Pesach

The sword outstretched over the Jewish people.

An “outstretched arm” is the sword, as it says “and his sword was unsheathed in hand, outstretched over yerushalayim” (Divrei Hayamim 1 21:16) Another way of understanding this Drash is that just like the sword threatening Yerushalayim, there was also a ‘sword’ in Egypt threatening the Jewish people with destruction. Moshe told Pharoah at the…

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The answer to the Ma nishtana

A young child asks about a number of strange changes we make at the Seder? We answer by explaining that “we were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt, and Hashem took us out from there”. But how does this explain why we make changes? An ancient Yemenite commentary explains. A slave lacks choice, by doing things…