Rabban Gamliel used to say: Whoever has not explained the three symbols of Passover at the Seder has not fulfilled their obligations. And they are: the Pesach offering, the Matzah and the Maror.
🌀 Point to the Pesach/Zeroa (the Shankbone) or the Beet and ask:
What is the meaning of this bloody-like Shankbone/Beet?
פֶּסַח שֶׁהָיוּ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְאִמוֹתֵינוּ אוֹכְלִין בִּזְמַן שֶׁבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הָיָה קַיָּם עַל שׁוּם מָה? עַל שׁוּם שֶׁפָּסַח הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל בָּתֵּי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְאִמוֹתֵינוּ בְּמִצְרַיִם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַאֲמֲרְתֶּם זֶבַח־פֶּסַח הוּא לַייָ אֲשֶׁר פָּסַח עַל בָּתֵּי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמִצְרַיִם, בְּנָגְפּוֹ אֶת־מִצְרַיִם וְאֶת־בָּתֵּינוּ הִצִּיל. וַיִּקֹּד הָעָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ.
Pesach, shehayu avoteinu v’eemoteinu ochlin beezman she’beit haMikdash haya kayam, al shum mah? Al shum she’Pasach haKadosh Baruch Hu al batei avoteinu v’eemoteinu b’Mitzra’yim. She’ne’emar: Va’amar’tem zevach pesach hu l’Adonai, asher pasach al batei b’nai yisrael b’Mitzra’yim b’nogpo et Mitzra’yim, v’et bateinu hitzil; vayikod ha’am va’yishtachavu.
Rabbi Meir ben Tzipporah v’Nechemia haLevi teaches two meises (stories):
Young Jesse sat in the full moonlit, cloudless night. The plentiful rains had turned the sloping hillsides a verdant green. The pleasant fragrance of the grasses and flowers mingled with the pungent flock around him. Kids snuggled near their mothers beside the still waters at the foot of the hills, some still suckling, most asleep.
Once the days got significantly longer than the nights he would have to move the flocks to the summer pastures. Jesse had already used his staff to separate some of the new males he’d seen butting against each other, testing their strength. He could imagine and did not look forward to their fights if too many came along to the north.
Behind him Jesse smelled the sweet aroma of roasting meat. He would soon share in the feast of the yearlings. He felt a pang of remorse that so many of these little ones, who had been in his care, could not live. So much of his life depended on them: for milk and cheese and for the wool garment he wore. But to let them join in the trek would only cause greater troubles as the grasses diminished.
* * * * * * *
Joshua contacted his most trusted fighters. They called themselves (cryptically) the “What” or “Mah” after their acronym the מ"ה or מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת the Angel of Death (Malakh haMavet). “Every first-born of the Egyptians would die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; and the first-born of the captive that is in the dungeon; and all the first-born of the cattle.”1 Tonight this group would act as the “Arm of God” and strike terror into the hearts and souls of their Egyptian tormentors. Moses had already instructed the Hebrews to smear the blood of the yearlings on their doorposts.
The full moonlight would show which houses to avoid and pass over. They had to move swiftly and silently through the city in order to return to their families before dawn. Then they would leave their hovels as the redemption occurred. As the howl of Egyptian parents rose.
We recall these ancient events, doing our part to make ourselves protectors, not tormentors. If we can learn the various roles the shankbone played in ancient times, it may indicate for us today how to assure that our house be passed over.
☞ The Hebrew slaves were protected, why not the first-born of the slave girl or the cattle? Why this terror?
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To explore the structure of the Seder and this Haggadah, check the |
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Footnotes
1 Exodus 11:5, 12:29
