출애굽기 13:8의 주석

בעבור זה FOR THE SAKE OF THIS — for the sake that I should carry out His commands, such as this Passover offering, this unleavened bread and this bitter herb (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:8:1).

IT IS BECAUSE OF THAT THE ETERNAL DID FOR ME. This is equivalent to saying, “It is because of that which the Eternal did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.” A similar case is the verse: And thou shalt show them the way they are to go in,³⁸⁵Further, 18:20. [which means “wherein they are to go”]. There are many such cases. The father is thus stating [to his son]: “It is because of that which G-d did for me when I came forth out of Egypt that I observe this service.” It is similar to that which is stated further on: Therefore I sacrifice to the Eternal all that openeth the womb.³⁸⁶Verse 15.
The intent of the word zeh (that) [in the verse, It is because of ‘that’], is: “tell him ‘that’ which you yourself see, i.e., what G-d did for you when you came forth out of Egypt.” And our Rabbis have explained³⁸⁷Mechilta on the verse before us. that the word zeh (that) alludes to the unleavened bread and bitter herbs that are laid before him.
It is possible that the purport of the verse, And thou shalt tell thy son… It is ‘ba’avur’ (because) of that the Eternal did for me when I came forth out of Egypt, is equivalent to the verse’s saying “such and such did G-d do unto me.” The word ba’avur also serves to indicate something within a subject itself, [and it does not only convey the idea: “because” of some other subject]. This is as the case in the verse, ‘ba’avur’ the child that was alive thou didst fast and weep,³⁸⁸II Samuel 12:21. [which means “while” the child was alive], and not “because”. [David did not fast and weep “because” the child was alive; he fasted and wept “while” the child was alive so that it should get well.]
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the purport of the verse is: “Because of that which I do and worship Him by eating the Passover-offering and the unleavened bread, the Eternal did for me wonders until He brought me forth out of Egypt.” But it is not correct. I will yet explain this verse.³⁸⁹Further, Verse 16, beginning with: “By way of Truth.” See Ramban’s discussion there which helps to explain why he did not find Ibn Ezra’s — and incidentally, also Rashi’s — explanation of the verse satisfactory. In Ramban’s opinion, the delivery from Egypt, besides having the purpose of enabling Israel to fulfill G-d’s commandments — as Rashi and Ibn Ezra so interpret the verse here — also served another very high purpose, as explained there.

והגדת לבנך, "you shall tell your son, etc." The expression והגדת instead of ואמרת is unusual and our sages in Shabbat 87 state that the term implies "words which are as tough as tendons." Another peculiarity is the expression ביום ההוא, "on that day," whereas immediately afterwards the verse concludes with the expression בעבור זה, "on account of this." The Haggadah shel Pessach as well as the Mechilta understand the verse as referring to a time when Matzah and bitter herbs are in front of you, i.e. at night. Seeing that I know that the time for that recital is at night, why did the Torah have to mention "on that day" at all? Furthermore, why do we need the word לאמור seeing that the Torah already wrote והגדת, "you shall tell?"

בעבור זה, this was the reason G’d performed miracles for me so that I would subsequently perform this sacrificial service for Him. We find something analogous to this thought in Psalms 118,24 זה היום עשה ה' נגילה ונשמחה בו, “This is the day that the Lord has made, in order for us to exult and rejoice on it.”

בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי ממצרים, “on account of this the Lord has done for me when I left Egypt.” The verse is Israel’s justification to future generations for performing the rites of gratitude on the annual celebration of Passover, and why all generations are duty bound to continue this tradition. We have a similar verse in the same vein in 13,15 על כן אני זובח לה' כל פטר רחם הזכרים וכל בני אפדה, “this is why I continue to offer as a sacrifice every first born male sheep to the Lord, whereas I redeem every first born male son of his respective mother.” The reason why the Torah uses the pronoun זה, “this,” is that you are to tell these experiences of yours to your children now. In other words, you who have experienced “this,” have to tell your children what happened on “that” day when they had not yet been born. Ibn Ezra understands the words בעבור זה וגו', to mean that G’d performed all these miracles in order for me to annually commemorate them by the performance of the rites legislated here.

Because I will fulfill His mitzvos, such as. . . [Rashi knows this] because it is written זה , which implies that the father is pointing to something specific [when speaking] to his son.

And you must tell your son [child]. This is the positive commandment of relating the story of the Exodus, which applies only “on that day.” This is in contrast to the earlier verse, “Remember this day” (Shemos 13:3), which is an injunction merely to mention the exodus but it applies every day.

V. 8. הגדת וגו׳. Wie bereits Eingangs bemerkt, ist hier, an dem Feste des immer auf Grund der Erlösung zu erneuenden Ausbaues der jüdischen Häuser, sofort auch die jüdische Erziehungsaufgabe gezeichnet. Nicht nur durch stille Gewöhnung allein sollen unsere Kinder in die treue Erfüllung des göttlichen Gesetzes eingeführt, und auch nicht durch bloßes Moralisieren soll dies bewirkt werden. Mit lebendigem Beispiel sollen wir in der Erfüllung vorangehen und gleichzeitig durch Belehrung über unser Tun Geist und Herz unserer Kinder wecken, damit sie mit Verständnis und Bewusstsein die Mizwoth üben lernen und ihre Begeisterung für ihre jüdische Aufgabe eine bewusstvolle werde. — בעבור זה, um dieser Übungen willen, um alles dessen willen, was du mich üben siehst. Als ich aus der Knechtschaft zur Freiheit zog, habe ich zur Gewinnung dieser Freiheit nur das eine beitragen können, dass ich die ewige Verpflichtung zur Erfüllung dieser Gebote übernahm. Diese Übernahme war der einzige Grund und die Erfüllung der einzige Zweck der Erlösung. Alles andere hat Gott für mich getan. Daraus kannst du den unschätzbaren Wert dieser Übungen ermessen. Unsere ganze, auf Gott gegründete, von Gott abhängige Existenz beruht auf ihnen.

והגדת לבנך, “you will tell your son, etc.;” the son who is too young to pose the question, you will tell without his having asked: “why did G-d saw fit to make Pharaoh kick out the Jews before their dough had even had a chance to be baked into bread? Did He not have the power to keep them there until they could at least have taken baked bread with them?” You will answer the question you have put into the mouth of the שאינו יודע לשאול, the child that is as yet not curious to formulate his own questions: בעבור זה, “in order to make sure that I will observe these commandments involving the Passover sacrifice, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs as a commemoration of all the miracles he performed for me then when I came out of Egypt.”

עשה ה' לי GOD DID FOR ME — Here is an indication of the reply to be given to the wicked son: that one should say to him, “God did for me” — and one should not say “what God did לנו, for us” — thus implying “not for thee”, for if thou hadst been there (in Egypt) thou wouldst not have been regarded as worthy of being redeemed (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:14:1).

This is an allusion to a response to the evil son. . . You might ask: Why is the allusion to the response to the evil son here, in the middle of what is actually the response to the son who does not know what to ask, [as Rashi says (v. 5)]? The answer is: The message alluded to the evil son applies also to the son who does not know what to ask. The message is that Hashem performed the miracles only for the righteous who know the Torah. The ignorant people did not have the merit for these miracles, and were not worthy on their own to be redeemed, only through the merit of the righteous. We need not ask: [If the alluded message applies to the son who does not know what to ask,] perhaps the whole response is for him alone. How do we know that there is an allusion to a response to the evil son? The answer is: Since it is written “for me,” it implies for me and not for him. I.e., he would not have been redeemed at all. This must refer to the evil son, since the son who does not know what to ask would indeed have been redeemed in the merit of the righteous. However, the evil son would have died during the three days of darkness.

We may have to understand all this in accordance with the statement in Pessachim 116 that when one recites the Passover story one begins with aspects which reflect discredit and concludes with aspects which reflect credit on the Jewish people. The discredit consists of the fact that our ancestors were pagans, something one can hardly boast about. The Torah therefore hints at this procedure by writing והגדת, "you will relate matters which are as tough as tendons;" you will conclude with אמירה, i.e. לאמור, words which recall that you were meritorious. The words ביום ההוא are a hint of the future redemption when the night will be called "day" (compare Psalms 139,13). It is also a reminder that the night preceding the morning of the Exodus was illuminated for the Jews (see our comment on 12,30). The Torah adds the words בעבור זה so that we will not err and conduct these ceremonies during the hours which belong to the day but at the time when we have to consume Matzah, i.e. in the evening. Possibly the words והגדת and ביום ההוא have been placed next to one another in order that we will also include the miraculous way in which that night turned into bright daylight for the Jews.

בעבור זה עשה ה' לי, according to Rashi this is a hint of the answer to be given to the son called רשע in the haggadah of Pessach. Rashi means that this is the answer to be given to the wicked son who does not even bother to ask about what is special on these days, and especially on the first night. The word לי, “for me,” and not for someone like him, would make this a suitable answer for the wicked son described in the haggadah as reacting to all the ritual he observes with a derisive: “why are you going to all this trouble?” The word לי implies that if he had been there at the time, G-d most certainly would not have bothered either with redeeming him or any of the miracles leading up to it.

Another reason that the Torah had to write the word לאמור in addition to והגדת is that the former was addressed to "your son." A father of girls or a husband not blessed with children might have concluded that since he had no son he would be free from the obligation to conduct the annual סדר celebration; the Torah writes לאמור, to tell us that even if the person is all alone he must relate what happened during that night to himself. Seeing that this is so, you may well ask why the Torah had to speak about a father telling his son at all? Perhaps I would not have known that under certain conditions one must "tell oneself" the Haggadah shel Pessach unless the Torah had used extra verbiage. Perhaps the Torah hinted that if someone is particular about telling of the Exodus, G'd will eventually grant him a son to whom he can relate these events.

בעבור זה, "on account of this, etc." Perhaps the word זה (numerical value 12) alludes to 12 commandments connected with the Passover observance. The first three are the lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs; then there is the Haggadah followed by the seven days of the festival and the benediction over wine on the night of the festival. The Torah has to phrase it as בעבור זה עשה because the seven days of the festival do not count as seven separate commandments in the list of 613 commandments.