25 rtwe pesach mar 30 2026

פרק ז מהלכות חמץ ומצה Halacha Aleph.

מצות עשה של תורה לספר בנסים ונפלאות שנעשו לאבותינו במצרים בליל חמשה עשר בניסן

shene'emar

זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים כמו שנאמר זכור את יום השבת.

So the Rambam's definition is very clear that the mitzvah is the sippur benissim venifla'ot. Everything else is by way of background, context, which help us appreciate the nissim venifla'ot, their significance, their implications, their reverberations, but the mitzvah is defined in terms of nissim venifla'ot. That's explicit here in the Rambam. Halacha Bet. מצוה להודיע לבנים ואפילו לא שאל shene'emar vehigadeta levinkha.

לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו. לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו

is a quote from the Mishnah on קטז עמוד א. Keitzad. אם היה קטן או טיפש, which in turn, לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו, which in turn is the Mishnah's way of presenting the Mechilta that we quote in the Haggadah of כנגד ארבעה בנים דברה תורה. Keitzad. אם היה קטן או טיפש omer lo beni

כולנו היינו עבדים כמו שפחה זו או כמו עבד זה במצרים ובלילה הזה פדה אותנו הקדוש ברוך הוא ויוציאנו לחירות. ואם היה הבן גדול וחכם מודיע מה שאירע לנו במצרים ונסים שנעשו לנו על ידי משה רבנו הכל לפי דעתו של בן.

So what needs to be understood here is that what's presented to the katan o tipeish, there's no mention of nissim venifla'ot. Okay, so you'll say, correctly, that the Rambam's referring to children at an age where they don't really understand the concept of a miracle. You know, that line between a nes and the normal functioning of teva, they don't understand. But what one would have thought is, ich veis, is there a mitzvah of sippur yetziat miztrayim? You have a newborn, two weeks old, so you have to have the newborn has to be at the Seder and sing Dayenu? So I don't know, efshar lo kach I think for the zman to be mekayyem on haneishama. If the child is not old enough to understand sippur yetziat miztrayim, so then there's no mitzvah of vehigadeta levinkha, obviously. So I would have thought if the child is not old enough to understand miracles, so then hayesod de'hamitzvah is the sippur benissim venifla'ot, so there wouldn't be a mitzvah. Lakhora hapshat is like this: when the Mishnah says and when the Rambam again, which on קטז עמוד א, לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו, which the Rambam prefaces his keitzad with that klal, here's the vort rabboisai. לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו, it's not simply a principle in pedagogy. It is, that's also true. לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו is a gezeirat hakatuv, is a halacha that sippur yetziat miztrayim is to be told to a child on whatever age the story can be presented. Again, there obviously even then there is an age at which the child can't understand any version of the story. So the two-week-old is still patur. he or she can still sleep comfortably in the crib, but that l'fi zeh, that's what the gezeiras hakasuv והגדת לבנך אדם ללמדו and when the Mechilta דכנגד ארבעה בנים דברה תורה, again it's not only pedagogy and it's not only different types and all the drashos. No, it's all that as well. But be'ikar, first and foremost, it's gezeiras hakasuv that you that this sippur, hagam that for a person himself, for the ben chacham, the chiyuv is defined in terms of nissim v'niflaos. That the gezeiras hakasuv והגדת לבנך אדם ללמדו that if the child can't grasp sippur yetzias Mitzrayim in those terms, and the child can only grasp in

בני כולנו היינו עבדים כמו שפחה זו כמו עבד זה

and po that's מה שעשה הקדוש ברוך הוא. That's also for the child, that's the sippur. So והגדת לבנך אדם ללמדו is gezeiras hakasuv within that the definition of what you have to present in the story is adjusted. And that explains also, let's say, in the for the ben katan or tipesh, so we don't tell him the gnus v'shvach of מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה היו ועכשיו קרבנו המקום לעבודתו. We don't have that either. Again, so all that is the same question, the same answer. The Rambam leaves out the ben rasha, right? In the כנגד ארבעה בנים דברה תורה, so the Rambam has the aino yodea l'shol and the tam, and then he has the chacham. He doesn't have the rasha. So the pshat is like this, that the Rambam learns pshat, again, so what does the Mechilta tell us? אף אתה הקהה את שיניו ואמור לו, etc. That when the Mechilta is telling us that, that's not מדיני סיפור יציאת מצרים. That's, again, this is a different shmuess that we're not talking about now, lo inyan elo obviously לפי המקום לפי הזמן. But in a certain place and time when the ben rasha by definition is exhibiting a perverse, brazen rebelliousness, so the question is how is a person supposed to respond to that? That's not מדיני סיפור יציאת מצרים. That's a din in how you encounter what happens when you encounter, how do you navigate that encounter with a ben rasha? It's not מדיני סיפור יציאת מצרים, the same way the Gemara juxtaposes the two psukim about whether אל תען כסיל כאולתו or not. So one's an apikores goy versus apikores Yisrael is even worse, that you don't engage with him. It's not mi'dinei sippur. So the Mechilta is commenting on pshat in the psukim. It's not limiting itself to a discussion of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, of דיני סיפור יציאת מצרים. So the Mechilta says כנגד ארבעה בנים דברה תורה. The Rambam in Hilchos Chametz u'Matzah, he's interested only in that part of the Mechilta which presents dinei sippur. So the Rambam leaves out the ben rasha. The response to the ben rasha is not mi'dinei sippur. In Halacha Aleph, the Rambam says, again, we know the drashah from the Haggadah,

אפילו חכמים גדולים חייבים לספר ביציאת מצרים. וכל המרבה בדברים שאירעו ושהיו הרי זה משובח.

That's first maybe the afillu chachamim gedolim, right? Again,

אפילו כולנו חכמים כולנו נבונים כולנו יודעים את התורה מצוה עלינו לספר ביציאת מצרים.

It's interesting, both there in the Haggadah as well as in the Rambam, the afillu chachamim gedolim is... It's a funny hava amina. Probably there was a hava amina that chachamim gedolim would be pattur. Right? Afilu, right? Even. It's a chiddush, is a hava amina. I don't know, let's say zechirat yetziat Mitzrayim. So when the Rambam in the beginning of Hilchot Keriat Shema tells us about the the dinim of of zechirat yetziat Mitzrayim, so the Rambam doesn't say

אפילו חכמים גדולים חייבים זכירת יציאת מצרים. תורה אחת יהיה לכם.

K'katan k'gadol, you know, it's not only we who are chayavim to be m'kayem all mitzvot, chachamim gedolim also chayavim to be m'kayem all mitzvot. So what's what's the hava amina here? So it's interesting that that the format of sippur yetziat Mitzrayim and and ka'yadua this was one of the differences that the Rav Chaim highlighted between the sippur and zechirah, that the format of sippur yetziat Mitzrayim is derech she'eilah u'teshuvah. Right? That's why we we begin with with Mah Nishtanah. Our minhag, this isn't, I don't know, this isn't really, this doesn't align with the Rambam fully here. But our minhag is, right, we we don't fill the second cup until first we say Ha Lachma Anya, then then we fill the second cup. So the pshat is is that Ha Lachma Anya is is not part of Maggid, it's an introduction to Maggid. And and that's why we don't fill the cups until after Ha Lachma Anya. And and what supports that understanding, that Ha Lachma Anya isn't so much a part of sippur as it is an introduction to sippur, is that the sippur's supposed to be derech she'eilah u'teshuvah. So what what are we doing? Mah Nishtanah is the beginning of the sippur because that's that's the the again, what when the Torah says והיה כי ישאלך בנך, so the Torah's not just narrating what will happen. The Torah's telling us a halachah that that is the format of sippur. The format of sippur is derech she'eilah u'teshuvah, which is why the halachah is that that even if a person is bein adam l'atzmo, so then a person is shoel et atzmo. He he person will also say the the Mah Nishtanah, will also be shoel et atzmo. Okay, gezeirat hakatuv. But itachen what what that gezeirat hakatuv points to is the following. Is that within the mitzvah of sippur, the chiyuv is... well, let's let's backtrack for a second here. The the Rav zichrono livracha used to comment on the on the idiom of lesaper be'nissim veniflaot. So in Lashon Hakodesh you don't have to have the preposition beit when you're talking about sippur. Just like in lehavdil in English, I'll tell you a story, right? So you don't have to have a a preposition, you know, between the the verb and the and the object of the story. I'll tell you a story, I'll I'll relate a story, I'll narrate a story, right? In in none of those expressions do we use a preposition. And in Lashon Hakodesh, again lehavdil it's like that also, right? Lesaper sippur, you it doesn't have to you don't have to have the preposition. So what what is the significance of the preposition here? So the Rav said that lesaper be means to delve into something. Means not just to to narrate superficially on on the surface, but to to probe into something, to delve into something. That's that's what the beit expresses together. That and and when you say lesaper be, that's that's the sense. Without the beit, itachen you tell a... See in light of that, itachen that the basic chiyuv of Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim is every year to try to uncover something new. To recognize something, to discover something, some element, some aspect, some feature which one hadn't known previously. Oh, so hashta d'asinu b'hachi and that's what the format of sheilah t'shuvah, that's what exists kashas sheilah t'shuvah signifies. Sheilah t'shuvah means a question means there's something I don't fully understand yet. Right? If you know everything, you don't have any questions. You have questions when you don't know everything. And comes the Torah and says the format of Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim is derech sheilah t'shuvah, you don't know everything. That's what the... oh, so I would have thought yeah, okay, so I get it, I don't know everything, we don't know everything. But Rav Chaim sitting down to the Seder, the Vilna Gaon sitting down to the Seder, רבי עקיבא ואלעזר בן עזריה ורבי טרפון, they're sitting down to the Seder, they also don't know everything? Yeah, they also don't know everything. אפילו חכמים גדולים חייבים לספר ביציאת מצרים. The point is that the mitzvah is, again, if the mitzvah wasn't to be mechadesh, there would be no hava amina that chachamim gedolim would be pattur. The same way there's no hava amina that chachamim gedolim are pattur from zecher yetzias mitzrayim. Zecher yetzias mitzrayim, there's no chiyuv to uncover some new element, some new dimension. So there's no hava amina that chachamim gedolim are pattur. But by sippur, the chiyuv is to try to uncover something new. Oh, so I would have thought again, chachamim gedolim at a certain point haven't they maxed out? The answer's no. You haven't maxed out and therefore they also have to make that attempt. In that vein, what if any is the v'higadta l'vincha? So what's the cutoff point, if any? I don't know, the father's zocheh l'arichus yamim, he's 118, he got married at age 20, was zocheh to a son right away, so his boychik is 97 years old. So is there still a mitzvah of v'higadta l'vincha? Is there an expiration point? No, lechora again, the one that would come to mind is maybe ben means a ben katan, maybe it's only before Bar Mitzvah. But I don't know, when the Rambam says in halacha beis, come back to halacha beis, אם היה הבן גדול וחכם. So why did the Rambam say gadol v'chacham? Why not just say אם היה הבן חכם? At whatever... so it's hard to say that what he means by gadol is, oh, he's 10 years old, so he's already somewhat intellectually mature and therefore if he's really bright... no, the pshat is בן גדול וחכם means that Bar Mitzvah is not the cutoff. So Bar Mitzvah is not the cutoff, is there a cutoff? So the loshon haRambam here is

ואם היה הבן גדול וחכם מודיעו מה שאירע לנו במצרים ונסים שנעשו לנו על ידי משה רבינו הכל לפי דעתו של בן.

What does... again, this isn't an esoteric or obscure word, what does modio mean? What does modio mean? To make known. So itachen, that's the definition. As long as the father has what, has something new to tell the son, back to our case, if the 118-year-old father has a he'arah to share with a 97-year-old son, he's chayav in v'higadta. But Netziv the father, so then potentially, potentially kol zman that realistically it's b'vchinas modia, l'chora the father is chayav. But what does it mean the Rambam says v'haya haben? Again here in Zayin-Beis, rabosai,

אם היה הבן גדול וחכם מודיעו מה שאירע לנו במצרים בנסים שנעשו לנו על ידי משה רבינו הכל לפי דעתו של בן.

So we get that again unlike the katan v'tipeish who doesn't really understand yet the distinction again between nes and the normal functioning of teva. So the ben gadole v'chacham does grasp that distinction. But why is it that Moshe Rabbeinu is only mentioned to the ben gadole v'chacham, not to the katan v'tipeish? I don't know, the kids all come home from preschool and they know that Moshe Rabbeinu told Paroh let my people go and Paroh said no, no, no, I will not let them go, something that they understand Moshe Rabbeinu. And what's more, we don't have that in our Haggadah, right? We don't have Moshe Rabbeinu, right? Moshe Rabbeinu is absent from the Haggadah. So what's pshat? So l'chora as follows, if you take a look in חידושי מרן רי"ז הלוי על התורה in Parshas Shmos, he shows based on the Rambam in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah that when Moshe Rabbeinu when Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, you know, I'll send you to Paroh and Moshe Rabbeinu responds, מי אנכי כי אלך אל פרעה. That the way the Rambam unlike Rashi learns pshat in what Moshe Rabbeinu is saying is that Moshe Rabbeinu, it's not like obviously Moshe Rabbeinu is עניו מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה. But this, it's not that this is a reflection of that. It's not that mi anochi is Moshe Rabbeinu's anavah. No, it's something even more far-reaching than that. I think he has a Medrash like this also that when Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Yaakov Avinu in Parshas Vayigash, אל תירא מרדה מצרימה that אנכי ארד עמך מצרימה ואנכי אעלך גם עלה. So the Medrash says that when Hakadosh Baruch Hu said אנכי ארד עמך ואנכי אעלך גם עלה, Hakadosh Baruch Hu promised that He without any intermediary will bring us out of Mitzrayim. And that when Moshe Rabbeinu says mi anochi, the Medrash, this is hafleh v'feleh. Medrash says mi anochi, it's a play on words, it's a double entendre. It's not only just mi anochi who am I, Moshe ben Amram, but where's the Anochi of אנכי אעלך גם עלה? How can this be? How can You be sending, not how can You be sending me, how can You be sending anyone? Right? It would have been misleading for Moshe Rabbeinu to say how can You send me because his question is more fundamental than that. His question is Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I don't understand, I don't understand what this is all about. You made a havtacha that You... So what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu answer him? That ki eheyeh imach. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says ki eheyeh imach. Okay, so you understand if Moshe Rabbeinu's protest was you know I lack the qualifications, the ability... abilities to lead Bnei Yisrael out of Mitzrayim, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says don't worry, I'm going to be with you. But what's the answer if this, given how the Ramban understands the question? So Rav answers as follows. Maybe we'll just give a mashal for what he's saying. I don't know whether the mashal is I think it's from physics, but we'll see whether this is scientifically accurate I don't know. But let's say you have some light. So if the glass here is opaque, so then it's clear that whatever light comes through is that there's something in between us in the room and the source of the light. Because there's an opaque quality to the glass. But if the glass is not opaque, and then the sunlight comes through, so then on the one hand, is there a glass there? Yes. On the other hand, again here's where I may be on shaky ground in terms of the metzius, but no give me the leeway here. On the other hand, we're getting the sunlight as if there were nothing there. So is there? Yes and no. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbenu right now in Parshas Shemos you haven't achieved your unique level of nevuah. Right now you're a navi like the neviim who preceded you and like the neviim who followed you. And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu speaks to a navi and then the navi speaks to the people, so then ein hachi nami. What's happening is happening indirectly. There's a go-between between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the people. That ki eheyeh imach, you should know Moshe Rabbenu, you're going to achieve again you yourself don't know what this is yet because you haven't experienced it, but you're going to experience, attain a unique singular supreme level of nevuah where as it were dvar Hashem will flow through you as opposed to you'll contain it and then repeat it. You'll absorb it and then present it. No, it's going to flow through you. שכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו. And in that sense you'll go, but in no way will that detract from my fulfilling my havtacha of אנכי אעלך גם עלה. Ki eheyeh imach. So Yetzias Mitzrayim was ve'avarti be'eretz mitzrayim is

אני ולא מלאך אני ולא שליח אני השם אני הוא ולא אחר.

Yetzias Mitzrayim is through Hakadosh Baruch Hu directly. On the other hand, he did send Moshe Rabbenu. Again, the mashal to the translucent glass. Or so you can't tell that to the ben katan or tipesh. If you tell the ben katan or tipesh Moshe Rabbenu, so that means there was a shaliach. It means there's a go-between, an intermediary. It's not Hakadosh Baruch Hu directly. He's a ben gadol, the chacham. He's gadol vechacham. He can understand or at least sort of understand that when you mention Moshe Rabbenu somehow that's not in any way detracting from אנכי אעלך גם עלה. So then you can mention Moshe Rabbenu. Our standard text in the Haggadah doesn't assume that understanding. It doesn't assume that understanding, which is why Moshe Rabbenu is not in the Haggadah. Because Moshe Rabbenu can only be in the Haggadah if you have this havana. My brother Shem komdema, I don't know whether he commented on this Rambam or chametz umatzah, but he did comment on a different Rambam. If you take a look at the end of perek alef of hilchos avodah zarah again where the Rambam describes the... How the how the world plunged into Avodah Zarah, and then how Avraham Avinu discovers Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and then how in Mitzrayim we regressed. And at the end of Perek Aleph, the Rambam says that with the exception of Shevet Levi, we had regressed because we were influenced by the mores and practices and therefore ultimately the beliefs in Mitzrayim. וכמעט קט היה והעיקר ששתל אברהם נעקר. That we were on the verge of whatever Avraham Avinu, the foundation that Avraham Avinu had established for belief in Hashem Echad was about to be uprooted. וחזרו בני יעקב לטעות העמים ותעייתם. And even, even Bnei Yaakov Avinu, again with the exception of Levi and family, had also regressed to the Avodah Zarah belief structure. ומאהבת השם אותנו ומשמרו את השבועה לאברהם אבינו. So listen to the Lashon HaRambam, Rabosai: עשה משה רבינו ורבן של כל הנביאים ושלחו. Hakadosh Baruch Hu elevated Moshe Rabbeinu. I think we've pointed out the idiom Asa Moshe Rabbeinu comes from Divrei HaYamim. Asa Moshe Rabbeinu. But then the Rambam adds the description ורבן של כל הנביאים. And so we, it's true that the Rambam doesn't, doesn't assume that we know too much. When he mentions Rabbi Akiva, he identifies who Rabbi Akiva was in Hilchos Melachim. He says Rabbi Akiva, חכם גדול מחכמי המשנה. So the Rambam is not assuming that other than Tanakh, that we know anything. But Moshe Rabbeinu we do know, I mean, that much we know. But so the vort is like this: the Rambam first uses the term ורבן של כל הנביאים, if you go back to Yesodei HaTorah Zayin-Vav. So the Rambam has been describing Nevuah. So the Rambam says:

כל הדברים שאמרנו הם דרך הנבואה לכל הנביאים הראשונים והאחרונים חוץ ממשה רבינו ורבן של כל הנביאים.

So the phrase ורבן של כל הנביאים refers to that quality that Moshe Rabbeinu was sui generis as a Navi. Again, the difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and all the Nevi'im is not one of degree, but is one of kind. That's what the phrase ורבן של כל הנביאים refers to. Nevi'im are all Ma'alos Ma'alos, Madregos Madregos, but it's the same Parsha of Nevuah. It's the same Metzius of Nevuah. Okay, it's more intense, a little bit less intense, more of a gilluy, less of a gilluy. It's the same phenomenon of Nevuah, again, albeit with differences of degree between the respective levels, the levels respective levels of the different Nevi'im. But Moshe Rabbeinu, and this is what the term ורבן של כל הנביאים, Moshe Rabbeinu is sui generis. לא כן עבדי משה. That's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu says in Parshas Behaalosecha to Miriam and Aharon: he's not greater than you, he's entirely different. לא כן עבדי משה. So that's the vort. That's what I proposed, that עשה משה רבינו ורבן של כל הנביאים. The Rambam needs to identify him as such here because only because he was ורבן של כל הנביאים, only because he achieved, was given this unique level of Nevuah, again, where it's not that he contains Devar Hashem and then repeats and then transmits, but it flows through him. So because in that capacity as ורבן של כל הנביאים, that's how he could be a Shaliach. Again, is there something between us and the sun? There is and there isn't. There is. Okay, maybe one more on here. Again, for example, the halacha:

מצות עשה של תורה לספר בניסים ונפלאות שנעשו לאבותינו במצרים בליל חמישה עשר בניסן שנאמר זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים כמו שנאמר זכור את יום השבת.

So just by way of clarifying basic peshat, the Rav zichrono livracha would point out that be-leil chamisha asar is a double modifier. It's a modifier as to when the mitzvah asei is noheget, when it's incumbent upon us, but it's also modifying the nisim veniflaot, that the mitzvah is to be mesaper be-nisim veniflaot that happened on leil chamisha asar. And how did the Rav know that that's peshat in the Rambam? It's because it's clear from from the hemshech of the Rambam. The pasuk זכור את היום הזה clearly says that the mitzvah is the nisim veniflaot of leil chamisha asar, right? Remember what happened on this day. And then the Rambam says, but I I made a double claim, I also told you that leil chamisha asar is the nisim veniflaot of leil chamisha asar, but it's also when the mitzvah is noheget, and u-minayin, how do you know that? So that's filled in by ve-higadta le-vincha. Okay, fine. What is the derasha of והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר? So as we quote in the Haggadah: yachol me-rosh chodesh? Maybe it means after having been makriv the Pesach and it means the 14th? Talmud lomar, ba'avur zeh, בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך. Again, as we quote the derasha in the Haggadah. So the Meshech Chochmah has an an interesting question, that why is it בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך? Why isn't it פסח מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך? So he says like this. He says he says he has an interesting idea. He gives a mashal as follows. He says a couple that they have a daughter and they marry their daughter off and they committed to support the young couple for a certain tekufah after the marriage. So a few months after the marriage, so the wife says to the husband, the parents of the of the newlyweds, she says, "Look at our daughter, oh Baruch Hashem, we're so blessed. Look at we married our daughter off to such a kind, considerate young man. He treats her so nicely." And her husband says to her, "I hope so, but I can't really tell you. The you know, the verdict is not yet in. Right now life is is easy, right? He's eating mon. We're supporting him. He doesn't have any of the pressures of life. He doesn't have to deal with all of parnassah. Let's wait and see how he'll treat our daughter when he's no longer being supported, when when he finds himself in more challenging situation. If he'll continue to treat her well then, he'll continue to treat her with kindness and consideration, so then we'll takeh know." and because of the zechus of eating Pesach Mitzrayim Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out or whether it means for the sake of this so that throughout the generations we'll be able to do this. So the Meshech Chochmah is assuming the second pshat, that ba'avur zeh means for the for al shem ha'asid for the in the sake of for the for the sake of of of this. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying, now I took you out of Mitzrayim not just that you should tell sippur yetzias Mitzrayim when you have a Korban Pesach. When you have a Korban Pesach means the Beis Hamikdash is standing, it means that that Knesses Yisrael is flourishing. Okay, I takeh want you to tell sippur yetzias Mitzrayim then and I want you to to appreciate it then. But the real test will be is when you no longer have Pesach and you only have matzah and maror bizman hachurban when when when you're not being supported by when you know the analog to when the son-in-law is not being supported by by the father-in-law, I want to see that that you'll engage in sippur yetzias Mitzrayim even then. That's the Meshech Chochmah, it's a beautiful... But another havana and kemedumeh this is what the Rambam has in mind. The Meshech Chochmah isn't saying it in the Rambam, he's quoting the drashos Chazal, he doesn't say it in the Rambam more than than anyone else, he's suggesting it as pshat in drashos Chazal. Kemedumeh the way the Rambam pshat is as follows: The Rambam says in in a couple of times in in the Moreh, I think we've spoken about this, that an important element in avodas Hashem is that the Torah wants us bimei hatovah to remember yimei hara'ah. Maybe we would have been inclined to think no let's bury the painful memories of the past and and just enjoy and and bask in in the blessings of of the present. And the Torah says no that that we always have to remember bimei hatovah we have to remember yimei hara'ah. The Rambam says that we really see this by the mitzvah of mikra bikkurim. Mitzvah of mikra bikkurim so a person's bringing bikkurim, he's celebrating a successful crop, he's living in Eretz Yisrael and and he's celebrating a successful crop. So we would have thought mikra bikkurim should be is come to the kohen and say

הנה הבאתי את ראשית פרי האדמה אשר נתתה לי ה.

So what is mikra bikkurim? So mikra bikkurim begins I don't know it seems like a rather long-winded you know you bump into someone you haven't seen him in ten years how are you and he starts and tells you everything that's happened the past ten years. It's not exactly what you know how are you may be been sincere but I don't think that's what you were looking for. So Aramei oveid avi begin telling the kohen a maiseh with Lavan a maiseh with Lavan and Yaakov Avinu and then a maiseh Mitzrayim. So says the Rambam what's pshat? No, the Torah's telling you here's yimei hatovah. Yimei hatovah, you're living in Eretz Yisrael and you just had a bumper crop and and you're bringing bringing bikkurim and you have so much left for yourself. So you have to remember yimei hara'ah because if a person doesn't remember you for two reasons. Number one if a person doesn't take the tovah for granted he has a greater degree of appreciation to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And number two when Hakadosh Baruch Hu blesses us letovah there is a potential downside. It can lead to arrogance. When a person is has blessing he can forget that it's blessing and and it can be chas v'shalom ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה אלהיך. As an antidote to that the Torah says a person always has to remember yimei hara'ah bimei hatovah. The Rambam says you have this idea by Pesach and Succos also. How do you have it by Succos? So the Rambam says a remarkable pshat. In the machlokes Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva whether it's succos mamash or succos ananei hakavod so the Rambam goes with the view that of succos mamash כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל. So says the Rambam the pshat ki basuccos hoshavti is when you were in the midbar Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't give you accommodations you weren't staying in the Sheraton you weren't staying in the Hilton this wasn't you weren't in a five-star hotel. Basuccos you in these flimsy huts. That's where you were in the midbar כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל and now look you're sitting in... ובתים מלאים כל טוב, you're sitting in these beautiful homes in Eretz Yisrael, so remember כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל because you have to remember yemei hara'ah biyemei hatovah. How do you remember yemei hara'ah biyemei hatovah in Pesach? The Rambam says you do it in Pesach also. He says the same. So Pesach we're celebrating our cherut. Again, think of yemei David u'Shlomo. Think of the best times in in Jewish history. We're celebrating. The Rambam says you have to eat matzah and maror. Again, matzah, like the Ramban says, was lechem oni, was the staple of our diet as as avadim, because matzah is harder to digest, so it sits in the stomach longer than chametz does, and therefore if you you want to give meager rations to an eved, you'll give him matzah rather than than chametz. So matzah was our was the staple of our diet in in Mitzrayim, and maror, זכר לוימררו את חייהם. So matzah and maror serve as reminders of of yemei hara'ah. Now the Rambam doesn't, for obvious reasons, doesn't mention Pesach in that context. Pesach is not a reminder of yemei hara'ah. Adaraba, it's

אשר פסח המקום על בתי אבותינו במצרים בנגפו את מצרים ואת בתינו הציל.

Pesach doesn't deliver that message, it doesn't have that association. Ah, so vehigadta levincha, you're telling sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim, you're you're celebrating the cherut. When do you do it? בעבור זה בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך. That's why the Chazal single out the matzah and maror, because the matzah and maror is is not the counterpoint, but it's sort of the balance to the sippur, again, which is ניסים ונפלאות וכל המשתמע. So the dagesh Chazal, matzah b'Yetzias Mitzrayim notwithstanding, the dagesh Chazal is on the yemei hatovah. So that's בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך with that reminder of the yemei hara'ah. Okay, we'll stop here.