Seder Hagada Shel Pesach

Overview of Passover:

Passover falls in the springtime, around the equinox, at the time of the early barly harvest. This is the keystone of the holiday. Agriculturally, the holiday serves as a way to celebrate the start of the harvest season and recognize the source of the yeild in both God, the creater of nature, and our efforts over the hard, cold winter. The holiday takes this moment of transition between working and not seeing fruit and then suddenly seeing fruit and enables us to appreciate this dynamic in many other aspects of life.

In the historical sense, we celebreate our freedom, recognizing that our current prosperous state of liberty is a result of the efforts of the many generations before us. The Exodus story is the prime example given, but it is understood as an example of a general rule, having instances before the Exodus and after as well.

In the current and future sense, we are reminded that this process of emergence from some type of bondage to freedom is ongoing, with many examples going on currently, with our current problems, and in the future. We look optimistically to the future, in faith that the Kaizen of the world will continue.

In the psycological sense, we also see that each individual is on such a journey of learning over their life. Egypt represents the bondage of either bad habits or ignorance. We have all grown through painful effort, and we celebrate that past growth, we understand that we currently must continue to emerge. To remind oursleves of the bright future that awaits those who suceed in personal growth. Pharoh represents the heart, which may be stubborn with arrogance until humbled by unexpected phenomina.

Springtime in many cultures is a time of rebirth, and on Passover we celebrate the concepts of national rebirth in the future, and our identification with generations long past, and long into our future.

The Seder Plate: The appropriate arrangement of items on the plate is as follows:

Upper Right: Pesach/Z'roah, as this parralels chesed, a command that celebrates the good.

Upper Left: Marror: Gevura, remembering the bad.

Upper Middle: Tiferet/Rachamim: Charoset takes away the poison of Marror to teach that all bad is part of the general good.

Lower Right: Chagiga/Beitza: Netzach, The chagiga is just like the Pesach, but it is initated by us rather than as a command.

Lower Left: Karpas: Hod, The Karpas is like marror, a dipped vegetable but voluntary. It is designed to pique the children's interest.

Lower Middle: Yesod: Salt Water: The sea represents Malchut and the heart. We dip the karpas in the salt water to symbolize the opening of the heart to broader understanding.

Matza would obviously be Tiferet, as it celebrates the transition from bondage to freedom, but the matzot are too big to put on the plate.

This arrangement alligns the kabbalistic significance with the practical significance of each element and neatly divides between the core oblications of the day and embelishments.

The four cups of wine are the reaction to the lessons we learn over the story. The three key elements of Pesach, Maror, and Matza remind encapsulate the story, and the four cups are our reaction. We start with Kiddush to draw attention to the special-ness of the moment and create an ambiance. This literally "sanctifies" meal, dedicates it to telling the story and singing hallel.

The connection between kiddush and the meal is required in halacha because the meal, in essence, is an expasion of kiddush. Kiddush dedicates the day as a holiday and a time for simcha. The primary halachic way that we perform the mitzvah of simcha is through the meal. Similarly for the sabbath, where the oneg, pleasure, of the meal helps advertize the perfection of God's creation.

At the Seder, the Kiddush is one of the four cups, and, therefore, also dedicates the meal to facilitating the telling of the story. This may be the reason why a b'racha is not recited on the telling of maggid or hallel during the seder, as it is already implicitly recited in Kiddush.

The four cups give the overarching structure to the Seder Hagada:
1. First cup dedicates the entire night to the following Mitzvot.
2. Second cup is held over Magid.
3. Third cup over the benching.
4. Fourth cup held over hallel.

Women are required to perform Maggid and all the mitzvot of the Seder. While on Sabbath, Kiddush is required of women because women are also included in "shamor" the negative aspects of the mitzvah, this is not given as the reason for women's inclusion in the Haggadah.

Rather, the reason is that women were also included in the miracle is given in Pesachim 108b, that "they were also included in the miracle." This is the same reason the talmud gives for women's requirements for Megilla and Channukah, and implies that the reason for the four cups is Pirsumei Nissa, advertising a miracle, and has less to do with the sanctity of the day.

Rather on the Talmud 108b states that the way women were included in the Miracle is because of their virtuous behavior. As the Talmud relates, women did not give up on having children, even in the darkest times, and seduced their husbands. In virtue of this, Israel was blessed with continuity. This shows how important optimism and faith are even in the darkest times, and that it is davka because of such optimism and willingness to invest in the future that we are given a future.

Rashi does not explain that "included in the miracle" means that women were saved by the miracle along with the men. (This is a problematic explanation, because it would imply that women should be required to sit in a sukka, and also absurdly implies that we don't have to celebrate miracles that occured for our anscesors that did not share our gender, even though our existence was dependent on their survival.)

From the perspective of Rashi, advertising a miracle is not merely about celebrating the actions of God, but reminding people about how God performed the miracle. God perfoms miracles through our virtuous behaviour. We see this in the Passover, Purim and Channuka stories. Thus, advertising the miracle also educates people on the proper way to behave. Because there is a specific way that women forwarded the miracle of the Exodus, we make sure that women also do the mitzvot so that, in times of need, they can emulate the behavior of their ancestors.

The opinion of Maimonides and the Vilna Gaon is that a person should eat more than a kazayit. This approach is consonnant with the requirement to wash hands and the existence of a mitzvah to eat something, which is always at least a kezayit. The halachic uncertainty regarding the b'racha acharona can be implicitly resolved based on the authorities here that one does not make a b'racha acharona in this situation.

The reason we eat karpas is to make the children curious and ask questions. This might seem self-defeating, because if the children ask, we would just answer that there is no depth to it, it's just to make them ask. That answer is disappointing.

Rather, we eat karpas to show that surprising odd things make peopole ask questions, and we can only grow by asking questions. This is how God taught Pharoh, by doing odd different things, and so we emulate this by doing odd and different things.

Note the connection between Karpas and Maror. Technically, there is even some reason to think the bracha on the karpas also covers the maror. Maror is mandated and therefore symbolizes hard things thrust upon us by nature or others that are for our own good, while Karpas sysmbolizes discipline: hard things we accept upon ourselves becuse they are good for us in the long term.

Yachatz is about how most of the "light" is hidden away for tzaddikim in the end of times. In other words, how great rewards await those who plan and invest in them.

The tradition of the ba'al habayit hiding the larger half, represents how God hids future rewards. The childrend searching and finding it, represents tzaddikim finding the goodness that God hid in the world from the six days of creation.

The broken half represents the suboptimal condition that we eternally live in.

The basic lesson of Pesach is three stories:
1. How the world is a much better place than it was.
2. How the world is continually getting better.
3. How psycologically, we must continually strive for our personall emancipation from self-destructive behavior.

The broken matza, therefore, represents three things: the pain that our anscestors endured so we could get to where we are today, how the world is constantly evolving and getting better, and so, in a way, we are in "bondage" relative to those in the future, and how our yetzer hara urges us to take the smaller matza.

Pesach and Brit Mila are the two main covenants in Judaism. Brit Mila represents, among other things, our bond with past and future generations, how we should view ourselves as part of a multi-generational chain and invest in the future. This investment corresponds with denegrating pleasures of the moment.

Pesach highlights the bond with our friends, and cannot, halachically, be brought alone. It shows how we should view ourselves as just part of the larger community and invest in it. This investment corresponds with denigrating selfish behavior.

Additionally, by taking care of each other, we end up being liberated from the cruelty of others and our own limitaitions. In many ways Judaism views culture as one of the main ways that we can solve humanity's problems. By engaging with others we can learn from them. Modern addition solutions focus heavily on social influence as a was of escaping bad habits and unhealthy thinking. Judaism sees this sort of solution applied to all sorts of self-destructive behavior.

We start with questions and doing things differently, because this is how God taught Pharoh. In general, we don't learn from things that conform with our expectations.

Judaism has a pedagogical strategy. We perform salient actions that appeal to our sense of esthetic (the Yetzer Hara, or System 1) that encourage proper education or behavior. Children are given salient things to see, hear, and taste, and can absorb an engaging wild story that they can understand when they are older.

Judaism beleives in education, which is why it is passed down through the mother and not the father.

We fulfil our mitzvah quickly, and then elaborate. Again, the basic lesson of Pesach is three stories:
1. How the world is a much better place than it was.
2. How the world is continually getting better.
3. How psycologically, we must continually strive for our personall emancipation from self-destructive behavior.

Here we add something: Had God not saved our forefathers, we would be still stuck in Egypt. The Seder comes to reinforce a national, multi-national identificatin. WE came out of Egypt. WE received the Torah. WE suffered the Holocaust. WE won the Six-Day war. WE faught against the Greeks. This national identification helps people naturally tend to be kinder and invest in the general public.

The commandment is not merely to impart information, but to train or remind our System 1 of this truth. Evolution happens to species, not individuals, so our selfishness only exists to serve the species. Our sense of empathy is closer aligned to the truth of what we are all about. The Seder comes to remind us of that truth.

Note, that only on the seder night there is a mitzvah to tell a story. On other holidays, such as shavuot or sukkot, we commemorate something that happened. Only on the seder night are we required to tell a chronology of what happened. The reason is because it is the chronology and transformation from past to furture that we are commemorating, and not merely a specific state or point in time. On purim, although there is a mitzva to read the megilla or hear it, it is not a requirement of each person to tell the story.

The idea here shows that the deeper meaning of Zecher Yetziat Mitzrayim isn't about just telling a story of what happened in the past. If that were true, there woud be no eternal need to know the story. Rather, it is about understanding that even in the days of the Moshiach, we are forever in a process of Kaizen, continual improvement. The Exodus isn't something that happened a long time ago, it is something that is happening all around us constantly.

This also addresses another concern. Given the Seder is geared toward children, a person might think that they already know the story and therefore don't need to tell it or hear it again. The requirement for adults to hear it is because of the deeper meaning of the story that they probably missed entirely as children.

Thus, in the good times (the days of the Moshiach), we remember that we are still in bondage relative to the future, and in bad times (the nights) we remember that we are better off than our ancestors. The world is in constant flux.

It happens in us as well, though learning we attain personal emancepation.

The Torah employs pedagocial strategies. Each person must be taught in an optimal way.

In Avot we learn, "Who is wise is someone who learns from every person." The Wise son is someone who is knowledgable, is humble and is curious. He seeks information, so give it to him.

The Wicked son also is knowledgable, but he is arrogant and not curious. Use his words against him to demonstrate his error.

The Simple son doesn't know the story, but is curious. Give him visuals that appeal to his senses so he can get the idea quickly.

The one who doesn't know to ask is neither curious or knowledgable. To him, we need to feed him enough information so he can be curious and ask more.

The order of the sons in the Torah is: wicked son, son who doesn't ask, simple son, and finally wise son. This represents the progression of education, from arrogant ignorance to intelligent curiosity.

The expression "blunt his teeth" has biblical origins in Jerimiah 31:30, and refers to the uncomfortable feeling of having eaten unripe grapes.

Teeth are a metaphor for words, and here it means "use his words against him." The way to pursuade someone who is confident that they are right, is to use their own arguments in a way that clarifies their error. This is exactly what happens in this paragraph.

(Places where teeth are a metaphor for words: Job 13:14 "I will take my flesh in my teeth; I will take my life in my hands." Mishei 30:14 "A breed whose teeth are swords,Whose jaws are knives, Ready to devour the poor of the land, the needy among men." In Sota 49a, blunting the teeth is a metaphor for punishing parents by hurting their children. )

The principle that the wicked son denies is the interdepenance of people. He claims that he should not need to care about the past generations or others. That every man is essentially on his own and that people are better off just taking care of themselves.

We show he is incorrect by showing how people are interdependant on each other. The Pesach symbolized national unity, and had he not brought that sacrifice, he would have not been spared. Alternatively, it is by the merit of attachement to the community that redeemed the enslaved. Or, psycologically, how help from others emancipates us from our personal limitations. In either case, we domonstrate that because of that, had he been there, he would not have been redeemed. Essentially, we should show how dependant people are on each other, how selfish behavior destorys cultures, and how a multi-generational identity is the truth.

This approach toward the wicked son, as not curious, explains a halacha brought in the Rambam, Hilchot Talmud Torah, 4:1 "אֵין מְלַמְּדִין תּוֹרָה אֶלָּא לְתַלְמִיד הָגוּן נָאֶה בְּמַעֲשָׂיו. אוֹ לְתָם. אֲבָל אִם הָיָה הוֹלֵךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ לֹא טוֹבָה מַחְזִירִין אוֹתוֹ לַמּוּטָב וּמַנְהִיגִין אוֹתוֹ בְּדֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה וּבוֹדְקִין אוֹתוֹ וְאַחַר כָּךְ מַכְנִיסִין אוֹתוֹ לְבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ וּמְלַמְּדִין אוֹתוֹ." or "We don't teach torah except to a student that has good behavior or to a simple (tam) person. But, if he goes in a bad path, we first return him to the good path, and drive him to the straight path, then check him, and then teach him etc."

The one who doesn't ask isn't curious yet. We need to do visual things to make him curious. In fact, this is what we do at the seder. The whole point of making the kids ask, doing karpas, etc. is all because we are all like the son who doesn't know how to ask.

And from here, the Haggada expounds davka on the son who doesn't know how to ask, showing how the seder's main goal is to bring him in.

We teach our children like God taught Pharoh, because Pharoh represents us as well. We all sometimes are confident of our ways and don't want to learn. We need surprising things, maybe hard things, to teach us.

The Seder is not complete without visual reminders. These are vivid. The tactic of Judaism is to use the System 1, our sense of esthetics, to reinforce abstract beleifs and good habits. Without the visual reminders, Judaism would not fit with children or simple folks. But, no societey consists of only philosophers.

One of the key differences between a philosophy and a religion is the use of powerful compelling imagry to communicate abstract philisophical ideas. In Judaism, we use this imagry in stories as well as vivid actions that appeal to the imagination but contain abstract concepts that can serve as guiding principles.

At the Passover, the acts of eating Pesach, Matza, Marror, drinking the wine, dipping the Karpas all serve as visual keys to the more abstract concepts.

The key lesson of Pesach is the evolution of societies over history. Judaism is optimistic. We came from a bad place, we are going to a good place. We don't adopt an apocolyptic perspective, that the world was perfect in Eden, man ruined it, and the world will end. Rather, the world started in darkness, Eden represents our potential, and the world has improved and will continue.

Note also here the Haggada branches from the literal story showing the deeper significance of the Exodus isn't really the story, it's the application toward intellectual improvement and emancipation from bad ideas.

Idolotry corrosponds with a chaotic view of nature. Converselly, monotheism corrosponds with a univesrsal natural law, and that is the foundation of all science.

The Hagada connects the Burning Bush, the Brit Bein HaBetarim, and the Exodus. They all have the same message. Even though times may be hard, God rewards over hundreds of years, virtuous behavior. And, if we invest in that future, we will be a part of it even if it happens after we pass.

Note, that this must be true if we define "virtuous behavior" as that which suceeds in the very long term.

Note, we cannot fulfil the mitzvah without accepting that the Exodus dynamic applies to us. This is the core of the idea: the Exodus dynamic is all around us all the time, the good and bad elements.

Societies constantly evolve, and there will always be those who fight bearers of truth because their power is dependant on a lie. The denegration of pleasusres, the universality of natural law, the emancipation of society through education, the alignment between virtuous behavior and long-run sucess are all things Judaism and Jews have pushed for for centuries, and it is davka those reasons that make them hated by those who seek power through lies.

The Seder Hagada learns what "hagada" is by pesach from the "hagada" by the Bikkurim, or first fruits. The full text is as follows:

1. When you enter the land that your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, will choose to establish the divine name is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God
2. You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God Hashem that I have entered the land that Hashem swore to our fathers to assign us.”
3. The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God Hashem
4. You shall then recite as follows before your Hashem :
   1. “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.
   2. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.
   3. We cried to Hashem , the God of our ancestors, and Hashem heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression."
   4. Hashem freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents, bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, Hashem , have given me."
5. You shall leave it before your God Hashem and bow low before your God Hashem .

The Hagada there notes that it is not merely the emancipation from Pharoh, but the spiritual and intellectual emancipation from a chaotic worldview that is essential to the story.

And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God Hashem has bestowed upon you and your household.

Consider the following excerpt from the Guide for the Perplexed, 3:39. The Rambam says that the point of the story recited is for a person to always rememer their past distress and efforts when they are doing well. Passover is the beginning of the harvest, so it is important to recall that we were not as well off in the winter. We should also recall how our current freedom is a function of hard work of ourselves and our ancestors in the past. These thoughts should keep us remembering that things are not guaranteed to always be as good.

...This ceremony teaches man that it is essential in the service of God to remember the times of trouble and the history of past distress, in days of comfort. .... Such a law was necessary in order to perpetuate the memory of the departure from Egypt; because such events verify prophecy and the doctrine of reward and punishment. The benefit of every commandment that serves to keep certain miracles in remembrance, or to perpetuate true faith, is therefore obvious.

Note that the structure of the story here conforms to the classic SPAR framework for stories. Situation: We were in Egypt. Problem: The Egyptians were abusing us. Action: We prayed to God. Result: God took us out.

This is obviously not true, because God sent the angel of death to kill the firstborn and used Moses and Aaron and others to help with the Exodus. Rather, the meaning is that emancepation in the long run is not a subordinate function or accident. Rather, it is core to what the universe is about. If it would have happened by an "angel" and not by "God" that would imply it was just a fluke. We make this statement to clarify.

These plagues probably somehow parralel different Egyptian gods. Ancient cultures divided up parts of natural phenomina to different "gods" "el" in hebrew means "force" or "power" not really "god" in the Christian sense of superheros. Rather, they had nothing to do with miracles and everything to do with nature. (See Rav Soloveitchik's Emergence of Ethical Man)The problem is that they saw these areas of nature as independant of each other rather than conforming to one universal law.

In the Zohar, the ten utterances of creation parralel the ten plagues and ten commandments. The ancients divided the world in three, one as the "intellect" of the world, which has unviersal natual laws. The nature of this world is encapsulated by the ten utterances. The next as the spheres, which are dynamic forces that constantly evolve. These are encapsulated in the ten plagues, which represent change and surprise. Then our world is anthropocentric, and the ten commandments represent the perfection of mankind through law.

For children, the lesson is that God can do anything. But adults should know that we do not rely on miracles. Rather, the miracles here are metaphors for dynamics of nature that are all around us. True miracles, as violations of the natural order, would not be reliable predictors, as they are, by definition, purely chaotic, and do not repeat.

There is a tradition to spill wine for each plague. This is because we understand that the Egyptians also represent us. Sometimes we need to learn the hard way. It is tragic and not deserved, but a condition of the humanity. The Zohar implies this by connecting the plight of the Egyptians to the story of Job.

It is important to realize that God planned for the Egyptians to free the Israelites of their own accord. The

In the Zohar [implicitly, in Beshalach on the work "v'yisau"], the crossing of the sea represents the involvement of Man in his own emancipation. This is why the pillar of fire or cloud follows Israel through the sea. We lead, God, as it were, follows. This is in contrast to the plagues, which are all brought from heaven. The lesson here is that emancipation is much greater when man takes the lead through education, law, and proper behavior.

Another differance is that the crossing of the sea represents the constant improvement we have every day. The plagues represent how sometimes things can move forward in sudden surprising jumps. A change in Punctuated Equilibrium. But these changes are the exception.

Our responce to learning about how wonderful the world is, is to rise in singing. This further imbues us with a proper perspective on the world and encourages us to take care of it.

All change has three steps. Cessasion at a point of origin. Commencement at a destanation point. A continuous transition between the points.

Marror reminds of of what stopped. Pesach reminds us of where we are. Matza reminds us of how we got from one place to another.

Pesach is a luxuriously roasted lamb. It cannot be eaten alone. It reminds us of the freedom we have and is represented by the divine protection the Jews had in Egypt.

Matza is travel food. It reminds us of how on a journy, a person must suffice with what is neccesary to move forward at the right pace.

Marror is bitter. Note, Romaine lettuce was actually eaten in ancient egypt. The heard of romaine lettuce is a bit bitter and also easy to measure a k'zayit of. Marror represents our faith that life was worse before and that we can't really appreciate where we are and what we have without comparing it to a counter-factual.

Maror is d'rabanan without the Pesach. It is dipped in Charoset to dampen the "poison."

This represents the idea that bad is subordinate to good. God only demands sacrifice when it leads toward something better than what is given up. Recalling the miserable experiences in Judaism is not a part of Pesach without remembering the blessings and divine protection. Note, this is how it is framed above in the v'hi she'amda.

What is this doing here in the hagada? Conceptually, it's place would be above at the start, when we say "WE were slaves to pharoh." But it's here because the pasuk we learn it from is the same as the one Rabban Gamliel uses to point out the requirement of Pesach Matzah and Maror.

This visualization highlights the concept of a broad identity. That we see ourseves as just part of a national history. This broad mindset is happens when we transcend a narrow-minded identity (mochin d'katnut) and embrace the truth that we are designed for the survival of the larger community.

The sensation of "meaning" or "spirituality" is really a broad identification. One percieves them united with the larger universe and other people, and thereby, has feelings of authentic empathy. Because we evolve on the species level, these feelings resonate as true.

God doesn't need anything, let alone praise. This praise is for us, to help us enjoy the universe we live in, and share that joy with others. It reinforces the idea of investing in others and celebrating in their successes.

The notion of viewing our experience in the world as a dialogue between us and the universe is very helpful for combining the humility necessary to learn about how the world works, and the courage to find ways to work with it optimally.

We take a moment to appreciate three things. First, how much we benefit from standing on the shoulders of the giants that came before us. Second, that the wold is designed to that things will keep improving. Third, that we have personally grown over our lives, and even have a family to celebrate the important things with.

In the Talmud, prayer is a substitute for animal sacrifice. But in what way is making personal requests an act of sacrifice rather than selfishly attempting to use cosmic forces for personal gain? The answer is that prayer involves a meditation on the broader universe that is much larger and more important than the individual. When a person prays for all of humanity and puts their needs above his own and prays for all future generations, this act is one of self-sacrifice.

Hallel is not recited every Sabbath. The Sabbath celebrates the perfection of eternal natural law. But Jewish holidays celebrate the emergence of a new part of the agricultural cycle. They emphasize change.

Emotions are marginal, and react to changes, not states. Thus, we have a mitzvah of simcha and hallel on holidays, but not on the Sabbath.

This is why the Hallel here is called in the Talmud that "Hallel of Egypt" that the essence of it is celebrating unusual or occasional change and emergence. This is distinct from the "Small Hallel" that is recited daily.

There is much discussion about which Matzot to eat here. The seder follows a gradual progression from talking about the problematic past, to talking about the bright future. This follows the general guidance given in the mishnah that we start with the bad, and end with the good. We see this in Maggid highlighting the smaller matza and karpas, wich is similar to Marror, and the larger half of the matza and korban pesach as well as the conclusion of Hallel being after the meal.

Thus, the meal emphasizes the middle part, the transition between the two. There is no special emphasis of the small or larger halves of the matzah toward the beginning of the seuda, as the seuda represents the middle bewteen telling the story before the meal, and singing in response at the end of the meal.

The Hillel Wrap signifies that the Pesach, Matza and Marror are not only three independant messages, but also combine to express one message. That message is the reality of change in our world, with its different facets.

Again, the meal appeals to our system 1 and our esthetic to make sure that the story is told in a postive way and a good time is had. It is a Nudge.

Also, the meal itself, in the middle, is a physical version of Maggid and Hallel. That is, we perform the mitzvah or remembering the story and rejoicing through eating this meal.

It is customary to eat an egg dipped in saltwater. The egg and salt water are from the seder plate. The Egg symbolizes the chagiga offering that was brought on the holiday. The salt-water is a symbol of Israel, and was used in the karpas ritual.

The zeroah, symbolizing the pascal offering is not eaten, just to make sure that nobody thinks that the zeroah is a viable substitute for a real pascal offering.

The afikoman is found and is eaten. The afikoman symbolizes the rewards waiting the rightious at the end of days. This is eaten at the time of and in place of the eating of the pascal lamb, the highlight and finale of the meal.

Eliyahu, like Charles Darwin, is used to represent a certain concept. Darwin awards are given to those who behave in self-destructive ways.

Eliyahu represents the idea of a tradition being carried on from one generation to another. This use of Eliyahu is used on Tanach, at the end of Malachi: "Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD. He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction." Eliyahu represented at the time of Malachi (The beginning of the Second Temple Era) the force that bridges one generation with another. Thus, he's at the seder where traditions are given to children and at the bris mila.

As a side, Eliyahu also represents the idea of understanding the fathers. This is connected with the deeper meaning of Torah Sheb'al peh: intuition. While tradition may come from the fathers, a person needs to make sense of it with their own intuition to really make peace with it. That is what Eliyahu represents, and that is why Eliyahu will answer all our qeustions in the time of the Moshiach.

This is a relic of sad times, where we pine for the continued emancipation of the Jewish people. Fortunately, in our time, this prophecy has been fulfilled. The pagan cultures from the time of Jerimiah are all gone, brutally wiped out by the Persians, then the Greeks, then by Mohammed, then by the Mongolians, the Spanish etc.

It is a surprise that we mention such a negative verse on Pesach. Unlike with a simcah of an individual, such as a wedding, on a holiday there is no mourning.

Hallel is broken in two to show that the meal itself, in the middle, is a physical version of Maggid and Hallel. That is, we perform the mitzvah or remembering the story and rejoicing through eating this meal.

After hallel, we drink the fourth cup, we have completed our mitzvah, and we say this short prayer to mark that we've just finished. We also know that we didn't really finish, as we failed to bring the Pesach, and are unable to celebrate religious national sovreignty as well, because of the suboptimal state of affairs. Yet, we have faith that one day, political problems will be solved difinitively and we will be free from political subjication.

The Passover Seder Haggadah, or the Order of the Telling of Passover, cannot be fully observed while Judaism remains politically subjugated and lacks the independence and national unity required to maintain a Temple. Thus, we hope and pray that next year, we may be in Jerusalem, which would signify the political independence and national unity heralding the era of the Messiah.

There is a custom to read the Song of Songs at this point, which depicts the relationship between Israel and God, as well as the world and its Creator, as a romantic adventure. This relationship evolves over time, encompassing love, passion, longing, missed opportunities, and moments of elation.
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In contrast, Solomon also authored the Book of Ecclesiastes, which presents an opposing and complementary view of our relationship with the Creator. Unlike the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes does not use the Tetragrammaton, suggesting an evolving relationship, and instead prefers the name Elohim, representing fixed laws.

While Passover celebrates history as a romance, Sukkot, the festival of Thanksgiving, honors the fixed, algorithmic nature of the universe to which we owe all our success.