One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה · נֻסַּח הַהַגָּדָה
Leavened & Unleavened Bread 9
Sefer Zemanim · The Rambam sets down the full text of the Haggadah, the four children, and the duty to tell
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Children, four tailored answers
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Things Rabban Gamliel says you must say
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Openings in lowliness - body and soul
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Night the telling must happen - the 15th
Movement 1Four children, four doors
- Answer each in kind. The wise child is taught the detailed laws of the offering; the simple child gets "with a strong hand the Lord took us out"; the one who cannot ask, you open for. (9:8, 9:10-11)
- Even the rebel stays. The wicked child, who says "to you, not to him," has excluded himself, yet the reply - "for me and not for him" - is delivered at the table, not outside it. (9:9)
- Say the three, or you have not fulfilled. Rabban Gamliel rules that one who has not said Pesach, matzah, and maror on Passover has not discharged the obligation. (9:33)
- Only when they rest before you. The telling is bound to the night of the 15th, when the matzah and bitter herbs are set before you - not from Rosh Chodesh, not by day. (9:11)
RememberNo child is beyond reaching - the four answers exist to find the door that opens each one.
Movement 2Begin in the shame
- Two floors of lowliness. The telling opens twice in degradation - "we were slaves" (the body) and "our ancestors were idol worshipers" (the soul) - before it climbs. (9:4, 9:12)
- He redeemed us Himself. The exodus came "not through an angel, not through a messenger," but the Holy One in His own glory. (9:26)
- Elaboration is praise. Even sages who know the story must tell it, and whoever expands on the exodus is praiseworthy. (9:4)
- Degradation to praise. The account is deliberately built to move from lowliness to praise, refusing to begin at the triumph. (9:4, 9:38)
RememberDescent for the sake of ascent - the praise means nothing without the pit it lifts you from.
Movement 3As if you yourself left
- First person, every year. In every generation a person must show himself as though he personally left Egypt; not only our ancestors, but us with them, were redeemed. (9:37)
- Slavery to freedom. Therefore we thank Him who brought us from slavery to freedom, sorrow to joy, darkness to great light. (9:38)
- The blessing of redemption. The telling seals with the blessing over redemption and the hope to eat again from the offerings in the rebuilt city. (9:40)
- The second night, in full. In the exile the second night is conducted exactly like the first - the four cups, the Haggadah, all of it. (9:41)
RememberNot remembered - re-lived - collapse the distance and taste the freedom tonight.