Question: First, why aren’t we obligated to recite Shema on Pesach night? Second, why doesn’t the Haggadah mention Moses, who was instrumental in rescuing us from Egypt and was the greatest Jew of all time?
Zvi Kirschner
Answer: Rav Avrohom Pam, zt”l (rosh yeshiva of Mesivta Torah Vodaath, in his Hagadah Mar’eh Kohen, p. 78) notes:
Regarding the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, the Torah states, “Va’ya’aminu ba’Shem U’ve’Moshe avdo – And they believed in Hashem and in Moses, his servant” (Exodus 14:31). Later on, though, the Torah says, “Vayomer Hashem el Moshe: Hinei Anochi ba eilecha b’av he’anan ba’avur yishma ha’am b’dabri imach vegam becha ya’aminu l’olam – Hashem said to Moses: ‘Behold! I come to you in the thickness of the cloud so that the people will hear as I speak to you, and they will believe in you forever’” (Exodus 19:9).
These two verses are incongruous as the latter one implies that the people did not fully believe in Moses until the giving of the Torah whereas the former one states that the people already believed in Moses at the splitting of the sea.
Rav Pam presents a further difficulty. When Hashem appears to Moses at the burning bush, He says, “Vesham’u lekolecha – They [the elders of Israel] will heed your voice” (Exodus 3:18). But Moses responds, “Ve’hen lo ya’aminu li ve’lo yishme’u b’koli – But they will not believe me and they will not heed my voice” (ibid. 4:1). Is Moses really contradicting Hashem?
Rav Pam cites the Rambam to clarify both matters. The Rambam (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 8:1) explains that the Children of Israel didn’t believe in Moses after he performed miracles because one who only believes due to miracles will always harbor doubt deep down in his heart, leaving him “a believer and not a believer.”
In his response to G-d, Moses was making this point – that the people would not fully believe him merely because he performed miracles. And that’s why, although the Jewish people believed in Moses at the Sea of Reeds, they didn’t believe in him completely until they witnessed Hashem speaking to him.
It can be deduced from the above that the glory of our departure from Egypt was its divine nature. It came exclusively at Hashem’s hand, not Moses’. And the Haggadah may wish to stress this point by not mentioning Moses.
On the words “Ani Hu v’lo acher” in the Haggadah, the Gaon Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, late rosh yeshiva of RIETS (cited in The Seder Night: An Exalted Evening, p. 82), comments that the “protagonist of the night of redemption in Egypt is not Moses, but solely the Holy One; hence Moses’ name cannot be found in the Hagadah.”
He argues that Songs of Songs 3:1 – “By night I sought him whom my very soul loves; I sought him but found him not” – can be interpreted as searching for Moses’ name in the Haggadah on Pesach night and not finding it.
The Rambam mentions Moses in the context of the response to the wise child: “If the child is mature and wise, the father informs him of what occurred in Egypt and the miracles that were performed by our teacher Moses (Hilchot Chametz u’Matzah 7:2). Rav Soloveitchik noted that we call Moshe “Rabbenu – Our Teacher,” not “Go’alenu – Our Redeemer.”
The Gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, in his Darash Moshe to Parshat Yitro, cites Exodus 18:7, which reads: “Va’yetze Moshe likrat Chotno vayishtachu vayishak lo vayish’alu ish l’rei’eihu l’shalom va’yavo’u ha’o’helah – And Moses went out to greet his father-in-law and he bowed and he kissed him and they inquired of each other as to their welfare and they came into the tent.”
Rashi, citing the Mechilta, remarks, “I wouldn’t know who bowed to whom. [But] since it says ‘ish l’rei’eihu’ and ‘ish’ signifies one of high stature, ‘ish’ must be Moses.”
Rabbi Feinstein asks: “Even if proper respect required that Moses bow first to Jethro [his father-in-law], why didn’t Jethro bow to Moses in return [due to Moses’ greatness]?” He answers that Jethro was a priest who, after serving every type of idolatry, had finally come to understand that there was only one deity: G-d. So even though Jethro, indeed, appreciated the greatness of Moses, he didn’t bow to him because had he bowed, people would say that Jethro had found yet another god, Moses.
On the night of the Seder, we want to make sure we give full praise to our father in Heaven – who wrought miracles on our behalf in taking us out of Egypt – not a mortal man.
As a final note, the Torah states in Parashat Shelach (which is now part of Shema.): “Ani Hashem Elokeichem asher hotzeiti etchem me’eretz Mitzrayim li’h’yot lachem l’Elokim Ani Hashem Elokeichem – I am Hashem your G-d who has brought you forth from the land of Egypt to be a G-d unto you, I am Hashem your G-d.” Hashem alone delivered us from Egypt. Hence the Haggadah’s emphasis on G-d, not Moses.
As we noted above, the Rambam says we should tell the wise son about the miracles performed via Moses. Perhaps we do so because of the Haggadah’s statement that “kol ha’marbeh l’saper bitzias Mitzrayim harei zeh meshubach – whoever increases the amount he says about the Exodus is praiseworthy.” While Moses is only mentioned once in passing in the Haggadah (where he is referred to as G-d’s servant), we can certainly discuss his role and greatness in our commentary to the text.
We wish all a chag kasher vesame’ach. May we soon merit fulfilling the requirement of sippur yetziat Mitzrayim as a free nation in a rebuilt Jerusalem, with exile a distant memory.