Pesach Passages: A Pre-Passover Haggadah Study
(Taught by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on Saturday, April 2, 2022)
As Passover (Pesach) draws near, it is not uncommon for people to make preparations for the holiday days in advance. For some of us, we must figure out logistics such as cleaning our home, kashering our kitchen, and buying the proper food. However, it is also quite useful to begin studying passages about Passover in advance, to enhance the seder experience.
Seders can be lots of fun, but they are not always easy, no matter if you are hosting or just attending as a guest. Accordingly, it is no small wonder that many parts of the seder often end up on the cutting room floor. While the essential steps remain a constant, we simply don’t always have time for all of the possible readings.
So this Shabbat, we are going to take a look at two passages that can be found in many haggadot, but often get skipped. As it happens, both passages come from the magid portion of the seder, the longer and central part of the storytelling.
Before we read the first text, let us ask ourselves this question, and answer it internally: how long should the ideal seder be to you?
Many people say a seder should be an hour, sometimes two. There are others who want it to go for longer, but they are often a minority. Such people however, might fit right in with the figures in our first text.
“It happened once [on Pesach] that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Tarfon were reclining in B’nei Brak and were telling the story of the exodus from Egypt that whole night, until their students came and said to them, “The time of [reciting] the morning Sh’ma has arrived.”
If this text is to be taken literally, these 5 famous rabbis actually had a seder that lasted all night long! Why did it take so long? Surely such learned people would be experienced enough to finish it more quickly if they wanted to. Why spend so much time telling a story that they already knew so well?
On the surface, this story shows that even the wisest of us can always learn something more when they congregate and discuss matters in a learned group. However, there is more to this story than meets the eye.
Why are these rabbis having a seder all by themselves? The students are right outside the door? Why are they not invited inside? And where are their families? Surely the rabbis have an obligation to ensure their own families are present at the seder!
As it turns out though, this may have not been a seder at all! This takes place in B’nei Brak, during the time of the Bar Kochba revolt.[1] Many scholars have come to the understanding that these rabbis were actually using the seder as a front, while in reality, they were planning the revolt behind closed doors. When the students tell them it is time for the Shema, they are warning their masters that the Romans are at the door, and they need to play it cool.
The Jewish people have had many adversaries over the years, including the Romans, and of course, Pharaoh, as well as plenty of others. But one that often gets neglected is Laban, who is mentioned in this next passage:
Go out and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to Jacob, our father; since Pharaoh only decreed [the death sentence] on the males but Laban sought to uproot the whole [people]. As it is stated: “An Aramean was destroying my father, and he went down to Egypt, and he resided there with a small number, and there he became a nation, great, powerful and numerous.”[2]
Just who was Laban, and what did he do to deserve to be mentioned next to Pharaoh?
Laban was Rebecca’s brother, Jacob’s father-in-law, and the father of Rachel and Leah. He is most memorable for swapping out Rachel for Leah as Jacob’s first wife. He is also depicted as someone who paid unfair wages, and wanted to stop Jacob from leaving with his new family and riches.
But despite Laban’s crooked habits, the Torah itself does nothing to indicate that Laban is full-blown evil. Hatred towards Laban is something that arose amongst the early rabbis, and though there are modern scholars that have given fair guesses that explain that trend, there is no universally agreed-upon reason why Laban became so hated later on.
Still, Laban certainly had things in common with Pharaoh, even if they were on a smaller scale. They were unfair masters!
Pharaoh did not pay the slaves anything at all, and while Laban did pay Jacob for his labor, he did not pay him what was agreed upon when Jacob asked to marry Rachel in lieu of his salary. But even when Jacob finally married Rachel, he continued to work for Laban, and the salary kept changing.[3]
Moreover, Laban did not want to let Jacob go free, so Jacob and his family left Laban without informing him. Predictably, Laban pursued them, just like Pharaoh pursued Moses and the Israelites! However, Laban did not end up harming Jacob and his family, because G!d came to him in a dream, warning him against it.[4] As was the case with Laban, HaShem was also known to meddle with the thoughts and emotions of Pharaoh, hardening his heart multiple times in the Exodus story.
But how can Laban truly be seen as worse than Pharaoh, when his misdeeds seem to be on such a smaller scale? Where in the text can it be seen that Laban wanted to uproot the entire Jewish people?
The answer is not obvious, and just as with the Exodus story itself, it requires a leap of faith.
Laban knew that Jacob would be a patriarch of a new nation, the Israelites. By substituting Leah for Rachel as Jacob’s first wife, he was essentially dictating the children Jacob produced, and therefore changing the fate of the entire Israelite nation.
Yes, Laban probably realized that Jacob would go on to marry Rachel regardless, but because of Laban, Jacob had also married Leah. Imagine what would have happened if Jacob had not married Leah. He would not have had 12 sons! He would still have had Joseph, through Rachel, but if Joseph did not have so many siblings, would they have conspired against him and sold him into slavery?
It can be dangerous sometimes to play the what-if game, but an argument can be made that if Laban did not trick Jacob into marrying Leah, the Israelites would not have ended up in Egypt in the first place! And as a result, they would never have been delivered to Pharaoh.
To be clear, it was always G!d’s plan to have the Israelites enslaved in Egypt. It was even foretold to Avram![5] But a primary reason for this was for HaShem to be able to save us and embarrass the Egyptians through signs and wonders. These miracles were made possible because G!d manipulated Pharaoh, and possibly Laban.
Does this truly make Laban worse than Pharaoh? Probably not, since so much of this is conjecture. But this passage in the Haggadah is widely debated, and it is nice to try our hand at figuring it out. You may end up with answers other than those presented above. But nobody will ever know for sure.
In any case, the main takeaway from this passage is powerful regardless: no matter how bad things get, they can always be worse. And rather than worry about them getting worse, we can be thankful that they are not. Dayeinu! We have experienced enough as a people to recognize that we will always overcome. In Judaism, we believe in Hakarat Hatov, or “recognizing the good.” In classic humorous Jewish fashion, sometimes the way to recognize the good is to recognize that it could always be worse!
Indeed, it has been worse quite recently! Why is this year different from recent Passover years? There are certainly four answers, and probably more. But I will close with just one.
This year, conditions permit us to have an in-person seder at CAH. We hope you will be able to attend.
No matter where you will be celebrating Passover this year, may it be a time of redemption and freedom for you.
Shabbat shalom!
[1] The Bar Kochba revolt, also known as the Third Jewish Revolt or the Third Jewish-Roman War was a rebellion by the Jews of Judea, then a Roman province. The revolt, from 132-136 C.E., was led by Simon bar Kochba. Some 580,000 Jews were killed, and massive depopulation of Judean communities resulted. The revolt greatly influenced the course of Jewish history and Jewish philosophy.
[2] Deuteronomy 26:5.
[3] Genesis 31:7.
[4] Genesis 31:24
[5] Genesis 15:13