Ga'al Yisrael

And so in the wee hours of the morning, the fateful decision yet again lays before me. Should I finally take those over-the-counter sleeping pills and for once get a good night’s rest, or should I once again make use of the insomnia that I am cursed with despite exhaustion. Hmm...

There’s an interesting debate regarding leil haseder and its apparent lack of birchas hamitzvah. One shitah – I believe it is Rabbenu Binyamin in the Shiltei Giborim – that suggests that perhaps the bracha of ga’al yisrael that is said at the end of hallel on leil haseder is the missing birchas hamitzvah. (He suggests a reason that it is at the end of the sippur as opposed to the beginning, etc., but that is beyond the purview of this post.) The implications of this shitah is rather fascinating.

The Gemarah in Psachim (116b) records a machloket between Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akivah on what the text of the bracha of ga’al yisrael should be:

ר"ט אומר אשר גאלנו וגאל את אבותינו ממצרים. ולא היה חותם
רבי עקיבא אומר כן ה' אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו יגיענו למועדים ולרגלים אחרים הבאים לקראתנו לשלום שמחים בבנין עירך וששים בעבודתך ונאכל שם <מן הפסחים ומן הזבחים> [מן הזבחים ומן הפסחים] כו' עד בא"י גאל ישראל

Rabbi Tarfon has no chatima because his bracha is short and straightforward. Rabbi Akivah, on the other hand, has a long and multi-themed bracha which incorporates the hopes of a future ge'ulah as well. (Ve'ayen beTosfot sham.)

Ostensibly, a birchat hamitzvah reflects the action occuring in the fulfillment of the mitzvah. ("Likroh et ha'hallel" and "Lehadlik ner shel Chanukah", etc.) Therefore, within this shitah of Rabbenu Binyomin, the machloket between Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akivah would then be whether seder night is a commemoration of a specific redemption or redemption brought by God in general.

We, of course, pasken like Rabbi Akivah.

On that note, two other ideas that I believe are noteworthy:

• This understanding of this view of Rabbi Akivah seems to be very in character. The Gemarah in Makkot, cherished by all, portrays Rabbi Akivah consoling his friends when they spot a fox walking in the ruins of Yerushalayim. He displays tremendous foresight coupled with the ability to take one experience and to project it onto a confidence that other ge'ulot will come about. Who better to view leil haseder as an assurance that ...כן ה' אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו יגיענו למועדים ולרגלים אחרים?


• I recently found a haggadah created in the second year after Hakamat Hamedinah by a left wing secularist kibbutz in order to encourage people in America to observe the Pesach seder. The haggadah has very little of the authentic traditional one and is mostly a compilation of psukim and Israeli poetry. The very obvious underlying message in it is that Pesach is a time to celebrate our current Independence, read: Redemption. It seems that Pesach is a prime time to appreciate galut and ge'ulah that occurs in every generation, a la "vehi she'amdah." And, therefore, we indeed pasken like Rabbi Akivah.