The following web-site is adapted from the book "Thoughts
on the Hagadah" by Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum
Insightful Divrei torah for the Yom Tov of Pesach ( Passover
)
and general matzah baking footage
Click here to
download the PDF version of this book
Table of Contents:
The rest have not been added as of yet.
7) V'rav cmoh she'n'e'emar
8) With a strong hand, an outstretched arm and with great fear
9) The Makos and Moshe’s Stick
10) Nochosh or Tanin - Which Is It?
11) A Stick That Turns Into A Snake - Isn’t That Elementary?
12) The Makkos As Mentioned In Tehillim?
13) "Moshe - for I have drawn him form the water"
14) "Pakod Pokadti" - That Special Password!
14B) Arami oved avi - vayered Mitzraymah
15) The Egyptian Avoda Zoroh - The River Or the Sheep?
16) Avodah Zoroh - It’s All A Mirage!
17) "This is how you should eat it (the Korban Pesach) with your belts on, your shoes
on and your sticks in your hands" -What's the big rush?
18) Let’s Eat It Together - Korbon Pesach
19) "A wise man will take mitzvos"
20) You Try Your Best - Hashem Will Do the Rest!
21) The 50th Level of Tumoh
22) Who Gets the Credit?
23) The Meaning of the Strange Phey
24) What's In A Name?
25) "Hashem hardened Paroh's heart"
26) "This night we dip twice"
28) Dayeinu: It Would Have Been Enough
29) If Hashem would have brought us to Har Sinai, but had not given us the Torah - Dayeinu
30) Chad Gadya
31) Rabbi Yehuda gave signs for the makkos; d'tzach adash b'achav
32) "b'domeiyich chayee b'domeiyich chayee"
33) Chometz and Matzoh
34) The First Three Makkos
35) The Tam Asks, What Is This
36) The Four Cups of Wine:Their Meaning and Significance
37) Survival in Golus
38) Why The Repetition
Preface
Pesach is that extraordinary Yom Tov on which all the others are based. After all,
don’t they all revert back to Yetzias Mitzraim ? Pesach night is that very unique
time when we discuss the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim (redemption from Egypt), which led to
the birth of our nationhood. We try our utmost to elicit questions from all participants
in the hope of stimulating within them a desire to comprehend the meaning of Yetzias
Mitzrayim to its very last detail. It’s the one special night when we strive to
clarify and explain to our children and students the very essence of our emunah (faith)
and the great miraculous ways in which Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim and made us into
His nation.
In fact, the word Pesach itself also stands for opening. For it’s the night that
we must open our children’s minds to the point where there are no more questions or
doubts as to the basic tenets of our emunah. We must totally remove any question from
their minds and hearts until they are completely immersed in the proper service of Hashem.
Even the Aseres Hadibros themselves starts with "I am Hashem who took you out of
Mitzraim" rather than "Who Created heaven and earth". This shows us the
great importance given to yetzias Mitzrayim. The purpose of questions is, of course, to
shed light and bring clarity to a difficult subject.
Over the many years of teaching I realize that I owe the greatest debt of thanks to my
dear and treasured students who never failed to keep me on my toes with their wise and
clever queries. There is nothing more enjoyable than having students that are ihbgf ktua
(ask to the point) . For it’s their many tough questions that help clarify issues
even to the Rebbi himself. This is certainly what our chachomim (sages) had in mind when
they said that one learns more from his students than even from one’s own Rebbi.
It’s their questions that have propelled me into taking pen in hand and putting down
the answers that came to mind. Many of the answers came to me during the interesting
discussions we shared. Unfortunately I never kept records and therefore don’t
remember the names of the students who asked many of these simplistic but brilliant
questions. I thank them all the same, for it’s their thought-provoking questions that
stimulated me to think as well. I must admit, however, that many of their questions have
stumped me, and I was not ashamed to say, I don’t know.
One must realize that many of their questions can probably be found in the Meforshim,
and a variety of answers can be found in all four different parts of Torah, be it p’shat,
remez, drush and sod. However, I’ve tried my best to answer them in the
simplest manner possible in order to show them that their questions can be answered even
on the very basic level.
I greatly appreciate my readers’ comments and certainly would like to hear your
answers to these questions.
