Pesach Seder, Masorah

וכל המרבה לספר ביציאת מצרים הרי זה משובח as as it says that the Maharsha in Maseches Shabbos that says שידרוש מארמי אובד אבי שיגמור כל הפרשה כולה. Chazal established as the primary text for Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim the parsha of Mikra Bikkurim from Parshas Ki Savo. The Rav zechono livracha used to ask wouldn't it have been more natural to take the parshiyos of Shemos, Va’eira, Bo, Beshalach which have a much fuller and detailed account instead of the rather cryptic compressed account in Parshas Ki Savo? And he used to answer no it's gufeh for that reason that the night of the Seder focuses on mesorah, vehigadeta levincha. The overarching theme and experience is one of mesorah, vehigadeta levincha. Dafka because the parsha of Arami Oved Avi only tells the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim through the elaboration of the Drashos HaSifrei through the Torah she-b’al peh, through the mesorah, but dafka for that reason that's why Chazal selected that parsha. It's therefore me-inyana de-yoma to think and and to try to gain clarity about the inyan mesorah certainly over over the course of Yom Tov but as we make our preparations שלושים יום קודם החג וז"ל. So we'll just be-ezras Hashem try to focus briefly on one element of mesorah and that is to try to understand that the Chachmei HaMesorah were really entrusted with a double task with a double charge. First of all as as the term mesirah connotes their job is to transmit. We because of the because of our Chachmei HaMesorah so we literally have traditions which go back to Moshe Rabbeinu at Har Sinai. The job of the Chachmei HaMesorah is to is to transmit faithfully mi-dor le-dor our traditions. But the Chachmei HaMesorah they also add to the mesorah. They don't only transmit what they received from the previous generation Chachmei HaMesorah also add to the mesorah. What does it mean that you add to the mesorah? So once upon a time the Rambam writes in the hakdamah le-peirush hamishnayos that what that meant was that when Moshe Rabbeinu was in Har Sinai Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't didn't spell out for him or at least he didn't spell out for him to transmit all the all possible drashos of י"ג מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן which are correct drashos. And through the generations the the Sanhedrin the Chachmei HaMesorah they continued to darshen the the psukim in Chumash and would derive dinim, halachos based on י"ג מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן and what they derived would then be added to the mesorah. So the Chachmei HaMesorah didn't only faithfully transmit mi-dor le-dor but they also added. Obviously that that type of Talmud Torah we don't engage in anymore in terms of darshening psukim with י"ג מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן. Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky has a very fascinating essay about this in in his Emes L’Yaakov. But it remains true that ad hayom hazeh that Chachmei HaMesorah not only transmit but they also add to the mesorah. In what sense do do they add to the mesorah? In the sense that it's the it's the goal it's the job and it's entrusted to the Chachmei HaMesorah to apply the Torah to apply the mesorah to their generation. The Torah doesn't change but circumstances change reality changes and therefore the same way if If if a woman has a shaila in basar bechalav on Thursday and she calls the Rav, so if she has a different shaila with different facts and different reality on Friday, so she has to call him again. It can't be, well I already called him Thursday and Thursday already told me it was kosher, Thursday already told me it was traif, so I don't have to call him again Friday. If the facts on the ground are different Friday, if the quantities are different, if the temperature is different, whatever the whatever the variables may be, so then the question the question is a different question and and therefore the Shulchan Aruch has to be applied again and the answer may be may be a different answer. Not that the Shulchan Aruch changed, but if the question changed, if the facts on the ground change, so then the answer may change. So it's the it's the job of the Chachmei Hamesorah to not only transmit the masorah midor lador but also in every generation as new questions arise, as as new situations arise, the new questions and and new situations they may be they may be triggered by technological advances, they may be triggered by socio-political, economic, economic changes. It it may be what's the status of of electricity and electric lights? It may be what's the status of corporations when it comes to בל יראה בל ימצא and and hilchos ribbis, or it may be social changes as well. So it's part of the job of the Chachmei Hamesorah to apply the masorah and as they apply the masorah, so then the positions that they take become added to the masorah. So it continues ad hayom hazeh that the Chachmei Hamesorah not only transmit midor lador but they also add to the masorah. Now that means just sort of just just repeating the the same idea from a different direction and and with a different focus that our connection to masorah also has to be twofold. The same way the Chachmei Hamesorah function in a in a double capacity transmitting but also applying, so our connection to the masorah, if we want to genuinely live with and within the masorah, so it means that we not only accept that is that which is transmitted by Chachmei Hamesorah but also means that we look to the to to our contemporary Chachmei Hamesorah to apply the masorah to the to the again the new questions whether they're engendered by technological changes, scientific advances, socio-political changes. And if one doesn't look to Chachmei Hamesorah for this application, so then one is to the degree that one is not looking to Chachmei Hamesorah for these applications, so then one is disconnecting from the masorah and one is not genuinely living with and and within the masorah. Sometimes when when we look at the contemporary scene and we see that in response to changes and new challenges, we see different initiatives or whatever the case may be and we may not we may not be versed in in in the halachic issues which are relevant to again what what the initiatives are purporting to do and so we don't really know, is this legitimate, is it not legitimate? The fact that not everyone agrees with it doesn't necessarily mean it's not legitimate. There certainly is and always has been a a legitimate diversity of opinion amongst Gedolei Yisrael, amongst Chachmei Hamesorah. It was never there isn't one monolithic opinion on all topics amongst all Gedolei Yisrael. There certainly is is is room for different and and diverging opinions amongst Gedolei... legitimate. But the fact that there's room for disagreement doesn't mean that there are no boundaries. It doesn't mean a football field is pretty wide, but there is out of bounds at some point. You you if a person runs widely enough, at some point you end up you end up out of bounds. So how do we tell if we're not versed necessarily in in the halachic issues which different initiatives or or maybe we're not versed in the relevant hashkafa issues on a hashkafa question which arises? So how does a person know without having the, you know, the erudition to be qualified to have a first-hand opinion? So there is one one one litmus test that a person can use. And that is that something which is new, something which certainly on on on the surface level is is something which לא שמענו ולא ראינו, something which hasn't been done for thousands of years and is introduced, if that initiative is not associated with contemporary with a contemporary gadol. If if if there's a segment of the community that doesn't look to a gadol or gedolim as a mara d'asra, so then it should be suspect in our eyes as to whether or not those initiatives are happening within the masorah or outside of the bounds of the masorah. We don't we don't need to be, again, versed necessarily in in the relevant halachic issues or the relevant hashkafic issues, whatever the whatever the particular parsha may be, but if there are things which clearly are are are new and and and in general there's no there's no there's no idea of being kofuf, and again, not to gedolim, I mean there's a difference between being a gadol and knowing how to use a computer and generate mar-eh mekomos. To to an adam gadol, not to not to not to technology. Connection to the masorah means not only not only receiving what's transmitted, but it means looking to chachmei ha-masorah to apply the masorah and to tell us when it may seem new but it's not really new because it's just that the circumstances are new and this is what the Torah has had had in mind all along planned for this. But that's that's not a call that we can make and we can't necessarily we're not necessarily qualified, you know, standing on the sidelines to know what initiative, what positions, what are legitimate or not legitimate, but זה הכלל ננקוט בידינו: is that initiative associated with an adam gadol? There may not be a consensus amongst gedolim. That's okay. That's okay. Rav Moshe, Rav Aharon Kotler didn't need the Rav's haskama, the Rav didn't need Rav Aharon Kotler's haskama. There may not there may not be a consensus. But but the application of masorah to new situations has to be... that's the... that lies within the province of chachmei ha-masorah. And for us again who who hopefully aspire b'ezrat Hashem to live with and and within the masorah, to do so means that we have to be part of a community that looks, again, to a gadol as as their mara d'asra. And when we wonder about different halachic or hashkafic issues that are discussed and And when we wonder about different halachic or hashkafic issues that are discussed and we wonder, is this position legitimate? Is it in bounds? Is it out of bounds? So what isn't associated with an adam gadol when one is not looking to a gadol, to gedolim to be moreh derech, so it's something that we have to, in order to preserve our own clarity on mesorah, in order to preserve our own understanding of what differences are legitimate within mesorah and what differences cross the line and are out of bounds, so that's a siman muvhak that we should operate with.