Parshas Tzav (Shabbos HaGadol) - Chag HaPesach 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי ממצרים ... (שמות יג-ח)
One of the mitzvos on Pesach night is that of "והגדת לבנך", to tell over the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim to our children. It is interesting that we do not find a similar mitzvah on Sukkos, for example, to tell our children about the Ananei HaKavod or the huts Hashem housed us in the desert, or about Matan Torah on Shavuos. What is unique about the Seder night that specifically then we are told to speak about the miracles of the Exodus to our children?
The Mishnah in ערבי פסחים opens with the halacha that one may not eat a meal Erev Pesach starting from around Mincha time. Rashi explains that this is so that one should be hungry later and eat his matzah with an appetite, which is a form of hiddur mitzvah, of beautifying the mitzvah. However, asks R’ Asher Dovid May shlita, in what way does this constitute a hiddur mitzvah? How does eating matzah with an appetite “beautify” the mitzvah?
Perhaps we may explain based on the Sefas Emes (Shabbos 133b), who writes a big chiddush, that performing a mitzvah in a way that shows chavivus and love for the mitzvah is also a form of hiddur. Thus, it is well understood why eating matzah with gusto is a hiddur, as it shows his chavivus and geshmak in the mitzvah.
There is another thing we do at the Seder to show our chavivus for mitzvos, and that is to point at the matzah when we say "מצה זו שאנו אוכלים"(See Mishnah Berurah). R’ Nosson Gestetner zt”l (Lehoros Nosson) explains that we do these things because it says that when the Yidden left Mitzrayim, they did not load their matzah on donkeys but rather carried it themselves on their shoulders out of their chavivus for it. Therefore, to commemorate this, we, do things on this night demonstrating our own chavivus for the mitzvos.
This is why on the night of Pesach, there is a mitzvah to tell children about Yetzias Mitzrayim. Chinuch can only occur when the parents themselves are passionate and feel a geshmak and chavivus for the mitzvah they are trying to impart. Thus, it is specifically at the Pesach Seder, when our feelings of love and chavivus for the mitzvos are at their peak, that such chinuch can occur. Chag kosher vesameach!