Page 48 - haggadah_2017.pub

What is Greatness? ‐ Ariella Ruben (8th Grade)

“Moses was a great man and leader.” It seems like we, at a Jewish private day school, hear that an awful lot,
doesn’t it? It has become another one of those things our teachers have ingrained in our minds; of course, for
good reason. So what exactly was Moses’s greatness?

Could his greatness be intellect? Well, Chazal state that Yocheved, Moses’s mother, gave birth to her children
one at a time, as opposed to the rest of the Jewish mothers during that time, because “the intellectual quality of
her children was that of sixty wise men.” Meaning, the terms “intellect” and “greatness” do not derive the same
meaning, or it would say more vaguely, “the great quality of her children was that of sixty wise men.” Then per-
haps Moses’s greatness is displayed through his humbleness? In Bamidbar 12-3, it is written that “the man Mo-
ses was very humble, more than any man on earth.” This seems that this humbleness of Moses was not enough
to grant him the title of “very great,” so what is greatness?

The truth is, it doesn’t exist. Think about it for a moment: the Torah, written by G-d himself, never explicitly
says that Moses was great. Yes, it says his face glowed with holiness as he descended Mount Sinai. And yes, it
says there was never a leader quite like him, but Moses was never described as great. If G-d cannot confirm the
Moses to be “great,” then who are we to go around calling each other great? Here’s the answer: greatness is a
quality that can only be determined in a relationship between two imperfect people. As simple beings, constant-
ly comparing ourselves to others, of course we’ll idealize others as more perfect than ourselves. This term
called “greatness” is a perception of the mind, one which we as humans dreamt up. This idea of someone being
“great” is nothing more than a comparison. It’s not that “he’s a great guy,” it’s that “he’s a great guy next to
me.”

What lesson can we learn from this? If we stopped comparing ourselves to others, this idea of “greatness”
wouldn’t exist, and that’s okay. Why should only a few be “great” when we could all be ourselves, unjudged
and incomparable? Maybe we should stop looking at what we don’t have, and instead embrace what we do. Of
course, we could have a “great” Passover, too.

Why Does Moshe's Name Only Appear in the Haggadah Once? ‐ Aaron Ayach

(9th Grade)

Moshe is one of the most prominent figures in Yetziat Mitzrayim, so the obvious question is why is his name
only mentioned once.

Although Moshe was a great person, saying that the Exodus was the accomplishment of an extraordinary indi-
vidual is untrue. Only G‐d took us out of Egypt and He saved the Jewish people. Moshe was only great because
he committed himself, totally, to G‐d’s agenda. Moshe’s role was only as G-d’s messenger. To mention
Moshe’s name more would be to almost diminish G-ds part in the exodus of the Jews. As a proof, the pasuk
says ם ָֽתֹא ְב ִצ־לַע םִיַ֖ר ְצ ִמ ץ ֶר ֶ֥א ֵמ ל ֵ֛א ָר ְשִׂי יֵ֧ ְבּ־ת ֶא הָ֜והְי אי ִ֨צוֹה הֶ֑זּ ַה םוֹ֣יּ ַה םֶצֶ֖ע ְבּ י ִ֕הְיַו(Exodus Perek 12 Pasuk 48). This quote
means that Hashem freed the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop. In addition to that, in the Hagga-
dah in the first fruits section of the Magid, one can find in the a concept of "not by an angel, and not by a seraph,
and not by an emissary". Meaning that it was G-d who took the Jews out of Egypt not an angel or anyone else.
Which only furthers my explanation that only G-d deserves the honor of His name being mentioned in regards
to the Exodus. The lesson that one can take from this is that although we have have the illusion that we are the
one who accomplish great things, we could never have done those things without Hashem help.