************************************************************* THE TANACH STUDY CENTER/ In Memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag [http://www.virtual.co.il/torah/tanach/] ************************************************************* FOR SHABBAT HA'GADOL / THE HAGGADA QUESTIONS FOR SELF STUDY PART I - THE OUTLINE OF MAGID MAGID - telling over the story of the Yetziat Mitzraim (the Exodus) - is one of the primary mitzvot of the Seder. The following questions will help you better understand how we fulfill this mitzvah when reading the Haggada. 1. Take a Haggada and open to the MAGID section. Take out a piece of paper and write a one line summary for each paragraph. Continue your list until you reach HALLEL (the end of MAGID). [Note that we are using the same methodology which we use when learning Chumash.] 2. Now take you list and turn it into an outline. For example, the five paragraphs which describe the 'four sons' could be grouped together, so too Raban Gamliel's statement concerning PESACH, MATZA, & MAROR. Re-work your outline several times, attempting to organize it into main topics and subtopics. When you are finished, make sure that you can follow the flow from one topic to the next. 3. [For 'extra credit'.] See the Ramban's "nusach" (text) for MAGID, found in Sefer Zmanim at the very end of Hilchot Chametz u'Matzah. Using your outline, compare it to the "nusach" in your Haggada. Based on your outline, what sections did Rambam not include? Can you suggest a reason why? In you opinion, are the sections which Rambam leaves out an integral part of MAGID or 'add ons'? Explain. --------------- PART II - AVADIM HA'YINU... Using your outline, answer the following questions. [Should some of these questions cause you to 'change' your outline, feel free to do so.] 1. "ha lachma anya.." - Would you consider this an integral part of MAGID, an introduction, or a preface? Explain why? What is difficult about this paragraph? [What is the reason it gives for our eating MATZA? Is this the same reason that the Torah gives?] 2. Where in MAGID do we actually tell the story of the Exodus ["sipur Yetziat Mitzraim"] in its entirety? What does the Haggada 'use' to tell this story? 3. What topics does MAGID discuss before it tells the story of Yetziat Mitzraim? Does this section discuss: A. WHO is obligated to tell the story? B. WHEN we are obligated to tell the story? C. HOW we are to tell the story If so, where and how does MAGID answer these questions. [Relate your answer to the questions sent out concerning the 'four sons'.] 4. Is "AVADIM HA'YINU" really an answer to the "MA NISHTANA"? Does the text of "AVADIM HA'YINU" come from a pasuk? If so, where is that pasuk and what is its context? Now, see Devarim 6:20-25. What question in Chumash does AVADIM HA'YINU answer? Does it relate to - WHAT are the mitzvot, or to - WHY must we keep them? Relate this to the paragraph which begins with AVADIM HA'YINU in the Haggada. Based on 6:20-21, why do you think the MA NISHTANA comes before AVADIM HA'YINU? 5. WHY (according to Chumash) are we still obligated to thank God for Yetziat Mitzraim - an event which took place over 3500 years ago? How does this relate to the theme of the Haggada? 6. From what specific pasuk do CHAZAL learn that we are obligated to tell the story of Yetziat Mitzraim? How does this pasuk relate to the name "MAGID". [Review Shmot 13:1-10 to find your answer.] Where and how does the Haggada relate to this pasuk? PART III - BRIT AVOT & MAGID 1. In what manner does "brit avot" (God's covenant with the forefathers) relate to the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim. What specific "brit" relates directly to this event? Is this "brit" mentioned in MAGID? If so, where is it mentioned, and why there? [If you haven't done so yet, review Breishit 15:1-20!] [Relate as well to Breishit 17:1-10.] 2. Would you consider the paragraph "m'tchila ovdei avada zara ha'yu avoteinu..." an actual PART of the story, or only prophetic BACKGROUND to the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Explain your answer. [Be sure to see the context of these psukim in Yehoshua chapter 24 (review from 24:1-10), and attempt to determine why specifically these psukim were chosen for the Haggadah, and not the psukim which continue.] Relate your answer the two paragraphs which follow in the Haggada -i.e. "Baruch shomer havtachato" & "v'hi sh'amda". Again, would you consider these next two paragraphs part of the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, or background to it? 3. If God promised Avraham Avinu in Brit Bein Ha'btarim that Bnei Yisrael would be enslaved and then later saved from that slavery, why should we thank God for saving us from a situation into which He Himself placed us in? Answer this question based on your understanding of BRIT AVOT. [Was there a divine purpose for Bnei Yisrael's enslavement in Egypt? If so, how does this relate to our thanking God for Yetziat Mitzraim and the mitzvah of MAGID? What is the larger historic context of this event?] Relate your answer to the machloket between Ibn Ezra and Ramban on the meaning of "ba'avur ZEH"..." (on Shmot 13:8). 4. What does the word "HI" the paragraph of "v'HI sh'amda..." refer to? How does this paragraph relate to BRIT BEIN HA'BTARIM? How does this relate to your answer to question #3. PART IV - MIKRA BIKURIM & MAGID 1. How does the mitzvah of MIKRA BIKURIM (Devarim 26:1-8) relate to the mitzvah of MAGID. [Where do we relate to it in the Haggada?] How does Devarim 26:1 relate to BRIT BEIN HA'BTARIM? [Note the use of the word "yerusha" in both. Note also God's promise of the Land - Br. 15:18] Compare also Br. 15:13-14 with Devarim 26:5-9. Relate also to verb "h'gadti" (Dv.26:3) to Shmot 13:8! Relate all of this to Mishnayot Psachim 10:4 - "v'doresh m'arami oved avi..." How do we fulfill this in our Haggada? Note also Rambam in Hilchot Chametz U'matza 7:4! 2. Based on your answers to questions 3-5, in what section of MAGID do we actually fulfill the mitzvah of "sipur Yetziat Mitzraim"? [Do most people pay attention to this part of the Haggada? Should they?] 3. How does the Haggada introduce the topic of the Ten Plagues (i.e. how does it flow from "arami oved avi..")? In your opinion, are the 'multiplication tables' [i.e. the plagues x4, x5, x10 etc.] an integral part of the story or an 'add on'? [What is Rambam's opinion / see Question I:3.] 4. Should DAYEYNU also be considered an 'add on'? If we have completed telling the story of Yetziat Mitzraim, what is DAYEYNU coming to add? Is it a "sipur" (story) or "shvach" (praise)? How does it relate to the recitation of Hallel at the conclusion of MAGID? What does DAYEYNU imply? Do we really mean the it would have been enough for Am Yisrael had we only been taken out of Egypt and not received the Torah or the Land of Israel?! [In other words, WHAT would have been enough, or what it would have been enough for?] Use your answer to explain its continuation to "al achat kama v'kama" (the "kal v'chomer"... ). 5. In regard to Raban Gamliel's statement, WHICH obligation is not fulfilled unless we mention "pesach matza u'maror": the obligation of "sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim"? the obligation of "korban pesach"? the obligation of "achilat matza"? Explain your answer. 6. Why is Hallel recited only at the very conclusion of MAGID? Why do we recite only the first two paragraphs of Hallel now, and save the remaining paragraphs of Hallel for after the meal? PART V - GENERAL 1. Based on your outline and your answers to the above questions, what would you say is the primary purpose of the mitzvah of MAGID? How does it relate to the connection between God's choice that we become His nation and our history? How does this answer the basic question concerning why WE must give thanks today for events which took place over three thousand years ago?! 2. What would you say is the difference between the daily mitzvah of "zchirat Yetziat Mitzraim" (REMEMBERING the Exodus/ fulfilled when we read the third parsha of kriyat shma) and the special mitzvah on the Seder night of "sipur Yeztiat Mitzraim" (TELLING THE STORY of the Exodus)? 3. What is the importance of passing on a tradition from one generation to the next? How does the mitzvah of MAGID help accomplish this goal? How does this explain the involvement of children in the Seder, and special mitzvot such as MATZA and MAROR etc.? 4. Could Korban Pesach and the mitzvot of the Seder night be considered a yearly commemoration not only of Yetziat Mitzraim, but also a yearly reminder of God's promise and our commitment to BRIT BEIN HA'BTARIM? Explain your answer! PART VI - THE FOUR SONS & SHMOT PEREK 12->13 QUESTIONS FOR PREPARATION 1. Read the section in the Hagada concerning the four sons. ["kneged arba banim dibra Torah..."] The Hagada is quoting the Midrash [Mchiltah]. Try to explain the opening statement: "kneged arba..." What assumption is the Midrash making? Be precise! 2. Next, look up the source in Chumash for each of these four questions. [See Shmot 12:26-27, 13:8, 13:14-15 & Devarim 6:20- 21.] Do the answers to these questions in the Hagada match the answers given in the Torah? Did you ever notice this before? [If not, why?] Do you have a simple explanation why the answers are different. 3. Now, scan prakim 12->13 in Shmot. As usual, chart out the main topic of each "parshia". Next, reread the questions (quoted above) and, based on their context, define more precisely what each question (and answer) is relating to. Do you find three questions concerning the same topic or do you find three different topics? If so, explain what those topics are. 4. Now read Devarim 6:1-25. What is the context of the question in 6:20? What is the answer? 5. Based on the above questions, is the Midrash which we quote in the Hagada explaining "pshat" in Chumash why there are four types of questions? Why according to pshat DO we find four DIFFERENT questions? Why according to the Midrash? 6. What do you think the Midrash is coming to teach us? Why do you think this message is so important for the Seder night that Chazal decided to include this Midrash in the Hagada? [Note: Last year's shiurim on these topics can be found on the TSC WEB site home page http://www.virtual.co.il/torah/tanach This week, we plan to send out a revised version of some of those shiurim to the tsc-all list. b'hatzlacha menachem