Post by Akiva on Mar 31, 2011 7:40:57 GMT -5
As the year turns towards Pesach, again, my Chavrusas and I have taken to learning Haggada together on shabbos and, IMHO, we've come up with a few worthwhile insights. At least, I like them enough that I'll be using them come Seder time. One of those is the idea of maintaining an overall approach to Maggid that everything in this section of the Haggada contributes, in some way, to Sippur.
What do I mean?
Well, this past shabbos, the question was asked: "What is Ma'aseh b'Rabbi Eliezer [the story of the five rabbis who learned all night] doing in the middle of Maggid?" I've always understood that section of the Haggada as sort of the pre-game, the instruction booklet: you're going to be engaged in Sippur, so here's a short discussion of how you should do that. Aim to be like those guys.
Looking at the Haggada's structure carefully, though, it seems to be out of place. Immediately before starting in on this section, we did the Ma Nishtana and Avadim Hayinu - both of which are paradigmatic Sippur. In fact, a friend of mine jokes that the Haggada could be boiled down to 30 seconds: "we were slaves, God saved us, lets eat." That, in fact, (minus the "lets eat") is essentially Avadim Hayinu. So why the commercial break from Sippur to give instructions? If you're going to give Sippur instructions at all, why not do it before Sippur even begins, rather than starting Sippur a little bit, then taking a break for instructions, then going back to Sippur.
The whole structure seems odd.
Which led us to the following conclusion: This isn't a digression, and it isn't just an instruction booklet. Rather, this part of Maggid also functions as part of Sippur.
How so?
Well, let's go back to Avadim Hayinu and my friend's joke about the 30-second Seder. The truth is, you might think that "we were slaves, god saved us" really is the story, or at least the important part of it. The rest - crying out, plagues, Moshe, etc. - is just details. Nice to know, but not really all that important, in the grand scheme of things.
Yet look how we close Avadim Hayinu - we say that even if we were all wise men, who knew the details of the story in the Torah backwards and forwards, we would still have an obligation to engage in Sippur, and that anyone who expands on Sippur is to be praised.
What is this telling us?
It's telling us "no, don't think that the details are irrelevant. If you really want to understand Yetziat Mitzrayim and its importance and impact, you have to get into the details, discuss them, examine them, reach new insights into them." And that, we concluded, is how Ma'aseh b'Rabbi Eliezer contributes to Sippur. It's not just an instruction manual. It's an illustration of the incredible depth there is to the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim - that even for these 5 great Rabbonim, who had engaged in Sippur every year, and who spent their lives in Torah study, there were still depths to be explored, new insights to be gained, so much so that they actually lost track of time.
Thus, this part of the Haggada is not just "instructions" or "examples"; it is part of core Sippur, teaching us something about the nature of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
What do I mean?
Well, this past shabbos, the question was asked: "What is Ma'aseh b'Rabbi Eliezer [the story of the five rabbis who learned all night] doing in the middle of Maggid?" I've always understood that section of the Haggada as sort of the pre-game, the instruction booklet: you're going to be engaged in Sippur, so here's a short discussion of how you should do that. Aim to be like those guys.
Looking at the Haggada's structure carefully, though, it seems to be out of place. Immediately before starting in on this section, we did the Ma Nishtana and Avadim Hayinu - both of which are paradigmatic Sippur. In fact, a friend of mine jokes that the Haggada could be boiled down to 30 seconds: "we were slaves, God saved us, lets eat." That, in fact, (minus the "lets eat") is essentially Avadim Hayinu. So why the commercial break from Sippur to give instructions? If you're going to give Sippur instructions at all, why not do it before Sippur even begins, rather than starting Sippur a little bit, then taking a break for instructions, then going back to Sippur.
The whole structure seems odd.
Which led us to the following conclusion: This isn't a digression, and it isn't just an instruction booklet. Rather, this part of Maggid also functions as part of Sippur.
How so?
Well, let's go back to Avadim Hayinu and my friend's joke about the 30-second Seder. The truth is, you might think that "we were slaves, god saved us" really is the story, or at least the important part of it. The rest - crying out, plagues, Moshe, etc. - is just details. Nice to know, but not really all that important, in the grand scheme of things.
Yet look how we close Avadim Hayinu - we say that even if we were all wise men, who knew the details of the story in the Torah backwards and forwards, we would still have an obligation to engage in Sippur, and that anyone who expands on Sippur is to be praised.
What is this telling us?
It's telling us "no, don't think that the details are irrelevant. If you really want to understand Yetziat Mitzrayim and its importance and impact, you have to get into the details, discuss them, examine them, reach new insights into them." And that, we concluded, is how Ma'aseh b'Rabbi Eliezer contributes to Sippur. It's not just an instruction manual. It's an illustration of the incredible depth there is to the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim - that even for these 5 great Rabbonim, who had engaged in Sippur every year, and who spent their lives in Torah study, there were still depths to be explored, new insights to be gained, so much so that they actually lost track of time.
Thus, this part of the Haggada is not just "instructions" or "examples"; it is part of core Sippur, teaching us something about the nature of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
