By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
When klal Yisrael sits down to Pesach Seder #3,338 next week, we will add one more link to a long chain—a chain stretching back to the night we sat dressed and ready to leave, thanking Hashem for His enormous kindness in ending our slavery and sparing us from the plague of death outside our doors. The next morning, we marched out of Egypt as free men, with our heads held high.
Since then, Jews have always made a Seder, no matter where on the globe we were dispersed, and no matter what circumstances we found ourselves in. On Pesach night, we connect with a three-thousand-year chain.
One of the main functions of this annual event is to transmit emunah to the next generation, to let them know what an awesome mesorah we have. How passionately we must do so! At the bris bein habesarim, Avraham Avinu was told that the nation that enslave his descendants will be punished. Chazal teach that after Mitzrayim, all future kingdoms that enslave us will meet their punishment, too. So we sing Vehi Sheamda with enthusiasm, to remember that enemies rise against us to destroy us, but the promise made to Avraham has stood by us in every generation. Yetzias Mitzrayim was akin to a wedding, with Hashem sanctifying us to be forever His. He has never deserted us, and we have miraculously survived, a lamb surrounded by seventy wolves.
Although we are experiencing a rise in antisemitism, our children feel generally safe in their homes, in our shuls and schools. But with that security comes the danger of distraction. We must inculcate in ourselves and them an incomparable pride in being a member of the chosen nation—a nation that has made extraordinary sacrifices, given its life again and again al kiddush Hashem, and continues to serve Hashem and learn His Torah despite everything.
How do we do this? The Haggadah instructs us to tell the wise son k’hilchos hapesach—ein maftirin achar Pesach afikomen. The simple meaning is that we should teach him all of the laws, down to the last: that we may not eat anything after the afikomen.
But perhaps we can offer an additional explanation. The Haggadah literally says k’hilchos hapesach, like the laws of the Pesach. Just as the taste of the Pesach must linger in our mouths as long as possible, so must we give over the laws and meaning of the Seder. We must express such fervor that the memory will stay with our children until the next Seder, haba aleinu l’tova.
