Up Next: Passover

A dvar torah?! From this sewer mouth? Any Jewish readers that I haven't managed to isolate yet? I learn in yeshiva, spend Shabbos in yeshiva, clean for Pesach, wear tefillin (though I do unfortunately miss when I get very busy or am running late in the morning), daven, sometimes with minyan. You're laughing. My point is, when you ask, "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?" You never know who might stand up - every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin, haha, Guess there's a Slim Shady in all of us. Fvck it, let's all stand up. (Em)

But no, you say. My [son, daughter, sister, brother, father, mother, friend] isn't like that. By us frum yidden everyone is an angel. Things are different in our community (how do you draw that emoticon for :snort: ?). We aren't like those filthy goyim. Please! Can't we treat all people like people?

The Haggada has a hava amina, yachol meirosh chodesh. Why? We ask the 4 questions about food. Why? We blunt the teeth of the wicked son. Why? We tell the wise son about the law of not eating after the afikoman. Why?

Why did the five scholars remain up until their disciples reminded them to pray the morning shema? Did the disciples not want to remain awake discussing the tales of the Exodus with their masters? What is the meaning of kol hamarbeh lesaper sipur yetzias mitzrayim harey zeh meshubach?

Rosh Chodesh is proclaimed by the av beit hadin (or av beis din, just practicing my accents) and then everyone answers after him mekudash mekudash. Why?

All answer after him because rosh chodesh isn't something that is declared in heaven (shomayim). It is decreed by people, and each person must decree it for himself. Yachol meirosh chodesh, from the time of personal control over time, that we begin to feel the freedom of individual control and redemption from slavery.

The four questions pertain to what and how we eat on seder night because food gives each person a unique enjoyment. Al taam varei'ach ain lehitvakei'ach (lehisss'vakei'ach for the snakes and yeshivish people. Ow sorry that was wrong. I really like you, just like the 't' sound better in this phrase). This uniqueness in our sense of freedom is paramount to the night's special quality.

It doesn't say the action of marbeh lesaper is meshubach, but hamarbeh lesaper is himself a meshubach. The scholars' disciples would have loved to spend the night with their masters, but they didn't feel it. Only one who is on an exalted plane will be able to feel his personal yetzias mitzrayim.

The wicked son who generalizes all the stuff you do doesn't understand the significance of an individualized sense of freedom that each person can experience his way. So we blunt his teeth, the key to enjoyment of food. Anyone can get generic nutrition from a liquid diet, but the flavors and textures of food are released by the teeth. This quality the wicked son lacks.

The wise son, who appreciates the distinction between eidot, chukim, and mishpatim is reminded to savor the unique flavor of the afikoman and enjoy his personal sense of freedom from Egyptian bondage.

The message of seder night, isarusa dele'eyla, is without overly corrupting the Rabbi's message, that we should enjoy the special gifts Hashem has given to each of us and not look with envy at what our neighbor has. Appreciate that God took each and every one of us out of slavery in Egypt. It isn't just a yetzias mitzrayim for the klal, but a yetzias mitzrayim for the prat, for the yachid. I was a slave. He led me to freedom. He didn't just sign the Emancipation Proclamation, he signed my get shichrur. Nobody else can appreciate what I went through in captivity, so no one can truly share in my bliss upon release. But I thank you, God.