Content

PREFACE......................................................................4
KADESH - Kiddush (Benjamin Reich)..............................................6
Nathan ben Samson of Meseritch (National Library Israel)...........8

URCHATZ - rinsing hands without blessing (Shoshana Ruerup)......................10

KARPAS - Eating Karpas (Naomi Henkel-Guembel)..................................12

YACHATZ - Breaking the Middle Matzah(Valentin Lutset)...........................14
MAGGID - Telling the story (Benjamin Reich)..................................16
HaLachma Ani’ia (Josh Weiner) ................................................17
Ma Nishtna (Karen Engel, Naomi Henkel-Guembel)...............................18
Avadim Ha’inu (Rabbis Neal & Jeremy Borovitz).................................19
Arba’a Rabbis in Bnei Brak (Benyamin Reich, Mati Shemoelof).....................20
Arba’a Banim. (Paige Harouse)...................................................21
Avoda Zara (Naomi Henkel-Guembel, Rabbi Rebecca Blady)..........................24
Baruch Shomer Havtachto L’Israel (Naomi Henkel Guembel).........................27
V’Hi She’Amda (Avidan Halivni)..................................................28
Arami Oved Avi (Yoav & Natalie Sapir)...........................................30
Yaakov & his Sons go down to Egypt (Benyamin Reich, Josh Weiner)................32
Slavery (Mati Shemoelof)........................................................33
Moving out of slavery (Benyamin Reich, Josh Weiner) ............................34
10 Makot (Avinoam Stillman).....................................................36
Dayenu (Talya Fridman)..........................................................38
Matzah - An Obligation (Josh Weiner)............................................40
B’Chol Dor V’Dor - In every generation (Benyamin Reich).........................41
B’Tzet Israel (Netanel Olhoeft)................................................42

2
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

RACHTZAH - Second Cup - Rinsing the hands with blessing (Tzvi Tosetti).....44
MOTZI MATZAH - Eating the Matzah (Josh Weiner)......................46

MAROR - Eating the maror (Valentin Lutset)...............................48

KORECH - Hillel’s sandwich (Ezra Waxman)................................50

SHULCHAN ARUCH - A word on hospitality (Igor Mendel Itkin)............52

Festive Meal Recipes..........................53 - 57

TZAFUN - Eating the Afikoman.............................................58

BARECH - Third Cup (Valentin Lutset).....................................60
HALLEL - Fourth Cup:.....................................................62
Eliyahu Hanavi /Miriam Hanevia (Shoshana Ruerup, Yaffa Fogel)
Min HaMetzar (Josh Weiner, Shoshana Ruerup)
- Ki L’Olam Chasdo (Mollie Sharfman)

NIRTZAH – Eva Lezzi Excerpt “Chaos zu Pessach............................68

ECHAD MI YODEA - Your Dream 153 (Valentin Lutset)...................70

with the huge Thanks to our supporters

3
 Preface
‫בס‘‘ד‬

‫ויצאנו ה‘ ביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה‬

(‫ט‬:‫)דברים כו‬
Vayotzi’enu HaShem b’yad chazakah ub’zaru’ah netu’yah

“The Eternal One rescued us through his strong hand and outstretched arm.”
(Devarim 26:8)
Dear Berliner Jews - those at heart and those in physical presence,
Here we are, celebrating a Pessach like none before. We are faced with new, unknown
challenges: The binding solitude from our dear ones and community, the concern for the
well-being - physically and mentally - of all of us and in particular of the most vulnerable
individuals in our society, who we need to safeguard.
We learn in our Oral Torah, the Mishnah, that every person at the seder-table should have a
transformative experience that night, as it says: “In every generation it is one’s duty to see
themselves as if they themselves came forth from Egypt”.

This year, 5780 / 2020, has a special taste to it: The fatigue, the fear and concern, the inner
struggles that we read in the Exodus story - they might be more real to us than ever before.

At times, all one is longing for is a shoulder to lean on. While many commentators connect
“b’yad chazakah” - the ‘strong hand’ - and the rest of the verse, with G!d’s violent plagues
over the Egyptians and agitating Israelites, the eighteenth-century commentary known as
‘Marbeh LeSaper’ suggests something different; it suggests that “b’yad chazakah” should be
understood as G!d’s right hand - “which is associated with loving kindness (chesed)” as it
says in the Torah: ‘Your right hand, LORD, glorious in power; Your right hand shatters the
foe.’ (Shemot 15:6) The right hand is mentioned twice: once for the revealed miracle of
redemption and once for the hidden miracle of redemption.”

4
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

With Purim just being a few weeks back, we can see this as a call to reveal the potential
that is hidden within us, to work towards a better world, to work
towards redemption as we are facing a world, which seems upside down.

‫ויאמר ה' אל־משה מה־תצעק אלי דבר אל־בני־ישראל‬

(‫טו‬:‫ויסעו )שמות י''ד‬

“And then the Eternal One said to Moshe: Why do you cry out to Me?
Tell the Israelites to go forward!”
(Shemot 14:15)

What we need now is encouragement and chesed.

We need to go forward. But what does it mean to go forward? Over centuries, we have
been able to overcome hardships by finding meaning in them.
And the Haggadah was throughout our history one of the most important
mediums for that; it has been an outlet to process hardship and to tie it to
personal experiences.

All those who have contributed their personal accounts, their thoughts and
creativity to this Berliner Haggadah Commentary, helped and are still helping in moving
forward - as individuals, as community and as society.

I hope you’ll find empowerment and strength throughout your seder and with
the help of this commentary.
May it be a Chag Cherut Same’ach, a joyful holiday of liberation, to all of us.

B’Bracha
Naomi Henkel-Guembel

5
‫קדש‬ KADESH

BLESSING OVER THE WINE

Fill up your cup with wine, raise it and say the Kiddush.
This is the first out of four glasses of wine that will
play an integral role in tonight’s meal. Why wine and
why four glasses? Well, wine is an essential symbol of joy
in all Jewish celebrations - from the weekly Shabbat to
holidays to weddings, we commemorate those moments with a
cup of wine, a special blessing and a toast. And the four
glasses? You’ll find out when we’ll get there.

‫א‬
6 FIRST CUP
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

BENYAMIN
REICH

7
‫קדש‬ KADESH

8
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

NATHAN BEN SAMSON OF MESERITCH

HAGGADA
Central Europe, 1730 /
Ms Heb 8=2237

From the
Collections of the National Library of Israel,
Jerusalem.

Nathan Ben Samson of Meseritch was a prominent figure in the

field of illuminated manuscripts in the 18th Century.
A Moravian artist, he created many manuscripts
including 10 Haggadot. This example, written mainly in vowelized
Amsterdam letters, includes instructions in Hebrew-German
as well as translations of piyutim ‘Adir Hu’ Ehad Mi Yode’a and Had
Gadya into Hebrew-German.

9
‫ורחץ‬ URCHATZ

TRADITIONAL HAND-WASHING IN PREPARATION OF THE SEDER

Washing hands can take place twice during our Seder: now, with no blessing,
to prepare us for the rituals to come; and then later, with a blessing,
to get us ready for the meal.

SHOSHANA
RUERUP

10
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

11
‫כרפס‬ KARPAS

Passover, like many of our holidays, links the joy over an event from our Jewish memo-
ry with awareness of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt, we
also acknowledge the stirrings of spring and awakening that takes place around us. We
now take a vegetable, representing spring, and dip it into salt water, a symbol of the
tears our ancestors shed as slaves. Before we eat it, we recite a short blessing, which
you can find in the Haggadah of your choice.

NAOMI
HENKEL-GUMBEL

12
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

13
‫יחץ‬ YACHATZ

There are three Matzot stacked on the table. We now break the middle one into two pieces.
One piece is called the Afikomen (Greek for “dessert”). The Afikomen is hidden and tradi-
tionally, children present at the seder have to find it until the end of the Seder.

Why do we eat Matzah? As a way of remembering the quick escape of our ancestors from
Egypt. Their departure came unexpectedly. Thus, when the word of their freedom came, they
took whatever dough they had and fled before it had the chance to rise, leaving it look-
ing something like matzah.

UNCOVER AND HOLD UP THE THREE PIECES OF MATZAH AND FOLLOW THE WORDS
OF YOUR HAGGADAH.

14
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

VALENTIN LUTSET
15
‫מגיד‬ MAGGID
Magid means telling. We don’t recall the story of Passover in a linear fashion as we go
through the Haggadah and this section in particular. We don’t learn about the life of
Moshe - how he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh, how he found out about his biologi-
cal family; actually we don’t learn anything about Moshe. Instead, recite a collection of
songs and recall images and stories of both the leaving from Mitzrayim and from Passover
celebrations through the centuries.

BENYAMIN
REICH
‫וְ ִה ַג ְּדתָ ּ ְל ִבנְ � בַ ּי�ם הַ הוּא‬

16
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
HALACHMA ANI’IA COMMENTARY
Every year, we tell the story of Passover from anew and frame it as a
discussion with questions and answers. The tradition that the young-
est person asks the questions reflects the idea of involving everyone
at the Seder.

JOSH WEINER
Poor Men’s bread

Matza represents. What, what does it represent?

At the start of the seder it is lechem oni, the bread of poverty

eaten by slaves; by the middle it’s a hurriedly-made food for

a newly-free people. Matza is a central ingredient in the

Thanks-offering, Isaac Luria calls it “great, great minds”,

Rebbe Nachman sees it as blinding humility. Matza represents!

The Talmud calls it “a bread with many answers (onin alav dvarim harbeh)”.

A floating signifier, it becomes a focal point around which we can create

answers, create questions, tell our stories, find meaning and meanings in

ancient symbols. As always, on Pesach we are again challenged to question

symbols, honour them, destroy and recreate them. This is the Pesach

tradition.

17
‫מגיד‬ MA NISHTNA
Passing on stories plays an important role in our tradition. So we try to think about it
from all angles. Our tradition speaks of four different types of children and each one of
them reacts differently to the Passover Seder. It is up to us to make our story accessible
to all the members of our community.

NAOMI
HENKEL-GUEMBEL

KAREN ENGEL
At a workshop with the Jewish Museum of Berlin, I was asked " how did the
culture of asking questions in Judaism develop?" And of course, we can
look at the whole culture of Talmud learning, of asking and rebutting
questions and analyzing logical threads of debate. But we actually learn
how to ask questions at home - from the very beginning -- and especially
from the Pessach seder. And traditionally, it is not the oldest, or wis-
est person at the table who asks questions -- but the very youngest.

How does this night differ from other nights? This year of the coronavi-
rus we need to ask another question.

"On all other Pessach seders we gather with family and friends to recount
the story of Pessach -- but this year we cannot gather. How can we cele-
brate Pessach in the year of social distancing?'"

18

AVADIM HA’INU
RABBIS NEAL & JEREMY BOROVITZ
Avadim Hayinu: Not only were we slaves
to the Pharaoh of Egypt, we have also been
enslaved and persecuted by other Pharaohs.
Among these Pharaohs of every age were the
Kings of Babylonia, the Emperors of Greece
and Rome, the Churchmen and Nobles of Me-
dieval Spain, Hitler and his Nazi followers, the
Pharaohs of Moscow, and the dictators, poten-
tates and terrorists of the contemporary Arab
world. The Babylonian exile was followed
by a return to Zion; the Hellenistic domina-
tion by the Maccabean victory; the destruc-
tion of the Second Temple by Rome with the
flourishing of rabbinic Judaism in both the
Land of Israel and Babylonia; the expulsion
from Spain by tolerance, first in Turkey and
Holland and then, ultimately, by the birth of
an American Jewish community. Hitler, the
Pharaoh of Auschwitz, whose acts of genocide
surpassed the sins of all the other enemies in
history: even he we survived. Thirty years
ago the doors in the iron curtain of the Soviet
Union were breached and nearly two million
Jews were given the opportunity to live freely
as Jews.
Yet redemption is not complete. Israeli and
Palestinian leaders have yet to find a way to
answer the yearning for peace with security
that we all seek. Millions of Arabs flee their
homes and hundreds of thousands die in the
Syrian civil war. Genocide in Darfur continues
in the silence of “yesterday’s news”. Muslims
in Burma and China suffer under expulsion,
imprisonment, and death. Shootings in Hanau
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY
and Halle have brought the fear of old ha-
treds back to German shores. There is a
deep pain in the world, and people live in
fear.
Yet perhaps the greatest threat to the Jew-
ish community today is the sin of “Sinat
Chinam”, the hatred between Jews of differ-
ing religious streams and political perspec-
tives. It is a cancer threatening the body
and soul of the Jewish people in the 21st
century.
The Matzah we eat tonight is both the bread
of affliction and the symbol of redemption.
Tonight, we must set aside a fourth Matzah,
for redemption is not complete.
May this Matzah inspire us to remember
those suffering across the world.
May this Matzah inspire us to protect our
brothers and sisters of varying ethnicities
and religions whose lives are under assault.
May this Matzah serve as a reminder to sup-
port the rights of Jews everywhere to live
free from the fear of anti-Semitism, whether
it comes from the right, from the left, or
from within.
May this Matzah remind us that we were
slaves, and we are still slaves, until we reach
the final redemption.
19
‫מגיד‬ ‫‪RABBIS IN BNEI BRAK‬‬

‫‪BENYAMIN‬‬
‫‪REICH‬‬
‫מעשה ברבי אליעזר וכו‬

‫‪MATI‬‬
‫‪SHEMOELOF‬‬

‫ידמוֹרה‬
‫ֶ‬ ‫ַּת ְל ִמ‬
‫יַ ד ַה ְּשׂמֹאל ֶש ִּׁלי ֵה ֵח ָּלה ִל ְכ ּתֹב‪,‬‬
‫רש ַׁטיְ נְ ֶּב ְרג‪ֶ ,‬ש ָּׁי ַדע‬
‫ְּכ ֶש ִׁה ַּכ ְר ִּתי ֶאתד ְ‬
‫אַחת ִּב ְפ ֻק ַּדת ַה ָּצ ָבא ֶּג ְר ָמנִ י ְוּל ַה ְס ִּביר ַּד ְר ָּכהּ‬
‫ָל ַק ַחת ִמ ָּלה ַ‬
‫ׂרוּפה‪.‬‬
‫גּוֹס ֶסת‪ְּ ,‬ב ַמ ֲח ִצית ַה ֵּמאָה ַה ְּש ָ‬
‫ֵאי‪ִ ‬ה ְתנַ ֲה ָלה ָּכל ַה ַּמ ְח ָש ָׁבה ַה ֶ‬
‫דּוּרגֶ ל ְמ ֵלאַת ִש ׂנְ אָה‪,‬‬
‫בוּצת ַּכ ֶ‬
‫ָהיִ ִיתי יְ ָמנִ י ִקיצוֹנִ י ִּב ְק ַ‬
‫מּוֹעדוֹן‪,‬‬
‫ֶש ָּׁמ ַכר ֶאת ֻח ְל ַצת ַה ֲ‬
‫ִּב ְש ִׁביל ַש ׂק ֶה ָעשׂוּי ְק ִלפּוֹת‬
‫ֲע ָר ִכים‪.‬‬
‫‪20‬‬
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
ARBA BANIM COMMENTARY

PAIGE HAROUSE

The Four Children

Many haggadot teach that there are four sons. We hold that there are four chil-
dren. On this night, leil haseder, we read about these four different peo-
ple: one wise, one evil, one innocent, and one who does not know how to ask.
While traditionally render them as four different people, we’d like to offer
an alternative approach. Each child represents a different personality trait.
Throughout our lifetimes we are, at various times, each child. Sometimes we are
wise, sometimes we are evil. Sometimes we are innocent, and sometimes we do
not know how to ask. As you read about the four children that the Torah talks
about, we invite you to reflect about the times in your life when
you have been each child.
‫ ָברּוְ ך ֶשנָ ַתן ּתֹ ָורה ְל ַּעמֹו‬,‫ ָברּוְ ך הּוא‬,‫ָברּוְ ך ַה ָמקֹום‬
‫אַר ָב ָעה ָבנִ ים ִד ְב ָרה‬
ְ ‫ ְכנגֶ ד‬.‫ ָברּוְ ך הּוא‬,‫יִ ְש ָר ֵאל‬
‫ וְ ֶא ָחד‬,‫דתם‬ ָ ‫ וְ ֶא ָח‬,‫ וְ ֶא ָחד ָר ָשע‬,‫ ֶא ָחד ָח ָכם‬:‫ת ָֹורה‬
. ‫ֶש ֵאינֹו י ֵֹוד ַע ִל ְשאֹול‬

Wise Child

‫חכם מה הוא אומר? ״ושמע האמת ממי שאמרו״‬

What does the wise (child) say? “Accept the truth from whatever source.”1
The wise child chooses to recite the words of others, for they have studied and
studied. They have learned our history: about the Haskalah, the Hochschule für
Wissenschaft des Judentums, the Hasidim and Mitnagdim rivalry, and more. They
have also learned our texts: Torah, Mishnah, and Gemara. The wise child wants to
teach, and we have much to learn from them. Yet what the wise child must realise
is that one must live Torah in order to teach Torah. We must remind them of the

.‫הוא היה אומר כל שמעשיו מרובין מחכמתו חכמתו מתקיימת‬

.‫וכל שחכמתו מרובה ממעשיו אין חכמתו מתקיימת‬
He used to say: anyone whose actions exceed their wisdom, their wisdom is
enduring, but anyone whose wisdom exceeds their actions, their wisdom is not
enduring.

1
The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Pirkei Avot, Introduction: 1

21
‫מגיד‬ ARBA BANIM

Evil Child
‫ֲשָ ׂה ה֖ וּא שֶ ׁ ֵיּעָ שֶ ׂ֑ ה‬
֔ ‫ה־שֶ ּׁהָ ָיה ֙ ה֣ וּא שֶ ׁיִ ְּה ֶי֔ה וּמַ ה־שֶ ׁ ּֽ ַנע‬
ֽ ַ‫רשעה מה היא אומרת? " מ‬
2
"‫דשׁ תַ ּ֥ חַ ת הַ ֽשָ ּׁמֶ שׁ‬
֖ ָ ָ‫וְ ֵא֥ין כָ ּל־ח‬
What does the evil (child) say? “What happened will continue to happen. There is
nothing new under the sun.” The evil child is only able to see the past through a
narrow lens, which lets the horrors of time-the Shoah, the Inquisition,
Pogroms- control their life. “I don’t understand how you do this,” they say to
fellow Jews. The weight of history and the weight of absence overwhelms them.
They remember that is both a name of a place and of G!d, and they keep won-
dering where G!d was then and is now. The evil child has never learned to see the
world in color, but only as black and white. They lack the understanding that our
tradition is one that balances multiple realities, and that Judaism, like life,
balances joy and sorrow. The evil child fails to understand that wrestling with
doubts can be a sacred act. They would do well to read the story of Hannah, who
let her pain move her, rather than control her. Maybe, then, they would under-
stand that most moving prayers can come from a bitter place:

3
‫הוה ָוּב ֥כֹה ִת ְב ֶּֽכה‬
ָ֖ ְ‫וְ ִ֖היא ָ֣מ ַרת ָ֑נ ֶפשׁ וַ ִּת ְת ַּפ ֵּ֥לל ַעל־י‬
she, a bitter soul, prayed to HaShem, weeping the entire time.

Innocent Child
?‫ מה הוא אומר‬,‫תם‬
The innocent child cannot understand the weight of history, for they have never
learned it. They do not realize how miraculous Jewish life is in Berlin today.
Some look down on those who are innocent, but it is this innocence that gives
us hope. The innocent child accepts reality as is and looks towards the future.
They will learn the history over time, from family and friends and from living in
Berlin. May all generations embody some of their innocence, for it allows us not
only to hope for a better future, but to keep building the Jewish future. This
child embodies the spirit of Isaiah, for it is written:

‫וּמי‬
ִ ‫ִה ְתנַ ֲע ִ֧רי ֵמ ָע ָ֛פר ֥ק‬
Arise, shake off the dust.

2
Ecclesiates 1:9
3
Samuel 1:10
22
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

The One Who Doesn’t Know How to Ask

?‫ומה עם ״ושאינו יודע לשאול״‬
And as for “the one who does not know how to ask?” Perhaps they know how to listen? As
Am Yisrael, we ask questions in order to understand the past, the present, and
the future. The thought of not just a child, but one of our children, not knowing
how to ask upsets us. How can they understand Judaism without questions? We ask
ourselves so many questions each day, from “How to be a good person?” to “How to
be a Jew in Germany today, balancing the history of the Berlin hachamim, the Sho-
ah, and the fragile hope of the present?”
So we ask ourselves one last question: What do we do with a child who doesn’t
know how to ask? We first assume that they know how to listen. Then we continue
teaching them the importance of asking. Though we worry about the one who doesn’t
know how to ask, we stand to learn from them: sometimes the most honest answer to
a question is silence, ‫קיתש‬4

4
See Menachot 29b:1-5 for a story related to silence, ‫שתיק‬ 23
‫מגיד‬ AVODA ZARA

NAOMI
HENKEL-GUEMBEL

24

RABBI REBECCA BLADY
In the beginning, our mothers were idol
worshippers. And now, G-d has brought us
close to G-d’s work, as it is written:
Yehoshua said to the whole people, so said
the Lord, God of Israel, ‘Over the river did
your ancestors dwell: Haran the father of
Iscah [Sarai] and the father of Milcah, and
they worshiped other gods.
And I took your mother Sarai from over
the river. I made her walk in all the land of
Canaan and I made her endure challenges
at the hand of Abraham, who lied about
her identity to King Abimelech, and took
her only son up to Mount Moriah to be
sacrificed.
For Sarai’s challenges, I gave her Rebecca,
after her death, as a daughter. And I made
Rebecca endure challenges at the hand of
her uncle Betu-el, who nearly took away
her autonomy, and her husband Isaac, who
remained weak for the duration of his life.
For Rebecca’s challenges, I gave her more
daughters: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and
Zilpah, wives of Jacob, and Dina, daughter
of Leah, and Serach, daughter of Zilpah’s
son Asher. They each struggled to be seen;
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY
to make known their value beyond their
child-bearing; and to remain sexually
safe. They struggled to establish a gene-
alogical line in the name of the women.
This struggle, they passed on to their
daughters, and their daughters’ daugh-
ters, and their daughters’ daughters’
daughters, and so on...
And I gave Rebecca also Adah, Oholi-
bamah, and Basmat, wives of Esav, and
her daughter Timna, wife of Esav’s son
Eliphaz. They struggled in a violent so-
ciety, focused on accumulating property
and wealth; yet their names are men-
tioned, repeatedly, as the matriarchs of
kingdoms and dukes.
Today, none of Rebecca’s descendants
are known to be idol worshippers. How-
ever, they have never ceased to be at
odds with one another.
25
‫מגיד‬ BARUCH SHOMER HAVTACHTO L’ISRAEL

26
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

NAOMI
HENKEL-GUEMBEL

27
‫מגיד‬ V’HI SHE’AMDAH
AVIDAN HALIVNI
In November of 2018, alongside my
friends from Pizmon, Columbia’s Jewish a
cappella group, I visited the community of
Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh -- three weeks
after tragedy had struck the area in the
form of a domestic terror attack on a local
synagogue. Having booked this gig months
in advance, we could not have anticipated
that our visit would coincide with a
desperate need for healing, community,
and above all, a sense of normalcy. We
chose our musical repertoire for the
weekend’s performances carefully, intent
on choosing themes of joy and unity over
mournfulness and melancholy.
One of our songs that weekend in
Pittsburgh was a new arrangement of V’hi
She’amdah, with a melody popularized
by the artist Yaakov Shwekey. We sang
these words on the corner of the Tree of
Life synagogue, facing the growing pile
of flowers and notes placed with love in
front of the building, and again in a full
concert for the wider Pittsburgh Jewish
community.
As we sang, I thought about the message
we were sending with our words, drawn
from the Passover Haggadah, a night
bursting with themes of Jewish memory.
The text of V’hi She’amdah evokes the
imagery of generations of Jewish fortitude
in the face of hatred, that in every time
28
and every place, there are those who
seek to do us harm. In the context of our
Pittsburgh visit, the message could have
been one of folding this latest tragedy into
an extensive genealogy of persecution and
violence and withdrawing deeper into our
own narrative, tightening the boundaries
around the Jewish people to the exclusion
of all others who may do us harm in the
future. As the text concludes, it is only
our reliance on God that saves us from
“their” hands, with “they” functioning
as any Other, anyone different than us,
representing the surrounding evils that
eternally seek our destruction.
Yet I found myself increasingly
uncomfortable with the us-versus-them
mentality that this reading of V’Hi
She’amdah generates. The response to
tragedy in Jewish memory should not
be higher walls, or stricter borders, or a
stronger emphasis on delineating those
that God defends and those against whom
God is defending. I believe the more
powerful message reveals itself with a
fuller understanding of what God’s actions
actually look like in the world, when
the challenge posed to God by the V’Hi
She’amdah is put to the test.
The Talmud offers a powerful teaching
by way of the history of God’s worldly
activity, and instructs its readers in the
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

proper method of imitatio dei, in walking

in God’s ways: “Just as God clothed the
naked [Adam and Eve], so should you; just
as God visited the sick [Abraham], so should
you; just as God comforted the mourners,
so should you; and just as God buried the
dead [Moses], so should you” (Sotah 14a).
We bring more Godliness into our everyday
lives by imitating God’s acts of kindness,
especially those that do not discriminate
between background and circumstance.

The theological import of the V’Hi She’amdah

resonates powerfully with the Talmudic
depiction above. In the wake of tragedy, we
remember — with all the creative faculty
of those memory-acts that constitute the
construction of a communal narrative —
that God has uplifted God’s people out of
the depths of their pain. We assert that
God has visited the sick, comforted the
bereaved, and buried the dead alongside us,
and continues to do so in every generation.
And with that memory comes the charge
of each and every one of us to uphold that
model in our own lives, building a world
of kindness that truly reflects the Divine
presence in the world.

29
‫מגיד‬ ARAMI OVED AVI
YOAV & NATALIE SAPIR
“Go and learn what Laban the Aramean
attempted to do to our father Jacob! For
Pharaoh decreed only against the males,
and Laban attempted to uproot everything.”
And what is Egypt in comparison to
Germany? Our very parents - or, for the
younger ones among us, grandparents -
have literally been “brought forth from
slavery to freedom, from grief to joy,
from mourning to festivity, from darkness
to great light, and from servitude to
redemption.” When we celebrate tonight our
first redemption, shouldn’t we be grateful
for our last redemption? The former from
one country, the latter from two-hundred
countries... The former after four-hundred
years of exile, the latter after nearly
two-thousand years!
“Thus, how much more so should we be
grateful to the Omnipresent for all the
numerous favors He showered upon us”,
back then and all the more in our time.
And yet, we are in exile. How ungrateful...?
After all, nobody is forcing us to stay here -
yet here we are, reading a Berlin Haggadah,
celebrating our redemption from exile,
while in exile...
30
“There is beauty and deep meaning in
galus”, I read on Base Berlin’s Facebook
page. And it’s true! It’s so easy to reject
exile when only perceiving it as something
negative. Wanting to exit is kind of
obvious when our lives are embittered,
when we are coerced. But nowadays
nobody is forced to stay in exile, and the
challenge lies, it seems, precisely in its
beauty. How to want what one ought to
want?
“In every generation it is one’s duty to
regard himself as though he personally
had gone out of Egypt”, and Germany,
which outdid any fantasy Pharaoh could
have had. And as so often, I fail at
fulfilling my duty.
I have turned my back on many Jewish
values and on the little bit of Thorah I
had absorbed before leaving our land and
coming here. And I have struggled - in
vain - for more than thirteen years on how
to reconcile my Jewish identity with my
life in Pharaoh’s Disneyland. Truth be told,
I couldn’t. It just didn’t add up.
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

Until it was, as the Haggadah says,

“expounded”: There is, indeed, beauty and
deep meaning in exile. It feels too wrong to
admit, but this Berlin exile has been good to
me, even very good. Perhaps this is why it’s
so challenging. Exiting from exile is not just
a geographical act, but a spiritual one. And at
least for me, it has been and might very well
remain a very difficult challenge - precisely
because it’s so tempting to stay.
But even though (and some might say:
precisely because) we are in exile, let us find
beauty and deep meaning in the words so a
hundred Jewish generations before us have
believed in so we can see them fulfilled: “It
was not only our fathers whom the Holy One,
Blessed is He, redeemed from slavery” - we,
too, have seen miracles. How else could we be
reading, of all places, this Haggadah in Berlin?

31
‫מגיד‬ YAAKOV & SONS GO DOWN TO EGYPT

BENYAMIN
REICH
‫וְ אַ ְתּ עֵ רֹם וְ עֶ ְריָה‬

JOSH WEINER

Being freed – paradoxically – requires being free. Freedom is a pro-

cess, not a binary. The exodus from Egypt could have been immediate,
but a process has to occur within the enslaved people of Israel. First;
faith in a future. Yet, “the people could not hear Moses, their spirits
crushed by cruel work.” Physically releasing them will not heal crushed
spirits, they need to have faith in themselves. In addition to real
violence, slavery is sustained through people believing in their small-
ness. They must learn the fragility of their oppressors, the power of
community acting together, their largeness. Tradition teaches that some
Israelites themselves had slaves! The first commandment given to these
people: free your own slaves, that you may be free.
32
 ‫‪BERLIN‬‬
‫‪HAGGADAH‬‬
‫‪SLAVERY‬‬ ‫‪COMMENTARY‬‬

‫‪MATI‬‬
‫‪SHEMOELOF‬‬
‫אַד ַמת ִסינַ י ‪2003‬‬
‫ַע ְבדוּת ְּב ָראס ֶאל ָש ָׂטן ־ ְּב ְּ‬
‫"וְ זָ ַכ ְר ָ ּת ִ ּכי ֶע ֶבד ָהיִ ָית ְ ּב ֶא ֶרץ מצרים‪ "....‬־ ֵס ֶפר ְ ּד ָב ִרים ֶ ּפ ֶרק כד'‪ּ ָ ,‬פסוּק כב'‪.‬‬

‫לֹא ָּכל ָה ֲע ָב ִדים יָ ְצאוּ ממצרים‬

‫בוֹדה‬
‫אָמרוּ ִלי ַרגְ ֵלי ‪ְּ 17-16‬שׁעוֹת ָה ֲע ָ‬ ‫ְ‬
‫ֶשׁל ִא ְיס ָמ ִעיל ֵּבן ַה‪.13-‬‬

‫מתוך "שירה בין חזז לבין שמואלוף"‪.2006 ,‬‬

‫‪33‬‬
‫מגיד‬ ‫‪SLAVERY‬‬

‫‪BENYAMIN‬‬
‫‪REICH‬‬
‫ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ‬

‫‪34‬‬
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
MOVING OUT OF SLAVERY COMMENTARY

BENYAMIN
REICH
‫ַיּ�צאֵ נוּ יְ ָי ִמ ִמ ְצ ַריִ ם‬
ִ ‫ו‬

JOSH WEINER
The Haggadah has a lot to say about liberation, and very little
about liberty. The process, the journey has begun – and God forbid
we should reach the destination too soon! So we court freedom,
slowly, slyly, like lovers. “I shall rise and roam… I shall seek the
one whom my soul loves.” We half-see her dancing on far-off hill-
tops, half-hear whispered poems, feel her presence in the blossoming
trees, wrestle violently with those who block our path – and burst
with desire for her, hoping that we are equally yearned for our-
selves. Sometimes her voice is far-away, an echo of longing; some-
times, so close we hardly dare to breathe. Indeed, perhaps we only
recognise freedom through her reflection in our searching.
35
‫מגיד‬ AVINOAM J. STILLMAN
10 MAKOT

R. Shimshon of Ostropol and the Ten Plagues

The Pesah Seder invites each of us to died in the infamous Chmielnicki Massacres

behave as if we, ourselves, just now left of 1648 which ravaged the Jews of Eastern

Egypt. So what is our contemporary Europe. Even before his martyrdom in the

response to the ten plagues – to these synagogue of Polnoye with, as the story

overwhelming and terrifying expressions goes, 300 fellow worshipers, R. Shimshon

of divine punishment and power? seems to have spent much time speculating

Although the Israelites were spared from about the existence of myriad demons in

the plagues, they must also have been the world – and very often, associated

scared – and indeed, the lamb-offering them with his (frequently anti-semitic)

from which Pesah draws its name was, non-Jewish neighbors. One of his texts

first and foremost, a ritual to prevent the – a short letter to a friend named Rabbi

entry of the Destroyer into the Israelite Israel - is still recited by many Jews on

houses. It is unfortunately not difficult the afternoon before Pesach as a charm

for most of us to contemplate the plagues for protection. In it, R. Shimshon discusses

which have stricken us, or from which the ten plagues at length: he was obsessed

we have only barely been saved. The ten with the esoteric meaning of the Hebrew

plagues can thus be a moment of sober alphabet, and fixated on the Mishnah in

reflection about the precariousness of all which Rabbi Yehudah gives an acronym

life. “D.Ts.H. A.D.Sh B.A.H.B,” for the first

However, that humanistic truism does letters of the Hebrew names of the plagues.

not do justice to the uncomfortable, Quoting from a book he attributes to the

if obvious, fact that the oppressed great kabbalist Rabbi Yitshak Luria (but

often delight in the suffering of their which is otherwise unknown), R. Shimshon

oppressors. One Jewish figure who explains how, numerologically, “the

described the plagues as mystical symbols Redemption is hidden in these signs.” In the

of Redemption was Rabbi Shimshon b. words of the prominent kabbalah scholar,

Pesah of Ostropol, a Polish kabbalist who Professor Yehuda Liebes, R. Shimshon’s

36
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

thought is marked by one basic idea, that sages in Bnei Brak, until the sun dawns

“the Holy Names and the names of the and the time to say the Shema arrives.

impure spirits or forces are equivalent R. Shimshon’s message, perhaps, is that

to one another in their numerical value until we plunge into the depths of the

(gematria) and that therefore the Holy darkness – the innumerable demons which

Names have the power “to negate” he sees symbolized in each letter of the

(le-batel – a word which recurs again and names of the plagues – we won’t be able

again) the names of impurity, and thereby to recognize the glimmers of light, the

bring the Redemption.” In other words, letters which portend, in his words, “the

the kabbalistic technique of gematria coming of our Messiah with the angels

becomes a way to declare that the plagues of the final redemption.” At the end of

which wound the Egyptians also heal the Pesah seder, many people sing a

the exile of the Jews. By manipulating beautifully poetic song about the World-

the Hebrew letters, the kabbalist can Which-Is-Coming, about the messianic

magically transform destroying demons arrival of “A day which is neither day nor

into redeeming angels. night.” Until then, we sometimes – such

R. Shimshon also tells us that these as during this part of the seder – must

complicated mystical calculations “were spill the wine from our cups, must mourn

revealed to me in a dream, in a vision and acknowledge the forces of wrath in

of the night, when slumber falls on all the world, and, like R. Shimshon, cultivate

people.” Perhaps the only time in which the belief that destruction of evil, while

we can understand how plagues might difficult even for the good, can clear the

turn into salvation is deep in the darkness path for healing and redemption.

of the night. When we sit at the Seder

table, we are also often awake talking

late into the night, perhaps even, like the

37
‫מגיד‬ TALYA FELDMAN
DAYENU
Every year, as we finish the telling of
our Exodus from Egypt and transition
to the -- perhaps most anticipated --
part of the seder involving the eating
of Pesach, Maror, and Matzah and Shul-
chan Aruch, we sing this song: Dayenu.
An incredibly perplexing and poetic
tune made up of only 15 lines describ-
ing 15 moments in the timeline of Jew-
ish history that G-d did great miracles
and kindnesses for us; some in justice,
others in mercy and perhaps some, or
all, out of love.
Dayenu - which can be translated as ‘it
would have been enough for us’ or ‘it
would have sufficed us’ - is meant to
be a song of gratitude. The Rabbis tell
us that each one of these life moments
merits thanks and celebration. There-
fore, we should be even more grate-
ful to G-d for pulling us through all of
them.
But this explanation has never been
dayenu for me, it has never been
enough.
If G-d had brought us to the sea and not
split the sea as the Egyptians chased us
from behind, if He had not stopped our
enemies by drowning them, if He had
not provided for us in the desert while
we wandered for 40 years, if He had
not given us the Manna or the Shabbat
38
or the Torah -- it would not have been
enough. And we know it would not have
been enough.
And so in knowing this, in knowing it
would not have been enough are we in
fact saying -- it was not enough? It is not
enough? Is this song which the Rabbis
have so strongly declared as a song of
gratitude -- actually one of ingratitude?
Or perhaps, what Dayenu is meant to
teach us, and why the Rabbis present it
in the seder here, at this concluding mo-
ment of Maggid, when we are attempting
to feel the burden of slavery and the light
of freedom as if we ourselves left Egypt,
is something so much more than that.
The 15 stanzas of Dayenu describe our
first steps towards freedom, but also
those moments when we as a nation
were met with extreme uncertainty and
fear. We were trapped at the sea, with
Pharoah and his army close behind us.
And while we say Dayenu, that it would
have been enough, we can assume that in
that moment we as a nation cried out to
G-d. We knew then and we know now, it
would not have been enough. That was
not what we deserved. And so G-d split
the sea.
We are met with uncertainty in the des-
ert. And we know being left in the desert
without G-d’s guidance would not have

been enough. We knew and we know. And so
G-d gave us the Manna and later, the Shab-
bat.
So while some of the stanzas describe mo-
ments of uncertainty, others describe mo-
ments of intense and incredible joy. If G-d
had only brought us to Mount Sinai, we knew
and we know that it would not have been
enough. We deserved more. And so G-d gave
us the Torah.
And after each stanza, the good moments
and the bad, we end the verse with a Day-
enu. Knowing full well it is Lo Dayenu. Not
enough. And so the next stanza begins.
By the fifteenth stanza we declare that if G-d
had brought us to the land of Israel and not
helped us build the Holy Temple: Dayenu.
And it is this Dayenu, this last line in the po-
etic song describing our history, that we can
once again say: Lo Dayenu. We knew and we
know that the building of the Holy Temple
was and is not enough. We deserve more.
The fact that we end the fifteenth stanza with
a Dayenu comes to teach us that the stanzas
of our Jewish timeline, both the bad and the
good, continue off the pages of the Haggadah
and into our present and our future.
This year, as individuals and as a commu-
nity, we have seen and experienced many
hardships. Some of us have lost loved ones,
some of us have been forced to face tremen-
dous extremism and hate, some of us have
been confused by the fears taking hold of
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY
the world in times of crisis, questioned
our political leaders, watched as people
suffered in their own efforts to become
free. And what Dayenu comes to teach us,
perhaps more than any other part of the
Haggadah, is that it is our right -- and our
power -- to say to ourselves and to G-d:
Lo Dayenu. This cannot be enough. We
deserve more.
The moments of uncertainty that we
face, when we are stuck between our
enemies and the sea, are not enough.
They are not what we deserve. And we
know. We know that G-d, as He did at
the sea, will say to us you’re right. And in
kindness, mercy, and love He will bring
us in this timeline of our lives, in mo-
ments of great despair, to moments of
tremendous and complete joy. The giving
of the Torah, the building of the Temple
-- Dayenu has no end simply because the
timeline of the Jewish people has no end.
The stanzas continue. We know they will
continue.
And for this -- we are incredibly
grateful.
39
‫מגיד‬ MATZAH

JOSH WEINER
An old tradition sees chametz as inflated pride and earthly desires;
matzah, of course, is spirituality and purity of mind. What tired dichot-
omies! Why, in this symbolic system, would Pesach only last seven days?
Why would we ever eat bread again? Pesach is a brief dip into fanatical
puritanism, valuable only in that we quickly reject it and ascend to an
integrated lifestyle of compromise, contradiction and paradox. The ancient
Thanks-Offering was presented “on matzah cakes and cakes of chametz.”
Freedom is the power to create and destroy symbolic systems. We exist in
this complex world with all our being, the ugly and the beautiful, we give
and receive everything there is; thankfulness means acknowledging the
world as it is.

40
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
B’CHOL DOR V’DOR COMMENTARY

BENYAMIN REICH
‫לּוֹתנוּ‬
ֵ ‫עוֹמ ִדים ָע ֵלינוּ ְל ַכ‬
ְ ‫ֶש ְּׁב ָכל דּוֹר וָ דוֹר‬

41
‫מגיד‬ B’TZET ISRAEL
NETANEL OLHOEFT
B’Tzet Israel
Many ages ago two heroic warriors roamed
the ancient land of Latium. One of them
was Aeneas (the superior scion of Edom), a
righteous and longanimous friend of mankind,
recently exiled from Earth’s blessed center -
the Middle East - to the distant coasts of Italy
at the world’s very end. The other was Turnus
the Tragic, a man of no patience, who neglect-
ed all morals, human and divine, and placed
his trust solely in his physical and military
might, ‫ח‘‘ו‬.
All the gods, ‫ואלילים היו‬, were curious to see
which of these two noblemen would be found
worthy to espouse the gallant Lady Lavinia,
the Latin king’s august daughter, and to lay
together with her the foundations for the Ro-
man culture on whose shoulders the European
nations were forecast to arise in due time lat-
er in history. And to nobody’s great surprise
(except for that of the fierce Juno),
it was Aeneas, who was chosen for that hon-
orable task. What was the reason? Because he
was a pious and calm person and he did not
unbecomingly precipitate the conquest and
building of the land!
And what is true for the conquest of Latium
and the erection of the European cultures of
old, which were merely mundane, should be
true all the more so, ‫ק‘‘ו‬, for things sacred -
for example concerning the Land of Yisrael
and the Jerusalem Temple which stands at
its heart. And indeed, a first impetuous (and
42
regrettable) attempt to gain control of the
Holy Land of Yisrael had occurred already
a few hundred years before Aeneas and
Turnus fought over the territory of soon-
to-be Rome - namely in the days in which
our ancestors were still enslaved in the
tyrannical realm of Hyksos-Egypt.
As the Midrash and the Targum on our
Parashah teach us, the Jewish people had
to bewail thousands of unnecessary deaths
in those days because of such an ill-timed
try to settle the Land of Yisrael:
“During all those years, when the Jew-
ish people sojourned in Egypt, they dwelt
securely and peacefully at ease - until
Yignon, one of the grandchildren of Efraim,
came and said to them: ‘The Holy One,
blessed be He, has revealed Himself to me,
to lead you out of Egypt.’
.‫ ובעוה‘‘ר נכשלנו בו‬,‫ונביא שקר היה לנסותנו‬
The children of Efraim, in the pride of
their heart,... went forth from Egypt. The
Egyptians pursued after them, and slew
200,000 of them” (Pirkey de-Rabbi Eli’ezer
48:4, cf. 1 Divrey Hayamim 7:20-23).
A catastrophe! What had happened
there? As we remember from the Book of
Bereshit, the Eternal One, b”h, had decreed
that our ancestors would be condemned
to stay a specified amount of years in
Egypt. Only after these years would have
passed in their entirety, the Jews would
be allowed to leave Egypt and to inherit
the Holy Land (Bereshit 15). Although

the Jewish people’s stay in Egypt could un-
der no circumstances be called pleasant, they
were nonetheless not allowed to hurry out
unseasonably. That would have aggravated
their condition even more, as we see from the
Midrash’s account.
Nevertheless, ‫אוי ואבוי‬, the children of Efraim
did not want to wait any longer! Similar to
Turnus they trusted their own military ability,
their right to inherit the land, - and neglected
the Divine verdict. With all their power they
tried to circumvent the unripeness of their
era, to leap over it and to skip to the future
redemption directly. However, that turned out
to be a very bad idea...
Now, what does this have to do with our
own time? As hinted in the prophets, the first
Ge’ulah, namely the Exodus from Egypt, is
an archetype and anticipation of the second
Ge’ulah, which is the future gathering of all
Jews into the Land of Yisrael and the con-
summation of their settling in it. That second
redemption, just as the first, is not to be ob-
tained by overhastiness, by lack of trust in the
Holy One, b”h, and by morally dubious human
methods and tricks. “This is the word of the
the Eternal One to Zerubavel [the Messiah’s
ancestor]: ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by
My spirit’ (Zecharya 4:6).”
Or in the words of our blessed teacher
Mosheh: “The Eternal One will fight for you;
and you, just stay calm!” (Exodus 14:14).
While teaching about the sons of Efraim, our
Sages gave us a good advice: Do not be like
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY
them! Do not hasten things not to be has-
tened!
So in our time, instead of following de-
lusive political solutions for bad states of
affairs of whatever kind, we should just
try to stay cool and balanced, and content
with what we have, even if that is not al-
ways easy. The circumspect Aeneas should
be our hero - not Turnus. If we work on
ourselves, our inner worlds, try to grow
further and higher in our love towards
each other and all of humanity, then the
heavenly blessings will have it easier to be
poured upon us.
Some of our forefathers followed Yignon
the prophet of deception, who promised
a quick and material solution for all our
problems. But the time was not ripe. Later
on Mosheh - and Yehoshua, the worthy
leader of the tribe of Efraim - would ap-
pear and bring the redemption through the
right means and at the suitable time. “You
shall triumph by stillness and quiet; Your
victory shall come about through calm and
confidence” (Yeshayahu 30:15).
‫השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים מה תעירו ומה‬
‫תעוררו את האהבה עד שתחפץ‬
With G-d’s help we shall all merit to be of
the students of Mosheh and not of Yignon
‫ולישב בבתי ובחוצות ירושלים הבנויה‬
‫בצדקה ובמשפט יחד עם כל בני אברהם‬
‫אחינו בב‘‘א‬
43
‫רחצה‬ RACHTZAH

It’s time to wash hands again - something we already have a routine in

this year in particular, but this time with the blessing. Traditionally,
we don’t speak at all between washing your hands and saying the blessings
over the Matzah.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, LOOK AROUND YOU AND ABSORB YOUR SURROUNDINGS.
SAY THE BLESSING OVER THE MATZAH.

‫ב‬
44
SECOND CUP
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

TZVI TOSETTI
PESSACH 2020
Pesach commemorates the liberation of the In the last weeks I experienced how fear
Jewish people from Egyptian slavery, the Ex- can make people treat others cruelly and
odus, and the beginning of our journey to the with indifference. I know now how painful
Promised Land. Every year at the seder table it can be to be seen as dangerous, different,
we read the Haggada. We tell the same story and how oppressing a stranger can take so
and each year the story speaks to us in new and many different forms. Having been a strang-
powerful ways. Last year I celebrated the seder er I have an increased empathy and perhaps
all alone in a hospital bed away from family a better understanding of the strangers who
and friends. I really learned what it meant to today are found in our midst.
be a stranger in a strange land. It was a new The Haggada tells us that in every genera-
and unforgettable experience. tion we are to feel as if we personally had
This year the world is struggling with how to gone out of Egypt. This year I can say that
deal with spread of the corona virus. Last week I know exactly how that feels and what our
Israel closed its borders to people coming from ancestors must have felt. Passover teaches
Italy. Since I had been resident in Germany for us how to take that painful feeling and use
the last year and a half I entered the country it to insure that we never inflict such pain
even with my Italian passport. But 3 days lat- on others. In that way we turn the bitter
er the government decided that people coming memory of Egypt into a blessing today.
from Germany would have to enter voluntarily
quarantine for 14 days. Suddenly my friends
didn’t want me to stay with them in their
home. Out of fear for their own health, they
treated me as a stranger. I was counseled to
leave the country. I felt what it was like to be
the one identified as one of the marginalized,
the threat, the stranger in every sense of the
word. It was a terrible feeling.
After 400 years of cruel oppression what was
the great lesson, the most important take away
from that terrible experience. Again and again
the Torah tells us You shall not oppress the
stranger because you were strangers in the
land of Egypt. You have an obligation to care
for the stranger, the alien, the refugee, the mar-
ginalized, the one who is different. 45
‫מוציא מצה‬ MOTZI MAZAH
Raise the Matzah and recite two blessings: the regular bread blessing (hamotzi)
and then one specifically mentioning the Mitzvah of eating Matzah at Passover.

46
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

JOSH WEINER

An old tradition sees chametz as inflated pride and earthly desires; matzah,
of course, is spirituality and purity of mind. What tired dichotomies! Why,
in this symbolic system, would Pesach only last seven days? Why would we
ever eat bread again? Pesach is a brief dip into fanatical puritanism, valu-
able only in that we quickly reject it and ascend to an integrated lifestyle
of compromise, contradiction and paradox. The ancient Thanks-Offering was
presented “on matzah cakes and cakes of chametz.” Freedom is the power to
create and destroy symbolic systems. We exist in this complex world with all
our being, the ugly and the beautiful, we give and receive everything there
is; thankfulness means acknowledging the world as it is.

47
‫מרור‬ MAROR
Let’s take a bit of the Maror, the bitter herb - in some traditions horseradish,
and dip it into the Charoset. We hereby recognize the bittersweet nature of life:
The Charoset and its sweet taste remind us that no matter how bitter and dark the
present might appear, we should look forward to better days. As we relive the
Exodus of our ancestors, this is a time to be appreciative of everything we have;
a time to be grateful for all the gifts we have been given.

48
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

VALENTIN LUTSET
Untitled (Synagoge Halle) , 2020

49
‫כורך‬ KORECH

We now eat the Hillel sandwich of charoset and matzah as a symbol of the
bricks and mortar used to rebuild the jewish communities in K’naan, and the
construction of the 2nd Temple. Hillel may have come up with it some 2000
years ago by combining matzah, a slice of the Pessach - a sacrifice in form
of a lamb, and a bitter herb. But since Jews no longer sacrifice and eat the
lamb, the Pessach sandwich is now only Matzah, Charoset, and the bitter herb.

EZRA WAXMAN the temple], matzah has the status of a Bib-

lical obligation, while maror has the status
Hillel’s Unkosher Sandwich
of a rabbinic obligation; and [if one were
to eat them together], the rabbinic maror

Each year at our Pesach seder, we recall the would nullify the Biblical matzah” (Pes.

tradition of Hillel the Elder (c.110 BCE - 10 115a).

CE), who, during temple times, ate matzah

and maror together in a sandwich (Pes. Ravina posits that since matzah and maror

115a). Indeed, during temple times, there each have a different halakhic status, the

was a Biblical obligation to eat both matzah two mitzvot cannot be combined: the Rab-

and maror. However, after the temple was binically-commanded maror interferes with

destroyed (70 CE), and the Pascal lamb sac- the Biblically-commanded matzah. This, at

rifice was abolished, the mitzvah to eat maror least, is the reading of Tosfot. Continuing

was reduced to the status of a rabbinic obliga- its esoteric legalism, the Gemara proceeds to

tion (while the mitzvah of matzah remained discuss the halakhic value of eating matzah

Biblical). In this new legal context, the and maror together - this time, in the specif-

practice of eating both foods together became ic scenario of someone who swallows both

somewhat more halakhically contentious: food-objects whole:

‫אמר רבינא אמר לי רב משרשיא בריה דרב נתן‬ ‫ לא‬- ‫ בלע מרור‬.‫ יצא‬- ‫ בלע מצה‬:‫אמר רבא‬

‫ לא ניכרוך איניש‬:‫הכי אמר הלל משמיה דגמרא‬ ‫ ידי מצה יצא ידי‬- ‫ בלע מצה ומרור‬.‫יצא‬

‫מצה ומרור בהדי הדדי וניכול משום דסבירא‬ .‫מרור לא יצא‬

‫לן מצה בזמן הזה דאורייתה ומרור דרבנן ואתי‬

‫מרור דרבנן ומבטיל ליה למצא דאורייתא‬ “Rava teaches: [...] A person who swallows
matzah and maror together [without chew-

“Ravina said [...]: a person should not wrap ing them] fulfills the obligation of matzah,

matzah and maror together and eat them; be- but does not fulfill the obligation of maror”

cause in our days [i.e. after the destruction of (Pes. 115b).

50
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

Both Ravina (Pes. 115a) and Rava
(Pes. 115b) find the practice of eating matzah
and maror together to be halakhically prob-
lematic, and yet they seem to arrive at dif-
ferent conclusions. According to Rava, the
matzah obligation is fulfilled, while the maror
obligation remains unfulfilled; but according to
Ravina, the maror “nullifies the matzah”, i.e.
(according to Tosfot, and others) the maror
obligation is fulfilled, while the matzah obliga-
tion remains unfulfilled.
So what’s the conclusion?
Maimonides rules as follows:
‫ ידי מצה יצא ידי‬- ‫בלע מצא ומרור כאחד‬
‫למצא‬ ‫כטפלה‬ ‫שהמרור‬ .‫יצא‬ ‫לא‬
(‫ב‬:‫)הל‘ חמץ ומצה ו‬
“A person who swallows matzah and ma-
ror together fulfills the obligation of matzah,
but does not fulfill the obligation of maror;
because the maror is secondary to the matzah”
Maimonides cites the position of Rava, but
curiously includes an additional one-line ex-
planation: “because the maror is second-
ary to the matzah”. Where does this expla-
nation come from? For the past 800 years,
while non-Jews have been going about their
merry lives, rabbinic commentators have been
struggling with this question; which is partic-
ularly troubling when one considers that Mai-
monides appears to go against the position
of his beloved teacher, the Rif (who cites the
position of Ravina).
So what’s going on? Rav Nachum
Rabinovitch suggests that, in fact,
commentators have been misinterpret-
ing the position of Ravina for the past 1700
years. Recall that the Talmud was written in
Aramaic, not Hebrew. Thus, notes Rav
Rabinovitch, the word ‫ מבטל‬should not be
read as the transitive Hebrew verb mevatel
(pi’el form: “to annul”) but rather as the
intransitive Aramaic verb mibtel (Itpe’el form:
“to be annulled”). Ravina’s teaching should
therefore be read as follows: “[when one eats
matzah and maror together], the rabbinic ma-
ror obligation is nullified by the Biblical matzah
obligation.” In other words, Ravina and Rava
are in accordance with one another; both agree
‫מרור‬ that, when the two foods are eaten together;
the matzah obligation is fulfilled, but the ma-
ror obligation remains unfulfilled. Maimonides
simply combines the two harmonious texts, us-
ing Ravina to elucidate and explain Rava. So
while our teacher Maimonides, of course, knew
how to distinguish between Hebrew and Ara-
maic verb-structures; most other commentators
of past 1600 years were not quite as careful.
The take-home message is then as follows: be-
fore calling into question the careful halakhic
reading of Maimonides, be sure to touch-up on
your primary-school Aramaic grammar skills,
first!

51
‫שולחן עורך‬ SHULCHAN ORECH

Why do we eat a meal during the Seder? True, we Jews love food. However, one
of the key reasons is that on Pessach we are supposed to feel like royalty
- hence, we should have a feast like kings and queens and dine together. We
also commemorate the times of the Beit HaMikdash, the times of the Temple,
when everyone was required to eat the Korban Pessach, the Pessach lamb that
had been sacrificed, together.

IGOR MENDEL ITKIN

A word on hospitality
In meinem ersten Jahr in der Jeschiwa „Beth Zion Berlin“, fuhr ich zu
Pessach mit einer Gruppe Jugendlicher nach London, das war 2011/12. Es war
für jeden von uns das erste koschere Pessach im Leben. Am 1. Abend Chol
haMoed gingen wir durch Goldes Green, um Essen zu kaufen. Doch es war sehr
spät, die koscheren Geschäfte hatten zu und die nicht-jüdischen Geschäfte
verkauften nur koscheres Hametz. Wahllos fragten wir eine Person auf der
Straße, wo man noch Pessachdickes Essen kaufen kann. Er sagten uns: „leider
ist alles bis morgen geschloßen aber wenn ihr wollt, kommt zu uns, wir haben
Zuhause noch viel Essen“. Wir lehnten ab, doch er bestand darauf. Wir waren
acht Personen, er fuhr uns in zwei Gruppen zu sich nach Hause, wo seine Fam-
ilie uns überraschend anschaute. Seine Mutter bereitete uns ein königliches
Mahl vor, es waren die besten gebratenen Kartoffeln, die ich je gegessen
hatte. Darauf fuhr er uns in zwei Gruppen wieder zurück. Das ist die Ges-
chichte von Eliezer Stahl, der uns allen zeigte was Gastfreundschaft und gut
Gutherzigkeit bedeutet. Danke.

52
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
Recipes COMMENTARY

NAOMI HENKEL-GUEMBEL

Herring Ceviche
This zesty little Ashkenazi twist on ceviche promises to bring some
punchy flavors to your Seder table

Ingredients
• 120g herring fillet in brine
• 1/2 mango peeled, finely chopped
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 4-5 tablespoons cilantro/parsley finely chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts lightly crushed
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil I used cold pressed rapeseed
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• Zest of 1 lime
• Pepper to taste

Preparation
Rinse the herring (to get rid of excess salt), pat dry using a paper towel and
finely chop. Combine with the rest of the ingredients and stir thoroughly (leave
some pistachios to sprinkle on top if
you like). Serve with crackers or rye
bread (I used rye Crispbread).
Serve immediately.

53
‫שולחן עורך‬ SHULCHAN ORECH

KAREN ENGEL
Maghmour
Lebanese Eggplant Stew

I love this recipe and I served this dish at the first Pessach I host-
ed in Berlin. Since then, it has become a family favorite. The dish
does include kityinot so it is not suitable if you avoid kityinot
during Pessach. This recipe is easy, delicious, and vegan, and you
could
easily adopt it for a slow-cooker. I adapted the recipes from Two of a
Kind Cooks and Slow Burning Passion* to come kup with this version.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants (about 1 kilo), cut into cubes

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 - 3 garlic cloves, minced or more to taste
• 1 large can (800 g) whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 cups of cooked chickpeas
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp sugar or agave syrup
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp of dried mint (optional) or a few sprigs of fresh mint
• 1 tbsp ras el hanout
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
• ½ cup water or vegetable bullion
• chopped carrots if desired

54
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
Recipes COMMENTARY

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 200º c. Place the eggplant on a baking sheet lined
with baking paper. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and toss to
coat. Spread eggplant in a single layer. Broil or roast the eggplant,
flipping once, until eggplant is tender and browned, about 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and set aside.

In a large heavily pot, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil on medi-

um-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender,
about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add tomatoes with juice to pot, crushing with a spoon or fork as you
add them, then add the water or bullion. Add broiled eggplant, chick-
peas, (carrots if desired) pomegranate molasses, agave syrup, salt,
allspice and ras el hanout. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to
medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes.

Top stew with parsley and/or cilantro, and a few fresh mint leaves if
available and serve with matzah or quinoa.

* http://www.twoofakindcooks.com/lebanese-eggplant-stew/
http://www.slowburningpassion.com/
maghmour-the-moussaka-from-lebanon-that-will-make-youhappy/

55
‫שולחן עורך‬ SHULCHAN ORECH

NAOMI HENKEL-GUEMBEL
Oven Roasted Potatoes with Leeks
This seasonal side dish is more than the sum of its parts and can balance any
meal.

Ingredients:
• 1,4kg red potatoes or gold potatoes (around 18 small)
– sweet potato or yam may be substituted
• 6 leeks (stem only), sliced
• 230g to 355g sliced red onion
• 240ml to 330ml olive oil or refined avocado oil
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 large garlic cloves (1/2 to 3 tsp minced)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt and ground pepper each (divided)
• 1kg or more leafy greens (spinach, kale, etc).
• lemon to garnish (sliced and juice)
• herbs to garnish – Fresh parsley, thyme, or oregano.

Preparation:

First, slice your potatoes into quarters, then

peel and slice your red onion into thin strips.
Remove leeks from water and place all vegeta-
bles into a clean mixing bowl.
Add 1 minced garlic clove, 80ml to 120ml cup
olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp
sea salt, 1/4 tsp or more black pepper, and a
squeeze of lemon.
Toss all together until all the vegetables are
evenly coated.
Lay out all the vegetables on a sheet pan.
Spread them out evenly.
Roast at 220°C in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes.
Turn/flip potatoes half way through roasting.
56
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
Recipes COMMENTARY

JESS WAX-EDWARDS
Potatoes and peppers
This is a one-pot wonder that works as a reliably savoury side-kick to any main
seder meal.

Ingredients:
• 8 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 long red peppers, halved lengthways
• 1 orange bell pepper, seeds removed and quartered
• 500g small potatoes, thinly sliced
(by hand or using a man do line/food processor)

• 4 big garlic cloves, peeled and squashed whole

• 300 mls vegetable stock
• A few sliced spring onions to serve

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, for which you have a

lid, add all the olive oil. Once hot add all
the peppers and cook for 10-15 minutes on a
moderate heat covered until they soft and
silky. Turn them periodically to avoid burn-
ing.
Remove the peppers to a plate but leave the
remaining oil in the pan. Add the garlic and
potatoes. Cook until potatoes are golden and
then turn and repeat. Drop the peppers back
in, add the stock, season and bring to the
boil.
Lower the heat, partially cover and cook for
another 5-10 minutes until the potatoes start
to break. Turn and cook the other side
until everything is cooked and falling apart.
Sprinkle over the spring onions and serve.

57
‫צפון‬ TZAFUN

Remember the Matzah in the beginning? The one that we broke in two pieces?
That we hid? Well, now is the time to make sure it is recovered, so that the
Seder can slowly but surely come to an end.

58
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

59
‫ברך‬ BARECH

Pour the third glass of wine.

We are about to say Birkat HaMazon, the grace after the meal. Take a short moment
and look back at the evening. At the past week. The past year. This is a time to
be thankful for the abundance we generally enjoy and in particular for the food
we’ve eaten.

One way to think about Birkat HaMazon is as an extended toast to G!d, that peeks
with the meal’s third glass of wine for the evening.

VALENTIN
LUTSET

‫ג‬
60 THIRD CUP
BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

61
‫הלל‬ HALLEL
Traditionally, we end the Seder with a collection of psalms, called
Hallel, praise. We recite those psalms on holidays and important oc-
casions as a sign of gratitude and towards the end we include selec-
tions from Hallel, a collection of psalms that celebrate the joy of
the occasion. Although there is much work to be done within our fami-
lies, circle of friends, communities and society at large - we should
also acknowledge how far we came. Together as well as individually.

SHOSHANA RUERUP

62
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

YAFFA FOGEL
Miriam’s Cup / Elijah’s Goblet Jewish life. While the Talmud (Sota 9b) explains
that if it weren’t for the righteousness of the
Miriam’s Cup and Elijah’s Goblet are some of
women of that generation we would not have been
the most exciting moments of the Seder for un-
redeemed from Egypt, there are almost no female
derstanding the richness of the Jewish diasporic
voices in the myriad of seder rituals.
communities ability to interpret, reinterpret, and
interpret once again.
When Miriam dies, her desert well dries up, spark-
ing a widespread Israelite fear that they would die
Elijah’s goblet was codified in the 15th century by
of thirst. Only upon her death do the Israelites un-
R. Joseph Cairo in his Code of Jewish Law (Shul-
derstand how much Miriam had contributed to the
chan Aruch). It was the fifth cup of wine not drunk
community’s wellbeing. Miriam’s Cup represents
by anyone at the table, a tradition started to settle
the process of understanding the unsung work of
a complicated Talmudic dispute as to whether
women -- the thankless tasks worth trillions of
pleasure drinking outside of the four cups was al-
dollars in unpaid labor, the backbone of households
lowed on the seder nights. A dispute left unsolved,
and corporations alike, manifested in ways that
the fifth cup was soon interpreted as belonging to
ripple outwards like a splash of water.
Elijah the prophet, a Biblical hero foretold by early
rabbinic lore to rise again in the Messianic age to
And yet, while Miriam’s Cup is a celebration of
settle all unsolved Talmudic arguments.
women, its waters stand on the seder table in
contrast to the wine in Elijah’s Goblet. Elijah is
Because of this Messianic twist, the tradition was
awarded the symbol of excess, whereas Miriam re-
again reinterpreted. Elijah’s Goblet was awarded
ceives the symbol of necessity. Elijah’s character is
the Torah verse that describes the Divine’s prom-
enhanced with the promise of redemption; Miriam’s
ise to Moses that “I will bring you into the land,”
role ends with her death and the disappearance
which commentators interpret as the fifth of five
of the well. The contrast here limits women to a
stages of exodus. The four cups of wine drunk by
lowly essentialism, that even when we take the
all around the table indicate the stages already
time to remember the women of our tradition it is
completed in Egypt, and the undisturbed wine of
solely for their role in providing the basic needs of
Elijah represents the final stage that remains.
the community -- not for their abundance of traits
or their own redemptive powers.
In contrast to Elijah’s goblet stands Miriam’s Cup, a
new tradition with its first written mention in the
What would it look like to drink deeply from a
West London Synagogue’s 2008 Haggadah. As their
glass of water dedicated to the powerful women in
Haggadah explains, Miriam’s Cup is filled with
our lives, to toast Miriam as a leader of the Isra-
fresh water to honor Miriam, the sister of Moses, a
elites and not their caretaker? To remember her
Torah personality who merited a well in the desert,
transformation of Israelite fear into song at the
providing the only source of water to the wander-
splitting of the sea as political prowess? To imag-
ing Israelities until her death.
ine Miriam as the harbinger of the days of redemp-
More than just Miriam herself, her cup symbolizes
tion alongside, or even instead of Elijah?
the importance of furthering female inclusivity in

63
‫הלל‬ HALLEL

JOSH WEINER

Real change should be impossible. Chains of causes and effects should leave
everything known and ordered. Rigorously-held traditions are such chains,
and something about the seder (“order”) acknowledges the strength of such an
outlook. But Pesach (“skipping over”) also allows us to defy causality, to
invite the possibility of change and redemption – Pesach has to be filled
with renewal and innovation. Just as in forgiving somebody, the past is rede-
fined by an act in the present, choosing to celebrate freedom also constructs
the past as a narrative leading to Now. Our conscious choices, how we frame
events, imbue them with the meaning we seek from them. In this week of heal-
ing, cleaning, thanking, forgiving – we reaffirm the possibility of change.

64
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

SHOSHANA RUERUP

65
‫הלל‬ HALLEL

MOLLIE SHARFMAN

I am writing this from my the basement of my childhood home. We are in the

midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I left Germany, a place I have grown to call
home - where I have many friends and built community but chose to return home
to weather the storm of uncertainty with family. I guess that is the conflict
of interest of the “ex-pat.” What is home? Who is home?

Honestly though, today is not about the conflicts. Today is the day of praise
and gratitude because I really do not have anything to complain about.
Ki Liolam Chasdo - Your Kindness is Forever.

I am safe. I am secure. I have wonderful friends. I have wonderful community.

I have many homes.
Ki Liolam Chasdo - Your Kindness is Forever.

A few months ago, I may not have been able to articulate that while I was
knee-deep in the aftermath of Halle. Things were blurry while I tried hard to
articulate and self-advocate. I lost opportunities and connections with those
who could not understand and gained the love and loyalty of those who could.
I gained a new understanding of myself and what human beings are able to
overcome. I gained a new understanding of the term resilience and the sweet
sounds of healing.
Ki Liolam Chasdo - Your Kindness is Forever.

As a millennial and an ex-pat who has traveled far from home to self-actual-
ize and to contribute to European Jewish life, I constantly think about what
my future will look like and where it will be. But today on Passover, I can
only praise the day and be grateful - lihodot ulihalel.
Ki Liolam Chasdo - your kindess is forever.

66
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

JOSH WEINER

In the first moments of their freedom, Israel are commanded to turn their
chaotic escape from Egypt into a permanent ritual: “let this teaching of God
be in your mouth – that you were freed from Egypt!” The entire body and be-
ing should tingle with this collective memory of enslavement and liberation,
it must be expressed “in your mouth” – always, absolutely, in every conversa-
tion, in every action, in every choice. Responsibility, not anarchy, is the
opposite of slavery. A unique responsibility that begins with asking ques-
tions and suggesting answers, with celebration, relationships, and setting
out on journeys. Not only social responsibility to reject enslavement by any
tyrant, but also personal responsibility for rejecting enslavement to fear,
to despair, to rejection itself.

‫ד‬
FOURTH CUP 67
‫נרצה‬ NIRTZAH

Our Seder is over, according to Jewish tradition and law. As we had the pleasure to
for a Seder this year, we hope to once again have the opportunity in the years to
come. We pray that G!d brings health and healing to Israel and all the people of the
world, as we say...

68
 BERLIN
HAGGADAH
COMMENTARY

Eva Lezzi und Anna Adam,

Chaos zu Pessach,
Hentrich & Hentrich Verlag Berlin Leipzig,
2. Auflage 2019

Es ist spät geworden, alle sind müde.

Doch bevor sie die abschließenden Lieder

singen, prosten sich alle noch einmal zu: „Lechajim. Nächstes Jahr in Jerusalem.“

„Nun ja, das wünscht man sich zwar immer zum Ende vom Seder“, wirft Onkel Micha

ein. „Aber mir gefällt es hier. Ich mache euch daher einen anderen Vorschlag.

Lass uns auf die Diaspora anstoßen. Also: Nächstes Jahr wieder hier in Berlin!“

69
 ‫אחד מי יודע‬
‫הפסח‬
‫לילה לחם‬
‫לוט מאביהן‬
‫בן מיכאל‬
‫הלילה הזה ליהוה‬
‫חלם להם‬

‫‪VALENTIN LUTSET‬‬
‫‪YOUR DREAM 153‬‬

‫‪70‬‬
 ‫‪BERLIN‬‬
‫‪HAGGADAH‬‬
‫‪EHAD MI YODEA‬‬ ‫‪COMMENTARY‬‬

‫הים ויולך יהוה‬

‫בצלאל‬
‫אלהיך אני יהוה‬
‫מוציאו‬
‫בני האלהים‬
‫למלחמה‬

‫‪71‬‬
 NAVA
BERNSHTIN
-MEIERSDORF

thank you to all the contributors who made this Haggadah Commentary possible.
May we gather next year - in good health and spirit

Introductory Texts & Editing: Naomi Henkel Guembel

Layout & Design: Valentin “HaTzaddik” Lutset

please contact us for any quastions

haggadah basehillel.de
base berlin 2020