The Simanim of the Seder
The Simanim of the Seder is not just a mere menu of the night's special order of events. Over the centuries explanation have been written about it with all four levels of understanding pshat, derush, remez, and sod. We suggest the following interpretation. If one takes the gematriah of the acronym of the Simanim רורמ הצמ איצומ הצחר דיגמ ץחי ספרכ ץחרו שדק כורך שולחן צפון ברך הלל they add up to the first word in the Torah תישארב. The letter nun which is gematriah 50 in the last Siman הצרנ symbolizes Mitzrayim since they had 50 levels of tumah and מצרים is mentioned 50 times in the Torah. What comes out of this chiddush is that right from the beginning with the word בראשית we already have hinted the leaving from Galus Mitzrayim and the night of the Seder.
Further proof to this concept we found in the sefer טע 'ע בקעי תלחנ . He brings the Ari who explains the passuk תלתלים שחורות כעורב as follows. She has black curls like a raven. When in katnus mochin – non clarity, then the ten sefiros of the middos are the name אלקים . Ten times the gematriah of אלקים86 equals תלתל plus its fifty letters equals םי and it is dark like the עורב which hints to dinim which caused galus mitzrayim, for the name of הויה was not used. This תלתלים is hinted in the passuk הנש םישלשו תואמ 'ד לארשי ינב בשומו twice 430 לת לת since the number 430 is mentioned twice one right after each other (40,41) plus 50 for the ים equals 910 and ראשית and with the two words םילת לת equals בראשית . So we see that Yetzias and galus Mitzrayim is already hinted in the first word of the Torah. The Torah continues והאר התיה ץ תהו ובהו וחושך על פני תה םירצמב םשרושש תויולג 'ד םהש םו
Chazal (see Rashi on the word תישארב) write that ראשית the first is referring to Yisrael and Torah which were the first intention of Hashem for creating the world. In fact the letters of בראשית allude to two words ברא שית which can be interpreted to mean Hashem created the sixth (day) hinting to the sixth day of Sivan the day Hashem gave the Torah to Am Yisrael. The Torah is also called the letters of בראשית – שא תירב. However in order to receive the Torah Yisrael had to be a proper vessel which they achieved in their bondage to Mitzrayim. This condition Chazal relay to us at the beginning of Medrash Shmos that there are three things that are acquired only through suffering, Torah, Eretz Yisrael and Olam Habah. When one looks closer to the letters in the word בראשית he can find an allusion to all three things that require pain and subjugation to Hashem in order to acquire them. The acronym of the letters תאיש spell תורה ארץ ישראל ש רכ the world of reward.
Mitzrayim served Yisrael as a כור הברזל which like an iron furnace refined them from their impurities. When that time came the passuk alludes to עת הזמיר הגיע the time of cutting them off from Mitzrayim has come and they will no longer remain as an embryo in the mother's womb (Mitzrayim). The gematriah of תע equals כור הברזל.
So this is the reason why we find that the Simanim of the Seder which convey the geulah from Mitzrayim add up to בראשית , and Mitzrayim is hinted in the letter nun. It is to convey the purpose of creation which is for Yisrael to receive Hashem's Torah after they undergo bondage in Mitzrayim to subjugate their bodies to their masters which was all in preparation to subjugate their bodies to Hashem as a nation at Matan Torah.
Simanim and the Kuzari's Question
Another interpretation why the Simanim of the Seder is based on the question of the Kuzari. He asks why does the first dibbur say I am Hashem Elokecha which took you out of Mitzrayim and not I am Hashem Your Elokechah who created the heavens and the earth which seems like a greater achievement? The answer given is because the redemption from Mitzrayim created a personal relationship with Am Yisrael in contrast to the creation of the world which includes all of mankind.
We suggest another answer and that is the Ten Maakos demonstrate to us that Hashem created the world. The Chidushei Harim has told us that the Ten Maakos correspond to the Ten Maamaros, Sayings, by which Hashem created the.מעשה בראשית Each makka paralleled one of the Ten Sayings. No human was alive at the time of creation, in contrast to the Ten Maakos when all of Am Yisrael were present and saw Mitzrayim plagued with them.
This is why the Simanim of the Seder are hinted in the word בראשית for the geulah from Mitzrayim at the night of the Seder together with the obligation to relate to all our generations at this night the galus and the geulah, fosters our emunah of Hashem's sole role in the creation of השעמ תישארב.
The Number of Simanim and Their Symbolism
Another reason why there are 15 Simanim. The Zohar refers to matzah as a כלה who is preserved and שמורה watched for her husband הקב"ה. In Nachlas Yaakov he writes that the gematriah of מצות with its inner letters מ"מ צד"י וי"ו תי"ו add up to השאו שיא. In fact the Vilna Gaon counts עבש ברכות that are recited before revealing and having a union with the כלה the "matzah". Therefore the Yerushalmi says that if one eats matzah Erev Pesach it is tantamount to having relations with the kallah, because Sheva Berachos were not yet said.
From all of the above we see that the night of the Seder is a like a marriage between Yisrael and Hashem. We venture to say that the yichud between the Chassan and Kallah takes place when after the Sheva Brachos we eat the matzah. As we mentioned Hashem sends us an intimate part of Himself a nefesh elyon in the form of a matzah. This is when we can be deeply attached to our chassan.
That is why that there are 15 Simanim because this number is gematriah 15 for a שיא and אשה share the same letters except the man has the letter yud and the woman has the letter ה and this is the reason why the first Siman קדש is symbolizing Kiddushin.
The Maharal in his Haggadah learns that there are only 14 Simamin in that הלל נרצה are counted as one. Since there is no fulfillment of a mitzvah in Nirtza it serves as a pairush on the Siman הלל before it. The Hallel that was recited in Maggid is there because it deals with Yetzias Mitzrayim. However the portion of Hallel we read after Birkas Hamazon is all about the future and the coming of the last geulah of Acharis Hayamim. We desire that this Hallel should be wanting נרצה before Hashem just like the first Hallel when Hashem redeemed us from Mitzrayim. Therefore, the 14 Simanim of the Seder correspond to the יד החזקה = 14 with which Hashem redeemed us then.
Even with the Maharal's opinion that there are 14 Simanim we can say that they correspond to the 14th day of Nissan. What happened on the 14th day of Nissan? The Yidden shected the Korban Pesach. To perform such an act of sacrifice in the face of the Egyptians, was an act of suicide.
In the eyes of Chazal by doing so they already left any remaining hold that the Mitzriyim had on them.
This is seen from the Chazal in the parsha of tzitzis where Rashi brings that the eight strings of the tzitzis correspond to the 8 days Yisrael left Mitzrayim and they came to Yam Suf. The meforshim ask the obvious question that from the morning of the 15th to Yam Suf the seventh day of Pesach, there are only seven days. So where does the eight string of tzizis come from?
The answer that is given is that in truth they left Mitzrayim, meaning the dominion of Mitzrayim over them the day when they shected the Korban Pesach on the 14th of Nissan Erev Pesach. This is the eight days which Chazal mean that it took from Yetzias Mitzrayim to get to Yam Suf.
Why did the Baal Haggadah make 14 Simanim? To let us know that on the 14th of Nissan they already were redeemed and deemed בני חורין from being an eved to Pharaoh and Mitzrayim.
The Concept of Dayeinu and True Satisfaction
Another interpretation we can suggest is based on the passuk והריקותי יד ילב דע הכרב םכל and the Chazal comment (Taanis 22b) ולביש דע שפתותיכם מלומר די until your mouths wither from saying "enough". In the Yerushalmi Berachos 68 the lashon is דיינו . The question is that on the other hand Chazal tell us יש לו מנה רוצה מאתים that if a person has a hundred he desires two hundred, meaning he is not satisfied and doesn't say enough? The Beair Mayim Chayim in Lech Lecha explains the following pshat
לכה יכ ותבוטב חמשו ששו םולכ ול רסח וðה שמח בחלקו מאוד ואיðעוד חילוק יש, כי הצדיק, בטובות שיש לו ה יש לו, וכמו שאמר דוד הז יכ םולכ םירסח םðהמלך ע"ה )תהלים ל"ד, י'( כי אין מחסור ליראיו, כלומר יראיו אי תיתימא הכרבה איה וזו ,הזה םלוע יðיðו אץ להשיג עוד מקðהטובה שיש לו הוא אצלו די ויותר ושמח בזה ואי תעטף בברכה זו להיות שבע ושש ðמאת הבורא יתעלה שכאשר שולח ברכתו לאדם אשר על הארץ במה שהגיע גאודו הבאת ושפðלו ולא יחפוץ עוד יותר ויותר. כי אם יחפוץ עוד, הלא אין ברכתו שלימה כי חסר הוא מכל, ו יד ילב דע הכרב םכל יתוקירהו ('י ,'ג יכאלמ) בותכה רמא ןכ לעו ,וז איה הבוט המו דוע אוצמלו דוע חיורהל ית ט'.( עד שיבלו שפתותיכם מלומר דðואמרו חז"ל )תעי כי זה הוא עיקר הברכה שמתברך האדם שיספיק בטובה ןתא הכרבה רקיע תאז רמולכ יד ילב דע הכרב םכל יתוקירהו רמא הזלו ,דוע גישהל ץאו ףדור היהי אלו ול עיגמה ,רתויו יד אוה יכ רמאי ול אצמי רשא לכבו יד רמולמ םכיתותפש ולביש יתכרבב םכברקב
That the beracha that Hashem is giving you includes that you will say enough and you won't seek to have more.
However, that is a madraiga of an עבד ה' upon which Chazal say המ שקנה עבד קנה רבו what ever a eved owns, finds, etc. belongs to his master. This madraiga is hinted in this passuk עד בלי די the acronym being עבד . This hints that an eved Hashem doesn't need the beracha with the shefah from Hashem since being an eved already, he is holding by saying די. At the night of the Seder when we feel the experience anew of leaving Mitzrayim we feel anew םירצמ ץראמ ךיתאצוה רשא ךיקלא 'ה יכנא and that we are עבדים to Hashem and whatever we have and received we will say ונייד. In fact the Baal Haggadah has a דיינו with fifteen stanzas. This is the reason why the Baal Haggadah made 14 gematriah די for the Seder, so that by the time we finish the Haggadah we should feel so much hakaras tov being an eved to Hashem that we can also feel the madraiga of עד בלי די with the acronym of עבד .
