The Seder Night

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The Mishnah Berura writes at the end of siman 218 in Ohr HaChaim , in the name of the Acharonim , that if a person had some type of miracle performed for him, he should set aside money according to his means and give it to Torah scholars and say, “May it be the will of Hashem that this takes the place of the Korban Toda that I owe.” It is also proper for the person to do something on behalf of the community and every year, on the anniversary of the miracle, he should privately thank Hashem and then, with joy, relate the miracle to others. The Mishnah Berura writes elsewhere that if he makes a seudah to celebrate the miracle and say words of thanks and praise to Hashem, it's considered a seudat mitzvah . None of this is obligatory. It's a suggestion of how Hashem would want a person to express his gratitude to Him. Tonight at the Seder, Hashem told us exactly what He wants us to do to give Him hakarat hatov for the wonders and miracles that He performed for us in taking us out of Mitzrayim . He wants us to spend this night telling over everything that He did then. He wants us to feel so much gratitude that the praises are freely flowing from our mouths. The Zohar HaKadosh writes about this night, that if a person is truly happy to say over the Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim , he will be invited to rejoice with the Shechina HaKedosha in Olam HaBa . Someone who is happy doing this mitzvah is considered a person who is happy with Hashem and merits that Hashem personally comes to help him. Hashem takes so much delight in hearing us relate this story. So many mitzvot that we have are all just a zecher l’Yetziyat Mitzrayim . Tonight we have the mitzvah of actually being מספר יציאת מצרים . Hashem gets so excited, kavayachol. It says that He gathers all of the angels together and He tells them, go listen to the words that His children are saying about Him. The Zohar mentions the word joy over and over in just a few lines. All of the segulot come to a person if he does this mitzvah with joy. We should feel as if there are angels surrounding our tables who were sent to listen to every word we say. They were sent by Hashem who is taking so much delight in everything we say. When the angels hear about our praises, they go back up to Hashem and thank and praise Him for the miracles He did for us. And this gives Hashem, kavayachol , so much strength. The Pirkeh d’Rebbi Eliezer writes that the night of the Seder was sanctified by Hashem during the six days of Creation. It was on this night that Yitzhak Avinu called to Esav to give him the berachot . He said, “My son, on this night the entire Jewish world will say Hallel. The storehouses of blessing are open. Prepare for me the food that I like so that I can bless you on this holy night.” Then Rivka called to Yaakov and she said to him, “Tonight the storehouses of blessing are open. The angels in heaven are singing to Hashem on this night. Hashem is going to redeem His children in the future from slavery. Go prepare tasty foods for your father so that he could bless you.” The night of the Seder is compared to Yom Kippur. There is so much joy in Heaven, especially when we say the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim with joy. It's a night of miracles. The Mishnah says, after we pour the second cup of wine, “ כאן הבן שואל ” - here is where the child is supposed to ask. The Bet Aharon said, besides for the simple meaning here of a child asking his father the Ma Nishtanah , it is also hinting to us, the children of Hashem, that we have an opportune time to ask from our Father as well. Let us utilize it to ask our Father on this night to redeem us and bring an end to this long galut . May we be zocheh to fulfill all of the mitzvot of the night the way Hashem wants us to and bring so much joy to the heavens and arouse our Father to bring the Geulah Shelema . Amen. Chag kasher v'sameach .