Why Do We Celebrate Pesach?

0:05She'iltot de-Rav Achai Gaon says, yes, when it comes to swallowing the matzah without chewing, you still fulfill the mitzvah. However, when you just swallow the maror, you don't fulfill the mitzvah. But what happens if somebody swallows the entire Haggadah? What if somebody swallows the entire meaning because they're in such a hurry to get to the end or to the meal, that they just breeze through the whole thing, quickly reading just to get through it? What's the point? The wise son, the wicked son, the simple son – they're all significant in their own right. We should embrace each one, but everyone is skipping everything or reading so fast that nobody understands anything. Forgetting the whole purpose of everything because the most important part is to fulfill the biblical verse, which is in Exodus chapter 13, verse number 8, where HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "V'higadeta l'veincha bayom hahu leimor ba'avur zeh asah Hashem li b'tzeiti miMitzrayim."

1:19that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, and you shall tell your son on that day, he's referring to Pesach, you should tell your son on that day saying, it's because of this that Hashem acted on my behalf when I left Egypt. What is this? Comes the comes the uh and tell us what's this? You show them the matzah. It's because of this matzah, it's because of this maror, it's because of this mitzvah that Hashem took me out of Egypt. Not because He wanted me to give tzedakah or to wear a shtreimel or because He wanted me to do any other mitzvot. All of those other things are great... comes the, uh, and tells us, what's this? You show them the matzah. It's because of this matzah. It's because of this maror. It's because of this mitzvah that Hashem took me out of Egypt, not because He wanted me to, uh, give tzedakah or to wear a shtreimel, or because He wanted me to, uh, do any other mitzvah. All of those other things are great. But this is the reason, this mitzvah, that I still connect to 3,333 years later. So when a person understands that there's no way that a person can truly feel, needless to say look like they are living it and getting the feeling of salvation, going from that agony to the salvation, if they breeze through the whole thing and just focus on what's going to be, you know, what’s for dinner. Mitzvah that I still connect to 3,333 years later. So, when a person understands that there's no way to truly feel, needless to say look like, they are living it and getting that feeling of salvation—going from that agony to the salvation—if they breeze through the whole thing and just focus on what's going to be, you know, what's for dinner.

2:34A person needs to know that there is a certain amount of time that you already have to take into account, that you have to invest, not only in having the seder and telling the whole story of what happened to us, of our history, of what we went through, telling it to the children. Do not concern yourself with the guests as a priority because the most important people in the seder are the children. The biblical mitzvah is to tell your child what happened in Egypt—that's the most important mitzvah of the entire seder. Tell your kids what happened in Egypt. If you have guests in your house, that's perfectly fine; they can listen too. But if you have one of these guests who are talkative and want to know, "What is this? What's that?" you have to stop them and say, "Okay, hold on a second, I have to tell my kids what happened in Egypt." are the children you have to meet. The biblical mitzvah is to tell your child what happened in Egypt. That's the most important mitzvah of the entire Seder: to tell your kids what happened in Egypt. So if you have guests in your house, perfectly fine, tell them; okay, they can listen too. But if you have one of these guests that are talkative and they want to know what is this, what's that, you have to stop them and say, "Okay, hold on a second, I gotta tell my kids what happened in Egypt." Oh yeah, but I have questions too. You have questions, that's fine. Your questions will come secondary to my kids. Why? That's my obligation.

3:37That's my obligation now. Of course, when you teach, everyone benefits, but you have to understand it's a very, very big deal to teach the children what happened. Now, of course, taking a half hour before the meal, another half hour, or an hour after the meal, or whatever it is, but putting a significant amount of time into actually telling the story. Not only is it something that's going to make your seder more significant, but it also requires you to prepare and study for this. You can't just be like, "Oh, let's see what the book says," and then start reading. You have to prepare a little bit. Yeah, of course, it's okay to read here and there, but you have to come prepared. have to come prepared. Don't make people bored. You have to have certain things to say, and one of the great things is to learn. Learn the parashot, learn the parashiyot, learn the different...

4:38uh, parashot that discuss, or the midrashim that discuss the makkot. We have quite a few videos, both short clips and long ones, about each one of the makkot. But again, don't make just the makkot the priority; also talk about the difficulty and agony that we went through before the salvation came. Because if all you talk about is the salvation, it's very hard to feel like this is salvation. because when you don't know where you came from, you don't truly appreciate where you're at. You know, and this is one of the main things that is important for a person to know. We need to always know where we came from in order to truly appreciate the blessings that we have today. Now, of course, a person that has children has to make it a priority to tell the children the story of Pesach. Like I just said, if he does not have children, then he has to tell it to his wife. your wife the, uh, the story and, uh, and go into it with no less passion. If he doesn't have a wife or if he doesn't have kids, he has to tell himself. He has to tell himself and, of course, exchange with each other different chachamim that are sitting. If there are no kids there, the chachamim go on all night, just like we have in the Haggadah itself. It talks about how the chachamim

5:59went through the stories of what happened on Pesach the same way that we're supposed to, all throughout the entire night, until it was time for Kriyat Shema. Such is the obligation, and such is the importance of discussing the Haggadah. As a Rabbi, I must emphasize that this mitzvah is mandatory for every Jew, as it ensures all members of Am Yisrael can properly celebrate the holiday with dignity and joy.