For the merit of virtuous women the children of Israel were freed from Egypt
CHAPTER 1
15: The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16: “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17:The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18: Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19: The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20: So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21: And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22: Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
CHAPTER 2
1: Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2: and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3: But when she could hide him no longer, she got a basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4: His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.5: Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6: She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7: Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8:“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9:Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10:When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
PESAH EVE: Preparations for today and tomorrow
SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 2017.
As we have explained before (see this) one of the biblical prohibitions of Pesah is to own Hamets, to keep hamets in our possession during Pesah. To avoid this, we clean our houses and other properties (car, office, etc.) before Pesah and take out all the Hamets food that we found. Then, tonight, when the first stars come out (in NY at 8.00pm), we do the Bediqat Hamets, that is, the last inspection to look for any Hamets food that could have been left in our property after cleaning. Remember that we have to get rid of edible Hamets, suitable for human or animal consumption. Medical pills or pills that are swallowed with water, perfumes, cosmetics, cleaning supplies or any inedible item, may remain in our possession during Pesah, regardless of its composition.
Hamets utensils, clean of any visible Hamets, should be stored in a closed place until after Pesah. There is no need to include them in the selling of the Hamets or get rid of them.
BEDIQAT HAMETS: How do we do the Bediqat Hamets? With the help of a candle or a flashlight, we search in our home every place where we could have brought, eaten or stored food. We should look especially in the kitchen and all food storage spaces, such as the pantry, refrigerator, freezer and places where food is usually stored. Remember that our mission is to look for “food” Jamets: sweets and candies with Hamets, cookies, pastries, frozen foods, protein drinks, cereals, and alcoholic drinks made from grain (beer, whiskey, most vodkas, etc).
Before beginning the bediqa we say this berakha (blessing)
“Barukh Ata A- donay, E-lohenu Melekh ha’Olam Asher Quiddeshanu beMitSvotav veTsivanu Al Bi’ur Hamets”
At the end of the bediqa we keep in a safe place the Hamets that we are going to “eliminate” tomorrow morning, and the Hamets that we will consume tomorrow at breakfast.
And then we say the first Kal Hamira, the formula to renounce to the possession of any Hamets that belongs to us and we have not found in the Bediqa.
KAL HAMIRA DEIKA BIRSHUTI, DELA HAZITEH VEDELA BIARTEH, LIBTIL VELEHEVE HAFQER KE’AFRA DEAR’A.
“All Hamets or leavening substance that belongs to me, that I have not seen or eliminated, should be considered ownerless as the dust of the earth”
MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017
BIUR JAMETS (Getting rid of the Jamets). In the morning, we can only eat Hamets until the fourth hour of the day (in NY approximately, until 10.00am). Once we finish eating the Hamets, we pick up the remains of the Hamets and put it together with the Hamets that we found yesterday, and we proceed to “eliminate / dispose of it“ . This can be done by throwing the Hamets to the birds, or to the fish or throwing it in a public garbage. The classic way of disposing of the Hamets is by burning it. According to the Rabbis of the Qabbala this represents that we are willing to overcome our arrogance and purify our souls from any traces of pride.
When finishing the elimination of the Hamets we proceed to its last annulment (= to declare it without owner). And once again we pronounce the statement “Bitul Hamets”, but in more detailed:
KAL HAMIRA DEIKA BIRSHUTI, DEHAZITEH VEDELA HAZITEH, DEBIARTEH VEDELA BIARTEH, LIBTIL VELEHEVE HAFQER KEAFRA DEAR’A.
“Any Hamets or leavening substance that belongs to me, that I have seen or have not seen, that have eliminated or that I did not removed, should be considered without owner as the dust of the earth”
The elimination, in any of its forms, and this declaration to renounce to our Hamets has to be done until the fifth hour of the day. In New York that’s about 11:00 in the morning. The selling of the Hamets must be done before the fourth hour of the day as well. For more information on the selling of Hamets seehere. After 11.00am NYT, we can no longer consume or make any sale or cancellation of the Hamets.
TO SEE THE TIMES IN OTHER CITIES CLICK here
AKHILAT MATSA: On the eve of Pesah we should not eat Matsa. We reserve the flavor of the Matsa for its ideal moment: the night of the Seder. We can eat Matsa ‘ashira, also known as Egg Matsa or sweet Matsa (Ashkenazi Jews do not consume Egg Matsa on Pesah eve).Tomorrow we should not eat a meal in the afternoon, to reserve our appetite for the night of the Seder.
TA’ANIT BEKHOROT: On the eve of Pesah we observe the fast of the firstborn. Firstborn men should fast as a recognition of the protection of HaShem, when in the last plague all the firstborn of Egypt died, and the firstborn of Am Israel were saved. However, since this is not a mandatory fast (it was not promulgated by the Torah or by the Rabbis of the Gemara) it is customary to avoid this fast by participating in a festive religious ceremony. For example a Berit Mila or a Pidion. But since these occasions cannot be anticipated, it is customary for the communities to organize a Siyum Masekhet, a conclusion of a Talmudic treatise, an event considered festive and meritorious enough to avoid this fast. After participating in this fast the first-born may eat on the eve of Pesah normally.
To See More Halakhot and Ideas for Pesah see HERE
More ideas and educational material for a succesful Seder
As we explained yesterday, our mission in the Seder night is to “teach” the Hagada, not only “read” it. To teach the Hagada, among other things, we must make the Hagada relevant, even for those of our guest who might be unfamiliar with Jewish history. We must show that the story of the Hagada is not part of a forgotten past, but surprisingly contemporary. With this idea in mind, we will analyze now a short passage from the Haggadah. This four words paragraph describe the strategy the Egyptians used to enslave us without any internal opposition.
The pasuq says: וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו (Deut. 26: 6). Usually this verse is translated as “the Egyptians did bad to us”, in the sense of “they treated us badly”. But you should notice that this word yare’u is written in the Hif’il, a transitive verbal construction. When understood in this way, this word means: “And the Egyptians did US bad” , in other words, “they made us look bad”, or in just one word” They “demonized” us. As my son Ya’aqob writes in his commentary to the Hagada, Pharaoh “the dictator, singles out the People of Israel as an irrationally evil entity, who is to blame for all the misfortunes of this dictator’s subjects. The propaganda of Pharaoh is nonsensical. Basically, he tells his people: “The ‘other’, this People of Israel, is very cunning. We must be more cunning than they are. If not, then if and when we are attacked, the Israelites will join our enemies, out of sheer malice. Their goal in joining our enemies will be to harm us, nothing more. In fact, after they attack us, they will leave the land! “. ‘The Jews are bad’. They are irrationally bad, repeated Pharaoh numberless times… Pharaoh succeeded in eradicating the positive impression Joseph had left on Egypt just a few years ago. Without Joseph, Egyptians would have perished in the worst famine to have ever affected them. At the time, they acknowledged it: “you have saved our lives!”-they admitted to Joseph. But Jewish contributions to society can be forgotten as swiftly as the time it takes for an irrational message of hatred to reach the ears of subjects in a dictatorial system. “
This phenomenon, demonization> anti-Semitism, was initiated by Pharaoh, but was repeated countless times. In 1492 Queen Isabella of Spain expelled the Jews , who had been so instrumental in making Spain prosperous, and who even helped the Queen in the war against the Mores. Before expelling the Jews, we were demonized throughout Europe, not only as “deicide” (murderers of a god) but also as poisoners of wells, usurers, and murderers of gentile children for ritual purposes, i.e. baking Matsot with gentile blood …
In 1506, in Lisbon, Portugal there was a great drought. And the crowd blamed the Jews for the drought. More than 2,000 Jews were tortured and massacred “for causing the drought.” Unfortunately, the list of episodes of this sort is very, very long. And unfortunately, it did not end there in the Sixteenth Century. Just look at the website: www.memritv.org , and you will see that in the Arab world, Jews are still demonized and accused of all the world’s ills. Here is an example.
Today, this demonization is systematically applied against the State of Israel, which is the “Jew” among the nations of the earth”. Israel is vilified, and falsely accused of all imaginary evils. The rise of anti-Zionism in the world is not, as is often rationalized, the consequence of the “demonic” actions of the State of Israel, rather, anti-Semitism is the cause of the systematic demonization of the State of Israel.
As the reader will appreciate, the subjects and ideas of the Hagada, besides describing our history, are absolutely current and relevant. This was just one example.
Now, when you explain the Hagada and its historical events, do not forget that the main message of Pesah, is to strengthen our faith in HaShem (Emuna). Despite the demonization, slavery and tortures we suffered, HaShem protected us, saved us from enemies more powerful than us, and rescued us with great miracles. It is true that in every generation a new enemy comes to wipe us off the map. But HaShem rescues us, He saves us from their hands. HaShem is “the main protagonist” of the Seder night. And that’s why the Hagada does not mention Moshe, lest anyone think that a human being saved us and freed us from Egypt but Him.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR THE SEDER
√ To find games for children, including a huge list of questions for Pesah you can visit this website.
√ For a beautiful idea to cross the sea at the Seder, and other creative way to make your children enjoy the most special night of the year, see here what Mr Raymond Kassin emailed me yesterday. Thank you.
√ Rabbi David Sutton of New York, sent me his Hagada companion in English, which emphasizes our duty to strengthen our Emuna . See here
√ For more advanced students, I recommend this fantastic commentary on the Haggadah written by Rabbi Don Ytsjaq Abarbanel (1437-1508). See here . This Haggadah begins with 100 questions, or discussion topics (she’arim), which are solved or addressed throughout his commentary. Do not miss the introduction, where Rabbi Abarbanel tells his incredible (and tragic) personal history.
√ Recommended Hagada 5777: See this Hagada from rabbi Israel Yaaqob Algazi (1680-1757). See how he explains in Ha Lahma Anya our obligation to be kind and generous with the needy as He was with us when he took us out of Egypt.
PESAH: The Eight Commandments of Pesah
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