one question dealt with by many acharonim about pesach is the following: why do we need a special mitzvah of sippur yetzias mitzraim on leil pesach? dont we have this mitzvah already every night of the year - chazal darshen limaan tizkor es yom tzeischa me-eretz mitzraim kol yemei chayecha - yemei chayecha hayamim, kol yemei chayecha haleilos - from here there is a chiyuv to mention yetzias mitzraim every day and night of the year (which we do in krias shema). so what is special about the mitzvah this night that makes it different than the mitzvah the rest of the year?
r chaim used to say over at his seder every year the following key differences:
1. the mitzvah every night is just a hazkara kol dihu - a brief mention of yetzias mitzraim. the mitzvah on leil haseder requires a more detailed explanation of the "nissim viniflaos shenaasu lavoseinu bimitzraim".
2. every night, the mitzvah is to talk to oneself. on leil haseder, we have a din of vihigadta libincha - to tell the story to others.
3. (this one is a little more technical) the mitzvah every night is not a mitzvah thats counted in the taryag - rather, its part of the mitzvah of krias shema and kabbalas ol malchus shamayim. the mitzvah on leil haseder is its own mitzvah in the taryag.
in r soloveitchik's yartzheit shiurim, he adds one more difference he thought was fundamental:
4. the mitzvah every other night is just to remember. tonight, the mitzvah to say hallel/shirah is part of the mitzvah of sippur yetzias mitzraim.
what r chaim is saying is definitely true on some level, and it has some real hashkafic implications for the essence of the mitzvah of leil haseder (hence he repeated it every year); however, i think theres another angle from which to look at this question.
to start, a few questions on this mehalech:
1. the minchas chinuch already attempts to give an answer similar to r chaim, but rejects it - even if it is true that ideally one should be maarich about sippur yetzias mitzraim in the ways r chaim highlighted, bdieved, one is yotzeh without that. the avudraham writes that we dont make a bracha on thehaggada because we were already yotzeh the mitzvah of sippur in kiddush when we said "zecher liyetzias mitzraim" (tzarich iyun why we werent yotzeh before that already in krias shema - maybe because you need matzah umaror munachim lifanecha) . this point may be taluy in a machlokes rishonim whats pshat in rabbban gamliel: "kol shelo amar shelosha devarim bapesach lo yatza yedei chovaso" - some rishonim take it literally, while other rishonim say it means you werent yotzeh in the best way. definitely according to the latter group of rishonim, it doesnt seem that the essence of themitzvah on leil haseder differs from the mitzvah every night in the ways r chaim claimed.
2. a kashya ive had for many years - if the mitzvah of zechiras yetzias mitzraim every night is so different from the sippur of leil haseder, then why do we quote the mishna about mazkirin yetzias mitzraim baleilos in the haggada -- that mishna is clearly referring to the mitzvah of every night. the avudraham, in his peirush on the haggada explains, וא"ת נזכור ביום שנאמר (דברים טז, ג) למען תזכור את יום צאתך וגו' אך בלילה לא מצאנו זכירה לכך דורש עתה ימי חייך הימים כל להביא הלילות. - he explicitly connects between the chiyuv of leil haseder and the chiyuv of every night - according to r chaim, these are 2 separate worlds - they shouldnt mix!
2b. on the same note, there is a famous ramban at the end of parshas bo. there he discusses the significance of all the mitzvos we have zecher leyetzias mitzraim, and gives us a list of the most fundamental of them - and i quote:
ובעבור כי הקב"ה לא יעשה אות ומופת בכל דור לעיני כל רשע או כופר, יצוה אותנו שנעשה תמיד זכרון ואות לאשר ראו עינינו, ונעתיק הדבר אל בנינו, ובניהם לבניהם, ובניהם לדור אחרון. והחמיר מאד בענין הזה כמו שחייב כרת באכילת חמץ (לעיל יב טו) ובעזיבת הפסח (במדבר ט יג), והצריך שנכתוב כל מה שנראה אלינו באותות ובמופתים על ידינו ועל בין עינינו, ולכתוב אותו עוד על פתחי הבתים במזוזות, ושנזכיר זה בפינו בבקר ובערב, כמו שאמרו (ברכות כא א) אמת ויציב דאורייתא, ממה שכתוב (דברים טז ג) למען תזכור את יום צאתך מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך, ושנעשה סכה בכל שנה:
with everything you've read until now, you might notice (as i first did this year) one glaring absence from the list (even though the list isnt meant to be exhaustive) - namely, sippur yetzias mitzraim of leil haseder! it seems, again, that the ramban felt this mitzvah was subsumed under his discussion ofthe mitzvah to mention yetzias mitzraim every night (that did make the list above), which is definitely not true according to r chaim.
we are familiar with the idea that on pesach night, were supposed to feel as if we ourselves left mitzraim. lets look at the rambam's formulation of this halacha:
בכל דור ודור חייב אדם להראות את עצמו כאילו הוא בעצמו יצא עתה משעבוד מצרים שנאמר +דברים ו'+ ואותנו הוציא משם וגו', ועל דבר זה צוה הקב"ה בתורה +דברים ה'+ וזכרת כי עבד היית כלומר כאילו אתה בעצמך היית עבד ויצאת לחירות ונפדית.
im not going to discuss now the famous liros/liharos distinction. but look at the 2 proof pesukim the rambam quoted to demonstrate this halacha that bileil haseder, one should feel as if he himself went out of mitzraim. the first one, which is from the gemara, makes sense. its one of the pesukim in theanswer to the question of the ben hachacham - the pasuk is in the context of the mitvzah of sippur yetzias mitzraim, and in that context, the father talks about him himself going out of mitzraim, even if this father is from later generations.
but in quoting that second pasuk (which the gemara does not mention to my limited knowledge), the rambam is saying a tremendous chiddush. thephrase vizacharta ki eved hayisa comes up a few times in chumash, so its not clear exactly which one the rambam is referring to. but i dont think it comes up in the context of sippur yetzias mitzraim. in the aseres hadibros, it comes up when hashem commands us about shabbos. in parshas reeh, it comes up when hashem commands us about haanaka (you have to send an eved ivri off with presents), and also during the discussion of shavuos. in ki seitzei, it comes up by the prohibition to perevert justice against widows and orphans; a few pesukim later, the phrase is used in context of the command to leave peah. so if youre trying to prove to me that there is a chiyuv on leil haseder to feel like i left mitzraim, how did you prove it by quoting a pasuk that has nothing to do with leil haseder?
i think the answer is self evident. obviously, the mitzvah to feel like we left mitzraim right now - even the mitzvah of leil haseder -- is not limited to leil haseder - rather, we're supposed to feel that way the entire year, when we're keeping shabbos, leaving peah, pursuing justice, etc.
this makes sense. to try to feel for one day a year as if we left mitzraim would be fake. if we really feel that way, then we feel that way always.
if you look at rashi in chumash, the pasuk of limaan tizkor es yom teischa me-eretz mitzraim kol yemei chayecha (which chazal darshened for mentioning yetzias mitzraim every day) is really referring to the mitzvos of leil haseder. but chazal understood: theres no such thing as feeling for a day that we left mitzraim. real feelings last. mimeila, the seder is michayev us to mention yetzias mitzraim every day - but its all (both the zechira of every day and the sippur of leil haseder) one mitzvah. hence its inclusion in the haggada, and the ramban's inclusion of mitzvas sippur yetzias mitzraim shbilel haseder into the broader mitzvah of every day - it really is all the same mitzvah.
so just to sum up this first point in an effort to clarify. there are mitzvos in the torah that would seem to be specific to leil haseder - matzoh, marror, and sippur yetzias mitzraim. but when the torah told us that these mitzvos have as their purpose that one should feel as if he himself left mitzraim, chazal understood from this that the mitzvah of sippur is really not limited to leil haseder, but applies to every day and night of the year. so while it is performed more elaborately on leil haseder, with matzah and marror and vihigadta libincha and hallel, the mitzvah all year is the same as the one on leil haseder. thus we answer our first question, how is the mitzvah tonight different - really it isnt different! it really is the same mitzvah of the entire year. but thats ok because the chiyuv of the entire year stems from our new understanding of leil haseder- we act out yetzias mitzraim tonight to feel the entire year as if we left mitzraim just yesterday.
and that leads me to my next, perhaps more radical point. we already quoted the ramban at the end of parshas bo about the fundamental role yetzias mitzraim plays in our avodas hashem. just to quote a little more of the holy words of the ramban:
כי הקונה מזוזה בזוז אחד וקבעה בפתחו ונתכוון בענינה כבר הודה בחדוש העולם ובידיעת הבורא והשגחתו, וגם בנבואה, והאמין בכל פנות התורה, מלבד שהודה שחסד הבורא גדול מאד על עושי רצונו, שהוציאנו מאותו עבדות לחירות וכבוד גדול לזכות אבותיהם החפצים ביראת שמו:
the ramban focuses on the bein adam lamakom aspects of remembering mitzraim. moshe (ben nachman) emes vitoraso emes. but according to therambam (moshe ben maimon emes vitoraso emes), we can add another point. the mitzvos of leil haseder - matzoh, maror, sippur, and the mitzvah to feel that we left egypt is not only a mitzvah bein adam lamakom, but also a mitzvah bein adam lachaveiro. the vizacharta pesukim we quoted earlier - a bunch of them were referring to mitzvos bein adam lachaveiro like peah, etc. if we were to internalize the feeling that we ourselves were slaves in egypt (and feel that way all year round), it would change not only the way we would relate to god, but also the way we would relate to others.
we have to understand, what does it mean that we ourselves left mitzraim? it means to me to see oneself as part of klal yisrael and as part of themesorah. a person who says, "mitzraim happened to some people a few thousand years ago - it was painful to them - but mah hakesher to me?" that attitude reflects a lack of identification with the mesorah and klal yisrael as the entirety of one's existence. those people were our people! they stood by har sinai and gave us the torah we have today - how can we not identify with the struggles of our ancestors, their crying to god, god's salvation and ultimate giving of the torah - that was us! a person who feels this way, who identifies with klal yisrael from both a religious and nationalistic perspective will obviously keep all the mitzvos, both bein adam lamakom and bein adam lachaveiro.
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