Moreover, one could argue from Rav Herzog’s letter here that he, too, understood the term shafan to mean hyrax. First, as we noted, “rabbit” makes absolutely no sense in context. And, although this is a matter of some dispute, some zoologists claim to have observed that hyraxes regurgitate small quantities of food for remastication which, constituting chametz, would obviously have to be searched for and removed before a kashrut certificate could be granted.
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Generally considered one of the most important religious authorities and arbiters of halacha, Rav Ovadiah Yosef (1920-2013) was known for his encyclopedic memory and sharp halachic analysis. After serving as Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi (1973-83), he extended his influence as the spiritual leader of Shas, the Orthodox political party he founded and through which he politically galvanized hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Israelis as he sought to raise the status of Israel’s historically disadvantaged Sephardic community. His best known works include Yabia Omer, Yechave Da’at, Yalkut Yosef, and Chazon Ovadia (a Haggadah).
In recognition of his body of work he was awarded the prestigious Israel Prize in 1970.
Following the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt signed by Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, Knesset Member Yitzchak Yitzchaki wrote to Rav Yosef with a unique request: that the historic peace between Egypt and Israel should be added to the Passover Haggadah.
In the original handwritten response shown here (exhibit 2), Rav Ovadia answers with his characteristic beauty and brilliance:
From the day of the Exodus out of Egypt, many events befell the Jewish nation, and Hashem, may his name be blessed, expanded his goodness toward us, and the Israelites won, “for Hashem will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.” [Citation to Psalms 94:14] And all this is mentioned in one paragraph of the Haggadah “Vehi She’Amda La’Avoteinu….” [and He who stood up to defend our Fathers…] Therefore, my opinion is that there is no need to mention in the Haggadah specifically the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, which in our times although it is a great event, we hope that with the help of Hashem the day will come in the near future when all the Arab countries will join the peace treaty, as it says “When a man’s ways please Hashem, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make [him] afraid.
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Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (1817-1896), served as the renowned rav of Kovno in Lithuania and as the leader of traditional Jewry in Russia, in which capacity he bravely and successfully fought many harsh decrees of the Russian government. Due in part to his charismatic personality and his global vision of Jewish solidarity, his influence extended to Jewish communities throughout the world. He was renowned for blending reason and human sympathy in seeking ways to ease the plight of Jews within a halachic framework, including finding dispensations that would permit agunot to remarry. As a fervent supporter of the Chibat Tzion movement, he personally formulated an exemption to permit engagement in agricultural labor in Eretz Yisrael during the sabbatical year of 1888-89.
In this rare and beautiful 8 Nissan 1889 handwritten correspondence (exhibit 3), Rav Spektor extends warm Pesach greetings to R. Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman (1868-1953), a renowned Talmudic scholar and posek and who served as Rav of Berazino (1897) and Glasgow (1897-914) and as a dayan of the London Beth Din (1914-1934). Rav Hillman co-founded the Jerusalem yeshiva Ohel Torah together with Rav Yitzchak Halevi Herzog, who married Rav Hillman’s daughter Sarah and served as the school’s rosh yeshiva.
I hereby extend my wishes for the festival, may it come upon us for good, that will be celebrated with joy, rejoicing, and happiness and to delight with the delight of Zion and Jerusalem and to eat from the offerings and the pascal sacrifices, etc., and to witness the holy Temple vestibule and to see the salvation of the Jewish people and the fleeing of grief and sadness. And a great reward for all your righteous work should accrue to your benefit so that you may raise beams of light and lengthen your days and years with good and pleasantness in everything, selah. With my soul and the soul of my spouse and with truth from one who desires good for you with all his heart and soul, Yitzchak Elchanan.
Finally, can there be any finer way to close this piece than with beautiful Pesach greetings from the Lubavicher Rebbe? In this 11 Nissan 1962 correspondence to “Rav Menachem” (exhibit 4), the Rebbe, one of the towering figures of the twentieth century, writes:
In greeting the Festival of Matzot, the time of our freedom, may it come upon us and all of Israel for good, I hereby extend my blessings for a kosher and happy festival and for true freedom, freedom for worries about rain [i.e., physical needs] and wind [i.e., spiritual needs] – and [freedom from] all things that prevent service to Hashem in joy and with a good heart. And to continue from this joy during the days of the entire year.
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