Rabbi Aaron Goldsheider: PART #1 Haggadah Insights

[music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] >> All right. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Great to see you. And thank you very much for coming out. We thank Rabbi Poston and the Abonna Center for hosting the shear this evening. And we're just beginning the month of Nissan, actually the second day of Nissan. We just ushered in the second day. And it's very appropriate at this time to to begin to study the Haggadah and to think about Pesach. So that is our theme for this evening. We're going to look at some ideas from the Pesach Seder. And hopefully these are ideas that will resonate with you. Perhaps you'll bring them to your Seder, some things to think about. And again, one of the beautiful things to to prepare before before Pesach. I want to begin with the following anecdote. This is told about the Kloisenberger Rebbe who survived the Holocaust, came to Israel, made his home in Israel. He built a beautiful community here. And the story is told when he first came to Eretz Yisrael, he was beginning to to practice his Hebrew for the very first time. So he would walk into the store, walk into a macolet. He would say mashalumcha. He would go and the person would say akol beseder and go to another place, also using his Hebrew, mashalumcha, akol beseder. And he came home to his wife and he said, "What an amazing country this is, coming to Israel. Everybody is talking about the Seder. They're saying akol beseder that everything everything can be found in the in the Seder." So there's a lot of there's a lot of truth a lot of truth to that that there's a lot in the Seder. We can find so many beautiful themes, so many ideas, so many foundational themes of emunah, belief in Hashem, Yitziat Mitzrayim, so many different themes within within the Seder. Um so that what I'd like to share with you tonight is is one rabbi in particular and it's most probably a rabbi that that you're not familiar with. His name is Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap, zechor tzadik livracha. Rabbi Charlap, he was one of the great rabbis of Yerushalayim. He lived in Sha'arei Chesed. He was the rav of Sha'arei Chesed in Rechavia. Those are areas that we're familiar with. His beit midrash is still there today. His chair they still have in the front of the beit midrash. It's right by the Wolfson buildings, just a block away. And it's called Beit Zvul. You can go and see his beit midrash and his chair. Um he was one of the great tzadikim. He was one of the great leaders of of the Jewish people living in Yerushalayim. He was a very very close friend and confidant of Rav Kook. Some say he was his closest his closest friend. And when Rav Kook passed away, he becomes the rosh yeshiva of Merkaz Harav. So that is that is the personality and that is the Haggadah that we're going to that I'm going to highlight three or four ideas with you um from that Haggadah. Again, I imagine it's new to you and it's relatively new to me as well. The name of the Haggadah is called the Meimarom Haggadah. Meimarom, that's the initials, the mem and the yud, Yaakov, just turn it around. Yaakov Moshe, Yaakov Moshe referring to Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlap. It has about 20 volumes of writings and this is one of the volumes which is the Pesach Haggadah. It's available if you like the material tonight, you can go to Pomerantz or a bookstore here in Yerushalayim and many of them will carry this Haggadah. Okay, so we're going to look at three or four themes from that Haggadah. Is this a translated Haggadah? Not translated yet. Not not yet. It's in Hebrew. I was thinking about that. Maybe that would be a good project for somebody uh to translate this material. So in the very beginning of the Haggadah, before it even you know goes into the actual text of the Haggadah, he has a number of teachings, just some ideas I guess that he was thinking about and maybe that people would share uh on the night of Pesach. And the first idea that he talks about is the importance of preparing for Pesach. Now for many of us when we talk about the preparations, so the first thing that comes to mind is you know the the pressure of that preparation and uh and how chaotic it can be and how difficult it it can it can be. But Rav Kook point I'm sorry, Rav Charlap points out something very very beautiful about the preparation. Number one, he says that it's very important to see that preparation as something that is very sacred, something that's very holy. And to go about the preparations with that mindset, I think that's already like a nice idea to have in mind as we're scrubbing our um our utensils and scrubbing our houses and looking for chametz and preparing and waiting online in Oshri Od that we should see that as a moment of sanctity as well, that that's a moment of of kedusha. And he writes the following and I'm going to not going to read that much from text, but just a little bit here and there just to uh to appreciate the words of Rabbi Charlap, Rav Charlap. He says "Hem yemei hachana limitzvah." That this is a time of hachana, a time of preparation. "Shekein inyan hachana niska meod lemala mikol mashiach lanu siach vesig." He says that we can't even put into words, we can't even capture in words how holy it is the preparations that we do. Now to me it sounds like that um Rabbi Charlap, Rav Charlap is echoing one of the ideas that's really central in chassidut, especially chassidus, where they put a lot of emphasis on the preparation that one does for the mitzvah. It's not only the mitzvah itself, at to some degree even the preparation is considered to be a higher level from from a certain perspective. Um you know the chassidim, when they talk about davening or the the act of davening, they talk a a lot about the importance of the preparation before davening. That was one of the radical ideas of chassidus is if you're preparing for davening, you can even push off the davening itself. And now again, that was one of the one of one of the issues that the Litvish world took up with the chassidic world that they kind of said that those preparations, even if it means that we're kind of like moving past the zman tefillah, but the preparation is so important that we come into tefillah with the appropriate mindset and the hachana that we do, going to the mikvah and the learning and the meditations that we do beforehand is as important if not more important. Um Rabbi Soloveitchik always stressed keep Shabbos. Very nice. Very nice idea. Um Rabbi Soloveitchik, yes, and he's in the Litvish world. And there's something else. I thought you might mention this. Rabbi Soloveitchik was famous for a line in which in which he said "Ein kedusha beli hachana." That you can't attain holiness unless hachana, unless you have prepared for it. Unless you've put in the time, unless you have studied, unless you have uh uh have have have thought about what you're doing, preparing for what you're doing, then you can't really attain a full-fledged kedusha. So that was yeah, that was a line from Rabbi Soloveitchik as well. So this is something that Rabbi Charlap stresses in this piece. He talks about that in the Torah itself, in the very first Pesach, it's interesting to note that the Jewish people, even the days beforehand on the 10th of Nissan, they were told to take the lamb, that there was already a preparation the days beforehand. So even within the halacha, within Pesach itself, the way that was first you know, it was first given to the Jewish people by God, we have this idea that there's preparation in advance. And he quotes the following the following uh the following line. He says "Bimei hachana hineinu ke eved lifnei hamelach." He says in the days of hachana, before Pesach, as we're preparing for Pesach, we are like an eved, we are like a servant before God. "Uvishat kiyum hamitzvah" and at the time that we're actually doing the mitzvah, when we sit down Seder night and we're doing the mitzvah of eating the matzah and the maror and we're telling the story of Yitziat Mitzrayim, he says we are "kisar lifnei hamelach." That we are like an officer, a cabinet member before the king. So he says the days before we're like an eved and when we do the mitzvah itself, we are like a sar, we're like an officer. So it sounds like that the the eved is sort of on the lower level and the officer is on the higher level. I think that's what we would all say. But there's a Gemara and maybe again, I don't know this for a fact, but maybe Rabbi Charlap is uh alluding to a different Gemara or a particular Gemara. This is actually for those who were with us last week, studying with us last week, we actually quoted this Gemara as well. It's a story that's told about two rabbis. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. They're studying with one another. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is the master. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa is the student. And while they're studying with one another, the the child of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is becomes ill, that he's that he's very sick. And he asks his student, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, to pray for his son. And the Gemara says that his son was healed. And then the wife of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa kind of enters the picture and says, "Why did you not pray yourself? Why did you have your student pray and why did you not pray?" So the answer that he gave is when I pray to God, I'm like a sar, I'm like an officer before the king, I'm like a cabinet member before the king, but my student, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, he's like an eved, he's like a servant before the king. Now, it sounds like in that Gemara that the eved is considered to be of a higher level. Now, there's a God is a And that's what he said to his wife, that God is going to answer his prayer because he is like an eved and I'm like an officer or I'm like a a cabinet member before the king. So, Rabbi Charlap Sorry, Rav Kook explains the Gemara in the following way. Rav Kook says that what it represents is two ways in which we relate to God. One is like it could be an officer or cabinet member. A cabinet member before a king is somebody that has his own opinions, who's discussing the matter, is somebody the king has hired that person because he's somebody of great intellect, great insight, of wisdom, and he wants to get his opinion. Now, when he comes before the king, so he's he has great respect for the king, but he's also a very smart fellow. He's also very wise. That's why he has a sign he has assigned him as a cabinet member because he's very wise. Maybe he has has insights that's even greater than the king. But how does the eved, what does the eved do when he's in the presence of the king? How does he relate to the king? He relates to the king purely as a servant, purely being in service to God. He doesn't ask any the king or to God. He doesn't ask any questions. He does what he is told to do. That's what the eved does. So, getting back to this piece of Gemara, this this the story in the Gemara, and so he said, "I need somebody like that to pray before God, somebody that just brings his heart and his soul and is subservient, surrenders to the will of God." That's even considered to some degree that's considered greater than somebody of of intellect, just somebody with that pure faith. So, interesting, when Rabbi Charlap talks about what it means the hachana beforehand, he says you're like an eved. Now, eved it could mean that you're like an eved one way of reading it you're working very hard. You're like you're like a servant to some degree all these days beforehand, but maybe what it means is the purity of heart that you bring to that experience. Right? The purity of heart that you bring to all the preparations beforehand. So, this is something that Rabbi Charlap says that we should think about, something that we I I think it's a beautiful way to kind of and I'm trying to do it myself to kind of bring that into my preparations before Pesach, to see that it's something sacred, to see that it's something holy, to see that it's something in which we we attach ourselves to Hashem, that we are closer to Hashem in that in that process. Okay. That is uh that's teaching number one, one idea from Rabbi Charlap. Um I'd like to now go into the Haggadah itself as Rabbi Charlap does in his Haggadah and go to one of the most famous sections, one of the most talked about sections of the Haggadah, and that is the arba banim, the four sons or the four children of the Haggadah. We're all familiar with them, the chacham, the rasha, the tam, and the she'eino yodea lishol. Now, growing up, and I don't know, we could have a discussion here about it as well, but I think we thought about these different personalities as sort of a different digressions or or grades of not digressions, grades of of of of the level that they're on in terms of their relationship with Torah, with God. Chacham, of course, being the best, the rasha being the worst, and then even the she'eino yodea lishol, the one that doesn't really know how to ask, and the tam, I don't know my in my day in the in the Haggadah, the tam was the simple son. I don't know if that was a such a positive, you know, description of of that child of the in the Haggadah. Rabbi Charlap says the following. He writes, and I'll just read to you the following line, the way that he opens the section of the daled banim, of the of the four sons. Arba banim eilu mechuvanei l'daled bechinot, that these four children represent four aspects she'anu metaleem b'leil shimurom zeh. These are four levels that we try to attain on the night of Pesach. So, they represent four different aspects of spirituality that all of them represent a high level spirituality, and they're all and we are all trying to ascend to attain attain that level spirituality on Pesach. Now, the question is, well, you're already asking I'm asking myself the question, how do you how do you say that about the rasha, even about the she'eino yodea lishol and the tam? So, how do we understand that? Okay. So, let me read to you a a few lines from from Rabbi Charlap in his Haggadah. So, the chacham, chacham mahu omer, hu inyana aliya. This is considered to be a high level, of course, the chacham, shel kol Yisrael, liyut kulam chachamim, that we all want to be people of wisdom, lada'at et kol ha'eidut v'hachukim v'hamishpatim asher tziva Hashem Elokeinu otanu. So, the first is very simple, and that is when we think about the chacham, it's something that we want to attain that level, achieve that level, that we should all be wise, we should all we should all have the wisdom like the chacham has. Now, we comes to the rasha. Rasha mahu omer, so what does the rasha represent? Again, he sees the rasha in a positive light, hu inyan hahafala hamuchlatet mikol minei harasha. The rasha represents a person Again, this is a new way of reading it. The rasha represents a person who represents I'm sorry, who who is able to recognize that they have certain aspects that are are that are of rish'ut, that a person has certain wicked traits within them, and that person is able to overcome them. She'eim sigey ha'umot. According to Rabbi Charlap, what are these sort of these negative attributes that we have? We've just picked them up from the surrounding culture. It's not really who we are, and to recognize that on the night of the Seder, any of the rish'ut, any kind of wickedness that we might have, that's something that's really secondary. It's just a facade. It's not really who we are. We are holy, we have a neshama, and that's what it means the rasha. The rasha, again, in his reading, is that we recognize that we have an element of that, but that element is something that we can easily that we can easily rid ourselves of. Good. Now, the tam. The tam is the simple son. Again, growing up, I always thought thought about the tam I don't know, simple son doesn't really sound like such a such a positive description of a child. Tam mahu omer, hu inyan ha'aliya l'madregat Yaakov Avinu ish tam yoshev ohalim. What does it represent? And if you look at the Torah, the first time that we have that description of tam, tam is is a way of describing Yaakov, ish tam. Tam means a person who is whole, a person who is pure. So, that's something that, of course, we all want to strive to attain that kind of purity. So, again, we have the chacham, we want to be like the chacham, we want to be like the rasha, the rasha in the sense of ridding ourselves of any rish'ut that we have, and we can easily do that, says Rabbi Charlap, and we also we want to be like the tam. The tam is Yaakov. Tam is somebody tamima, Torat Hashem temima, that a perfect, a whole faith that we have in Hashem. So, that is the tam. And what is the she'eino yodea lishol? At the some degree this is really the highest level, and how is that? Says Rabbi Charlap, hu inyan ha'aliya l'madregah nisgava me'od. This is reaching a very, very high level. She'af hadvarim she'einam b'geder she'eilah klal. The things that we don't ask about year round, things that we wouldn't necessarily dream of asking about, we don't really have an inclination to look into some of the deeper parts of Judaism, what happens to us on the night of the Seder, midgalim balailah zeh, it becomes revealed to us on this night. B'chinat at petach lo, that we open up that ideas and maybe insights that we have not, you know, that we don't necessarily that we're not able to to achieve, to attain throughout the year. On this holy night, in this holy setting, and on the night of the Seder, and with the holy influences and spirituality of the night, we begin to look at questions and delve into ideas that we've never asked before. So, that's the she'eino yodea lishol, the depth that we can the depths that we can that we can attain and that we can achieve on the night of the Seder. So, here very interesting, again, this is a new reading for me, something that I I don't remember ever seeing in any other any other Haggadah, that he sees all the four sons in a positive light, and that he sees that they all represent different aspects of of spirituality and righteousness that every person is is able to attain, especially in the in the atmosphere of the night of the Seder. So, these are all four parts of each of us. That's right, four parts of each of us. We want to be chachamim, we all are wise, everybody sitting here is wise. Rasha, we all have a little bit of wickedness, but we know that we can just we can we can overcome that. Those He says that wickedness is not really who we are as Jews, it Yeah, a lot of a lot of bad influence around us. I think we can all agree to that as well. We've picked up some of the things that from culture and society around us, something we can easily overcome, we can rid ourselves. The rasha means that I recognize, that's the way that he's reading it. I recognize that rish'ut that I have, and I can I can overcome that. The tam, beautiful idea, Yaakov ish tam, the simplicity and the purity that we all have, that we want to tap into. And she'eino yodea lishol, these are the questions that we don't generally ask. Right? On a day-to-day on a day-to-day basis, these are not the things that we contemplate, but in the spiritual setting of the Seder, sitting around the table with our friends, with our family, reading the Haggadah, we're tapping into ideas and hopefully asking questions and discovering and discovering insights that rarely come to us, but that we can tap into on the night of the Seder. How hard to find a middle? He Since the only one that's not really uh He says the I can read you the words. It says he says that's in Aliya call Israel. This is an ascent. This is what we every Jew tries to uh to ascend to that level. We all want to be That's what we're doing here right now. We all want We're all here to learn. We all want to become wiser. We all want greater insight. Know all the Torah. We want to know We want to We look around the room. We see all these farm. We want to know all of them. We want to know the Talmud. We want to We want to know We want to know Mishnah. We want to know it all and that's that's uh we have a also an obligation to try to try to know it all as well. With his identity Russia, which he's saying is a kind of self-recognition. That we are somehow tainted. And the self-recognition allows us to to overcome that. How does he square that with the kind of the impertinence of the Russia's question? Yes. He doesn't go into that. It's a good question. I I I think this is more of what we would call a you know, there there different ways of studying a text. One is more the of the text. We call like Pardes. I would say this is more in the level of a like more of a teaching not where he's not analyzing word for word the text, but that's a but that's a good question. I'll just and to end this this the comment around the the four the four children at the Seder. By the way, you see something something here which I think is is very beautiful and that is just seeing the positivity in all the children. That's the question. That's the question you're raising in some degree and I think a lot of people struggle with that as well. The the response to the Russia and in your daily show and But here Rabbi Charlap sees the positive in all of them and it's something that we're all that every Jew as we read about these four children that we're that the ideas that we're trying to to emulate them all the positive aspects of them in our lives. There's a story that's told of a Rabbi Rabbi Elimelech of Dinov. And he was he was the author of the Oscar one of the famous works and the custom that he had in his town was before he was the Rabbi of the town in Dinov before he would sit down to his Seder that he would walk around the town and make sure that everybody has started their Seder. Many people have questions right before the Seder. He made sure that everybody if there's anybody that had a last minute question and only then he would go and sit down about an hour later to start to start his Seder. So he would go around and so the story is told that as he was coming to the one of the last houses he heard from the house that they were up to this part of the Seder and he heard the one that was leading the Seder he he read it like this. He said "Echad Echad Echad tam. Echad ain daily show." Which is a little bit of a funny way of reading it. He was you know, stretching out the word He came home to his house after again listening to that Seder. That was I think the last house that he was at. And he said to his wife and to his family he said "I just heard the most beautiful I just heard the most beautiful prayer." You know, he in shul with me every morning and he says just like that when he says the every morning that's how he says he says he says it exactly like that. And he was praying that every child should know the that every child should know God. That was the prayer that's the way that he that he heard it. That's the way that he shared it with his family that he wasn't just reading it. He was praying those words and that every child should find the should know the should know the one the master of the universe. So I think this is one of the beautiful ideas you find in in and many Haggadahs today just seeing the positive and Rabbi Charlap is highlighting the positive in the in the four children. Okay. Um two more themes that I want to share with you uh that Rabbi Charlap in his Haggadah highlights. And um the next theme is the theme of family. The importance of family that the Jewish family is um especially thinking about the very beginnings of Israel that the Jewish family is the foundation of Jewish life. Now, where do we see that in the Pesach story itself? So what's interesting is if you look at the Haggadah, the section of the Maggid, the section of the Maggid the Ba'ale or the Ba'al Haggadah, the one that wrote the Haggadah or the writers of the Haggadah that they chose one particular section in the Torah to take a few verses from that section and we break down that section. We study that section. It's known as the section. It's found in Kitavo actually towards the end of the Torah. A lot of people ask the question, well, if we're going to study verses, why don't we just study the that are found in Why do we study these verses? Okay, that's a separate conversation, but these these are the that we study and that's that's what makes up A lot of people aren't really aware of that. It's not really so clear in the Haggadah itself. You have to kind of like know that that's what's happening, but the main part of the Maggid takes these few these verses and it breaks it down word for word with an analysis. And by the way, just the words themselves and by the way, this is what the Jew or the farmer when he would come to the this is what he would recite and he would say that there is an Armenian who tried to destroy my father. We went down to Egypt. We were a little people sojourning there. We became a great nation. And the Jew and the Egyptians caused great wrath great evil to us. They They caused us suffering. And they made us work very hard as we called out to the Lord of our forefathers. The the Lord of our forefathers. Now listen Now listen up and God listened to us. He heard our voice and he and he saw our What's He saw our suffering like the we have on He saw our suffering. The Amalekite. What does that word mean? And God saw our Amalekite. Our work. Good. Our work. Our difficult work. Like we talk about in Torah like To be means to work hard like the grind. Like to really put in the effort and God saw our Amalekite. Now as I said before, what does the Haggadah do? The Haggadah takes just about every word of of these and they and they analyze. They comment on every word. You're going to be surprised what the Haggadah says on the word Amalekite. The Amalekite. And our difficulty our hard our hard work. The children. What does Amalekite refer to? It refers to our children. That's true. That's true. You translate it as burden. What? Okay, good. No, burden is good. So God saw our burden. But I would also be surprised if we're talking about burden I I would think it's talking about the work that we were doing. Right? The work. But here the Haggadah comes along gives us a very new way of looking at the word Amalekite. It's not referring Maybe the the first word that suffering has to do with the difficult work, but Amalekite it says the children. This is referring to children our children. What does that mean? The difficulty of our children. So the the the Haggadah goes on as it says all the children who are male So what is referring to? What's the great suffering and pain of the Jew? That they saw their children they saw the not the first the male children being thrown into the Nile. All the children who are male. When God saw that when God saw that suffering that God responded to. When God saw the suffering of the parents seeing that their children were being killed were being murdered so God responded to that. That's the that's the Haggadah and that's the way that the Haggadah understands the word Amalekite that's talking about it's talking about you could say the sons and in particular the sons that were all the children who are male. All the children who are male. So Rabbi Charlap says something very interesting here. He says it wasn't only that they wanted to take the lives of their children. They were there was a different strategy or another strategy that was happening at the same time. They devised an evil plan the Egyptians. They wanted to break up the family. They wanted to break up the family. They wanted to break up the Rabbi Charlap says that they were trying to break down family life and family cohesiveness to break up the family. Now by the way, there's a famous that says that Moshe before he was born that the parents Amram and Yocheved, that they separate, they divorce from one another. So, to daf yomi amud bet, says that they separated from one another. They said to one another, "We're not going to bring more children to the world in a world of that there's so much suffering." And it's Miriam that that convinces them to come back together again. They remarry. The Gemara says that many people divorced at that time. So, according to Rabbi Charlap, what's happening here is not just the pain that they inflicted on the Israelites and the Jewish people, but there was an effort to break down family life. Because the Egyptians recognized that that was a unique feature of the Jewish people. That was one of the strongest features, that they were going to survive because of the family, the way that parents and children and family bonded with one another. If you're going to break down family life, then we can we can destroy the Jewish people. Now, what's interesting is what is the halakha when it comes to korban Pesach? It's a mitzvah for who to do the korban Pesach? Says Rabbi Charlap, velakhen ba hatzivui bekorban Pesach, "Kchu lakhem tzon lemishpechoteikhem." What does the Torah say? And I don't know if you can find this in any other halakha in the Torah that it's a mitzvah for mishpakha. For family. That's what the pasuk says. Family come together and do it together. Not only that, but the pasuk says, "B'vayit echad y'ukhal lo totzi min habayit." It should be done in the bayit. Don't bring it out of the bayit. So, here we have the emphasis, which is really fascinating, that the mitzvah itself is talking about mishpakha, family. It's talking about bayit. It's talking about being in a home together. So, says Rabbi Charlap, the mitzvah itself reflects this aspect of what the Egyptians tried to do. And what the Torah is teaching us is the importance in Jewish life of family. And it's interesting of all of the of all of the holidays of the year, of all of the festivals, I think it's Pesach more so than any other that where families come together. The idea that you make every effort in the world that I know, just talking to people, trying to get out of Israel to be with family, trying to come to Israel to be with family. Everybody's trying trying every which way possible to make their way to be with family on the night of the Seder. And it's a night of family. It's the night of the banim, of the children, and of the questions. "V'higadeta l'vincha." The mitzvah is not just to tell a story. Right, it's not just sippur, but v'higadeta l'vincha. How do we pass this down to our family, to our children, and to our grandchildren on the night of the Seder? So, this is I think such a beautiful idea. Again, it's it's almost it's almost obvious because we we just like know it in our in our bones that that's what Judaism is is about, that it's that it emphasizes family. It's just so natural to us. But here we see in the Torah itself that Hashem points out that Hashem is emphasizing, "I want this to be about family." And this is when we talk about the survival of of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people, we're going to survive when we are bound together closely knit together as as family. By the way, one I I think one of the reasons why Rabbi Charlap talks talks about this is that one of the challenges in and we'll we'll get to our generation, but in his generation, Rabbi Kook and Rabbi Charlap in the early 1900s, as Jews are coming to Israel, one of the great challenges is family life. Because you have the older generation, the traditionalists, you know, who are Orthodox and who are shomer Torah mitzvot, and many of their children who are making aliyah in that generation that they that they had left a religious life. And for Rabbi Kook and for Rabbi Charlap, it was so important to bring bring the Jewish people together, but before we get to trying to bring the whole Jewish people together, let's make sure let's find a way and let's talk about the importance of of family life. And okay, so parents and we have letters from Rabbi Kook and Rabbi Charlap where, you know, parents are asking, "Well, what should we do? You know, our children have gone off the derech and and somehow you have to and it's and it's true for us today. Everybody has their has their challenges and within families. And again, it's very true today. There's a lot of talk about that of children going off the derech and choosing different lifestyles. And the importance and it's one of the things that rabbis are talking about today that no matter what, we have to keep the family together, that we have to in some way we can express our, you know, our disagreement and that that's, you know, a different path that I would take, but the importance of family and the bond of family. Um and just one last thing that Rabbi Charlap highlights, which is a really beautiful idea. As we come to the end of the Seder, as we all know, we open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi. Eliyahu Hanavi enters. He takes a sip of everybody's kos, everybody's cup at the Seder, right? And um Rabbi Charlap says, "What is the role of Eliyahu Hanavi?" We're actually going to read it next Shabbos in the Haftorah at the end of the Haftorah. What does it say about Eliyahu Hanavi? "V'heishiv." What is he going to do in the end of days? What's his job, so to speak? "V'heishiv lev avot al banim v'lev banim al avotam." That's Malachi perek gimmel, pasuk kaf dalet, one of the very last prophecies that we have. And it's a prophecy of Eliyahu Hanavi who brings together fathers, parents and children, children and parents. So, that's as we open the door, that's what Rabbi Charlap says. We're opening the door for Eliyahu Hanavi, but we're also emphasizing what's so important about Eliyahu Hanavi is this idea as well, that he represents the personality and the the spirit of bringing families together, the importance of family life. So, it's something that on on he something that on the night of the Seder, Rabbi Charlap says we should feel that bond. We should do everything that we can to to express that closeness. And it's a night that um um a night of of loving one another around the table. And no matter what, even where, you know, where this relative or this child or whoever may be or this guest, it's a time for for love and to embrace everyone. That's uh where it all begins with the mishpakha, v'higadeta l'vincha. It's a night of a night of family. Okay. Let's go to our last uh the last theme from Rabbi Charlap for this evening. And we cannot we cannot uh study the Haggadah of Rabbi Charlap. And again, he's a great talmud of Rabbi Kook without speaking about Eretz Yisrael. That's going to be one of the ideas that he's going to emphasize in his Haggadah. And we have in the Haggadah the um a reference the very first time that the Jewish people are told that they're going to be going into galut, that there's going to be a period of slavery and uh oppression. And the Jewish people are not going to be in the land of Israel, they're going to be exiled. Where is that first expressed in the Torah? Interesting, it's not we don't have to wait until the book of Exodus, till Shemot. We already hear it very early on. As soon as we begin the story of Avraham Avinu, God comes to Avraham the Brit Bein HaBetarim, and he says the following. This is found in the Haggadah, the very first time that we hear about our our uh our slavery, our enslavement in in it doesn't say Egypt per se, but it says we're going to go to a foreign land. It says, "Vayomer l'Avraham." And I'm reading Well, I'll just read to you directly. I'll pull back a sentence. "K'mo she'amar l'Avraham." This is what was said to Avraham. This is I'm reading from the Haggadah, from the section of the Maggid. Um that he told to him the Brit Bein HaBetarim. He told him at that episode of the Brit Bein HaBetarim, the covenant between the parts and Amram. "Vayomer l'Avraham." He said to Avraham, "Yadoa teida." You must know "Ki ger yihyeh zar'akha b'eretz lo lahem." That your descendants will be in a foreign land. "V'avdum." And they will be in servitude. "V'inu'um otam." And they're going to cause them suffering in that place. So, that is that we read in the Haggadah. The comment that Rabbi Charlap makes on this uh on this statement or this it's uh based on a pasuk. He says, "It's interesting to note that the pasuk says that they're going to be in another land, in another country that is not their "Ki ger yihyeh zar'akha b'eretz lo lahem." So, that's a that's a dismal, that's a very, you know, sad description of what will be for the Jewish people, a very uh unfortunate nevu'ah, prophecy. But he says there's something very positive in it as well. And what's positive about that? If the pasuk says they're going to be in a land that's not theirs, what's the flip side? The flip side is that the land of Israel always remains the land of the Jewish people. They're always going to be strangers outside. And to know that, every Jew needs to know that, that you are a stranger, that you are a foreigner, that that's not your land when you're living outside the land of Israel. Just to quote Rabbi Soloveitchik, you mentioned his name before, Rabbi Soloveitchik would always he would say that I don't like when people use the word diaspora, the Jews of the diaspora. I live in the diaspora. Why? Because diaspora doesn't really sound that bad. It's like, it's okay. I live in the diaspora. We should use the word I live in If you're living in New York, where do I live? >> Galut. You know, I live in galut. I live in the exile. Imagine saying those words. Where do I live? I live in the exile. I'm exiled. Rabbi Soloveitchik says you should use that language. Don't say I live in the diaspora, I live in exile. I live in the galut. And a Jew needs to recognize that. Now, again, that's that's it's been a long galut, but there's a positive side to that, and that is that the land of Israel is the land of the Jewish people, and that covenant, right, that covenant, that promise that this will be the land of for the Jewish people is the covenant that that lasts for eternity. So, he says that that's a very beautiful idea that is being expressed here in the Haggadah. And one other one other point that that he makes, and now we come back to the rasha. The rasha is always like a fascinating a fascinating personality, and we'll get And here he comments on a little bit of the the text itself. You asked before about the text. So, the rasha, by the way, what does he say? He says, "Mavo avodah zo lachem." Says, "What is all of this all the mitzvot that you're doing?" In other words, not for me, right? You're doing it, but that's not that's not the lifestyle that I want to live. That's the rasha, and that's what makes him a rasha, right? He says, "These are your laws, this is your ritual, this is your night, not my night, right? Mah avodah zo lachem." So, we say the following to him, and there is Again, this is like a great discussion around the Haggadah, "Hakeh et shinav," that we blunt his teeth. Okay, you could talk about that what that means exactly. Um and then we say the very last line we say, "Ilu haya sham lo haya nigal." We say to the rasha, "If you were there in Egypt, you would not have been redeemed." Little bit of that another like strong little bit of a strong, you know, um uh you know, statement that we're making to the rasha. Now, what do we mean by that? We mean by that is Well, we know Rashi says, in the Torah as well, that only a a fifth "Chamushim," a fifth or maybe one in 500. It's a question how to interpret that, but not everybody left Egypt. First of all, some maybe chose not to leave, and according to Rashi, actually, it's a difficult idea, but that Hashem actually took the life of those that were not going to leave Egypt during Makat Bechorot, so that they should not be embarrassed, the Jewish people, that God took the lives Again, not an easy idea. I always struggle with that, but that God took the life of those people that were not going to leave Egypt. So, we know that many Jews did not leave, many Jews chose not to leave, or many chose God already kind of determined for them that they were not going to leave. And that seems to be the statement here, right? That's what we're saying. We're saying, "If you're going to act like a rasha, and that's the position that you're going to take, just know that this whole story you actually would not have been part of it." Maybe we're saying you should really try to be a part of it because, you know, how beautiful it is to be part of the Jewish people, but just know that were you to have have been in Egypt, you would not have left. So, here Rabbi Charlap makes the following statement regarding that teaching. He says, and listen to the following. "Ilu haya sham be Mitzrayim, if this rasha was in Egypt, haya met be shloshet yemei afelah velo haya nigal." As I mentioned before, Rabbi Charlap says he would have been one of those to perish in Makat in the Makat in the in Makat Choshech, that he would have perished during that darkness. "Aval acharei she yatza mi Mitzrayim venichnas le'eretz Yisrael, but once we as a people enter the land of Israel, eino yakhol beshum ofen linatek mi Klal Yisrael." Even the rasha, there's no way for the rasha to be left behind. There's no way for the rasha not to be a part of the Jewish people. "Barkho balkorcho hunigal," that the rasha, quote unquote, the wicked in the land of Israel, that the wicked is also part of the Jewish people, he's also going to be redeemed. "Vesofo l'achser betshuva," and that rasha in the land of Israel, that that he's going to do tshuva ultimately. Rabbi Charlap says, "Yes, in Mitzrayim." And I think what he means is the following, that in galut, unfortunately, the experience of those that have assimilated and those that have given up a Jewish life, we have lost many of them, and that's really what we're saying to the rasha. Unfortunately, if you're not going to be part of the Jewish people, if you're not going to connect with the Jewish people, if you're not going to connect with mitzvot with mitzvot, our experience is that you're going to be lost. Do I need to convince any of that anyone here of that idea in America today, right? What is the rate of assimilation, intermarriage? That's right. I wish it was 50% outside the Orthodox community, it's 60, 70%, which is almost close to When you're talking about 70% of your people being You're talking that's close to That's a big number. That's a big number, and that's what the Haggadah is saying. Outside the land of Israel, but here Rabbi Charlap says something very beautiful, but once we come back to the land of Israel, Jews that are distant from Judaism, quote unquote, the rasha, they're still they're going to find their place within the Jewish people. I looked up um the other day, what is the intermarriage rate in Israel? Jewish marrying, you know, Christians, Arabs. Anybody know what the intermarriage rate here is in Israel? 2%. 1 to 2%. Basically, there is none. Now, is everybody religious here in Israel? No, but somehow we just we we know to marry Jews here. I mean, we're connected, and we're connected because we're a nation here. We're connected because we feel a sense of peoplehood, and even if we're not necessarily if everyone's not keeping mitzvot, we're connected in many other ways as well. So, that's what Rabbi Charlap says. Rabbi Charlap says a beautiful comment. He says, "Yes, that's true of of the galut. That's true of the exile, that we lose people that are not connected are going to be lost." And that's a very, very sad story for the Jewish people, but once we come back to the land of Israel, the connection that we have to one another, the nationhood, the peoplehood that we feel here, that's something that's going to bind us. We're not going to lose anyone. And he adds, "Not Not only are we not going to lose, but eventually they're going to do tshuva as well." And one of the beautiful things that we've seen over the last 2 and 1/2 years is a lot of people that are finding their way back of tzitzit, and people that want to fill in, and people that want to connect with Shabbat. There was just a It just went around if if you're if you're social media, it was just like going around the last last couple of hours was a a newscaster woman that at the end of as she was like, you know, ending her the newscast for the evening, she said, "You know, it's the new month of" It wasn't a religious woman. She said that it's the new month of Nisan, and she said, "Hodu Lashem ki tov." Like she quotes a pasuk from Tehillim. You'll see it. It's kind of like just just going around right now. So, this is where we're What? This is a regular like, you know, woman on the you know, the secular like, you know, newscast in Israel, and she's expressing thanks to Hashem and quoting a pasuk that that I can barely quote. You know, that that that this woman knows by heart, you know, Tehillim. So, that's that's what Rabbi Charlap senses is what Rabbi Rav Kook as well, as we're coming back to the land of Israel, first of all, that we're connecting as a nation, the power of connecting as a nation, but the next step ultimately to um um to do tshuva as well. And the rasha, he says, is going is going to do tshuva. I'll just end with the end with the following anecdote. This brings us to Rabbi Charlap's Rabbi Rav Kook. So, Rav Kook one time in his life, um in order to fundraise for yeshivas here in Israel and in Europe, went to America. He made a trip to America. I imagine that's not something that he that he wanted to do. I think the story is he had a he had a little pebble from Israel that he kept in his pocket and he kept holding and rubbing that pebble the entire time that he was in America just to feel that connection to Eretz Yisrael. I'm sure it's very difficult, but he went in order to to raise money to raising money. So, there was one person that met with him, and he actually asked him a question. Um he said, "You know, you live in Yerushalayim, and Like you're sitting in Yerushalayim. You live in Yerushalayim. Is that something that you say at the Seder?" And I guess for some of us, we can ask that question. Do we say that at the Seder for if we're What do you mean, "L'shanah haba'ah biYerushalayim"? So, Rav Kook said, "I have two answer for two answers for you. Number one, he says, 'We don't just say "L'shanah haba'ah biYerushalayim." We say "L'shanah haba'ah Yerushalayim habenuya." That even though we're living in Yerushalayim, there's still we're not done yet. There's still something else that needs to be completed to have the wholeness and the fullness of being in Yerushalayim is also with the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash. So, that we are still praying for. So, yes, all of us say that. Maybe we should add that word to our to our Haggadah when we say it as well, "L'shanah haba'ah Yerushalayim habenuya," especially those that are living in Yerushalayim. But then he said something else. He said, "Okay, even if you don't say the word habenuya, says 'L'shanah haba'ah Yerushalayim' means that we should not only live in Yerushalayim, but we should feel our hearts and our souls should always feel that kedusha of being in Yerushalayim. That's what it means 'L'shanah haba'ah Yerushalayim'. It's a prayer that we live in Yerushalayim, but also feel the sanctity all the time, to feel And we can take it for granted. I know here I'm living 13 years in Yerushalayim. You don't always you know, you don't always feel it, but to remind ourselves on the night of Pesach and the the celebration of geulah and the fact that here we are, Jews returning 6 million I think we're close to 7 million strong here in Israel today, and the city, this beautiful city of Yerushalayim that is literally being rebuilt, and we're seeing it right out Look out the window. Look at Emek Refaim, literally building up, beautifying. It's going to be beautiful, even though it doesn't look that way right now. Beautifying this uh this city, every street of the city. the holiness that we're within within a mile of the Har Habayit, within the with just with within the this the city that is where the Shekinah rests, where it dwells all the time. So, Rav Kook said that's what it means. It's a prayer that we should feel every Jew in Yerushalayim that learning and that yearning for Yerushalayim to always sense, always to feel that holiness. So, I wish everyone a a chodesh tov. We just started. We're second day Rosh Chodesh. Second day, sorry. Second day of Nissan and wish everyone a meaningful hachana, the preparations. I always suggest to pick up a haggadah, maybe a new haggadah, and to begin to prepare for the Seder. And our preparations also the what we the physical, the mundane preparations to see them in in a holy in a holy light. And we should all have a meaningful couple of weeks ahead and of course a chag kasher vesameach. And please God should be a peaceful and a wonderful and a joyful Pesach. Yasher koach. Amen. >> [music] [music]