Shabbat Hagadol Drasha 5780 Celebrating Freedom in Bitter Times

This marror [bitter greens] that we are eating, for the sake of what [is it]? For the sake [to commemorate] that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors in Egypt, as it is stated (Exodus 1:14); "And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; in all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor."

Marror

All present should take a kazayit of marror, dip into the haroset, shake off the haroset, make the blessing and eat without reclining.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us on the eating of marror.

Wrap

All present should take a kazayit from the third whole matsa with a kazayit of marror, wrap them together and eat them while reclining and without saying a blessing. Before he eats it, he should say:

In memory of the Temple according to Hillel. This is what Hillel would do when the Temple existed:

He would wrap the matsa and marror and eat them together, in order to fulfill what is stated, (Exodus 12:15): "You should eat it upon matsot and marrorim."

(8) They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. (14) This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. (15) Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

(12) The eating of bitter herbs is not a commandment from the Torah on its own, but is rather dependent upon the eating of the Passover sacrifice. For it is a commandment to eat the meat of the Passover sacrifice over matsa and bitter herbs. And it is from the words of the Scribes (rabbinic) to eat bitter herbs by itself on this night, even [when] the Passover sacrifice is not there.

(3) ומצות על מרורים, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The plain meaning of the verse seems to be that the roasting of the lamb whole is a symbol of freedom. Freedom means wholeness. The requirement to eat bitter herbs with it is natural; Egyptians used to eat roast meat with something pungent as this enhanced the taste of the meat and enabled the person who ate it to thoroughly enjoy his meal. Letting the bitter herbs precede the meat in his mouth made one more conscious of the contrast and of how something which by itself had tasted bitter would suddenly transform the whole meal into an enjoyable experience. The unleavened bread also contributed to that feeling. We therefore find that there were three components which combined to make the meal enjoyable.

(4) These three components symbolised three things. 1) The exile which had embittered the Israelites' lives; 2) The suddenness of the Exodus so that even their dough did not have time enough to rise. 3) The fact that G'd "passed over" the houses of the Israelites which was a major element of the redemption. This "leap-frogging" severed Israel's previous dependence on the Egyptians which had appeared as incapable of separation. I have explained the nature of the good being inextricably intertwined with the evil in my commentary on Exodus 11,5. Redemption meant the tearing asunder of these bonds between good and evil. These three phenomena had to be experienced simultaneously otherwise the whole redemption would not have been possible. If a single element had been lacking the other two would not even have been miraculous at all by themselves. Without the exile experience no other refining process could have been effective and could have borne fruit.

(5) Anyone who has not said these three things on the night of the fifteenth has not fulfilled his obligation, and these are them: The Passover sacrifice; matsa; and marror. The Passover sacrifice for the sake of (to commemorate) that the Omnipresent passed over the homes of our ancestors in Egypt; as it is stated (Exodus 12:27), "And you shall say, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, etc.'" Bitter herbs [to commemorate] that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors in Egypt. Matsa [to commemorate] that they were delivered. And these thing are called Haggadah (Recounting).

(4) And he brings the table back in front of him and says, "This Passover sacrifice that we are eating is for the sake of (to commemorate) that the Omnipresent passed over the homes of our ancestors in Egypt; as it is stated (Exodus 12:27), 'And you shall say, '"It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, etc."'" And [then] he lifts the bitter herbs in his hand and says, "These bitter herbs that we are eating are [to commemorate] that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors in Egypt; as it is stated (Exodus 1:14), 'And they embittered their lives.'" And [then] he lifts the matsa in his hand and says, "This matsa that we are eating is [to commemorate] that the dough of our ancestors did not have enough time to become leavened before the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself and redeemed them immediately; as it is stated (Exodus 12:39), 'And they baked the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, etc.'" And at this time, he says, "The Passover sacrifice that our ancestors were eating at the time when the Temple existed is [to commemorate] that the Omnipresent passed over the homes of our ancestors, etc."