutely suffered. He gets thrown out. He gets thrown out of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, goes to where? Goes to חרן Charan and he goes to לבן's Lavan's house. He's in a place לא לנו, לא שלנו lo lanu, lo shelanu. And he starts thinking about this ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein Habesarim. גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם Ger yihiyeh zar'acha be'eretz lo lahem. That works with me. ועבדום va'avodum. Oh it definitely worked. וענו אותם ve'inu osam. I was definitely definitely persecuted. Definitely painful. ארבע מאות שנה arba me'os shana. That's a question, ארבע מאות שנה arba me'os shana. Was it ארבע מאות שנה arba me'os shana? It was a long time. Is ארבע מאות שנה arba me'os shana literal? Well תכלס tachlis was it literal? We have to bend over backwards to try and figure out how we calculate four hundred years. But למעשה lema'aseh we know that we were in מצרים Mitzrayim two hundred and ten years. So even that wasn't literal. So אלא מאי ella mai, גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ger yihiyeh zar'acha be'eretz lo lahem, ועבדום וענו אותם va'avodum ve'inu osam, that also checks off. ארבע מאות שנה arba me'os shana, a long time? It's a long time for goodness' sake. ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול ve'acharei khen yetze'u birkhush gadol. We all know what happened with יעקב Yaakov at the very end. He left, oh he made bank. He did well. He did well with you know with all the different the sheep and the this and the that, all these crazy things that were going on, he left. He left pretty well. So everything checks off. הדור רביעי ישובו hador revi'i yashuvu. And if that's the case, fourth generation. אברהם Avraham, יצחק Yitzchak, יעקב Yaakov, יוסף Yosef. It's time to go home. It's time to go home. Hence why וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו בארץ כנען Vayeshev Yaakov be'eretz megurei aviv be'eretz Kena'an. Why did suddenly יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu want to לשב leshev, not לגור lagur, לשב leshev, לשבת את הארץ lashevet et ha'aretz? Because guess what? It's time. יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu saw what? Saw that he was the expression of the גאולה geulah. And we could argue and say yeah but is that really true? The truth of the matter is follow the פסוקים pesukim. פסוק pasuk says in פרק ל\"א Perek Lamed Alef, פסוק כ\"ד pasuk chaf dalet, ויגד ללבן ביום השלישי כי ברח יעקב Vayugad le'Lavan bayom hashlishi ki varach Yaakov. ויגד ללבן ביום השלישי כי ברח יעקב Vayugad le'Lavan bayom hashlishi ki varach Yaakov. Where's the only other time in all of תורה Torah that you have ויגד Vayugad to somebody כי ברח ki varach somebody? ויגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם Vayugad lemelekh Mitzrayim ki varach ha'am. What day would it have happened on? ביום השלישי bayom hashlishi because the only request he was ever given מלך מצרים melekh Mitzrayim was three days. So on the third day when they see, they asked to go out for three days. No one ever asked this, one second one second. Is it הלכה כחזור halacha ke'hazor? Like how does it work? Like no, we're going out for three days on vacation but it's going to take us a day to get there, it's going to take us a day back, five days. No! Three days. You leave, you come back in three days. If they're not heading back on the third day, guess what? We have a problem. כי ברח העם ki varach ha'am. So all of that's the same. יעקב Yaakov, פסוק pasuk says ויקח Vayikach, sorry by לבן Lavan, what does לבן Lavan say? ויקח את אחיו עמו Vayikach et echav imo. He doesn't just run after him. Who does he bring? He brings all of his חברה chevra with him. ואת עמו לקח עמו ve'et ammo lakach imo comes from מלך מצרים melekh Mitzrayim. He takes all of his nation with him. וירדוף אחריו Vayirdof acharayiv, לבן Lavan says. Literal he runs after. פסוק pasuk says וירדפו מצרים Vayirdefu Mitzrayim. וישג לבן Vayaseg Lavan. He was משיג masig, he reached him. וישיגו Vayasigu talking about מלך מצרים melekh Mitzrayim and the מצרים Mitzrim. Every single thing is paralleled. Every single one. Coincidence? It's only Almost to suggest that that which happened with יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu is the microcosm for that which will be macro by the time of the nation of עם ישראל Am Yisrael. To make it even more, just to show you for a second, how many years, how many years was יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu in by לבן Lavan? He worked for 20. He left in his 21st year. A coincidence? 21 on the micro and the macro's 210. We're seeing something that's real here. There's potential that it could happen. The question is why it didn't. וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו בארץ כנען Vayeshev Yaakov beretz megurei aviv beretz Canaan, comes along חז״ל Chazal, ביקש יעקב לשבת בשלווה bikesh Yaakov lashevet beshalva, קפץ עליו kafatza alav, רוגזו של מכירת יוסף rogzo shel mechiras Yosef, right? Meaning what? הכי נמי Hachi nami, it should have been it. But we have a problem. What's our problem? מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef. מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef. What happened in מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef? Why that happened? Let's just try to understand. I'll even say even more than that. What we say וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו בארץ כנען Vayeshev Yaakov beretz megurei aviv beretz Canaan, just a thing to think about for a second. So basically what we've said is, the way יעקב Yaakov leaves, aside from all the other comparisons we've made, the way יעקב Yaakov leaves his גלות galus, ברכוש גדול berichush gadol, the same way that עם ישראל Am Yisrael leaves. The suffering that יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu had in the language of the פסוקים pesukim is the same that עם ישראל Am Yisrael has. So so far the end is the same, the middle is the same. There's only one piece left: how they got there. Is how they got there also the same? In order to figure that out, we have to try to understand. So how'd they get down to מצרים Mitzrayim? They got down to מצרים Mitzrayim because of מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef. מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef is what sent them down. מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef, let's think about that for a second. In פרק ל״ז Perek Lamed Zayin we have the story of מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef. What happened in מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef? we have שנאה sinah, we have קנאה kinah, we have some horrific things, but we also have some other things as well. פסוק Pasuk says at the end of the day do they kill him? They don't kill him. But what do they say? לכו ונמכרנו לישמעאלים וידנו אל תהי בו כי אחינו בשרנו הוא Lechu venimkerennu layishmelim veyadenu al tehi vo ki acheinu besarenu hu. וישמעו אחיו Vayishme'u echav. So they sold him. And after they sold him what'd they do? ויקחו את כתונת יוסף וישחטו שעיר עיזים ויטבלו את הכתונת בדם Vayikchu et ketonet Yosef vayishchatu se'ir izim vayitbelu et haketonet badam. They took off his clothing, they took off his coat, they slaughtered goats, they dipped it in blood. וישלחו את כתונת הפסים ויביאו אל אביהם Vayishlechu et ketonet hapassim vayavi'u el avihem and they brought the coat to יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. ויאמרו זאת מצאנו Vayomeru zot matzanu. This is what we found. הכר נא הכתונת בנך היא אם לא Haker na haketonet bincha hi im lo. Do you recognize it? Do you recognize this coat? ויכירה ויאמר כתונת בני חיה רעה אכלתהו טרוף טורף יוסף Vayakirah vayomer ketonet beni chayah ra'ah achaltahu tarof toraf Yosef. What'd they do? Ten brothers got together to deceive their father. Ten brothers got together and sent their brother down to Egypt and they deceived their father. That's how עם ישראל Am Yisrael got to מצרים Mitzrayim. How'd יעקב Yaakov go to מצרים Mitzrayim? יעקב Yaakov went down the exact same way. Because what do we have? He also took a few goats. He also took a few coats. And what was he trying to do? In a certain sense, surely trying to play up a different story with his father. מי אתה בני Mi ata beni? One brother deceives a father. He gets 21 years. Ten brothers deceive their father. There's 210 years. The way they came down is also the same. But what are we learning from this? That בעצם be'etzem this whole concept, it could have happened already at the time of יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. יעקב Yaakov could have ended the whole story with יוסף Yosef. But for whatever reason, for whatever reason, it couldn't because מכירת יוסף Mechiras Yosef. Now the question is why. And that I think comes back to trying to understand exactly what happens when it comes to, that's exactly what explains to us the story of יהושע Yehoshua, the ספר יהושע Sefer Yehoshua. We start off by asking ספר יהושע Sefer Yehoshua, the פסוק posuk says, כה אמר ה' אלהי ישראל בעבר הנהר ישבו אבותיכם מעולם תרח אבי אברהם ואבי נחור ויעבדו אלהים אחרים ואקח את אביכם את אברהם מעבר הנהר ואולך אותו בכל ארץ כנען וארבה את זרעו ואתן לו את יצחק ואתן ליצחק את יעקב ואת עשו ואתן לעשו את הר שעיר לרשת אותו ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרים Koh amar Hashem Elokei Yisrael be'ever hanahar yashvu avoseichem me'olam Terach avi Avraham va'avi Nachor vaya'avdu elohim acherim va'ekach es avichem es Avraham me'ever hanahar va'olech oso bechol eretz Kena'an va'arbeh es zaro va'eten lo es Yitzchak va'eten le'Yitzchak es Yaakov ve'es Esav va'eten le'Esav es har Seir lareshes oso ve'Yaakov uvanav yardu Mitzrayim. Actually, you know what, before we even get there, look back at the פסוקים psukim in בראשית Bereishis during ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim. We asked the question before, ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim. Really? Really? פרק טו Perek Tes Vav. Really? ליל הסדר Leil HaSeder night? That's what you're going to bring up? That's why we're thankful to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu? נו Nu, oh God, skip the entire story and we would be a lot happier. Like seriously, what's going on over here? What does the פסוק posuk actually say? ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנוכי Yadoa teda ki ger yihyeh zar'acha be'eretz lo lahem va'avadum ve'inu osam arba me'os shana vegam es hagoy asher ya'avodu dan anochi. Think of who's not mentioned in the entire part. It's nothing to do with הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He's saying there's a reality that's going to happen. There's a reality that's going to happen. When does he get involved? וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנוכי Vegam es hagoy asher ya'avodu dan anochi. That's when I'll judge. What do I mean? So interesting to think about. When does הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu do it? What's הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu actually responsible for in a certain sense based on the פסוקים psukim? And what are we responsible for? ספר יהושע Sefer Yehoshua, what does it say? תרח אבי אברהם ואבי נחור ויעבדו אלהים אחרים Terach avi Avraham va'avi Nachor vaya'avdu elohim acherim. Right? They worshiped עבודה זרה avoda zara. What do I do? ואקח את אביכם את אברהם מעבר הנהר Va'ekach es avichem es Avraham me'ever hanahar. Don't worry, I take אברהם Avraham out, and I took him to all of כנען Kena'an, and I multiplied, this is all הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and I multiplied his זרע zera, I multiplied his children. I gave him יצחק Yitzchak. I gave יצחק Yitzchak, יעקב Yaakov and עשו Esav. I gave עשו Esav הר שעיר לרשת אותו har Seir lareshes oso. We're going to get back to that in a second. So far, everything's there, right? ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרים Ve'Yaakov uvanav yardu Mitzrayim. But who went down to מצרים Mitzrayim? ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרים Ve'Yaakov uvanav yardu Mitzrayim. Who was responsible for that? The actions of us. Our own actions. Everything that we've been doing. Meaning in a certain sense, you have to understand. The ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim is the concept that הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu at the end of the day will take vengeance, he'll take us out, that's what he's responsible for. But that which he's not responsible for is how you got there. You got there because of yourselves. You got there because you brought yourselves there. If we understand that, I think we can understand the entire portion of the הגדה Haggadah. And actually, now things become much clearer even on the פסוקים psukim that say afterwards when we talk about what? We talk about צא ולמד מה ביקש לבן הארמי Tzei u'lemad ma bikeish Lavan ha'Arami. This is a very random piece which begins the entire set of דרשות drashos, but it literally makes no sense. Why are you choosing לבן Lavan? You're making פרעה Paroh look good. צא ולמד Tzei u'lemad. מה ביקש לבן הארמי לעשות mah bikeish Lavan ha-Arami la'asos. לעומת פרעה L'umas Paroh, פרעה Paroh was just דן dan, was just גוזר על הזכרים gozer al ha-zcharim, but לבן Lavan, he wanted to get rid of everybody. So, if our goal is to make פרעה Paroh look good, we did just that. That's what we're trying to do. Why are we starting with לבן Lavan? So first I'll tell you complete מימרא memra, complete separate point. There's a beautiful ציץ אליעזר Tzitz Eliezer brings down asking this question regarding the paragraph of צא ולמד Tze u'lemad. And the way he answers it is as follows. First of all, he asks the question also מכי תיתי meichi taysi לבן Lavan ever tried doing this? When did לבן Lavan ever try and get rid of the Jewish people? So רב Rav Gulevsky זצ\"ל ztz\"l, ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva זצ\"ל ztz\"l, actually has a piece where he describes and he says it was totally through assimilation. לבן Lavan didn't want the Jewish people ever to leave. That's why the language he says, \"Why'd you take them away from me? All I want to do is kiss my grandchildren. I just want to give a kiss, a hug.\" He never talks brutally to them. No. He does says, right, כל בניך בני kol banecha banai, right, they're all mine. He didn't want them to leave and by default, if they don't leave, עם ישראל Am Yisrael would never be built, they'd never be created. But the ציץ אליעזר Tzitz Eliezer brings down and he says לבן Lavan, what's the שייכות shaychus of לבן Lavan? Says there's a famous מדרש Midrash that you guys may be well aware of at the very beginning of שעבוד מצרים shibud Mitzrayim. They see all these people, oh my god, these kids are just popping out and they're just having more and more and more. What are we going to do with these people? What are we going to do with these Jewish people? And suddenly comes along there's three יועצים לפרעה yoatzim l'Paroh. Right? בלעם Bilaam, יתרו Yitro, איוב Iyov. איוב Iyov was quiet, יתרו Yitro runs, and בלעם Bilaam says what? יאללה yalla, put them in שעבוד shibud. What was the point of בלעם's Bilaam's שעבוד shibud? The point was to destroy them. The point was to assimilate them. The point was to kill them and destroy them. There's a יונתן בן עוזיאל Yonatan ben Uziel on פרשת מטות Parshat Matos, in פרק ל\"א Perek lamed-aleph. יונתן בן עוזיאל Yonatan ben Uziel says something unbelievable. He's against the גמרא Gemara in חלק Chelek. He's against the גמרא Gemara in חלק Chelek, but he's יונתן בן עוזיאל Yonatan ben Uziel, so he's entitled to an opinion. What does he say? He says the whole discussion, it's by the way, it's an unbelievable piece in the יונתן בן עוזיאל Yonatan ben Uziel, you can find it very easily. Look through פרק ל\"א Perek lamed-aleph and suddenly you'll see the תרגום Targum go this big on one פסוק pasuk. Okay? Because he starts telling a whole story where in the מלחמת מדין milchemet Midyan, מלחמת מדין milchemet Midyan, and suddenly what ends up happening? פינחס Pinchas starts running after בלעם הרשע Bilaam ha-rasha. בלעם Bilaam sees, what does בלעם Bilaam do? Does a מעשה כישוף ma'aseh kishuf and he starts flying away. פינחס Pinchas sees that, it says שם הוויה shem Havayah, he flies after. It's ממש mamash Harry Potter straight in יונתן בן עוזיאל Yonatan ben Uziel. Literally does it until finally he hits him, knocks him down to the ground, takes out his sword and is about to kill him, and he says \"give me a break\". Right? מות ישרים mos yesharim, all these nice beautiful things, \"let me, give me a break, don't kill me.\" And what does פינחס Pinchas say to him? \"I know who exactly you are. לבן ארמאי Lavan Aramai.\" יונתן בן עוזיאל Yonatan ben Uziel טייטש'ס teitches and says what? Whether he meant גלגול gilgul maybe aside, whatever all kind of stuff, that's obviously the other פשט'לך pshatlach. The ציץ אליעזר Tzitz Eliezer says: \"What do you see? בלעם Bilaam was לבן Lavan.\" He actually did start the story of שעבוד מצרים shibud Mitzrayim. But based on our הבנה havana, we don't even need any of this stuff. Why are we starting with לבן Lavan? Because that's where it started. And that's where it could have been. The truth of the matter be, truth be told, and the only reason why it didn't end there was because of the deception that happened within the family and the deception that will keep happening in the family. The brothers didn't need to do מכירת יוסף mechiras Yosef. Honestly I would even say יעקב Yaakov didn't need to deceive his father. And truth be told maybe that's what the פשט pshat is in the פסוק pasuk in יהושע Yehoshua. What's the פסוק pasuk say in יהושע Yehoshua? It tells us that what? It tells us אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu... I took אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, I gave him a promise. Right? That we know from ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein Habesarim. He’s promised something. Who was he promised? He was promised land and children, a nation and land. What does the פסוק pasuk in יהושע Yehoshua say? הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu took him, He showed him the land. Think about it. After אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu is being told the promise, then he’s being showed all of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. What’s he feeling? This is all going to be mine. The promise is starting to be fulfilled. And at the age of ninety-nine, he has a child. Pretty crazy. Pretty crazy he has a child. He just went from zero to one. That’s a huge difference. Everything is starting. Everything’s working. The promise is being fulfilled. And then what does the פסוק pasuk say? ואתן ליצחק את יעקב ואת עשו V’etein l’Yitzchak es Yaakov v’es Eisav. Goes from one to two. ואתן לעשו את הר שעיר לרשת אותו V’etein l’Eisav es har Seir lareshes oso. And then טאקע taka I gave עשו Eisav his inheritance. That’s why what do you have in the פסוקים psukim right after right after the story of עשו Eisav, suddenly we start hearing about all the מלכים melachim of of עשו Eisav. Why? Because the inheritance could have been received then. One sibling was ready for it. The other one wasn’t yet. יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu wasn’t yet. Why? Because of his own actions. That’s why we do the whole story. And that’s why we focus on that section. That’s why we focus on the story of לבן Lavan, we focus on the story of יעקב Yaakov. Because טאקע taka it could have been. Meaning the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein Habesarim and the and the promise that הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu has, yes, it is recurring. It’s there to take us out of the troubles that we get ourselves into. Just to end with one other point. So what so what message are we supposed to take out of this? So we’re saying over ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein Habesarim, we’re saying all this kind of stuff and everything like that. What are we supposed to take out of this? The רמב\"ם Rambam at the very beginning where he writes the נוסח nusach of the הגדה Haggadah, the כותרת koteres he gives, the title he gives, נוסח ההגדה שנהגו בו ישראל בזמן הגלות כך הוא Nusach haHaggadah shenahagu bo Yisrael bizman hagalus kach hu. The נוסח nusach of the הגדה Haggadah that we are accustomed to telling, the Jewish people are accustomed to saying בזמן הגלות bizman hagalus, at the time of גלות galus is this. So interesting. Why is that what he focuses on? And if it wasn’t in גלות galus this wouldn’t be the נוסח nusach of the הגדה Haggadah? אלא מאי Ela mai, he’s answering a question that’s actually a pretty pretty startling one just to think about. What kind of הגדה Haggadah do you say or how do you actually say the הגדה Haggadah when you’re in the Warsaw Ghetto? Imagine you hear these amazing stories from Auschwitz, from other concentration camps, that this רבי rebbe or this רבי rebbe, he knew the הגדה בעל פה Haggadah ba'al peh, they said the הגדה Haggadah ליל הסדר Leil haSeder. And you think, wow, מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh, all that kind of stuff. But you think to yourself, how are they saying it? How can they say it? What does it even mean? Let’s skip ahead from there and go back just a few years or within a few years. Imagine one of the hostages saying over the הגדה Haggadah in a tunnel in עזה Aza. On the one hand you could be so excited, they could be so excited that, oh my gosh, I’m remembering this, I’m connecting to this and I’m going to try and do this. And of course מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh, all that kind of stuff, but think about it for a second, how do you say it? To skip to even this week, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem we’re on the winning side, but our guys are right now in לבנון Levanon on the front lines. They do not have quiet nights, they do not have quiet mornings, they do not have quiet afternoons. I don’t know what סדר Seder is going to look like for them. I really hope they get out just so they could have a normal סדר Seder. But if they don't and they have שמירות shmirot, and even if they're not on שמירה shmira, so they're sitting in whatever bunker they have with whatever capabilities that they have, hearing whatever they hear outside. How do they say the הגדה Haggadah? Now ברוך השם Baruch Hashem I said we're on the winning side. You could say with victory, but I'm just going to be honest, they freak me out of my mind, literally. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, your התראות hatra'ot, how many do we have? We have quiet nights ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. They don't. They don't at all. רמב״ם Rambam says ודוקא vedafka, and he's talking about this: נוסח ההגדה שנהגו בו ישראל בזמן הגלות nusach haHaggadah shenahagu bo Yisrael bizman haGalus. It's דוקא davka בזמן הגלות bizman haGalus. Why? Because this story that we say on ליל סדר Leil Seder in the הגדה Haggadah is our expression of hope. It's our expression of אמונה emunah and hope that yes we will be okay, in spite of everything that's happened and in spite of all the difficulty and all the things that happen in our history. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu you were always there. And our תפילה tefillah that night on ליל הסדר Leil haSeder is you will be here again today. You will be here for us as well. Something to think about when we talk about the הגדה Haggadah and we read the הגדה Haggadah and we learn the הגדה Haggadah. Understand that our תפילה tefillah on the ליל הסדר Leil haSeder is yes to appreciate, to live, to understand everything that's happened in our history, but we're announcing it to ourselves as hope that this גלות galus needs to come to an end. It's our hope that yes the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein haBesarim we're expressing our hope that we're confident that the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein haBesarim will, will be expressed again today during these days as well. בעזרת השם Bezrat Hashem by keeping this in mind, we really should be זוכה zocheh that we should be explore and understand the full potential of what the גאולה Geulah really is.