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Pesach
1. "הא לחמא עניא . . . לשנה הבאה בני חורין" ("This is the bread of affliction . . . next year may we be free people"):
The first passage said in the Haggadah is "Ha Lachma Anya." This passage is not said right at the beginning of conducting the Seder, before Kiddush, or immediately after it; rather, it is said at the beginning of the Haggadah1, whose subject is the telling of the Exodus from Egypt2. Therefore: a) it is placed right after the sign "Maggid"; b) at this passage one lifts up the Seder plate3, or, according to our custom, one uncovers part of the matzos, because the Haggadah and the telling of the Exodus must be "על המצות" ("over the matzos")4.
From this it is clear that the reason this passage is said at the beginning of the Seder is not only because its content is to invite to the Seder table all those who lack the needs of the meal and of the Pesach ("כל דכפין כו' דצריך — ייתי כו'" ("Whoever is hungry . . . whoever is in need — let him come . . .")), so that one would have to do so as early as possible — for if so, it should have been said even earlier, immediately upon coming home, or earlier still, before leaving the shul, where there are many people who can hear the invitation — but mainly because it is the beginning of the telling of the Exodus from Egypt5, and for that reason it cannot come before the sign of "Maggid."
We therefore need to understand: why was the passage "Ha Lachma Anya" placed within the order of "Maggid"? And even more: from the fact that this passage is the beginning of the Haggadah, it is implied that "Ha Lachma Anya" alludes to the story as a whole — yet according to the accepted text6, it would seem that nothing at all is told here about the Exodus from Egypt?
We also need to understand why the content of the passage consists of three separate details which, seemingly, have no connection with one another: a) He announces that this very matzah on the table is the "bread of affliction" which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt; b) he invites all the hungry and the needy to come and celebrate the Seder; c) a request and an assurance that although "השתא הכא" ("now we are here") and "השתא עבדין" ("now we are slaves") (this year we are here, in exile, and we are slaves), "לשנה הבאה" ("next year") we will be "בארעא דישראל" ("in the Land of Israel") and "בני חורין" ("free people").
2. There are commentators who explain the connection between the first two details: The Gemara7 says that one who hires Jewish workers must feed them during the time of their work. Since, however, Jews are the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, they are "בני מלכים" ("children of kings")8, or, as it is also expressed, Jews are "kings"9 — and even if he were to give them "כסעודת שלמה בשעתו" ("like the feast of Shlomo in his time"), he would still not have fulfilled his obligation toward them. Therefore the only solution is that he should stipulate with them beforehand that he will give them bread with legumes and the like to eat. The same applies to the invitation on the night of Pesach: since he is about to invite Jews — "כל דכפין ייתי וייכול כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח" ("Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and celebrate Pesach") — knowing that those who will come to eat with him are "children of kings," or "kings," and that even if he were to give them the feast of Shlomo in his time it would still not be enough, he therefore states in advance and makes it clear: "Ha Lachma Anya" — "This is the bread of affliction," and it is to this bread that he invites them, and he does not obligate himself to give more than this.
But according to this explanation, it would have been enough for him to say the words "Ha Lachma Anya." Why does he add: "די אכלו אבהתנא בארעא דמצרים" ("which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt")?
Regarding the connection between the second matter and the third — "Whoever is hungry . . ." with "Now we are here . . ." — commentators wish to explain it with the saying of our Sages10, "גדולה צדקה שמקרבת את הגאולה" ("Great is charity, for it brings the Redemption near"): in the merit of inviting the poor and giving them the opportunity to celebrate the Seder, "and eat," "and celebrate Pesach," the Redemption will come through this, so that "next year in the Land of Israel" and "free people."
It is still not understood, however, what these two details are: "in the Land of Israel" and "free people"; and why are they divided into two clauses: "השתא הכא לשנה הבאה בארעא דישראל" ("Now we are here; next year in the Land of Israel"), "השתא עבדין לשנה הבאה בני חורין" ("Now we are slaves; next year free people")? It would have been enough had it been written in one clause: "Now we are here and slaves; next year in the Land of Israel and free people."
3. The saying of our Sages on the verse "מגיד דבריו ליעקב חוקיו ומשפטיו לישראל" ("He tells His words to Yaakov, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel")11 is well known: "מה שהוא עושה הוא אומר לישראל לעשות" ("What He Himself does, He tells Israel to do")11, and likewise what He commands Israel, He Himself does. What G‑d commands the Jews to do, He does Himself. It is therefore understood from this that on the night of Pesach G‑d says the passage "Ha Lachma Anya." With G‑d too, so to speak, the matter of exile and redemption applies: when Jews are in exile, the Shechinah too, so to speak, is in exile, as it is written12, "בכל צרתם לו צר" ("In all their affliction He was afflicted"), "שכינתא בגלותא" ("the Shechinah is in exile"); and through the Jews being redeemed, the Shechinah will also be redeemed from exile, which is why G‑d says: "כי קרובה ישועתי לבוא" ("For My salvation is near to come")13 — "My" salvation.
The meaning of exile is that one who is in exile is in the utmost constraint and concealment, even when his existence is whole, just as when he was free. And this is the meaning of exile Above: although even during the time of exile there is in every created being the G‑dly life-force that creates it and gives it life constantly, at every single moment, this G‑dly life-force is entirely not apparent; it stands in constraint and concealment. And how does the exile Above come about? Because of the exile of the Jews.
And this is what He explains in the first part of the passage "Ha Lachma Anya": because of the poverty in knowledge that exists among Jews ("אין עני אלא בדעה" ("One is poor only in knowledge"))14, it becomes "which our forefathers ate" — the level of "our forefathers" is, so to speak, eaten up. That is to say, the intellect (mochin) Above becomes concealed (the mochin are called by the name "forefathers," because they are the source of the emotional attributes)15, and as a result there is also no knowledge of G‑dliness below; just as it was "in the land of Egypt" (the exile of Egypt being the root of all exiles, and all exiles are called by the name of Egypt)16, where Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, said "לא ידעתי את ה'" ("I do not know G‑d")17 — he does not want to know of the entire existence of G‑dliness, and all his surroundings agreed with him.
The redemption Above, however, comes through the redemption of the Jews. Concerning this He says further, in the second part, the request and assurance that G‑d says to every Jew: "Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat." Notwithstanding the darkness of the exile, G‑d assures that every Jew who is but hungry for G‑dliness — G‑d will satisfy his hunger.
This, however, is no more than "די מחסורו" ("sufficient for his need")18: he is given only what he lacks, so that he should not be hungry, but this is not yet wealth. When, however, Jews receive "sufficient for their need," they already attain a higher comprehension, and they then also demand wealth. And concerning this He says further, "whoever is in need" — whoever needs and demands wealth will be given that too — "let him come and celebrate Pesach," for "פסח נאכל על השובע" ("the Pesach offering is eaten when one is already satiated")19. It is not a matter of satisfying hunger, since he is already full beforehand; it is a matter of wealth — in the manner of importance and greatness — higher than "sufficient for his need."
Afterwards, in the third part of the passage, He explains the result and the purpose of "and eat" and "and celebrate Pesach": the wealth in knowledge that Jews will receive will bring about in them that although "now we are here," it will be "next year (and 'next year' does not necessarily mean that one must wait a whole year; it can come about immediately, and consequently the next Pesach, a year later, 'next year,' will already be so) in the Land of Israel." "ארץ" ("land") is related to the word "רצון" ("will"), as in the saying of our Sages20, "למה נקרא שמה ארץ שרצתה לעשות רצון קונה" ("Why is it called eretz? Because it desired to do the will of its Creator"); and "ישראל" ("Yisrael") is an acronym of "יש ששים רבוא אותיות לתורה" ("There are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah")21 — "Eretz Yisrael" means the will directed to Torah. That is, by virtue of the wealth in knowledge, which also brings wealth in material matters (for all material matters derive from their counterpart in spirituality), the will of every Jew will be in Torah. For "בנות ישראל נאות הן אלא שהעניות מנוולתן" ("The daughters of Israel are beautiful, but poverty makes them unsightly")22. Every Jew, by virtue of his true will, is connected to good23; it is only the poverty that obscures this will. When, however, the poverty in material matters24 and the poverty in knowledge are removed, the Jewish beauty will come out openly as well: "כולך יפה רעיתי ומום אין בך" ("You are all fair, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you")25 — there is no blemish in Jews; they will not be lacking in any one of the 248 positive commandments, which correspond to the 248 limbs26, nor in any one of the 365 prohibitions, which correspond to the 365 sinews26.
And this "in the Land of Israel"27 will bring about "next year free people": when the will of every Jew is in Torah and its mitzvos, they will become "free people," freed from exile through Moshiach Tzidkeinu (who will come to "דור שכולו זכאי" ("a generation that is entirely meritorious"))28, and then the Redemption will begin, according to the ruling of the Rambam concerning its order: a king will arise from the House of David who studies Torah and is occupied with mitzvos, etc., and he will build the Beis HaMikdash, and (then) gather in the dispersed of Israel29 — and we will go to "the Land of Israel" in the physical sense too, in the true and complete Redemption, speedily, in the very near future.
4. According to this, it will also be understood why this passage was placed as the beginning of the telling of the Exodus from Egypt: because this passage contains the story of the Exodus from Egypt as a whole.
As mentioned earlier, Egypt is the root of all exiles, and the Exodus from Egypt is the root of all redemptions, including the future Redemption, which will be (in many details) similar to the Exodus from Egypt, as it is written30, "כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות" ("As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders"). The purpose of telling the story of the Exodus is to arouse in Jews faith in general ("בשעה שיש מצה לפניך" ("at the time when matzah is before you") — "מיכלא דמהימנותא" ("the food of faith")), and faith in the coming of Moshiach in particular; and this faith will bring the actual Redemption, as it was at the Exodus from Egypt, that "בזכות האמונה נגאלו אבותינו ממצרים" ("In the merit of faith our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt")31.
Now, when one reflects on the situation in which we find ourselves — how the darkness of exile grows greater from day to day, as the Gemara32 says, "אין יום כו'" ("There is no day [whose curse is not greater than that of the day before]") — one could, G‑d forbid, come to despair. Concerning this we are told immediately at the beginning of the recitation of the Haggadah that notwithstanding the greatness of the darkness, G‑d, so to speak, pleads with every Jew that he should have the "hunger" and the "need" — that he should only ask of G‑d — and He assures him that He will give him not only "and eat" but also "and celebrate Pesach"; and through this we will reach "the Land of Israel" and become "free people" — speedily, in the very near future.
(From the sichos of the second night of Pesach, 5720.)
5. "חכם מה הוא אומר . . . אין מפטירין אחר הפסח אפיקומן" ("The wise son, what does he say? . . . One may not conclude after the Pesach offering with an afikoman"):
Concerning the question that the wise son asks and the answer given to him, the commentators on the Haggadah ask: Why, of all the laws of Pesach, was specifically the law "One may not conclude after the Pesach offering with an afikoman" chosen? The wise son asks and wants to know about all the laws that pertain to Pesach — testimonies, statutes and ordinances. He should therefore have been answered and given an explanation of many laws according to the order of the night, and not [OCR unclear] specifically the last one — when one is already after the Pesach offering — the law that one may not conclude after the Pesach offering with an afikoman.
It is also not understood what the wise son's question is altogether. If he is someone whom the Torah calls by the name "wise," he himself knows the laws; and since he knows the laws of the Torah, what kind of question is his "מה העדות וגו'" ("What are the testimonies . . .")?
The order of the night of Pesach is by way of question and answer33. That is why the law is34 that one who has no son must be asked by his wife, and if he has no wife he must ask himself "Mah Nishtanah. . ." Accordingly, one could explain the wise son's question: although he is wise and knows the Torah, he nevertheless must ask, because that is the order of the night of Pesach.
Yet it is understood that since the Torah sets out the questions and answers as a whole in four types — the Four Sons — and the highest type among them is the wise son, then his question "What are the testimonies . . ." alludes to the highest kind of questions. This is especially so according to what is explained in the writings of the Arizal35, that the Four Sons correspond to the four worlds: Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah36, and the wise son corresponds to Atzilus. It is therefore certain that the wise son's question alludes to the highest kind of question there can possibly be — and that the answer to the wise son's question answers those questions. It is therefore not understood: a) What is the special wisdom and depth of the question "מה העדות גו' אשר צוה הוי' אלקינו אתכם" ("What are the testimonies . . . which the L‑rd our G‑d has commanded you")? Even someone who has learned very little and has very little knowledge of the mitzvos of the Torah could ask this. b) What is the depth in the answer "One may not conclude after the Pesach offering with an afikoman"? c) It is an explicit Mishnah37, and "בן עשר למשנה" ("at ten years of age, one is ready for Mishnah")38. Anyone who has merely learned Mishnayos knows the law "One may not conclude . . ."
6. As said earlier, the wise son corresponds to Atzilus. In the world of Atzilus there is bittul bimetzius (self-nullification of one's very existence), which is the matter of Chochmah, ko'ach mah ("the power of 'what'"), the power of bittul that shines in Atzilus. And one who is at the level of bittul bimetzius is called "wise."
By virtue of bittul bimetzius — when one is not a separate existence unto oneself but entirely nullified and devoted to G‑d — the fulfillment of all mitzvos is in the same manner. When one feels one's own existence, then there are distinctions among the mitzvos: the mitzvos whose reason one knows and understands, one finds more delight in than in the mitzvos one fulfills with kabbalas ol (acceptance of the yoke), because "חוקה חקקתי גזירה גזרתי" ("I have ordained a statute, I have decreed a decree")39. Consequently, there is then room to divide the mitzvos into three categories: statutes (chukim), testimonies (eidus) and ordinances (mishpatim). Statutes have no place at all in the intellect; testimonies have a place in the intellect (on our own we would indeed not have understood that they must be done, but after the Torah has instructed us regarding the testimonies, they have a place in the intellect); and ordinances are such mitzvos as the intellect itself obligates, as our Sages say40: "אילמלא לא ניתנה תורה (ח"ו) היינו למידין צניעות מחתול וגזל מנמלה" ("Had the Torah not been given (G‑d forbid), we would have learned modesty from the cat and [the prohibition of] theft from the ant"). But by virtue of the bittul bimetzius of Chochmah — Atzilus — there is no difference whether one understands or does not understand; one fulfills all the mitzvos because G‑d commanded them. And one then also has delight in all the mitzvos; even in the mitzvos that have no place at all in the intellect, one has the greatest delight, knowing that this is the Supreme Will. As the well-known saying goes: "אילו נצטוה לחטוב עצים" ("Had he been commanded to chop wood")41 — had we been instructed by G‑d to chop wood, we would have done it with the same vitality as when fulfilling the mitzvah of putting on tefillin and the like.
And this is the wise son's argument: "מה העדות והחוקים והמשפטים אשר צוה הוי' אלקינו אתכם" ("What are the testimonies, the statutes and the ordinances which the L‑rd our G‑d has commanded you?"). Why are the mitzvos divided into separate categories? By virtue of the bittul bimetzius of Chochmah, there should be no distinctions whatsoever; in all the mitzvos there is only one point — fulfilling the Supreme Will.
Furthermore: the wise son's question is not only about testimonies and ordinances — why they are set apart from statutes — but the question is also about the statutes themselves. By virtue of the bittul bimetzius of Atzilus, the entire matter of statutes does not apply. The meaning of statutes is as our Sages say: "חוקה חקקתי גזירה גזרתי ואין לך רשות להרהר אחרי'" ("I have ordained a statute, I have decreed a decree, and you have no permission to question it"). This can be said only to someone who feels some existence apart from the Master: he must be instructed that "you have no permission to question it," and that he should do it with kabbalas ol. When, however, he is entirely and utterly nullified, so that apart from the existence of the Master there is nothing at all — then, just as it does not apply to instruct the Master Himself not to question His own command, so it does not apply to instruct this to the servant who stands in utter bittul and is nothing but — the Master. Such a servant fulfills the Master's command not in the manner of a statute, by way of kabbalas ol; rather, his fulfillment comes as a matter of course, because he is nullified and utterly united with the Master.
And this is the meaning of "The wise son, what does he say . . .": The soul of every Jew, in its essential being, is "טהורה היא" ("it is pure"), of the level of Atzilus42; but it descended below through the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah until it was clothed in a body. The "it is pure" of the soul asks: "What are the testimonies, the statutes and the ordinances which the L‑rd our G‑d has commanded you" — why must the fulfillment of the mitzvos be in the manner of the division into testimonies, statutes and ordinances, "which the L‑rd our G‑d has commanded you," the division that exists with you, created beings of the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah? From our perspective, from the perspective of the root of the soul, the fulfillment of the mitzvos is in a much higher manner; all matters are in the manner of mah — bittul bimetzius.
(Deeper still: the word mah also enters into the wise son's question. The aspiration of Atzilus is to reach higher than Atzilus, and there the matter of "mah," bittul bimetzius, also does not apply. For the description "bittul bimetzius" indicates that there is an existence that is nullified; and higher than Atzilus — where the wise son strives to reach — the matter of "mah" too does not apply. Therefore the wise son asks his question also about the level of "mah"; he wants to rise above that level too.)
7. To this comes the answer: "ואף אתה אמור לו כהלכות הפסח" ("You, too, tell him according to the laws of Pesach"). "Pesach" means "skipping" — leaping over, not in a gradual, orderly progression. So indeed was the revelation of G‑dliness on the night of Pesach: "נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא" ("The King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them") — G‑d revealed Himself "בכבודו ובעצמו" ("in His glory and in His own Self")43, Who is higher than all four worlds (which is also alluded to in the four expressions: "not an angel," "not a seraph," "not a messenger," "not another" — corresponding to the four worlds)44. And where did this revelation descend? In "מצרים ערות הארץ" ("Egypt, the nakedness of the land")45, a land "מלאה גילולים" ("full of idols")46 (which is incomparably lower not only than Atzilus, the place of the wise son, but even than Asiyah, the place of the wicked son. For we are speaking of a Jewish wicked son, and a Jew, even a complete rasha, also has the soul in the manner of an encompassing (makif) level47, and even his body is from kelipas nogah; whereas Egypt is of the three entirely impure kelipos, and of what impurity — "full of idols" — the impurity of idolatry, "ששקולה כנגד כל התורה" ("which is equivalent to the entire Torah")48). It is therefore understood that the drawing down of G‑d's Essence into a land full of idols is in the manner of "skipping," entirely not in an orderly progression.
One might therefore think that since it is a matter of "skipping," there need be no order in it, for order and gradual progression are the opposite of skipping. To this the answer is: "according to the laws of Pesach." In the Pesach offering too — through which the "ופסח הוי'" ("and G‑d will pass over"), the skipping that is above gradation, was drawn down — there were specific laws, and specifically in an orderly progression ("אל תיקרי הליכות אלא הלכות" ("Do not read halichos (ways) but halachos (laws)")49, that is to say, the laws are pathways from Above to below and from below to Above, through many, many levels): taking the Pesach offering on the tenth day of Nissan, slaughtering it, offering it and eating it, with all their detailed laws in a set order. For the Supreme Will is that even matters that are beyond limitation should come down specifically into measure and limitation.
And this is the answer to the wise son's question: there must be the division into testimonies, statutes and ordinances, even though the service must come from the essence of the soul, which is higher than any division — because the Supreme Intent is that even the service of the essence of the soul, as it is united with G‑d's Essence, which is above division, must be brought down into the division of an orderly service in testimonies, statutes and ordinances.
8. And the explanation of this is — "One may not conclude after the Pesach offering with an afikoman": the Pesach offering must be eaten at the end of the whole meal, when one is already satiated, so that the eating should be with enjoyment and importance50; and after eating the Pesach offering one may not eat any food at all, so that the taste of the Pesach should not be nullified for him.
We thus see two opposites in this: the eating of the Pesach must not be to satisfy hunger ("sufficient for his need"), and nevertheless there must be taste and enjoyment in it. That is to say, the enjoyment of eating the Pesach offering is not from the fact that one's lack is being filled, but from a higher matter — "wealth": higher than the things that one's existence requires, higher than one's powers — and yet one has enjoyment in it. One's enjoyment and delight is in something that is entirely higher than one's existence.
This means that even the bond of the essence of the soul with G‑d's Essence, as it is higher than the particular powers, must be brought down and drawn into the inner powers, beginning with the power of the intellect. That is why it is required that the fulfillment of the mitzvos be not only in the manner of testimonies and statutes but also in the manner of ordinances — that one bring it down into one's intellect and have taste and delight in it.
And therefore one of the main services of the Pesach offering is the eating51 of the Pesach — taking the "Pesach" and "skipping" inwardly, so that it becomes blood and flesh like his own flesh, and having taste in it; and afterwards not eating any other food, "כדי שלא יתבטל טעם הפסח בפיו" ("so that the taste of the Pesach not be nullified in his mouth") — that the Pesach, which is higher than intellectual comprehension (and so too now, when instead of the Pesach offering we eat matzah, "the food of faith"52, faith that is above the intellect), must be with taste and delight.
(From the sichos of the second night of Pesach, 5721.)
Notes
1) See the precision of the Rambam's wording at the end of Hilchos Chametz uMatzah: "The order of performing these mitzvos [OCR unclear] . . . Kiddush (ch. 8) . . . the text of the Haggadah . . . Ha Lachma . . ."
2) "Haggadah" — from "והגדת לבנך" ("And you shall tell your son"). Some explain that "Haggadah" is an expression of thanksgiving and praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, for having taken us out of Egypt, as the Jerusalem Targum translates "הגדתי היום לה' אלקיך" ("I declare this day to the L‑rd your G‑d") as "I have praised this day." Rabbi Saadiah likewise translated it in Arabic (Abudarham).
3) Rosh, end of Pesachim. Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chaim 473:36.
4) Shulchan Aruch there, and sec. 20.
5) For this reason we have seen that the explanations of our Rebbeim, who would explain the Haggadah on the nights of Pesach — which is on account of the mitzvah of telling the Exodus from Egypt — would begin from the passage "Ha Lachma Anya" (from the sicha of the second night of Pesach, 5718).
6) Unlike the text of the Rambam: "And he says: 'In haste we went out of Egypt; this is the bread . . .'"
7) Bava Metzia 83a.
8) Shabbos 67a, and the sources cited there. Zohar I, 27b.
9) Berachos 9b. Introduction to Tikkunei Zohar (1b). See also Shabbos 59b: "it is like the garments of kings."
10) Bava Basra 10a.
11) Shemos Rabbah 30:9. Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 1:3. — This is the arousal from Above that precedes the arousal from below: "He sanctified us with His commandments," and afterwards "whoever repeats . . . the Holy One, blessed be He, repeats correspondingly"; the tzitzis below arouse the tzitzis Above with additional lights, etc.; through the arousal from below, the arousal from Above. And this is what is written in the text, "and likewise what He commands . . ." See Torah Or, the explanation of the discourse beginning "כי עמך מקור" ("For with You is the source"), 8, and in many places.
12) Yeshayahu 63:9.
13) Yeshayahu 56:1. — The saying of our Sages (Megillah 29a), "They were exiled — the Shechinah is with them . . . and He will return with them from among the exiles," explains only (from the perspective of the Jews) the Shechinah that is with them; the verses cited in the text add (from the perspective of the Jews) that the Shechinah itself is also in a state of exile, and needs "My salvation." So too in the text of the Hoshanos: "A nation and G‑d in need of salvation . . ." and in II Shmuel (7:23): "Whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, a nation and its G‑d." This is easily understood. This is not the place to elaborate.
14) Nedarim 41a.
15) Tanya, ch. 3.
16) Vayikra Rabbah 32:5.
17) Shemos 5:2.
18) Devarim 15:8. See also Kesubos 67b.
19) Pesachim 70a. Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, beginning of sec. 477.
20) Bereishis Rabbah 5:5.
21) Megaleh Amukos, ofen 186 (cited in Yalkut Reuveni, beginning of Bereishis; in Yalkut Chadash, entry "Torah," sec. 175; and elsewhere). Some have noted Zohar Chadash on Rus, on the verse "וזאת לפנים בישראל" ("And this was formerly the custom in Israel"). And although the number of the Children of Israel is more than six hundred thousand souls, it is known that this number is the number of the roots, and each root divides . . . — Tanya, ch. 37; see there.
22) Nedarim 66a.
23) See Rambam, Hilchos Geirushin, end of ch. 2.
24) "[Three things] cause a person to transgress . . . the will of his Creator . . . the pressures of poverty." See there the Gaon Rabbeinu Chananel (Eruvin 41b).
25) Shir HaShirim 4:7. See also Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 45c.
26) Makkos, end of 23b. Zohar I, 170b.
27) Zohar there.
28) Sanhedrin 98a.
29) Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 11:4. See also the letter of the Rebbe [Rashab], of blessed memory (in Kovetz Michtavim, vol. 1, letter 9; his Igros Kodesh, vol. 1, letter 130).
30) Michah 7:15.
31) Mechilta, Shemos 14:31.
32) Sotah 48a.
33) See Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 21, and Minchas Chinuch there; Haggadah of the Shelah, Pesach. See also Responsa of the Rosh, klal 24, sec. 2. This mitzvah [OCR unclear].
34) Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chaim 473:40.
35) Pri Etz Chaim, Shaar 21, ch. 7. Siddur of the Arizal.
36) The wise son — Atzilus; the wicked son — Asiyah; the simple son — Beriah; and the one who does not know how to ask — Yetzirah. See also Likkutei Sichos, vol. 1, the sichos for Pesach.
37) Pesachim 119b. See also Sanhedrin (6a): "If he erred in a matter of an explicit Mishnah, [the ruling] is reversed."
38) Avos, end of ch. 5. See also the Alter Rebbe's Hilchos Talmud Torah (beginning of ch. 1): "in their days . . ." (there, sec. 6), and in the second edition . . .
39) Bamidbar Rabbah, beginning of Chukas. Rambam, end of Hilchos Mikvaos.
40) Eruvin, end of 100b. See also above, p. 890, in the note.
41) Likkutei Torah, Shelach 40a.
42) Likkutei Torah, Re'eh 28c; Shir HaShirim 8c.
43) The Malchus of the Infinite and the Essence of the Infinite that precedes the tzimtzum (writings of the Rebbe [Rashab], of blessed memory (Hemshech 5672, vol. 2, p. 924, and elsewhere). — Cited in the "Haggadah with Likkutei Minhagim veTa'amim," Kehot edition, p. 25).
44) See Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12c.
45) Bereishis 42:9. See also Koheles Rabbah 1:7.
46) Rashi, Shemos 9:29; it is from Shemos Rabbah there.
47) Tanya, ch. 11.
48) Kiddushin 40a.
49) Megillah, end of 28b. Niddah 73a. It is known that every "do not read [thus], but [thus]" in the words of our Sages comes to add (see the discourse beginning "מי העיר" ("Who has aroused"), 5703, and the sources noted there).
50) Rashi, Pesachim 70a.
51) Mishnah, Pesachim 120b.
52) Cited in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 1, p. 244.
Key Lesson
"Ha Lachma Anya" contains the whole story of exile and redemption: however great the darkness, G‑d asks every Jew only to hunger for G‑dliness, and He grants not only what is needed but true wealth of knowledge, which leads to the will for Torah and to the true Redemption. And as the answer to the wise son teaches, even the soul's essential bond with G‑d, which is above all divisions, must be brought down into an orderly service of all the mitzvos, understood and savored with the intellect.