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Question of the Week:
Whoever wrote the Pesach Haggadah seems to have made a major mistake. The name of Moses does not appear once in the entire Haggadah! How could the main man of the Exodus who confronted Pharaoh, brought down the plagues, and led his people out of slavery be completely left out of the story? It would be like doing Macbeth without Macbeth, or Star Wars without Luke Skywalker. I have a conspiracy theory: This was no mistake. The Haggadah was written by an anti-Moses faction who tried to write him out of history. That way they would take over the priesthood and control the Temple. Like it?
Answer:
That's a fantastic conspiracy theory. Really fantastic.
But the question is a good one. Moses' absence from the Haggadah is indeed a mystery. To solve it we need to examine the evidence and figure out who wrote the Haggadah. There is one prime suspect.
Here are the clues:
1. There is a biblical command to tell your children the story of the exodus every year on the night of Pesach
2. The Haggadah was written as a basis to tell the story
3. The first time a Haggadah would have been needed was the year after the exodus
4. One year after the exodus, the children themselves didn't need to hear the story, as they were there!
5. There was only one family whose children were not present at the exodus, and so needed to hear the story
6. It would seem that the first Haggadah would have been made by this family
So whose family was it? Who was the only Israelite who himself experienced the exodus, but his children did not?
It was none other than Moses himself.
Moses' wife and children were not in Egypt and did not experience the exodus first hand. Moses married Tzipora and had two sons in her homeland of Midyan. When Moses returned to Egypt to free his people, his family remained in Midyan, and only joined the Israelites in the desert after the exodus.
So the only person who needed a Haggadah that first year to tell his kids the exodus story was Moses. He wrote the first ever Haggadah. And being the most humble man on the face of the earth, Moses left himself out of the story. He understood that he was no more than an instrument of G-d. He took no credit for the exodus.
This is one of the reasons Moses always carried a stick. He was saying, just like a stick is no more than an instrument in the hands of its owner, so too I am just a tool in G-d's hands. It is not I who brought the miracles, it is not I who took you out of Egypt, it is G-d Almighty.
There's no conspiracy here. Just a powerful lesson. We learn from Moses what humility really means. You can be a leader who changes the course of history, and yet still be humble. When you don't take credit for yourself, when you don't need your name mentioned, you have the infinite power of G-d behind you. Humility does not contradict greatness. It is its secret.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss
Source:
R' Yissachar Dov of Belz
Notes:
- In fact, Moses is mentioned once in the Haggadah. But not as part of the story, just in passing: "The people believed in G-d and in Moses His servant."
- The Haggadah we have today has many later additions from the talmudic sages. The suggestion is that the kernel of the Haggadah was first composed by Moses, and all later additions left Moses out, as he himself did, to convey the message that it was G-d alone who took us out of Egypt.
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THIS WEEK'S PODCAST
SERVICES & COMMUNITY INFORMATION: VAYAKHEL/PEKUDEI
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Friday 12 March – 28 Adar
Candle lighting ............ 6:59pm (after 6:03pm)
Mincha........................ 6:15pm
Evening Service........... 6:30pm
Kiddush sponsored by Karen and Vitali, and the Uziel family, in honor of Karen's grandmother's (Chaya bas Sander) yarhzeit on the 26th Adar- Long Life.
Saturday 13 March – 29 Adar
Morning Service .......... 10:00am-12:20pm
Kids Program............... 10:30am
Kiddush sponsored by Israel & Girgee Barukh and Judith Wiederman in honour of the aufruf of Daniel Pavone and his upcoming wedding to Michal Barukh- Mazal Tov!
Shiur with Rabbi Sufrin ..... 5:50pm
Mincha............................ 6:50pm
Shabbos ends & Maariv ..... 7:53pm
Latest Shema this week..... 9:56am
New Moon/Molad.............. Saturday 13 March 7:03:5pm
Rosh Chodesh Nissan........ Sunday 14 March
MAZAL TOV
Daniel Pavone, Michal Barukh and their extended families on Daniel's Aufruf this Shabbos and their forthcoming marriage.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Felix Gold................ 29 Adar/13 March
Noach Kessel............29 Adar/13 March
Michael Barel............1NissanSunday 14 March
Yisroel Moss..............2 Nissan/Monday 15 March
Robert Goldshaft...... 4 Nissan/Wednesday 17 March
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Rabbi Aron & Nechama Dina Moss... 29 Adar/Sat 13 March
Ben & Laurel Weinberg............. 2 Nissan/Monday 15 March
Cliff & Jessica Baskin................ 2 Nissan/Monday 15 March
Vicky & Adam Hendler.............. 6 Nissan/Friday 19 March
LONG LIFE FOR THE FOLLOWING YORTZHEITS
Toni Kleiner, Ann Saltoon & Jackie Saltoon for their late mother and grandmother Edna Isaacs,
Esther bat Menachem Mendel...1 Nissan/Sunday 14 March
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