Haggadah – Testimony
An explanation as to the use of the word Haggadah is offered by Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (cited in Haggadat Leil Shel Achdut, Rav Aharon Goldscheider). The Torah itself uses the term Haggadah with respect to the requirement to transmit to our children the historical events surrounding the Exodus from Egypt, as is stated: “v’higadetah l’vinchah”. Rav Soloveitchik suggests that perhaps it is related to another area in the Torah where a similar term is used – haggadat eidut (testifying).
What is haggadat eidut? It is when I recount something that I witnessed or experienced. When a person provides testimony in court, it is based on his personal experience, and not on hearsay. Haggadah means I saw it, I felt it, I witnessed it! On this night we are to feel as if we participated in the Exodus - b’chol dor v’dor, chayav adam lirot et atzmo, k’ilu hu yatzah miMitzrayim. We have to feel as if we’ve gone free. That is what we are to experience at the Seder. We should be transmitting the story as if we experienced it first-hand, similar to the requirement of haggadah eidut, requiring the provision of eyewitness testimony.
Sippur – Inscription
There’s another word, another element, we can focus on as well. In the Haggadah the term l’sapper is used in connection with the transmission of the story of the Exodus. Those who expound upon telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt are praiseworthy. Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik suggests that there is a special meaning to this word as well. Sippur is derived from the words sofer, and sefer. What does a scribe do? He writes on a parchment, on a klaf, something that’s meant to last. Whenever we’re mesaper, we’re sofrim, we’re scribes, and we’re writing it into the hearts of all who will be attending our Seder.
When a sofer writes a sefer, he creates something that has permanence, something that will serve future generations, even beyond the time that the mesaper, or sofer is physically present. At the Seder, every parent and grandparent, is creating a sefer by being mesaper (transmitting the story). Each of us is a scribe. We are engraving the messages of tradition on the hearts and in the minds of each child. If we can succeed in telling our story through the Haggadah – feeling as if we experienced it, we can be that sofer, that scribe, that will create something that will last for generations. Moshe was called the Great Scribe, because he inscribed the Torah on the hearts of all of Am Yisrael.
May we be able to properly comprehend the significance of the evening, share insightful thoughts, and successfully transmit the tradition so that we can engrave a love and appreciation of Torah into the hearts of our children.
