Page 73 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

Opening the Door for Eliyahu - Yitzi Seifert (8th Grade)
Every child knows the moment a er Barech, when their parents ask them to open the door for
Eliyahu HaNavi. The child will get up to open the door, and then the family will sing the words
“Eliyahu HaNavi”. How do we know that a spiritual being is truly there? A er all, Eliyahu cannot
be at every seder in the world at the same me, can he?
Long ago, in Egypt we expressed our trust in G-d by slaughtering a lamb and spreading the
blood over our door frames. We open the door because it shows that it is a night where we are
guarded by G-d, and in turn s ll trust in Him. When opening the door, we take the opportunity
to invite in the prophet Eliyahu. Eliyahu is the one who visits the circumcision ceremony of
every Jewish child, and tes fies that the Jewish people are strict regarding the mitzvah of
circumcision. Men were permi ed to partake of the Korban Pesach only if they were
circumcised. Thus, Eliyahu comes to the Seder to “tes fy” that all present are indeed
circumcised. So while you open the door for Eliyahu, make sure that you recognize its important
message. Just as G-d protected us in Egypt, so too today He protects us, and sustains us.

Hallel – ‫הלל‬

Hallel On Pesach - Yisroel Yanowitz (11th Grade)
On Pesach we say full Hallel for the first two days but only half Hallel for the remaining days.
What is the reason for this?
To answer this ques on we must first find out when and why Hallel is said. Hallel is said on the
following holidays: Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Chanukah, and Rosh Chodesh (half Hallel). It is said
on days where work (melachah) is prohibited, on days that are called mo’ed (holiday) in the
Torah, or on days when a miraculous salva on of the Jewish na on occured. For all four major
holidays we say full Hallel on the first day (and on the second day if you live outside of Israel).
The ques on which arises is why do we say full Hallel throughout the en rety of Sukkot and
Chanukah? What is different about those two compared to Pesach? Chanukah and Sukkot each
have their own unique reasons for saying full Hallel every day and Pesach does not; instead, it
has an extra reason for not saying full Hallel on the remaining days.
Beginning with Sukkot, the Gemara explains that, unlike Pesach, different korbans were given
each day of Sukkot, essen ally making each day a new and different holiday, jus fying full Hallel
for each day. Chanukah on the other hand, permits melachah and is not called a holiday in the
Torah. Despite this, we s ll say Hallel for the miracles that occured on Chanukah. Furthermore,
according to the Tosafot in Masechet Taanit 28b, since the miracle of the oil las ng became
more miraculous every day that passed, we say full Hallel each day. It is clear from both
explana ons that we only recite full Hallel if the day has something unique or special about it.
As men oned above, there is another reason we don’t say full Hallel on the remaining days of
Pesach. The reason given by the Midrash is that since the final two days of Pesach

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