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The Jewish Home | APRIL 14, 2022
Who Wrote the haggadah? By Rabbi Daniel Glatstein
The
opening and concluding paragraphs of a literary work tend to capture the essence of the theme contained within. The Haggadah liturgy opens with, “Ha lachma anya, This bread of affliction,” which contains a tefillah, a request of Hashem: “Now we are here, in exile; next year may we be in Eretz Yisrael.” In the same vein, the Haggadah concludes with the plea, “Next year in Yerushalayim.” The Haggadah is recited at the Seder, a time that is devoted to recollecting and reliving the events of the Geulah from our tenure as slaves in Mitzrayim. Why bookend the Haggadah with a request to return to Yerushalayim? The most important subject of the night, the reason we are all gathered together and engaged in the performance of the Seder, is the geulas Mitzrayim. Shouldn’t that be the focus of the introductory and concluding phrases of the Haggadah?
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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home
The Ba’al haggadah We often refer to the author of the Haggadah as the “Ba’al Haggadah.” However, his identity seems to be shrouded in mystery. Who is this Ba’al Haggadah? Who is the redactor of our Pesach-night compendium? In the Haggadah Shel Pesach Tzemach Menachem, Rabbi Aharon Menachem Mendel of Nashelsk writes that the identity of the Ba’al Haggadah was uncovered by Rav Bunim of P’shischa: The Haggadah was written by Eliyahu HaNavi. As is common in our liturgy, the opening words of the Haggadah allude to his identity. The Haggadah begins with the words “Hah lachma anyanuh.” My dear friend R’ Ezra Cohen pointed out that the first word, “hah,” is an abbreviation for HaNavi Eliyahu. Why did Eliyahu HaNavi feel the need to compose a text to be read at the Seder? What is the connection between Eliyahu HaNavi and the redemption from Egypt?
Shlach Na B’Yad TiShlach When Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to return
to Mitzrayim and serve as His messenger to redeem Klal Yisrael, Moshe did not want to go. He demurred, stating, “Bi Ado-ni shlach na b’yad tishlach, Please, My L-rd, send through whomever You will send.” (Shemos 4:13). The Torah does not clarify as to whom Moshe was referring. Who was the shaliach, the messenger, who would be better suited to lead the Jews out of slavery? Turning to Targum Yonasan, we learn that Moshe’s recommendation was that the Jews be redeemed by Eliyahu HaNavi. Why would Moshe Rabbeinu feel that Eliyahu HaNavi was the optimal candidate to take the Jews out of Mitzrayim?
WheN Will The RedempTioN come? Maseches Rosh Hashanah (10b – 11a) cites a machlokes, dispute, as to when Mashiach will come. Rabbi Eliezer maintains that he will come in Tishrei, while Rabbi Yehoshua posits that just as the exodus from Mitzrayim transpired in Nissan, the Final Redemption will take place in Nissan as well. The Derashos HaRan concludes in favor of Rebbi Yehoshua that the ultimate redemption will occur in Nissan. The Aruch HaShulchan, as well, codifies that Amalek will finally be destroyed in Adar, and we will merit the Final Redemption in the month of Nisan. The Rokeach writes that not only will we be redeemed from our current exile in the same month as Yetziyas Mitzrayim, but the redemption will come on the very same day. We left Egypt on the fifteenth of Nissan, and the ultimate redemption will come on that day as well. This is why, the Rokeach writes, in Maariv, there are fifteen words in the bracha of the Geulah: “And it is further said, ‘For Hashem has redeemed Yaakov and delivered him from a power mightier than he.’ Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Yisrael.” This idea is explicitly brought in the Midrash Tanchuma, which states, “On the fifteenth of Nissan we were redeemed from Mitzrayim, and on the fifteenth of Nissan, we will ultimately experience the Final Redemption.”
Incredibly, the Sefer HaManhig cites a novel reason for the custom to leave one’s doors unlocked on the night of the Seder, the night that is referred to as Leil Shimurim, the guarded night. We anticipate the arrival of Eliyahu HaNavi heralding the geluah sheleimah on the very night of the Seder at the precise time that we were redeemed from our tenure as slaves in Mitzrayim. We are so eager to welcome Eliyahu that we want him to find the doors to our home unlocked, an open invitation and a testament to how much we want the Geulah. Is this mere coincidence, that the Final Redemption will not only take place in the same month as the redemption from Egypt, but on the very same day and precisely the same time as well? Certainly not! Devarim gedolim ainam b’mikrah, great matters are never coincidental. The Navi Michah tells us, “As in the days when you left the land of Egypt, I will show it wonders” (Michah 7:15). Simply, the Navi prophesies that just as there was a geulah from Mitzrayim, there will be a Geulah Sheleimah. This prophecy, however, has a much more profound meaning.
a pRe-eNacTmeNT foR The geulah haaSidah There is a fundamental principle that appears in numerous places in the writing of Rabbeinu Bechayei. He writes that all the Neviim concur that the Final Redemption will mirror the geulah from Mitzrayim. When we left Egypt, we went to the Midbar; this will also occur when Mashiach comes. Just as there was Kriyas Yam Suf as we left Egypt, so too, there will be another splitting of the sea when Mashiach comes. Amazingly, Rabbeinu Bechayei writes that all of the Makkos with which Hashem plagued the Egyptians before our redemption will replay themselves at the time of the Final Redemption. Rabbi Bechayei cites pesukim from the Prophets that there will be a plague of blood, frogs, lice, etc., upon our enemies in the time of the Final Redemption.
