24 Mar HOLINESS OF THE SEDER

On the night of the Seder,
something awesome
occurs which happens
only once a year. The
Chid”a sites the Zohar
that by the Seder Hashem
himself comes to each
Jewish home with His
pamalya, his Holy retinue. The closest
we come to such a Holy visit is on Succos
when the Ushpizin visit us. But, only on
the night of Seder does Hashem Himself
appear in our homes.
The Arugas Habosem says this is the
reason why we start the Haggadah with
Ha lachma anya in the Aramaic language
for the Gemara says, in Shabbos [12b],
that one shouldn’t pray in Aramaic for
the angels are intermediaries and don’t
understand Aramaic. We deliberately start
the Haggadah with Aramaic to show that on
this night we don’t need the assistance of
the angels since Hashem is there Himself.
The new Haggadah, Mah L’maisah, says
this is why we finish the Haggadah with
Chad Gadya, which is also in Aramaic,
to emphasize that Hashem is with us
throughout the Seder, from beginning to
end. The Chozeh M’Lublin, zt”l, zy”a,

says that the song Chad Gadya is actually
a lachash, an incantation, against the ayin
hara, the evil eye, for the angels are jealous
of the special attention that we are getting
from Hashem on this night.
This is also one of the reasons why we
wear the white kittel during the Seder. The
kittel is reminiscent of the bigdei lavan,
the special white garments that the Kohein
Gadol wears when he goes into the Kodesh
Kodashim, the Holy of Holies on Yom
Kippur where, if he is worthy, he also meets
up with Hashem.
The Chid”a warns us that since on this
night there is such a great opportunity of
Holiness, the Yeitzer Hara matches it with
a ferocious attempt to wreak havoc in the
home to snatch away the awesome benefits
of the evening from us. He recommends that
a person should make a firm commitment
with oneself not to get angry or fight with
the family no matter what situation arises.
The Chid”a says this is alluded to in the
Seder “Table of Contents” when we say
Motzi Matzah. The word matzah also
means strife and therefore it is a directive
to evict any kind of fighting from our home
the entire evening.
Forewarned is forearmed. So, if someone

forgot to buy the parsley
or celery for karpas, if the
beautiful kos shel Eliyahu
was misplaced and can’t be
found, if someone is impatient
and argues, “Let’s get to the
meal and then we’ll say the
divrei Torah,” (we know that
never happens!) be patient
and don’t lose your cool.
In the same vein, the great
Pele Yoetz recommends that
if at the beginning of the
Seder (and the cumulative effects of the
mad rush of Pesach preparations catch up
with you and you feel tired and perhaps
even a little irritable) after Kiddush, you
can drink something like a coffee to make
the evening easier and more productive.
This is especially appropriate considering
the Chida’s warning not to get angry, since
Rabbeinu Tam writes in his Sefer HaYashar,
and so too the Sefer Chasidim warns, that
one who is hungry is prone to anger. (In
contemporary circles, this condition is
sometimes referred to as ‘hangry.’) It
has been my personal custom, at certain
Sederim when I find myself bushed, to
have a cup of J&J Capuchino right after
Kiddush. (Please note: I do not make
a shehakol since the borei pri hagafen
covers all liquids, but I do make a borei
nefashos afterwards. Another word of
caution: You do not want to take this
snack after karpas for you don’t want to
say a borei nefashos since the borei pri
hadamah on the karpas is supposed to
also cover the maror later on. So, you
don’t want a borei nefashos to negate it.)
Another reason why the Yeitzer Hara
is firing on all cylinders is that, of the
entire year, the Seder night is the greatest
opportunity we have for teaching our
descendants. The Maharil proves this
by saying that the night of the Seder is
only time of the year that we invest in
all kinds of machinations to make sure
that the children don’t fall asleep. From
the minhag of giving nosh to the children
at the beginning of the Seder to allowing
the ‘stealing’ of the afikomen and doing
other unusual things, we strive mightily
to keep the children awake on this most
important of nights.
Just like Rabbi Frand, shlit”a, famously
said, “Since we know the Satan is given
permission to wreak havoc in a Jewish
home on erev Shabbos, the smart person
says to him or herself, “I won’t let myself
get angry because I know it’s just the
wiles of the Yeitzer Hara.” This should
be our mindset on the Seder night as well.
A story is told about the great Rav Hutner,

zt”l, zy”a, who was by nature a very clean
and orderly person. As he was sitting by
the Seder table in his pristine white kittel,
someone clumsily knocked a cup of wine
over and horribly stained Rav Hutner’s
kittel. Rav Hutner calmly responded, “A
kittel on Pesach night without wine stains
is like a Yom Kippur Machzor without
tears.” Such a response comes from mental
preparation not to allow oneself to lose
their equilibrium, come what may.
Rav Leibel Eiger, zt”l, zy”a, gives an
interesting reason for the custom of eating
an egg by the Seder. He says that the
essential purpose of the egg is to bring us
a chick. To do so, the mother must sit on
it and warm it so that it can hatch. So too,
the Holy Seder night can produce for us
and our families’ awesome results but it’s
only if we take the time to “warm ourselves
up.’ to be prepared for the unprecedented
opportunities of the evening.
In the merit of making for our family a Holy
Seder, may Hashem bless us with long life,
good health, and everything wonderful.