Citazione Commento su Esodo 12:1

You might suppose that we ought to begin retelling the story of the Exodus from Rosh Hodesh.....the words “Ba’avur zeh” teach that we only have an obligation to tell the story when the Matzah and Maror are before us: Rabbi Epstein wonders why anyone would have thought that one should begin telling the story of Pesach from the beginning of the month of Nissan? He explains that since one might assume the redemption began with “This month (Nissan) shall be the beginning of months to you,” (Exodus 12:1) one might also assume that the first of Nissan is when the obligation of telling the story of Passover begins. Exodus 13:8 teaches us that the mitzvah of telling the story of Exodus begins when the symbols of Passover are on the table before us as well. The Rabbi is still disturbed by this concept. What loss, after all, is there in telling the story of the Exodus at other times as well? Why did the Torah have to specify a set time for telling the story of the Exodus? Rabbi Epstein explains that attitudes are best reflected in concrete actions. He points to a discussion in the Talmud in which a person lost in the wilderness who does not know when the Sabbath falls should still set aside one day a week for Shabbat. But what makes such a day distinct as the Sabbath? Not the passive act of rest or the assumption that this particular day is the Sabbath but rather the recitation of the Kiddush and Havdalah. By welcoming and concluding the day with these rituals the Sabbath becomes more concrete. Similarly, the story of Passover becomes more real not simply because we recall but because we do so with concrete symbols that represent the day. “When the Matzah and Maror are before him on the table.”

אל משה ואל אהרון, to Moses and to Aaron, etc. Perhaps the extra word ואל in ואל אהרון is intended to put Aaron on the same footing as Moses in their duty to communicate the laws of forbidden foods to the Israelites. G'd also addressed them as equals when He said: דברו (pl) אל בני ישראל. We find something similar in Exodus 12,1 where G'd used the same wording to introduce the legislation of the Passover. This interpretation is possible seeing that from an exegetical point of view we have other verses which teach us that Moses was to teach Aaron the law before the latter was able to communicate it to the Israelites.

A continuation of the analysis of Exodus 13:8-9. Rabbi Horowitz turns reasoning on its head. The reason for the Passover is not the Exodus; the reason for the Exodus was to have a story for future generations to tell on Passover. God made the Exodus from Egypt more dramatic so that we would have a story to tell in times to come.
One might think that the obligation to discuss the Exodus begins on the first day of Nissan: - The Haggadah deduces the lesson that the Seder should be recited only on Passover from two expressions in Exodus 13:8: “On that day,” (on that day but not on Rosh Hodesh) and “It is because of this,” (it is recited only when “this,” matzah and maror is before you.) But why is it necessary to deduce the exclusion of Rosh Hodesh from the words, “On that day?” This would seem to be obvious since “because of this,” also implies that one may recite the Seder only at that time when matzah and maror are on the table - on the eve of the fifteenth day of Nisan. The second expression could have cut right to the essence of the argument: Can one recite the Seder at any time on Passover? No – it must be done when you can say “It is because of this” – the matzah and maror– that God took me out of Egypt. Therefore, it can only be done on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan.
It is not obvious what the verse means when it says, “It is because of this”. The passage being quoted from Exodus 13:7-9 only applies to the matzah and not eating hametz during the seven days; it does not mention the Passover offering or the telling of the Exodus story. We are only able to conclude that Exodus 13:9 applies to Seder night through deductive reasoning from Exodus 12:8: “You shall eat the flesh roasted on this night.”²⁰Exodus 12:8 the word used for deductive reasoning is a gezerah shavah which is a rule of interpretation by which sages connected two verses because both use a similar word or phrase. In this case both Exodus 13:9 and Exodus 12:8 use the word zeh, this. The gezerah shavah is one of the hermeneutic rules in Rabbi Yishmael’s list which appears at the beginning of the daily service One could make similar deductive connection from the phrase in Exodus 12:1: “This month shall be the beginning of months to you,²¹Exodus 12:1; The verse also contains the word zeh.” from which the rabbis concluded that Nisan marks the beginning of the Passover season. Therefore, in our passage, we make a point of saying that Rosh Hodesh is not the day on which we begin the actual celebration of Passover; rather we do so “On that day,” at the eve of Passover.
We can then conclude that the expression “It is because of this which the Lord did for me,” applies to the recitation of the Exodus story. Elsewhere we are told, “For I have hardened his heart…that I might show you these signs which I have done among them, and that you may tell your child and your child’s child what I have done in Egypt, and My signs I have performed among them; that you may know that I am Adonai.”²²Exodus 10:1-2 God did not need to perform so many signs and wonders in Egypt; God could have simply taken us out of Egypt in a single moment. All the signs and wonders and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart served to create a good story to tell on Passover night for generations to come! That is why we say, “It is because of this which the Lord did for me.” The text does not say, “It is because of this God took us out of Egypt;” rather it says “It is because of this that God did for me...” The emphasis is on the signs and wonders and not the Exodus itself. It was for the sake of the future telling of the story that God did all this for me; not simply to take me out of Egypt but to create a story that future generations would tell.
We find other examples in the Bible of people who merited redemption because of generations to come. For instance, we learn in the Midrash²³This Midrash is based on the name of Abraham’s ancestral home town – Ur Kasdim – which is interpreted to mean the furnish of the Chaldeans. that Abraham was saved from the fiery furnace because of the merit of Jacob whose soul he carried in his soul. The binding of Isaac was a greater test for Abraham than it was for Isaac because after the birth of Isaac, the soul of Jacob protected Isaac and no longer needed to protect Abraham. Similarly, the people who left Egypt did not have good deeds and Torah to their credit but were redeemed because of future generations. The Zohar interprets the verse: “so that He chose you, their descendents, from among all peoples, as this present day;”²⁴Deuteronomy 10:15 to mean that God chose Israel due to the future merit of the generation of the Messiah. Similarly, it was for the merit of those who would tell the story of the Exodus that the people in the time of the Exodus merited redemption. This is the meaning of the verse: God redeemed Israel for my sake – that of future generations.

הזה THIS [STAGE OF RENEWAL] — Moses was in perplexity regarding the Molad of (the exact moment when begins) the new moon — how much of it must be visible before it is proper to consecrate it as new moon: He therefore pointed it out to him in the sky with the finger and said to him, “Behold it like this, and consecrate it” (i. e., when you see the moon in a stage of renewal similar to this which you now behold you may proclaim that a new month has begun). But how could He point it out to him, for did He not conserve with him only by day, as it is said, (Exodus 6:28) “And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake [unto Moses]”; (Leviticus 7:38) “On the day when he commanded”; (Numbers 15:23) “From the day that the Lord commanded and henceforward”? But the explanation is: This chapter was spoken to him close to sunset and He pointed it out to him at nightfall (more lit., near darkness) (Mekhilta).