pesach edition 5773 · the sederis,by and large,one of the strang estnightsof the year:we...

mo-ed matzah

Pesach Edition 5773

Kayla Petrover (‘15)

mo-ed

Hedva Tirschwell (‘13) Yisrael Weiss (‘13) Bailey Frohlich (‘16) Mrs. Michal Schochet

Pesach Edition 5773

Page 2 Pesach Edition 5773

Editor-in-chief:

Editor: Faculty Advisor:

Pesach Edition 5773


Inside This Issue... Exposing Judaism: Hedva Tirschwell (‘13) Heads or Tails: Matthew Silkin (‘14) Yachatz: Yisrael Weiss (‘13) Mah Nishtana: Daniella Cohen (‘15) Slavery: Jacob Epstein (‘13) The Four Sons: Nechamie Saxon (‘12) Ten Makkot: Gabriella Sobol (‘13) Maror’s True Identity—Is It Really That Bitter?: Yocheved Tirschwell (’08) Echad Mi Yodea: Michali Mazor (‘15)

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Cherie Landa (‘15)

Exposing Judaism

Hedva Tirschwell (‘13)

Yachatz: Heads or Tails

Ma hew Silkin (‘14)

Pesach Edition 5773


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The Seder is, by and large, one of the strang-est nights of the year: we dip greens in salt water, we say Hallel at night, and we drink four cups of grape juice or wine at seemingly random intervals. But one of the strangest parts of this strange night is yachatz, when the leader of the Seder takes the middle mat-zah, breaks it in half, and saves the bigger half for dessert. The obvious question, as is the question for everything that we do during the Seder, is why? Rav Hai Gaon says that this is one of those moments at the Seder where we are trying to resemble poor people. Poor people save food for later, therefore so should we. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, related that the Baal Shem Tov would always sign his name as “Yisrael from Okop.” However, the Baal Shem Tov was never from Okop—he was from Tlost. Furthermore, there was never a town called Okop! Okop is Polish for “trench” and refers to the fact that the Baal Shem Tov was born in a trench. The Keter Shem Tov writes that the Chassidic movement, which the Baal Shem Tov started, would usher in the days of Mashiach, and every Jew would have wealth and peace. The fact that, according to someone who was born in a trench, we believe that in the days of Mashiach everyone is going to be prosperous and healthy, directly correlates to the essence of yachatz. Yachatz represents the double-sided coin of life: although we may be poor today, we must hope for tomorrow because for all we know, our life can completely turn around. One moment, you could be failing a class;; the next, you could make the honor roll. One moment, you could be rejected from

Did you ever wonder why Pesach is called “Pesach”? Wouldn’t the name Yetziat Mitz-rayim, the Exodus, or any other specific detail of the story of Mitzrayim be more appropriate than Pesach? The most basic explanation for the word Pesach is Passover, referring to G-d passing over the houses of the Jewish people at the time of the final plague of makkat be-chorot, which is commemorated by the korban pesach. The Sfat Emet, however, has a differ-ent approach to the word Pesach;; he sug-gests that it’s deeper meaning is found when breaking it into two words—one is peh, mean-ing mouth, and the other is sach, meaning speech. How do these two words define the holiday and more specifically explain our com-memoration of yetziyat Mitzrayim? The Sfat Emet explains that while we were in Egypt, Pharoah not only enslaved our physi-cal selves but also inhibited our ability to ex-press our spiritual selves;; our physical bodies were forced into labor, and our mouths could not serve G-d in the proper way. Only as the Jewish people were leaving Egypt were they able to discover their inner “voice,” and their mouths sang praises to Hashem. Many times our mouths are “exiled” by our fears—we find ourselves influenced by the acceptable limits of the society around us. We are often afraid or ashamed of sounding “too Jewish” or of mentioning something that can make us either worthy of a reputation, good or bad. “Read 100 poems and write like 100 poets. Read 1000 poems and write like yourself!” It is not easy for a writer to find his “voice,” but of-ten the writer can adopt the voice of another writer that is most like his own.

Pesach Edition 5773


Mah Nishtana

Daniella Cohen (‘15)

At our Pesach Seder, one of the highlights of the night for children is the recitation of Mah Nishtana, the Four Questions. The origin of these four questions can be found in the Mish-na, which states, “His father instructs him [to ask]: 'Why is this night different from all [other] nights? For on all [other] nights we eat leavened and unleavened bread, whereas on this night [we eat] only leavened bread;; On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat bitter herbs;; On all other nights we eat meat roasted, stewed or boiled, but on this night, roast only;; On all other nights we dip once, but on this night we dip twice.'” When we read this text, we realize that these are not the same questions found in our hagga-dah. In the times of the Beit Hamikdash, the Jewish people could bring the korban pesach, an offering that could only be eaten roasted;; therefore, the children during that period would ask about its preparation. However, nowadays we do not eat this korban, so there is no reason to ask about it. The Satmar Rebbe is troubled by the question we ask instead: “On all other nights, we eat both sitting up straight and reclining, why on this night do we eat while reclining?” Why does the Mishna not list this question amongst the others if the Jews during that time also reclined during their Seder? The Satmar Rebbe explains that reclining during a meal is an act of nobility and freedom. Therefore, we recline to commemorate the freedom we experienced when we left Egypt. When the Jews had the Beit Hamikdash, freedom was not a distant goal;; we were able to bring korbanot and to live harmoniously with Ha-shem and His miracles. The nation openly felt spiritual freedom and did not need to reinforce their understanding of freedom by reclining dur-ing the Seder.

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Yachatz

Yisrael Weiss (‘13)

The much anticipated Seder night is full of excit-ing and intriguing traditions all practiced as a re-membrance of our exodus from Egypt. From be-ginning to end the Seder is planned, step-by-step, each event, from kiddush to the singing of בירושלים" הבא ,"לשנה connecting us to the cherished story of how Am Yisrael came to be. There is, however, one step in the order of the Seder that seems rather irrelevant in comparison to the rest;; the step of yachatz, the point towards the beginning of the seder where we split the middle matzah to save for the afikomen, seems not to have much meaning behind its face value. While each other step involves discussion, indul-gence, or symbolism, the step of yachatz seems to be merely a forerunner to the main step of the afikomen. Why does this deserve its own step in the order of this monumental night? While we may not realize it at first, yachatz plays a more important role in symbolizing the lesson of יציאת מצרים than most of the other steps in the Seder. Whereas each step of the Seder focuses on individual experiences or episodes, yachatz merely serves to bamboozle us—why are we breaking the matzah? Why here, why now? Why is it being hidden away from us? These ques-tions flood our mind, and while the show must go on we can't help but wonder what it means. Fi-nally, towards the end of the Seder, the afi-komen is brought out and the matzah is com-plete again, the missing half restored. So, yachatz doesn't focus on any individual miracle along the way, but rather the story of our salva-tion as a whole! In our great affliction and suffer-ing in Egypt, many of our ancestors were con-fused as to what Hashem was doing, bamboo-zled by all the turmoil and lack of Hashem's presence. The lesson of Pesach is that in the end, like the matzah, the picture became whole again as we saw Hashem redeem us more mag-nificently than we could have ever imagined.

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Pesach Edition 5773

Slavery

Jacob Epstein (‘13)

working at a summer camp;; the next, you could be accepted to another one with higher pay. The point of yachatz is to teach us not to fear the future. Just because things look bleak now, does not mean that it will look bleak to-morrow. Put your faith in Hashem, do what you can, and everything will turn out alright tomorrow.

On Pesach, we hear about the exile, drink the four cups of wine, and sing with never-ending joy. When we experience the Seder, we need to give voice to the message that Bnei Yisrael expressed when leaving Egypt and use our spiritual freedom to properly serve G-d. The holiday of Pesach teaches us that “peh sach” the mouth speaks;; instead of shunning our spirituality, we need to expose it and be an or lagoyim—a light unto the nations—and make G-d proud.

Ma hew Silkin con nued

Hedva Tirschwell con nued

In the haggadah in the section of magid we read, "this year we are slaves and next we are free men." This poses a major question: What does it mean that we are not free? The majori-ty of the Jewish people live in countries that have democracies and basic constitutional freedoms. Thus the haggadah must not define freedom as political freedom;; if not, then what does it mean to be slaves, and will we ever achieve true freedom? One answer is that we are all slaves to our de-sires;; we have a tendency to follow our whims and desires, even when they are contrary to the values of Torah and mitzvot, rather than exercising our free will. A person’s actions are influenced both by those around him and by his own mind, both of which tell him to give in-to his desires, even at the cost of distancing himself from Hashem. This type of slavery in-volving our mind and beliefs is what the hag-gadah is referring to. If the haggadah means to tell us that we are in danger of being slaves to our desires, how would it define freedom? In essence, freedom must be the opposite of slavery, meaning total autonomy to make one’s own decisions. How-ever, how can that be true freedom if every de-cision we make is somehow influenced by ex-ternal stimuli? Jewish tradition teaches us that every Jew has a nefesh Elokit, a G-dly soul. This soul is a part of G-d and is what makes us unique both as Jews and as individuals: it is the essence and basis of the self. True free-dom can only be achieved when we break away from being enslaved by the desires of our yetzer hara and follow instead the desires of our nefesh Elokit.

Pesach Edition 5773

Mah Nishtana

Nechamie Saxon (‘12)

The ten makkot are something that almost any young Jewish child can recite by heart. Yet what most people do not know is the significance of discussing the ten plagues;; most commentators say that the main part of fulfilling the mitzvah of telling over the Pe-sach story is relating the miracles of the 10 plagues. In fact, the Chayei Adam even says that it is a minhag to call in a non-Jew during the Seder to tell him about the miracle of the plagues! Clearly, the makkot are an essen-tial part of the Pesach Seder. Here are some things you may not have heard about these plagues: Frogs: During the time of this plague, Egypt was at war with Kush over the boundaries between the two countries. When the frogs appeared, they actually resided on the exact proper border of Mitzrayim, and did not cross over to the other side, ensuring that the makkah only affected Egyptians. Wild Animals: One of the wild animals was a unique creature called the Yedoni;; it had a tube connecting it to the earth and if it was disconnected, the creature would die. Ha-shem brought in this animal and gave it a clump of earth to attach to its tube so it was able to attack the Egyptians during the plague. Hail: Moshe told the Jews to bring their be-longings inside during this plague so none of the Jews’ property would be affected. There-fore, Pharaoh specifically told the Egyptians to leave their stuff outside, thinking that they would not get damaged and Moshe would be proved wrong. Yet many of the Egyp-tians actually believed in Hashem at that point and listened to Moshe’s warning! The hail therefore affected only things that were outdoors.

Ten Makkot

Gabriella Sobol (‘13)

As we rid our home of chametz each year, we fill it with colorful haggadot, school projects, and finger puppets for the Seder. Out of all the holi-days, Pesach is particularly geared towards ed-ucating our children about the story of yetziat Mitzrayim. In the section of magid, we read about the four sons: the wise son, the simpleton, the one who cannot ask, and the wicked son—the rasha. Rav Hirsch ascribes the four prototypes to the four basic ways the succeeding generation, the “son,” relates to the generation preceding it. The wise son turns to his parent as a source of wisdom and guidance, the simpleton is humble and patient enough to give his parent a chance to give him explanations, and even the one who cannot ask attends an answer. Conversely to the three aforementioned sons, explains Rav Hirsch, the rasha actively rejects his parents’ way of life. He finds himself repre-senting the “new generation”—the modern, the advanced, the enlightened. He is disinterested in finding value or relevance in his parents' ex-hausted ways and only looks to “educate” them. He begs them to turn away from what he per-ceives as the outdated Pesach family Seder or from practicing the ways of an archaic G-d. While he purports to be open-minded, he is in-deed self-absorbed in his own way of life. We are faced with an issue: How can a parent deal with such a son? It is very difficult to com-bat and respond to a question that is not asked by a sincere mind willing to listen. Therefore, a parent must pray to Hashem to help the rasha realize the truth: that Torah is life. However, should we place all our hope entirely with G-d to save our son? Are we ourselves powerless in this situation? Of course not.

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Pesach Edition 5773

When we talk about the maror on the Seder night, we lift it up and say: “maror ze she’anu ochlim al shum mah?”—“This maror that we eat, why is it called maror?” Why do we even question the reason behind the name of this bitter herb? We know that maror is indeed bit-ter, and that would seemingly be why it is called a bitter herb! However, if we closely ex-amine the word itself, the term “maror,” in ac-tuality, means “imposed bitterness” rather than “bitter herb.” Therefore, the haggadah’s ques-tion is: Why do we call this vegetable “maror” instead of something like “yerek mar,” which actually means bitter herb? The haggadah continues with an answer: “al shum shemariru haMitzrim et chayei avoteinu b’Mitzrayim”-- “because the Egyptians embit-tered the lives of our forefathers in Egypt.” Rav Shimon Schwab explains that the maror that we eat at the Seder represents the bitterness and oppression that the Egyptians imposed upon the Jewish people. Horseradish repre-sents the sharp pain and suffering, and lettuce represents the tasteless, hopeless life that the Egyptians created for the Jews. Leaving that aside, a question still stands: if the commandment to eat maror was given to the Jews in Egypt as part of the korban pe-sach, why would they need to be reminded of the suffering while they were still living through it? Rav Schwab explains that the purpose of the remembrance of the imposed bitterness is not to invoke within us a hatred towards the Egyptians, but rather to accept our suffering as the will of Hashem and part of His master plan for us. The suffering of the Jews in Mitz-rayim was a process in which they went from being idol worshippers to becoming worthy of

Maror’s True Identity—Is It Really That Bitter? Yocheved Tirschwell (’08)

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Darkness: Usually darkness is just an ab-sence of light. But in this particular case, the darkness could not be removed, even in the presence of light. Makkat Bechorot: The Midrash says that the reason this plague is the only one that includes the word “makkah” is be-cause when the firstborns heard of this plague, they tried to rebel against Phar-aoh in the hope of forcing him to give in to Moshe’s request in an attempt to pre-vent the plague from occurring. This re-bellion is what is called the makkah.

Gabriella Sobol con nued

That is the significance of yachatz—the idea that although we may be confused, blind to the good or the logic of what is happening to us now, we remain steady in our faith that Hashem will come through for us as He always has, and we will once again rejoice in our role as Hashem's people. Chag Sameach, and may the next re-counting of our redemption be celebrated in Bayit Shlishi!

Yisrael Weiss con nued

Pesach Edition 5773

Toward the end of the Seder, we sing a song titled “Echad Mi Yodea.” It seems a little odd to start singing this song at the end of the Se-der. Why are we singing this song, which ex-presses so many of our fundamental beliefs, at this point in the night? Shouldn’t we have sung it earlier, when everyone was paying close attention? Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz says that during the Seder, we are celebrating our faith in Ha-shem and our gratitude to Him for taking us out of Mitzrayim. We celebrate the miracles Hashem granted to Bnei Yisrael with song, food, and wine. It is this celebration that en-genders the singing of Echad Mi Yodea. Reb Yissachar Dov compares this exuberant singing to a rich man who, after a large meal and free-flowing wine, loses his usual deco-rum and humility and begins regaling his guests with the enormity of his riches. So too, we, who have now drunk four cups of wine and possibly more, can contain ourselves no longer and we publicly express the enormity of our riches. These riches are the ones re-ferred to in the song: One G-d, two luchot, three fathers, four mothers, etc. There is also a practical explanation for sing-ing Echad Mi Yodea. Because everyone is weary, including the children, we sing a song that infuses everyone with energy and piques the interest of the children, who are now en-gaged in a riddle. The leader of the Seder says, “echad mi yodea?” The children re-spond, “echad ani yodea!” Thus, the Seder concludes on a high and enthusiastic note.

Echad Mi Yodea

Michali Mazor (‘15)

We have the obligation to strengthen ourselves and our commitment to our beliefs. We cannot speak back directly to the rasha, but we must let him know where we stand in our belief in G-d—that we are joyous with our religion, hop-ing to soon share the joy of our Torah lifestyle with him.

Nechamie Saxon con nued

receiving the Torah. Even in the worst of times, we must realize that everything is in G-d’s hands. If we fully grasp the idea of hashgacha pratit, divine in-tervention, and accept G-d’s will, we can cre-ate comfort and happiness in our life. We dip the maror in the charoset to symbolize this ultimate happiness and sweetness, which can be achieved when recognizing that everything is in G-d’s hands and happens for the best.

Yocheved Tirschwell con nued

Presently, we are in exile, and it may seem as though we are commemorating a free-dom that has no relevance to our lives dur-ing these times. However, the Satmar Reb-be teaches us a clear lesson. We may live in a democracy, where we can prosper and practice Judaism freely, but we are not en-tirely free. How can we be when we are still in exile? Since we lack the spiritual setting we need to be truly free, we must remind ourselves of true freedom as we have not yet experienced it.

Daniella Cohen con nued

Pesach Edition 5773

Game Section:

Across

1. the first of the ten plagues

5. the "in between" days of Pesach

8. the last plague is the death of the_____

9. The Guide for the Seder

10. instead of bread on Pesach we eat

Down

2. Poor man's bread

3. the ruler of Egypt that refused to let the Jews go

4. concoction made of apples, cinnamon and wine that reminds

us of the mortar the Jews built the bricks with

6. the leader of the Jews out of Egypt

7. the Jews were freed from here after over 200 years of servitude

Pesach Edition 5773

Pesach South Florida Zmanim:

Monday, March 25, 2013: First night of Passover

Candle lighting: 7:16 PM

Tuesday, March 26, 2013: Second night of Passover


Wednesday, March 27, 2013: Last day of the first days

First days end: 8:10 PM

First days of Pesach:

Second days of Pesach:

Sunday, March 31, 2013: Seventh night of Passover


Monday, April 1, 2013: Eighth night of Passover


Tuesday, April 2, 2013: Last day of the second days

Second days end: 8:13 PM

Across

1. the first of the ten plagues

5. the "in between" days of Pesach

8. the last plague is the death of the_____

9. The Guide for the Seder

10. instead of bread on Pesach we eat

Down

2. Poor man's bread

3. the ruler of Egypt that refused to let the Jews go

4. concoction made of apples, cinnamon and wine that reminds

us of the mortar the Jews built the bricks with

6. the leader of the Jews out of Egypt

7. the Jews were freed from here after over 200 years of servitude

Pesach Edition 5773

pesach edition 5773 · the sederis,by and large,one of the strang estnightsof the year:we...

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