"Torah Lights"
 
Video Insights on the Parsha
 
 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel: “Pour out Thy wrath upon the Gentiles who do not Know You and who do not call upon Your Name.” (Passover Haggadah)  

During that magical and mystical evening devoted to the Passover seder – the night when every Jew attempts to feel as if he/she personally experienced the servitude in and the exodus from Egypt – there is one jarring note voiced by the celebrants after the Grace after the Meal and just before the chanting of the Hallel praises to G-d: “Pour out Thy wrath upon the Gentiles who do not Know You and who do not call upon Your Name.” They have devoured Jacob, and laid waste His Temple.” Why call out these words altogether, and why at this particular section in the Seder, after the third and just before the fourth cup of wine?  

The words themselves emanate from Psalm 79, which opens, “A song to Assaf: Elohim, the Gentiles have entered into Your inheritance, have defiled Your Holy Temple, have given Jerusalem to the jackals.” The custom to include these words within the Haggadah harks back to the time of the completion of the Jerusalem Talmud (4^th Century C.E. SMaG 118b). Rabbenu Menahem Meiri brilliantly analyzes the particular place at which they are inserted: we have just eaten the meal reminiscent of the Paschal sacrificial meal in the Holy Temple and we have recited the Grace after Meals, the introduction to which (zimmun) is derived from the verse, “Since I call upon the name of the Lord, give greatness to our G-d.” We have also prayed for the restoration of Jerusalem (the third blessing of the Grace after the Meal) and have given the “good and beneficent” G-d His due for having granted us the merit of burying our dead with their corpses not having decomposed (the fourth blessing). Clearly the Grace after Meals (in these 3^rd and 4^th blessings) is making reference to the destruction of the Second Temple and the horrific Hadrionic persecutions after the Bar Kochba attempt at rebellion. Hence, we who have called upon the name of G-d ask Him to punish those who do not call upon His name, and we who have just “devoured sacrificial food” ask that those who ‘devoured’ Jacob (and laid waste his Temple) not be allowed to remain unpunished. 

Rav Moshe Isserless, great Ashkenazi decisor of sixteenth Century Krakow, Poland, adds yet another custom: “And we open the door [at this point] in order to remind us that this [the seder night] is a Night of Watching (Leil Shimurim), the Night of the Watchful Guardian [G-d watching over Israel], and in the merit of this faith the Messiah will come and pour out his wrath on those who deny G-d’s existence.” (Shulhan Arukh Orah Haim Siman 480)  Expounding on this custom, the 20^th Century Hafetz Haim (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan HaKohen of Radin, Poland), in his Mishnah Brurah commentary of the Set Table (Shulhan Arukh,) added: “We are not frightened [of the open door]; and it is the custom in these countries to pour an extra cup of wine and to call it the Cup of Elijah…” A 12th Century authority (Maaseh Rokah 19a) cites the custom of leaving the door open all night in order to go out to greet Elijah the Prophet, herald of the messiah, although most authorities suggest that the door be kept ajar only for a very short time if at all, and that – especially in Gentile countries – we not rely on miracles by leaving our doors unlocked. (Magen Avraham Orah Haim Siman 481, and the Hok Yaakov there).  

I’d like to explore another possible reason for the custom of opening the door, one which I believe will shed light on all of our various customs surrounding Elijah's visit to our Seder tables all over the world and our exclamation concerning the Gentiles.

As we have seen, the Grace after the Meal refers to the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish suffering after the fall of Betar (135 C.E.) Hence our cry at this juncture in the Seder for the punishment of those who refuse to recognize G-d – His morality and His nation Israel – is most understandable. Our next cup of wine, however, introduces the Hallel, Psalms of Praise for our return to our homeland although the psalms we read testify to our still being in a rather vulnerable position (“Please G-d save us” is part of Hallel).” We therefore invoke Elijah, herald of the Messiah, to announce the culmination of our complete salvation with the establishment of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  

From this perspective, we can see that the suggestion of Josephus, great historian of the Second Commonwealth as to why we open the door before the fourth cup seems most logical:  “On the Festival of matzot, which we call Pesach, the priest-kohanim are accustomed to open the gates of the Temple immediately after midnight….” (Antiquities 18, 2.2). Hence, we open our doors as well, as a prayer that soon the Temple doors may again be opened. And when we remember that the main task of the Temple in Jerusalem is to serve as a House of Prayer to all nations, as the focus in the world to which all the nations will rush to learn Torah from Zion and the word of G-d from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2, Micah 4), we are opening the door to welcome all the nations to "beat the swords into plough-shares" and to accept the G-d of peace and morality.  

The Divine Revelation at Sinai is preceded by a tale of two Gentiles: Amalek, the symbol of unredeemable evil which must be destroyed (Exodus 17:8 – 16), and Jethro, the Gentile inspired to join the ranks of his son-in-law Moses as a result of G-d’s miracles for the sake of freedom during our Exodus (Ex 18:1-12). Amalek is the Gentile whom G-d must destroy; Jethro is the Gentile who must be welcomed into the Temple Gates! 

The Midrash on the verse, “This is the law of the Passover lamb sacrifice, no son-stranger (ben-nakhar, Gentile) may eat of it” (Ex 12:43), teaches, 

“Job declared, ‘a stranger (ger) may not dwell outside,’ the Holy One blessed be He cannot invalidate any of His children (whether Jew or Gentile); I shall open my doors for the guest to enter the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He… And eventually strangers (gerim) will be priest-Kohanim in the Hioly Temple." (Shmot Rabbah 19, Vilna Edition)

Thus, just before the praises of Hallel, we must open the doors of our Seder to the Gentile world, in the tradition of the function of our Holy Temple, as our invitation to every human being to accept the G-d of peace and morality – despite our (legitimate) theological differences when they enter our portals.  Peace will come to Israel only when 'thou shalt not murder' is accepted by every nation of the world, when the word of G-d will emanate from Jerusalem to all peoples whereby "every one will call upon his/her G-d from the vantage point of morality and we will call upon the Lord our g-d forever and ever."

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!

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