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Session Three
The Way of Imagination: Midrash
Midrash Halakhah text This is a very typical example of Midrash Halakhah; it reads a
verse in the Torah very carefully, a bit at a time; there is meaning
in every bit of the verse, and questions raised by one part of
the verse are answered by another part.
Still, Midrash Halakhah is part of the traditional Jewish curriculum.
There are bits of it included in the Siddur, and there is a very
representative example in the Passover Haggadah. However, many
contemporary revised editions of the Haggadah leave this bit out,
because it's so hard to understand. Here it is (immediately following
the four children). This passage elaborates on the same verse
(Ex. 13:8) that was used to answer the fourth child, but because
the verse is not repeated in the Haggadah, it is not clear what
the text is referring to.
One might think [that the obligation to talk about the Exodus
from Egypt] applies from the first day of the month [of Nissan];
therefore the Torah says: on that day. The expression "that day"
might be understood to refer to daytime; there the Torah adds
"because of this." "Because of this" means at a time when Matzah
and Maror actually lie before you.
The Torah says "You shall tell your child". It's already clear
to the Rabbis -- partly from the context and more so from tradition
-- that this means "you shall conduct a Seder." The question is
-- when? Maybe we should have the Seder on Rosh Chodesh Nisan
-- the first day of the Jewish month that Passover falls in? After
all, why wait?
This question is answered by the next part of the verse -- "on
that day." Ah ha! "On that day" must mean on the day that the first Passover happened. We
can't start the seder on the first of the month, we have to wait
two weeks, till Pesach!
But this raises another question: maybe we should start in the
daytime! After all, Pesach as described in the Torah involves
a lot of preparations during the day, not just the main event
in the evening. And the Torah says right here, "on that day!"
However, the next part of the verse answers this question: "...
saying, because of this Adonai did for me..." The word "this", according to the Rabbis,
refers to the matzah and bitter herb. So we don't start the Seder
until we have the matzah and bitter herb in front of us -- which
is, of course, in the evening.
"huh?"
If at this point you say "huh?" you are understanding the text
correctly. To our way of thinking, it may be charming -- I am
charmed by the sense of eagerness, wanting to start the Seder
two weeks early -- but it makes no sense. This becomes clearest
at the end. First of all, "this" does not refer to the matzah
and bitter herb, it refers to "what Adonai did for me, bringing
me out of Egypt" -- the whole story of the Exodus and the whole
concept of freedom. Second of all, the answer only works if you
already know that the Seder happens in the evening. But if you
already know when the Seder happens, why ask the whole set of
questions in the first place? And really, who would ever ask whether
they could start the Seder two weeks early? The house isn't kosher
for Pesach yet!! The whole thing seems artificial.
Yet this kind of study was a major preoccupation of the most brilliant
and learned Rabbis during many years of early Judaism, and it
is the basis for a huge amount of Jewish tradition. There must
be something to it -- but we don't get it. Sad to say, this is
a part of our tradition to which we have lost the key.
