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SHABBAT SHALOM, MO’ADIM L'SIMCHAH. Today
is 19 Nissan 5777, Shabbat Chol HaMo’ed Pesach, the
4th day of the Omer. Shacharit is the Shabbat Amidah
and we include Ya’aleh V’Yavo. We chant Hallel. We
read Shir HaShirim. We read from two Sifrei Torah. No
Festival Hymn (Kah Keili). The Mussaf is for Yom Tov,
including references for Shabbat. We do not duchen on
Chol HaMo’ed Shabbat.
TORAH DIALOGUE
(Continuing with the teachings of Rav Soloveitchik)
1. Omitting parts of Lecho Dodi on Yom Tov that falls
on Shabbat. Every Friday night we begin Kabbalat
Shabbat with “L’Chu N’ran’na.” We say six chapters
of Tehillim, corresponding to the six days of creation,
an exclusive theme of Shabbat but not of Yom Tov. It
is for this reason that they are omitted when Yom Tov
or Chol Hamo’ed falls on Shabbat.
There are different customs regarding the recital of
Lecho Dodi, the beautiful and inspiring song written by
Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkebetz of Ts’fat. Nusach
Ashkenaz omits it entirely because it contains the
phrase P’nai Shabbat N’kabla, appropriate just for
Shabbat and not for Yom Tov. Nusach S’fard however,
recites the first two stanzas and the last two stanzas,
leaving out the middle five completely. This decision
indeed seems strange. If it is inappropriate for Yom
Tov, leave it out entirely. If it is not inappropriate, then
why not recite the entire Lecho Dodi?
Rav Soloveitchik explains that the five middle
stanzas refer to Yerushalayim (Mikdash Melech Ir
M’lucha), the Halachic and political capital of our
beloved homeland. On every Yom Tov, when we are
required to be Oleh Regel—to be in the Beit Hamikdash
in Yerushalayim—we are deeply saddened by our
inability to fulfill this lofty mitzvah because we are
bereft of our Holy Temple. Your yearning and sorrow
are so great that if we sing songs of praise to
Yerushalayim, as we do in Lecho Dodi, it would be like
adding salt to our wounds. Because Yom Tov should be
a time of happiness, the five stanzas referring to
Yerushalayim therefore are omitted.
concealing themselves from each other in the Friday
twilight and arousing the astonishment of the
“daughters of Jerusalem” who serve as a kind of chorus.
Only at the end of the overture does he stand back from
the story and frame it as an enactment of the Sabbatheve recitation of the story of Creator and creation. Will
they indeed come together?
From here the Rav examines the variegated forms
the human quest for God has taken – the realms of
experience where human beings think they can discern
Him and from which they distill all the familiar
arguments and ways. The Rav then turns to God’s
encounter with man – those elements of religious reality
that do not arise from the human quest but confront us
with realities unsought and often unwelcome to us
(most notably, revealed Law, the uncompromising
imperative of Torah).
Out of these fundamental oppositions emerges a
variety of experiences. On the one hand, our conception
of God corresponds to our needs and desires, our loves
and our fears – that is the God we search for and seek
to contain in our experiential and intellectual
categories. On the other hand, God is wholly other –
when He reveals Himself, we cannot fully assimilate
His otherness. Losing touch with this complex reality,
we tend to imagine either that God is the image of our
own love and fear, or that God stands aloof as a remote,
inaccessible, hidden being.
3. The proper ending for the Yom Tov Brachah in
Kiddush and Shemonah Esrei. Traditionally, we end the
Yom Tov Brachah in Kiddush and Shemonah Esrei
with the words Mekadesh Yisrael V’hazmanim. Rav
Baruch Epstein, author of Torah Temima, states that
this ending is an error that unfortunately appears in our
siddur and machzor due to an original printer’s mistake.
Indeed, each individual Yom Tov should be mentioned
by name at the end of this Brachah, just as Rosh
Hashanah (Mekadesh Yisrael V’Yom Hazikaron) and
Yom Kippur (Mekadesh Yisrael V’Yom Hakippurim)
are mentioned by name. Sukkot (Mekadesh Yisrael
V’Chag Hasukkot), as well as Chag Hamatzot and
Chag Hashavuot, should be mentioned during each
respective Yom Tov.
Rav Soloveitchik disagreed with Rav Epstein. He
2. According to the Rav, Song of Songs has two major believed that although Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
themes: the human quest for God and God’s revelation have their own independent Kedushat HaYom, thereby
to man. Without prelude the Rav retells the story of an warranting their own Brachah ending, the Three
enigmatic Lover and his beloved revealing and
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Pilgrimage Festivals emanate from one Kedusha as one by the Pascal Lamb—a community of concern and
unit. Therefore, the single term Hazmanim is correct.
solidarity.
[RED: Shabbat is also a proper opportunity to
4. In the Haggadah we find that all three areas of the demonstrate that we are a Chessed community.]
oral law are used and applied. Firstly, we have Midrash.
The Arami oved avi passage is interpreted and 6. Another aspect of the Seder is the “question and
explained through the different devices of Midrash. answer” style dialogue that is found in parts of the
Secondly, the Haggadah includes a number of passages Haggadah. Why is it so crucial that the child ask
of Mishnah, of set Halachot and statements. Examples questions; why do we prompt him? Simply put,
include the passage taken from the Mishnah in Judaism insists that God reveals Himself to the man
Pesachim (10:5) “Rabban Gamliel used to say, anyone who seeks after and thirsts for God. The verse in
who has not said these three things at Passover has not Deuteronomy (4:29) reads: “But if you search there for
fulfilled his obligation, etc.,” and the response to the the Lord your God, you will find Him if only you will
wise son “And you shall even tell him, (all the Halachot seek Him with all your heart and soul.” We want to
including) we do not eat any food after the eating of the initiate the child into the Masora community that seeks
Afikoman,” which is a law found in the Mishnah in out the Almighty and yearns for His presence and
Pesachim (10:8). Finally, the Haggadah contains illumination. We want the child to become a “M’vakesh
elements of “Gemara,” of logical deductions and Hashem”—“a seeker of God.”
inferences. An example of this is the passage
“Therefore, it is our duty to thank, praise ….” which is
a logical conclusion based upon the reading of the
immediately preceding Halachot (i.e. Pesach, Matzah
and Maor). Thus the Haggadah not only involves
Mikra, but also Limud. In fact the word Haggadah and
its root “haged” imply not only telling, but also an act
of study and Talmud Torah, as we find prior to Matan
Torah when the Almighty commands Moshe, “Thus
shall you say to the House of Yaakov and tell (v’taggid)
to the Children of Israel” (Exodus 19:3)
[RED: This should be viewed as a requirement of
our daily learning schedule: to learn Mikra (Torah text),
Midrash (Rabbinical interpretation of the text),
Mishnah, and Gemara.]
5. On the first two nights of Pesach the Seder
represents that type of Chessed community. In the
Halachah we find that one should try to assure himself
that two other people are with him at the Seder so that
a community should participate in this event. When the
Jews were freed from bondage, these two nights
represent Chessed in that Chessed is a characteristic
mark of the free man—the slave who is so concerned
with himself cannot possibly join the Chessed
community. Only free people can think of others. God
refers to the Chessed community as “am” (“people” or
“community,” as in “bring forth my am” (Exodus 3:10).
The word “am” is derived from “im” (sharing). The
concept of the Chessed community is also symbolized