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Reasons
Contributed by The Village Shul

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

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Devar Torah by Howard Turner

26 incredible reasons why this night is different to all others

  1. Q: Pesach commences on the 15th of the month of Nissan. What other Biblical events occurred on this date?

A: Isaac was born on this exact date 400 years before the Exodus from Egypt. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Jacob wrestled with Esav’s guardian angel. Moses had his revelation at the burning bush.

  1. Q:  Who celebrated the first ever Passover meal?

A: Abraham and Sarah had a meal of Matzos (called “ugot” or unleavened cakes – see Parsha Vayera) when one of three visiting angels revealed to Sarah that she would give birth to Isaac in exactly one year. 

  1. Q. How many people owned Moses's staff, the instrument of  the plagues and the splitting of the sea before him?                     

  1. Eight. The previous owners were Adam, Noah, Shem,                                      

       Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Yisro. 

       (Yalkut Shimoni, Shemos 168)

  1. Q. One reason we drink 4 cups of wine at the seder is connected to Joseph. Why?

  1. The words “cup of wine” appears 4 times in the butler’s dream that Joseph interprets, setting in motion events that result in his liberation from prison.

(Bereishis Rabbah 88.5)

  1. Q. What gematria is shared by the matzos and Israel?

                                                  The Matzos         Israel

  1. 541 Add them up!     RdWxSWmtFpjB0_ItS9tj5nbXl4gqBWUK_xSW1TC815pDxt1_GTTg43x-poof5nWfnh5K37Lin_wgc5gG1aYjnW3i0z4lgto2MyOcOYuncch7jO-nmbuxVUrreQ3IOI6VfdSfHPKCaGsG46eeOg

  1. Q. How did the Egyptians react 4 days before Pesach when told in advance of a plague that would kill their firstborn?

  1. There was a civil war between the Egyptian Firstborn and Pharaoh’s army in which many died. (Tosafot Shabbat 87b)

  1. Q. Why does the Torah instruct us to throw treif meat “to the dogs?” (Parsha Mishpatim 22.30)

  1. This is a reward to dogs for not barking as the Children of Israel left Egypt. “Said the Holy One Blessed is He, give it its reward” (Mechilta).

  1. Q. What events of Purim occurred during Pesach?

  1. The original 3 day fast of Esther was undertaken on the eve and first 2 days of Pesach (14th, 15th and 16th Nissan). Its commemoration was subsequently fixed for the 13th Adar.

  1. Q. Which border dispute was resolved by the plague of frogs?

  1. The plague of frogs stopped along a straight line between Egypt and Cush (modern day Sudan and Ethiopia) and the King of Cush immediately accepted that line as the border. That straight line is still recognisable today.(R. Bachya)

10. Q. What was the relationship between Bisya, the daughter of Pharaoh who adopted Moses and Tzipporah, daughter of Jethro, who later became his wife? 

A. They were foundling twins, adopted by Pharaoh and Jethro.

(Midrash Talpiot)

11. Q “Moshe” was his Egyptian name. How many different Hebrew names did Moses have?

A. Ten! They were Yered, Avigdor, Chever, Avi Socho, Yekutiel, Avi Zanoach, Toviah, Shemayah, Ben Evyatar, Levi.

(Yalkut Shimoni)

12. Q  On whose deaths did the Egyptian slavery commence?

    A. The Egyptians became confident to commence our slavery on the death of the last of Joseph’s 11 brothers, Levi.

13. Q. The harshest slavery lasted for how many years?

      A. The final 86 years (Rashi to Shir Hashirim). 86 happens to be the numerical value/gematria of Cup/Cos כּוֹס (60+6+20) as in “cup of wine”

14. Q. When split in two, what does the word Pesach – Peh Sach - actually mean?

    A. The mouth (peh) that speaks (Arizal) – a subtle reference to our telling over of the miracles at our seder tables and also to the fact that only free people can truly speak ….. freely. 

15. Q. The Pesach Seder is comprised of 15 parts. What is the significance of the number 15?

A. The Altar in the Temple was reached by ascending 15 steps. Our seder tables are our own miniature altars.

16. Q. The opening statement of the Haggadah – Ha Lachma/”This is the bread” then, “Come and eat” – is written in Aramaic. How does this protect from destructive angels?

A. Angels do not understand Aramaic (Talmud Bavli Shabbat 12b). By commencing a seder in Aramaic, the attention of destructive angels is not drawn towards our houses (Rashi to Haggadah)

17. Q. What number connects the 210 years of slavery with “bread of poverty”  - lachma aniya / עניא לחמא i.e. Matzah?

A. The gematria of עניא לחמא is …. 210!

       18. Q. What connects our Pesach meal to the destruction and rebuilding the Temple.                                   

              A. The Second Temple was destroyed as a result of the    ejection of a wedding guest – Bar Kamtza -from a meal (Talmud Bavli Gittin 55b). By inviting any guest through “Ha Lachma” we can make a national repair and hasten the redemption.

19.Q.  Moses, in his humility, did not want his name mentioned in the Haggadah (Chofetz Chaim). How many times does his name appear in the Torah?

A. 613 times. The same as the number of Torah Mitzvahs.

20. Q. What mistake resulted in 300,000 Jews being slaughtered by the Philistines?

A. The descendants of Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph, and one of the 12 tribes, miscalculated and left Egypt 30 years too soon. Travelling to the Land of Canaan via the shortest route, they were killed in a brutal war. (Midrash Hagadol Ex. 13:17)

21. Q. Over 60 years passed between Moses fleeing Egypt at the age of between 18 or 19 until he redeemed The Jewish People from Egypt. What was he doing for most of that time?

A. After fighting the evil Bilaam in a war that lasted 9 years he was proclaimed King by the people of Cush (ancient Ethiopia) and reigned for 40 years. He then wandered a while to finally reach Midian and lived there with Yisro (Jethro) for 10 years.

(Yalkut Shimoni, 1:168; Sefer HaYashar, Parshat Shemot)

22. Q. How long did each of the first 9 plagues actually last?

      A. 7 days. Each plague involved a process of 1 month; 3 weeks for the warning and 7 days for the plague itself. (Rashi)

23. Q. Why does the word for Frog appear in the singular form in the Torah according to Midrashic sources?

A. To add to the miraculous nature of the 2nd plague, at first only ONE frog emerged from the Nile and as soon as the Egyptians struck it , it started to split into huge swarms (Rashi).

24. Q. How many Jews did not make it out of Egypt?

A. Since we know that 600,000 men of military age alone were redeemed (Ex. 12:37) by adding wives, children and parents the minimum number would have in the order of 3 million crossed the Sea of Reeds (R. Yonasan ben Uziel). 80% of our nation were not worthy of redemption as they had no wish to leave and they died in the secrecy created by the plague of darkness (Rashi). So at least 12 million Jews never made it out.

25. Q. What happened to Pharaoh?

A. It seems that G-d never quite gave up on him. Eventually he would repent. According to the  Yalkut Shimoni (Exodus 176) he was spared a watery death in the sea and after centuries of wandering he made it to Nineveh in Assyria (modern Iraq). There he became a King, a reformed man, who persuaded his subjects to repent after receiving Jonah’s prophecy.

26. Q. What connects Wine, G-d and the number 26?

A. One of G-d’s names is Shalom/peace. The words Shalom and wine (yayin) both appear exactly 26 times across over 79,000 words of the Torah. 26 is also the numerical value, the gematria of Hashem’s 4 letter name, the Tetragrammaton.

The wine at our seder tables is very special.

            -----------------------------------------------

Conceived by Nicci Menashe for the Village Shul Community London NW3 …. and beyond.

Compiled by Howard Turner In Loving Memory of: Freda and Charles Davis Jeanne Turner
haggadah Section: -- Four Questions
Source: Picture by Gaia & Devar Torah by Howard Turner

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