Yachol M'Rosh Chodesh Megan | Passover haggadah by JTL

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יָכוֹל מֵרֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ, תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בַּיוֹם הַהוּא, אִי בַּיוֹם הַהוּא יָכוֹל מִבְּעוֹד יוֹם, תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה - בַּעֲבוּר זֶה לֹא אָמַרְתִּי אֶלָא בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁיֵשׁ מַצָה וּמָרוֹר מֻנָּחִים לְפָנֶיךָ.

Yachol meirosh chodesh, talmud lomar bayom hahu. Iy bayom hahu, yachol mib'od yom. Talmud lomar ba-avur zeh. Ba-avur zeh lo amarti, ela b'sha-ah sheyeish matzah u-maror munachim l'fanecha.

After the pivotal section of the Seder in the Maggid station of the four sons, a short paragraph titled Yachol M’rosh Chodesh follows. This paragrph dicusses a Pasuk in Shemot Perek 13 Pasuk 8 which tells us exactly when we are onligated in the telling of Yetziat Mitzraim: “וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה יְהֹוָה לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם,” "And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘Because of this, the Lord did [this] for me when I went out of Egypt.’” (Tanach.org).

A textual question arrives from this pasuk, what day is referred to by the words “on that day?”One might have thought that you should begin recounting the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim from the beginning of the month of Nisan for various reasons that I will go into later, but nevertheless there is a consensus that it is actually seder night where we are obligated. Moreover, Rambam says that while on one hand it makes sense to be obligated to retell the story specifically on seder night from looking at the wording of the mitzvah-“Zachor”- to remember our redemption, which occurred on seder night, but on the other hand just like the mitzvah of Zachor with regard to Shabbat-where we begin preparing at the beginning of the week, so to here for Pesach we should begin preparing at no only the beginning of the week but the beginning of the month! However, the combination in the pasuk of “on that day” and “because of this” teaches us when exactly we should start discussing the story of Pesach. While the wording “on that day” can be interpreted that we should be telling the story during the daytime, the following words “because of this” mean that there must be something tangible connected to the telling of the story and they must be together. Therefore the time this pasuk is referring to is seder night, when we have maror and matza to help aid our discussion.

In The Haggadah with Answers by Rabbi Yaakov Whehl, he explains why one might have presumed that the mitzvah of retelling the story would have applied from the start of the month of Nisan. Rashi, Shibbolei HaLeket, and Maasei Nissim suggest that because the Gammara states that we should begin studying and reviewing the laws of Pesach on the first day of Nisan, similar to Moshe when he taught these exact laws to the Jews on that day. Additionally, Rivta points out that several verses before the pasuk discussed in this paragraph seem to have established the whole month of Nisan as a “contextual frame” for this mitzvah, not just a specific day (i.e. seder night). However, because of the words “on that day”, we can come to the understanding that the proper setting for this mitzvah is in fact seder night.

Although we now know when we are supposed to discuss Yetziat Mitzrayim, we still have to ask, why at that specific time? Why at Seder night and not beginning on Rosh Chodesh Nisan? Rabbi Sacks responds do this questions and says that while it makes sense to believe that the story should be told when the preparation for pesach begins, the Torah has a “fundamental rule” about the ways to pass on values to the next generation: “to tell the story while you are doing the deed”, meaning when we are before the matza and maror. The best ways for values to be departed to children are when we reenact it, when we live it out in order to ensure it gets passed down; as Rabbi Sacks says, “Values are better caught than taught.”

The next question we have to ask is who is this paragraph directed towards? Rivta suggest hat because it directly follow the four sons, perhaps it is a response to the verse cited by the son who does not know how to ask. The Abarbanel agrees and believes that the paragraph is an “Attempt to present the details of the Exodus on his unsophisticated level.” the Maasei Hashem says that the passage is directed towards to father, because the son who does not know how to ask says nothing at all, one might have thought that there was no need to discuss the exodus with him. However, this passage explains that it is an obligation for every individual to recount the story, specifically at the seder. The Yalkut Shimoni adds that generally children go to sleep either before the seder or at the beginning of the seder and therefore it would be understandable to discuss the exodus with them in the afternoon, but this passage emphasizes that the time for this mitzvah is seder night, in front of the matza and maror.

While this passage is small and seems unimportant, its ads essential value of our understanding of the mitzvah of discussing Yetziat Mitzrayim. This passage ensures that every kid and adult alike recount the story, together, at seder night, with the matza and maror as aids in order so that everybody has a true and deep understanding of the story. Of course we can discuss the story throughout the month of Nisan, and if you have a young child it is okay to discuss it with him/her in the afternoon, but the Haggada is telling us that this is the best ways to learn and review the story and pass on it’s messages throughout the generations to come.

haggadah Section: -- Four Children