For all of you who have forgotten, I used to send out weekly Divre Torah. Unfortunately, I have not been keeping up to it for a number of reasons. But I'm still around, and I have something on Pesach, for all those who are interested (and for those who aren't).
Pesach is a great holiday. During Succot, we are a little uncomfortable because we are sitting out in the cold. During Shavuot, many of us eat dairy, which for me, is not fun. I mean, we have dairy during the nine days. No meat is like mourning. Meat is good. But during Pesach, we get to have meat, and we get to sit in our warm houses.
Now that I think about it, we have meat, but that's the only thing we have. Oh yeah, potatoes. And if you're sefardi, there's also rice. Hmmm....I actually may have to rethink this one...I abstain...I'm not sure which chag is the best. I guess they're equally the best.
As we all know, the hagada begins with the "ha lachma anya," which is basically when we get up and announce, "We are about to eat from the matzah and the korban pesach. If anyone needs a place to eat, please feel free to join us." There are a couple of difficulties with this practice. First, don't you find it interesting that we are inviting people after we already started? During the times of the korban Pesach, people had to know where they would be eating way before the meal. Also, I don't know about you, but I don't actually go out and announce this. We make this announcement within the confines of the walls of our houses. Why are you shouting, "Please come eat,"? No one can even hear you! Whom are you even offering this to? Is this some sort of joke? Starting off the Pesach Seder with a good sense of humor....
Second question - why are we making this announcement in Aramaic. The rest of the hagada (basically) is is Hebrew. Why do we say this one paragraph of ha lachma anya in Aramaic?
Well, there are two answers: The first one is simply a historical answer, and the second is has a message behind it.
The first answer is that, this paragraph of ha lachma anya was, historically speaking, actually said before the seder. It was actually said earlier on, probably early morning on the day before the seder. It wasn't said in one's house, but it was announced, in the middle of the streets. This also explains why it was said in Aramaic. When the hagada was first put together, it was when the Jewish nation was still speaking Aramaic as the vernacular language. That was the language people spoke. So we go out in the streets, and we actually invite people to partake in our meals that night, and we say it in a language that everyone understands. The problem with this answer is, so why do we continue doing this?? It makes sense why they did this over two thousand years ago. But, for us??? If we aren't going to say it before the seder, so don't say it at all. Why do we say it during the seder if it is meaningless?
So to answer this, we will offer a second answer. The truth of the matter is that we are NOT inviting anyone to come eat by us. The invitation isn't a real invitation. When we were slaves, we didn't own anything. We were owned. We didn't have a house. We never could invite guests. Now, to celebrate our freedom, we get up and shout, "We're free! We can invite whomever we want! Please, come and eat by us." We don't recite the ha lachma anya to invite people - we recite it to celebrate our freedom. We celebrate the fact that wecan invite people. It is supposed to be a liberating feeling, to be able to invite people to come eat by us - something that we couldn't have done while we were slaves in Egypt.
So why say it in Aramaic? Emet Le'yaakov offers the following answer. There is a concept in Judaism that our prayers don't always go directly to Hashem. Sometimes, they go to the angels (mal'achei hasharet), who in turn present it to Hashem. Meaning, the angels take our prayers and present them to Hashem. Here's the problem -- angels don't understand Aramaic, or any other language for that matter. They only understand lashon hakodesh - Hebrew. So if you want your prayers to go up to Hashem, you should be praying in Hebrew. [Note: I'm not exactly sure that this means you shouldn't pray at all if you can't pray in Hebrew. If you can't say something in lashon hakodesh, then it's definitely better to pray in English than not to pray at all.]
However, there is a story brought down in the gemara in which a Rabbi went to visit a sick person, and he started praying in Aramaic. The gemara questions him, and the gemara explains that when there is a sick person, you can pray in any language, because Hashem is there, Himself, and the prayers don't go through any intermediary. And Hashem understands all languages, so you can pray in front of Him in any language. [If I'm not mistaken, Hashem is also there himself when praying as part of a minyan, so you would be able to pray personal prayers in English if part of a minyan. But you should ask your Rabbi about this concept. I may just be completely wrong.] So, we see that sometimes, if Hashem is there Himself, you can speak in a foreign language.
The Zohar writes that on the night of Pesach, Hashem comes down Himself to hear His children speaking about the exodus from Egypt. It is so dear to Him that He is there Himself, without any intermediary angels.
And it is for this reason that we start the hagada off in Aramaic. We want to let everyone know - "Hey guys, we can speak in any language....Hashem is here, and He knows what we're saying....we don't need to make an effort and speak in lashon hakodesh.....He's with us Himself..."
Are you ready to be in Hashem's presence tonight? Come prepared. You know He will, so it's only right.
Chag Same'ach!
It's good to be back!
And enjoy the matzah!
Sincerely,
Adam Sabevari
