One
question I've always had in regard to the Seder: where is the blessing? We make
a blessing before virtually every mitzvah in the Torah. Before we put on our
Tefilin, before we shake the Lulav, before we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanna,
there's always a blessing, except it seems for the mitzvah we perform on the
Seder night. The Torah tells us in four places: vhigadeta l'bincha bayom hahu-
“and you shall relate (the story of the Exodus) to your sons on this night”, so
the Seder clearly fulfills a Biblical command and yet no blessing! Where is the
blessing for the Seder?
One
suggestion offered is that the blessing is the Kiddush that we recite in the
beginning of the Seder. Another answer offered is that the command to relate
the Exodus has no limit. As we say in the Hagadah: vechol hamabeh harei ze
meshubach- “whoever increases in telling over the story is praiseworthy” and
generally we don’t recite blessings over things without a limit like Charity or
Torah study.
The
medieval commentator, the Rashba, suggests that there is in fact a blessing on
the Seder, namely the blessing we recite right before we drink the second cup:
Asher Ga'alnu, v'ga'l avoteinu – “God who has redeemed us and redeemed our
forefathers”. However blessings are supposed to be recited before the mitzvah
activity and the blessing of asher g'aalnu is said after most of the Exodus
story has already been
told!
And so if the Rashba is correct then why is the blessing of asher ga'alnu not
said in the beginning of the Hagadah, before the mitzvah, why is it said so
late in the Seder, after much of the mitzvah has already been completed?
There
is one mitzvah in which the blessing is said after the mitzvah is completed,
namely, conversion. The prospective convert says the blessing only after he or
she immerses in the Mikvah (ritual bath) because beforehand they cannot say the
classic mitzvah blessing formula: asher kidishanu b'miztvotav v'tzivanu -
"who has sanctified and commanded me” since the person isn't Jewish
yet!
So
too with the mitzvah of relating the Exodus at the Seder.
The
mitzvah of the Seder is not simply telling over the story of what once was but
to actually feel that we ourselves were slaves and that on the Seder night we
are being freed. That is why the language of the blessing is "asher
ga'alnu" - that we were redeemed, not simply our ancestors. And that,
suggests the Chasam Sofer (great Chasidic Rabbi), cannot be said until you have
experienced, until you have begun to tell over the story, to reference the
Marror and the Matzah, to feel a sense of servitude and then freedom. We need
to first go through the story so we ourselves can feel as much of this as
possible, as if this were all happening to us now, and then, and only then, can
we recite the blessing.
But
how can we really feel this? We weren't there, we didn't experience the Exodus
ourselves.
The
answer I believe is by recognizing that redemption is not something of the past
but a repetitive theme in Jewish history. The Exodus was just the first time
the Jewish people were redeemed from an oppressive situation, but it certainly
wasn't the last and we should be speaking about the many other instances when
this happened, certainly in modern times.
One
great example: Our generation is witness to over a million Jews leaving the
former Soviet Union and coming back to Israel. Growing up I was deeply impacted
by the Soviet Jewry movement in which my family was involved. I remember when I
was in College, my father, an immigration attorney, secured a 6 month visa for
a woman by the name of Carmella Raiz to come to the United States and plead the
case on behalf of her husband, Vladamir, a long term Refusnik in the former
Soviet Union. Vladamir had been denied the right to emigrate and Carmella came
to America with one of her two sons to lobby Congress to help free her husband
and other Refusniks.
The
Raiz family lived in Vilna, Lithuania and had become staunch Zionists and
eventually ba'alei teshuva (returnees to the Jewish faith). Carmella, a Cellist
for the Lithuanian philharmonic, traveled 15 hours each month to the closest
mikvah which was in Moscow. While in New York, my father was able to arrange a
press conference at Gracie Mansion with former Mayor Ed Koch.
Picture
the scene: Dozens of reporters, photographers and there was Koch sitting at a
table with Carmella and her ten year old son, wearing a big black velvet
yarmulke. Koch began to ask the little boy some questions: “Tell me young man,
what's your name?” The young boy answered: “Moshe”. “Moshe”, responded
Koch, “that's a Hebrew name, what's your Russian name?”. The boy simply
answered: “Moshe”. Koch continued: “Y'know, I also have a Hebrew name, it’s
Isaac, but my English name is Edward, what's your Russian name?” “Moshe, my
only name is Moshe”, said the boy. “OK Moshe, what's your favorite
subject you most enjoy studying? “Torah”, answered the boy. “Torah,
do you study Torah in school? asks Koch. “No", responds Moshe, "were
not allowed to study Torah in school but my father teaches me”. “Y'know , Moses
was a great Jewish leader", Koch continues, "how did you come to be
called after him?” Then Carmella, Moshe's mother chimed in: "Mr. Mayor,
with your permission, I'd like to answer that question on behalf of my son:
"When Vladamir and I were married 13 years ago, we promised each other
that if God blessed us with a son we were going to name him Moshe and he will
take us out of this Egypt".
With
that statement the press conference ended.
The
Exodus happens in every generation. In our time, the redemption took place from
Mother Russia and it was no less of a miracle then the redemption from Egypt
that we celebrate on the Seder night.
And
the redemption from Russia wasn't just a physical one, it was also a spiritual
one. In the Hagadah we answer the child's ma- nishtana questions, not only by
saying Avadim hayinu, that we were once slaves and now we are free, but we also
say mitchilah ovdei avodah zarah- that originally our ancestors worshipped idols
but then ultimately came to follow God and His Torah. Virtually the same thing
is happening today with the next generation of Russian Jews. Whereas the first
generation of Russian immigrants in the 1970's and 80's were quite wary of
religious life, themselves products of communism and atheism, their children,
today in their 20's, 30's are much more open to Judaism. At virtually
every MJE Shabbat Dinner, class or event there are numerous young Jewish
professionals whose parents emigrated from the Soviet Union. These young people
are open and hungry to learn about Judaism and they don't have the same
negative associations their parents possessed.
And
so as we sit down to our Seders this Passover, let us reflect on some of the
modern day redemptions and miracles. Be it the Exodus from Russia or Israel's
continued survival in the face of constant threats and attacks. Bring up those
miracles at your Seder. Discuss those extraordinary parts of our history
because by doing so you will be in a better position to fulfill the Hagadah's
mandate of keilu hu yazta mimitzrayim, to feel as though we ourselves, in our
generation, were also redeemed from Egypt.
