A PSA for those who really don’t need it

(Technical note: Gmail users may have these emails going to the – “Promotions” tab. Be sure to move it to your regular inbox to ensure it doesn’t get lost.)

Avadim Hayyinu concludes that “even if we are all wise, we are all understanding, we are all elders, we all know the Torah, we are obligated to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.” Apparently, the Haggadah thinks that it is crucial for us to provide a public service announcement to all the wise, knowledgeable Torah scholars out there that they must tell the story of the Exodus.

But this is a perplexing mandate. Because if I were to think of a class of people who need to be reminded of their halakhic obligations on Seder night, I wouldn’t single out the Torah scholars – you know, the very same people who are usually pretty good at, not only fulfilling obligations, but telling everyone else that they need to fulfil obligations.

So, why, of all people, do we remind the Torah scholars of their obligation?

I came across an explanation by Rabbi Meir Goldwicht, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, in his Haggadah, Meir Panim, that I found fascinating.

The problem with Torah scholars – with those who already know plenty about the Seder – is that they might be tempted to phone-it-in. Given that they have plenty of insights into the details of the Haggadah, given their familiarity with the nuances of Pesaḥ, there’s not much tempting them to devote their energies to preparing new ideas.

And it is this exact issue that Avadim Hayyinu is protesting. By turning to the people most-likely to already know things, it reminds them that they can’t just wing it – their responsibility is to devote the weeks leading up to Pesaḥ to preparing for the Seder, to ensuring that they have appreciate its key themes (and I believe someone recently gave a pretty decent shiur on this sort of theme). And by stressing the responsibility that lies on the greatest rabbinic leaders of the Jewish people, how much more so on all of us.

Even if we did already know everything, the Haggadah tells us, we would have no excuse. We can’t just turn up at the Seder and recycle the things that we’ve said in past years. Our charge, our responsibility is to devote the next week and a half to learning more about the Seder, to gaining greater insights into what we are about to do.

Because even if we think we already know everything, the Haggadah won’t accept that as an excuse.

(In an ironic twist, after reading the draft of this Ruthy commented, “I feel like you’ve shared this idea before.”)