Post by Akiva on Apr 3, 2012 16:53:26 GMT -5
One of the things the Chaburah I learned Haggadah with this year focused on was the choices the Haggadah makes in terms of how it interprets the Psukim from Devarim that are the basis of sippur in the Haggadah.
Possibly the most interesting thing about the first pasuk the Haggadah takes up - Arami Oved Avi, Va'yered Mitzraymah B'msei M'at, Va'Yehi Sham L'goy Gadol, Atzum v'Rav - is how the Haggadah breaks up the verse for interpretation. Going by the trup in the torah (the cantillation marks that tell readers where the pauses are in each verse), one would read that verse with the commas indicated above: My father was a wandering Aramean (or an Aramean attempted to destroy my father), and he went down to Egypt small in number, and he became a great nation there, strong and numerous.
The Haggadah, however, breaks it up differently: "And he became there a nation" gets its own interpretation (the Jews were distinct/excellent in Egypt), then "great strong" gets an interpretation (citing the verse in Sh'mot that the Jews multiplied exponentially and grew extremely numerous and strong), and then "and numerous" gets its own separate interpretation: citing a verse in Yechezkel saying "I caused you to multiply like the plants of the field, and you grew up [let's use the PG13 rated translation], and you were naked and bare."
Why?
I mean, not only does it alter the actual cadence of the verse as it is read in the Torah, but the verse from Sh'mot used as an explanation for "Gadol Atzum" could just as easily have applied to the whole phrase "Gadol, Atzum v'Rav" (great, strong and numerous).
In sum, the Haggadah is clearly going out of its way to bring in the verse from Yechezkel - which means that there must be some idea captured by that verse in Yechezkel that we need to appreciate and that we would not have seen had we just looked at the verse in Sh'mot. So what is it?
First, it's important to note that the verse from Yechezkel is not randomly selected because it happens to include a word ("R'vavah") that is based on the same root as the word used in the verse from Devarim ("Rav"). It is from a chapter in which Yechezkel engages in a long metaphor, describing the Jewish people as a child who was born and left in a field to die, with nobody taking pity on it (an analogy for life in Egypt) and a man (God) rescued it, helped it grow into a beautiful woman, that the man later married (the giving of the Torah at Sinai), dressed in finery and set up with all her needs (the land of Israel, the temple, etc.) but who nonetheless turns to wantonness and adultery (i.e. idol worship). This particular verse comes at the part of the metaphor relevant to the Jews' existence in Egypt, and so it makes sense that it would contain information relevant to developing a deeper understanding of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
[It is also interesting to note that the order of the verses in Yechezkel differs from the standard Ashkenazi haggadah - in Yechezkel, the verse of "R'vavah K'Tzemach Hasadeh" follows the verse "V'evor Alayich V'Areach Mitbossesset B'Damayich, v'Omar Lach B'damayich Chayyi, v'Omar Lach B'damayich Chayyi"; in Ashkenazi haggadahs, the order is reversed. That is not true, I learned recently, for Chabad haggadahs]
So, given that it is talking about the Jewish experience in Egypt - and particularly their rapid multiplication - what is added by the verse in Yechezkel that we don't already know from the verse in Sh'mot?
As pointed out by one of the members of the Chaburah, the real new element introduced by Yechezkel is the idea that the Jews' rapid population increase was not merely a natural happenstance - rather, God was behind it, it was an example of Hashgacha (God's influence on world events). The verse in Sh'mot merely notes that the Jewish population increased. The verse in Yechezkel adds the cause - R'vavah K'tzemach Hasadeh N'Saticha: I (God) caused you to multiply this way. Even at this early stage of the Jews' existence in Egypt, the events were not random, but part of God's plan.
Possibly the most interesting thing about the first pasuk the Haggadah takes up - Arami Oved Avi, Va'yered Mitzraymah B'msei M'at, Va'Yehi Sham L'goy Gadol, Atzum v'Rav - is how the Haggadah breaks up the verse for interpretation. Going by the trup in the torah (the cantillation marks that tell readers where the pauses are in each verse), one would read that verse with the commas indicated above: My father was a wandering Aramean (or an Aramean attempted to destroy my father), and he went down to Egypt small in number, and he became a great nation there, strong and numerous.
The Haggadah, however, breaks it up differently: "And he became there a nation" gets its own interpretation (the Jews were distinct/excellent in Egypt), then "great strong" gets an interpretation (citing the verse in Sh'mot that the Jews multiplied exponentially and grew extremely numerous and strong), and then "and numerous" gets its own separate interpretation: citing a verse in Yechezkel saying "I caused you to multiply like the plants of the field, and you grew up [let's use the PG13 rated translation], and you were naked and bare."
Why?
I mean, not only does it alter the actual cadence of the verse as it is read in the Torah, but the verse from Sh'mot used as an explanation for "Gadol Atzum" could just as easily have applied to the whole phrase "Gadol, Atzum v'Rav" (great, strong and numerous).
In sum, the Haggadah is clearly going out of its way to bring in the verse from Yechezkel - which means that there must be some idea captured by that verse in Yechezkel that we need to appreciate and that we would not have seen had we just looked at the verse in Sh'mot. So what is it?
First, it's important to note that the verse from Yechezkel is not randomly selected because it happens to include a word ("R'vavah") that is based on the same root as the word used in the verse from Devarim ("Rav"). It is from a chapter in which Yechezkel engages in a long metaphor, describing the Jewish people as a child who was born and left in a field to die, with nobody taking pity on it (an analogy for life in Egypt) and a man (God) rescued it, helped it grow into a beautiful woman, that the man later married (the giving of the Torah at Sinai), dressed in finery and set up with all her needs (the land of Israel, the temple, etc.) but who nonetheless turns to wantonness and adultery (i.e. idol worship). This particular verse comes at the part of the metaphor relevant to the Jews' existence in Egypt, and so it makes sense that it would contain information relevant to developing a deeper understanding of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
[It is also interesting to note that the order of the verses in Yechezkel differs from the standard Ashkenazi haggadah - in Yechezkel, the verse of "R'vavah K'Tzemach Hasadeh" follows the verse "V'evor Alayich V'Areach Mitbossesset B'Damayich, v'Omar Lach B'damayich Chayyi, v'Omar Lach B'damayich Chayyi"; in Ashkenazi haggadahs, the order is reversed. That is not true, I learned recently, for Chabad haggadahs]
So, given that it is talking about the Jewish experience in Egypt - and particularly their rapid multiplication - what is added by the verse in Yechezkel that we don't already know from the verse in Sh'mot?
As pointed out by one of the members of the Chaburah, the real new element introduced by Yechezkel is the idea that the Jews' rapid population increase was not merely a natural happenstance - rather, God was behind it, it was an example of Hashgacha (God's influence on world events). The verse in Sh'mot merely notes that the Jewish population increased. The verse in Yechezkel adds the cause - R'vavah K'tzemach Hasadeh N'Saticha: I (God) caused you to multiply this way. Even at this early stage of the Jews' existence in Egypt, the events were not random, but part of God's plan.
