Seder Handbook

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בס''ד The Shomre Hadas Seder Handbook 2. Relating the story of the Exodus makes us links in an unbroken chain from that time until today. [E]very year anew, a father has to speak to his children, to make them fully aware of their beginnings and to add them as new links to the unbroken chain of our national tradition. The child is made to experience the happenings of Pesach in stark immediacy – for in retelling what has been passed down through the generations, the father is no purveyor of a legend, but the witness to historical truth and national experience. “He does not speak to his children as an individual, weak and mortal, but as a representative of the nation, demanding from them the loyalty to be expected …” (ArtScroll Haggadah, quoted from Rabbi Isaac Breuer) Part B. Instilling Faith The purpose of relating the story of the Exodus is not just to keep historical memory alive. The Pesach celebration of the Jewish national birthday is itself a declaration of faith in the God Whose revelation gave us our national existence. The generation of the Exodus from Egypt experienced faith in God; they saw His Hand and knew His mastery over the world. The purpose of Seder Night is to transmit that inaugural faith from generation to generation, so that it should never be lost. Retelling the story of the Exodus imparts faith to our children. On Seder Night a person is given the opportunity to instill in his children the fundamentals of faith and of mitzvah performance – “And whoever tells about the Exodus from Egypt at length is praiseworthy.” The principal element of the mitzvah of recounting the Exodus from Egypt is to tell of the great might of God, and the miraculous salvation that He did for us when He took us out from Egypt. And the main intention of this recounting is to implant within the hearts of the members of our families belief in God, and in the greatness of His might and wonders, and to expound on the miracles 7
בס''ד The Shomre Hadas Seder Handbook and the wonders that He did, in order that by doing so their faith should be strengthened. (Rabbi Yosef Yashar, Levush Yosef p. 136) What does it mean to have faith in God? Having faith means maintaining a personal relationship with God and expressing it in our daily lives. What does faith in God mean? People have remarked that the obligation to have faith in God is a paradox. Either one already believes in God, in which case the obligation to do so is entirely superfluous, or one does not, in which case it is absurd. If I don’t believe in God in the first place, there is no God in my perception Who can obligate me to believe in Him. But this is a very shallow view of faith. The obligation to have faith in God is an obligation never to break the connection with Him. Thus, the commandment to believe in God – the first commandment in the Torah – is really a commandment to preserve one’s connection with God at any price on the grounds that the relationship with God is the most important of all relationships. This also explains why the outer expressions of faith are so important. Why didn’t the Jews of Egypt say to themselves, “There is no need to antagonize the Egyptians with the outward display of our Judaism. After all our faith is in our hearts. Why shouldn’t we adopt Egyptian names, speak the language, and wear the clothes? What do these outward displays have to do with our inner beliefs?” Connections require expression. Philosophy is in the mind, but relationships must be manifest in the real world. To be an Egyptian in everything but mind, is to be an Egyptian all the way. The essence of an Egyptian is that he has no faith. But a person of faith must appear like a person of faith. If his faith is not 8
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Seder Handbook

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