by Rabbi Baruch Davis, Editor-in-Chief, Daf Hashavua
Let’s begin, in true Pesach style, with some questions:
What is the overall aim of the Pesach Seder? What do we hope to achieve? The Haggadah tells us: “In every generation, each person should regard themselves as having left Egypt”. It’s not enough to just tell the story, we have to place ourselves in it! Why is this so important?
Many of us begin our Pesach Seder with the recitation of Kadesh Urechatz, that sets out the 15 stages of the evening that is about to unfold. What is significant about the number 15?
The Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehuda Loew d.1609) associates this number with the 15 psalms that begin with the words ‘Shir Hama’alot’, which were recited on the 15 steps in the Temple by the Levites. And the first night of Pesach is 15 Nisan. However, it is with one of our favourite songs of the Seder, Dayenu, which describes 15 stages of redemption, that the Maharal unpacks the overall theme of the Seder.
Dayenu begins with the words “Kamah ma’a lot tovot laMakom aleinu” – ‘how many good steps (in the redemption process) did God do for us’. Just as each of the steps (ma’alot) in the Temple represented an increased level of spirituality, so too each of the verses in Dayenu depicts ever higher levels of spirituality, beginning in Egypt and ending with the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. We also see that Dayenu is our story: God took us out of Egypt; fed us the Manna; gave us the Torah, and so on. These 15 stages, says the Maharal, can be divided into three parts.
The first five stages, taking us out of Egypt, exacting judgements on the Egyptians and their gods, killing their firstborn and giving us the Egyptians’ wealth, all took place in Egypt. All five stages were a prerequisite for the overall goal, becoming God’s chosen people, an impossibility whilst under Egyptian rule. The Egyptians and their gods had to be cut down to size. The departing slaves had to be dignified by being paid for their servitude.
Still, the Egyptians could take revenge against us, and they tried! And how would we manage in the desert? The second five stages answer these concerns: the splitting of the Sea of Reeds for us to pass through on dry land, the drowning of the Egyptians, God’s caring for us in the desert for 40 years and feeding us the manna.
God had created the conditions for us to be able to leave behind the slavery and become His chosen nation. Now it was our turn. The last five stages of redemption are about the steps that we had to take: keeping Shabbat, coming to Mount Sinai, receiving the Torah, coming to the Land of Israel and, finally, building the Temple.
The purpose of the Exodus was for us to leave Egypt and become God’s chosen people. Dayenu sets out those stages, each one a notch higher than the previous one. Our goal on Seder night is not simply to tell the story, but to feel that we too are making that journey. The 15 stages of the Seder help us to accomplish this task.