[Avodah] More on the Seder

[Elazar M. Teitz]

RDYLevine writes
<I heard from Rabbi Avrohom Hoffman of Cong Shaare Hatikvah in 
Washington Heights that his rebbe,  the late Rabbi Simon Schwab, 
ZT"L,  was upset one year when a group of guests at his seder table 
were learning rather than paying attention to the proceedings. Rav 
Schwab nicely urged them to go to the living room to continue 
learning,  "Here we are having a seder and telling of the story of 
Yetzias Mitzraim. This is not the time for learning. It is the time 
for listening and retelling the story."

This too is a very important lesson to keep in mind today with the 
proliferation of lomdishe haggados etc.>
     The five tana'im who spent the entire leil haseder in Bnai Brak weren't just telling the story.  Indeed, there is a girsa that "Amar lahem R. Elazar ben Azaria harei ani k'ven shivim shana," which means that the machlokes of Ben Zoma and the chachamim was an integral part of their sippur.  Furthermore, the answer to the chacham, one of the four approaches to SYM, is "emor lo k'hilchos haPesach."  Obviously, then, SYM includes lomdus regarding Pesach matters.
     If the story cited is accurate, perhaps the learning being done by the guests was unrelated to Pesach and its mitzvos.  The "proliferation of lomdishe haggados," on the other hand, is meant to elicit discussion which is part and parcel of sippur.
EMT

 

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