The Order of the 'Order' - Preparing for Pesach

(4) The pious and the men of action would dance before the people who attended the celebration, with flaming torches that they would juggle in their hands, and they would say before them passages of song and praise to God. And the Levites would play on lyres, harps, cymbals, and trumpets, and countless other musical instruments. The musicians would stand on the fifteen stairs that descend from the Israelites’ courtyard to the Women’s Courtyard, corresponding to the fifteen Songs of the Ascents in Psalms, i.e., chapters 120–134, and upon which the Levites stand with musical instruments and recite their song. ...

(1) ...Even the poorest of Jews should not eat until they recline. And you should not give less than four cups of wine. And this law applies even to people who take from the charity plate.

(6) Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am ה'. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. (7) And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, ה', am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians. (8) I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I ה'.”

(4) They poured the second cup for, and here the child asks their parent. And if the child does not have the intelligence, the parent teaches. ... And according to the intelligence of the child, the parent teaches. We begin with disgrace and conclude with praise. And we expound from: “An Aramean tried to destroy my father” (Deuteronomy 26:5) until we conclude the entire section.

(1) When you enter the land that your God ה' is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, (2) you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God ה' is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God ה' will choose to establish the divine name. (3) You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God ה' that I have entered the land that ה' swore to our fathers to assign us.” (4) The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God ה'. (5) You shall then recite as follows before your God ה': “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. (6) The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. (7) We cried to ה', the God of our ancestors, and ה' heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. (8) ה' freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents, (9) bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. (10) Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, ה', have given me.”You shall leave it before your God ה' and bow low before your God ה'.

(5) Rabban Gamliel would say: Anyone who did not say these three matters on Passover has not fulfilled their obligation: The Paschal lamb, matza, and bitter herbs. ... In each and every generation a person must view themselves as though they personally left Egypt, as it is stated: “And you shall tell your child on that day, saying: It is because of this which the Eternal did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8). Therefore we are obligated to thank, praise, glorify, extol, exalt, honor, bless, revere, and laud the One who performed for our ancestors and for us all these miracles: God took us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to a Festival, from darkness to a great light, and from enslavement to redemption. And we will say before God: Halleluya.

(5) The exodus from Egypt is mentioned at night. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya said: I am approximately seventy years old, and I was never privileged to prove that the exodus from Egypt be mentioned at night, until Ben Zoma interpreted it, as it is stated: “That you may remember the day you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life” (Deuteronomy 16:3). The days of your life, refers to daytime alone; All the days of your life, the nights as well. And the Rabbis say: The days of your life, refers to the days in this world, all is added to include the days of the Messiah.

Next year, let us be in the built Jerusalem!