Questions without Answers
The Shabbat before Pesach is called Shabbat HaGadol – the Great Shabbat – because of the miracle that was performed on it. (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim)
The commemoration of Shabbat HaGadol
The Shabbat prior to Pesach is referred to as Shabbat HaGadol. Its name is derived from the miracle that occurred on that Shabbat at the time of the exodus from Egypt. In the year of the redemption, the date of this Shabbat was the 10th of Nisan. Moshe told the people that they would soon be redeemed. The process of redemption required their abandonment of the idolatry of Egypt. Each household was to slaughter a lamb and place its blood on the doorposts and lintel of its home. The Egyptians regarded lambs as sacred. Obedience to this command was their renouncement of the idolatry of Egypt. Moshe also told them that each household must secure on the 10th of the month the lamb for slaughter. On that day, the Jews gathered their lambs and the Egyptians questioned them. They told the Egyptian that in a few days they would slaughter their sacred animals. The Egyptians dared not oppose the Jews. Instead, they stood by as these former slaves defied their religion and culture.[1]
The 10th of Nisan does not always correspond with the Shabbat preceding Pesach. Nonetheless, the events of the 10th of Nisan are recalled on that Shabbat every year.
Reading the Haggadah on Shabbat HaGadol
Shabbat HaGadol is observed in a number of ways. One of these is that the rav – the rabbi – of the community delivers a discourse on the laws of Pesach. Many communities have another observance. A major section of the Haggadah is read. The portion begins with Avadim Hayinu and concludes with the paragraph following Dayeinu. The simplest and most obvious reason for this practice is that the Shabbat recalls the events of the 10th of Nisan. On that date, the Jews took their first pro-active step toward denouncing idolatry and achieving liberation. The reading of the Haggadah is a fitting means of honoring the day and recalling its significance.[2]
One of the most ancient explanations for the practice of reading the Haggadah on Shabbat HaGadol is provided by Rabbaynu Amram Gaon. He begins by reinterpreting the actual practice. He suggests that the practice is for only the children to read the Haggadah on Shabbat HaGadol. The children preview the Haggadah before Pesach night to prepare for their participation in the Seder. This participation is central to the Seder. The children are encouraged to ask questions and the discussion at the Seder should take place in response their inquiries. Without this preview, the children can be easily overwhelmed by the Seder’s activities and by the unfamiliar Haggadah text. Their preview and understanding of the Haggadah’s contents enables them to ask far better questions.[3]
According to Rabbeinu Amram Gaon, the Shabbat HaGadol practice is related to one of the most fundamental aspects of the Seder. On Pesach night, we do not read the Haggadah; we teach and learn it. This is also an aspect of the Seder that is confusing and difficult to understand. Let us consider the problem that it presents.
The role of the children at the Seder
The Haggadah includes the Ma Nishtanah. This portion of the Haggadah is a set of sample questions that the children at the Seder might pose. However, the Ma Nishtanah does not represent the ideal extent of the children’s participation. The ideal is for the children to ask numerous questions encompassing every aspect of the Seder and its redemption narrative. Their specific questions are the product of their understanding, intelligence, and imagination. We cannot anticipate in advance every question that our children may ask. Similarly, the Haggadah presents responses to the questions included in the Haggadah. However, the Haggadah does not and cannot include responses to the many and varied questions that our children are encouraged to pose. In other words, if we succeed in inspiring our children to participate fully in the Seder and to apply their inquisitive minds, we will surely find that the material included in the Haggadah is inadequate to answer their questions. How are we to respond to questions we did not anticipate and whose answers are not in the Haggadah?
We can better understand this problem by comparing this aspect of the Seder to its other performances. The other mitzvot performed at the Seder have precise parameters. By conducting ourselves within these parameters, we fulfill these mitzvot. For example, Kiddush has a specific text. If we recite its text and meet the other simple specifications, then we fulfill the mitzvah of making Kiddush. The mitzvah of eating matzah is another example. We are required to eat a specific amount of matzah in a designated length of time. By meeting these requirements, we fulfill the mitzvah. Now let’s contrast these examples to our obligation to retell the story of our redemption. We perform this mitzvah by engaging our children. They may pose questions we do not expect and that we cannot answer by referring to the text of the Haggadah. We may not know the answers to these questions. How do we respond to these questions and create a meaningful learning experience?
“And our toil” these are the sons. As it says: every son who is born should be thrown into the river and every daughter should be preserved. (Haggadah of Pesach)
The toil of bondage
A hint to the answer to our question is found in an unexpected place. Let’s consider the above excerpt from the Haggadah. In the section of the Haggadah from which the excerpt is taken we retell the story of our bondage and redemption in detail. The story is communicated through a process of Biblical study and interpretation – a process of Torah study. The Haggadah focuses upon a short set of pesukim in Sefer Devarim. These passages provide an abbreviated account of the story. The passages are carefully analyzed and compared to the more detailed account in Sefer Shemot. Through this process, the more complete story emerges.
In the above excerpt, the Haggadah expounds upon a specific portion of the Sefer Devarim section. In that portion, Hashem is described as observing our suffering and our toil. The Haggadah explains that the term “toil” refers to the Egyptian program of genocide. Paroh decreed that every male child should be thrown into the river and drowned.
Malbim asks: How did the Sages know that the term “toil” refers to the Egyptian program of extermination? He responds that the Hebrew term amal – toil – means to exert effort without a meaningful outcome. Malbim explains that a person who endures grueling labor is not necessarily engaged in amal. If the tribulations are endured in order to achieve a positive outcome, then the experience is a hardship but it is not meaningless toil. However, if this misery is endured and no positive outcome can be envisioned, then the person’s affliction is transformed into amal – pointless toil.
Based on this interpretation of the term amal, Malbim explains the Sages’ reasoning. Before Paroh’s genocidal decree the people believed that they would endure their suffering and that the Jewish people would survive. Their affliction was harrowing but it was not pointless. They were preserving the Jewish people. When Paroh decreed that every male should be killed, their endurance no longer served a purpose. Paroh’s program was designed to destroy the Jewish people. No longer was there any point to enduring. The grueling routine was transformed into pointless toil.[4]
We give thanks before You, Hashem – our L-rd and the L-rd of our fathers – that You placed our portion among those who dwell in the bait ha’midrash and You did not place our portion among those who dwell at street corners. We rise early and they rise early. We arise to the words of Torah and they arise to meaningless affairs. We toil and they toil. We toil and receive reward. They toil and do not receive reward. (Hadran prayer)
The amal of Torah study
This interesting insight into the Haggadah has an important implication in regards to Torah study. This is because the term amal is used to describe Torah study. The above quote is taken from the Hadran prayer. This prayer is customarily recited upon the completion of a tractate of the Talmud.[5] In this prayer we describe the study of Torah as toil – amal. This presents three problems. First, how can the study of Torah be characterized as a pointless activity. Second, we declare in this prayer that our toil in the study of Torah is rewarded. If it is rewarded, then it is not amal! There is a meaningful outcome!
Third, the Hadran prayer compares the study of Torah to other endeavors. These other activities are described as meaningless activities that are not rewarded. This seems to be an unfair assertion. The recompense for other activities may not be a reward from Hashem but, certainly, they are rewarded. For example, a person who makes a wise investment in securities or in some other asset is rewarded. The asset appreciates and his wealth grows. Why does the Hadran treat this endeavor as meaningless and without reward?
The unique character of Torah study
We must begin by understanding how the term amal is being used in this prayer. In order to understand this usage, we must more carefully consider how we view or describe endeavors. An endeavor has two aspects. It involves an activity and it includes an outcome. Let’s return to the example of our investor. His endeavor includes a set of activities in which he engages. He identifies potential investments. He evaluates their potential for producing profit. He evaluates risk. He deploys his capital among his various investment options. His endeavor also produces an outcome. He earns a profit from his investments.
The same analysis applies to the endeavors of a student of Torah. He engages in an activity of study and discovery. He produces an outcome. The outcome is his correct understanding of the material he studies.
The term amal in the Hadran prayer, refers to the activity of an endeavor – divorced from and viewed irrespective of its outcome. This usage is slightly different than the usage in the Haggadah. However, both usages share a common root. In both instances, amal describes activity divorced of product. However, in the Haggadah, the activity is divorced of a meaningful product because that product – the survival of the people – has been eliminated by Paroh’s decree. In the Hadran prayer, the term amal describes activity divorced of its product. However, in this instance the product is achievable; we are choosing to consider the activity alone and without its product.[6]
This clearer understanding of the use of the term amal in the Hadran prayer answers our first two questions. The term is used to describe an activity that is viewed separately from its outcome. The prayer does not suggest that learning does not produce an outcome or that the outcome is meaningless.
Now, we are ready to understand the strange declarations of the Hadran prayer. The investor’s amal – his activities when considered irrespective of their outcomes – have no reward. They are meaningless. It is only the hoped-for outcome that inspires the investor. He engages in the elaborate and tedious process of investment evaluation and analysis in order to make money. If he did not believe that his activities would lead to that outcome, he would engage in other endeavors. In short, his amal – his activities, alone – has no inherent value or reward.
The Hadran prayer is explaining that the activity of Torah study does have inherent value – regardless of the success of the student. It makes no difference whether the student develops a deeper understanding of the material or ends his study session more confused than when he started. The value of and reward for the endeavor is to be found in the activity and not only in its outcome.
All of our questions on the prayer are answered by this insight. The point made by the Hadran prayer is not that Torah study produces reward and other activities do not. The point is that we receive reward for the amal of Torah study. This means that the activity of Torah study has value and reward regardless of its success. In this sense, Torah study is unique. All other endeavors are worthwhile by virtue of their product. The amal alone is meaningless. The activity’s meaningfulness is derived from the success of its outcome. Only in the case of Torah study does the amal – the activity itself – have inherent value.[7]
Questions without answers
Now, we can return to and answer our original question. We have discovered that our question is founded upon a flawed understanding of the nature and objective of Torah study. We assumed that unanswered questions detract from the quality of one’s Torah study. We assumed that if our children pose questions that we cannot answer, then we have failed to fulfill the obligation to study with them the story of our exodus. This is not true. The study of Torah is not dependent upon coming to definite conclusions and discovering the answers to our questions. We are required to engage in study, to connect to the Torah. Whether our engagement leads to answers or to even greater questions, we have fulfilled the mitzvah of Torah study.
As parents and as teachers, we must understand that our primary responsibility is not to provide our children and students with answers. Instead, we must inspire our children and students to engage in Torah study and in the pursuit of understanding. Sometimes, study leads to answers and greater understanding. Sometimes, authentic study uncovers mistaken assumptions and flaws in presumed answers. Recognizing these mistakes and flaws is also an increase in our understanding – even though the encounter does not provide conclusive results.
[1] Shulchan Aruch does not identify the miracle that Shabbat HaGadol recalls. The explanation cited above is provided by a number of commentaries. According to this explanation, the events of the 10th of Nisan did not include a miracle. However, the Egyptians’ behavior reflected the enormous impact of the miracles that had occurred up to this point. They did not oppose the Jews because they recognized that they could not defy the will of the god of the Jews.
[2] Rav Eliyahu of Vilna – the GRA – opposed reading the Haggadah on Shabbat HaGadol. His reasoning is based upon a law cited in the Haggadah. The Haggadah explains that the commandment to retell the events of our redemption applies only to the night of Pesach. The mitzvah cannot be performed and fulfilled before its time. A number of authorities question the ruling of the GRA. They point out the above noted excerpt from the Haggadah does not prohibit reading the Haggadah or retelling the story of our redemption at times other than the night of Pesach. The ruling in the Haggadah deals only with the fulfillment of the commandment to retell the story. One does not read the Haggadah on Shabbat HaGadol in order to fulfill the commandment of retelling the story of redemption. It is read as a means of commemorating the events of 10th of Nisan. Therefore, there is no reason to prohibit the activity. Of course, the GRA understood that the law cited in the Haggadah is stated in regards to the mitzvah of retelling the story of redemption. However, he maintains that the inclusion of this law in the Haggadah is intended to communicate that the text of the Haggadah is designed and designated for the fulfillment of the mitzvah of Pesach night. Reading the Haggadah on Shabbat HaGadol suggests that the text does not have this specific design and designation.
[3] Rav Yisroel Yosef Bronstein, Haggadah shel Pesach, Including Teachings of Rav Moshe Feinstein, p 21.
[4] Rav Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel (Malbim), Midrah Haggadah – Commentary on Pesach Haggadah, p 31. Malbim’s phrasing is not completely clear. The following is the text of his comments: “Our toil”. The term amal refers to a person who toils without benefiting oneself. Instead, his toil is pointless and does not achieve its objective… “This is the decree of the sons”. Insofar as they toiled on their behalf and it was pointless because Paroh decreed that they should be destroyed.
[5] The current text has been in use for a few hundred years (Rav Aden Steinsaltz). The practice of celebrating the completion of a tractate is derived from Mesechet Shabbat 118b. See: Rav Shlomo Luria, Yam shel Shlomo, Masechet Bava Kamma, Chapter 7, afterword.
[6] It seems that the more fundamental usage is that of the Hadran prayer. Amal is the activity involved in an endeavor, considered separately from its product. The use of the term to describe the misery of bondage is intended to communicate that they engaged in activity alone. In other words, their activity – their intense labor – was not associated with the achievement of a meaningful outcome.
[7] This is not an original interpretation. I regret that I cannot recall its source.