It happened that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarphon were reclining in B’nei Berak. They were discussing the exodus from Egypt all that night, until their students came and told them: “Our Masters! The time has come for reciting the morning Shema!” (Pesach Haggadah)

For many years I was very confused by the above statement in the Haggadah. Every year I would read it and have a question: when did this take place? The answer always given is this happened during the Pesach Seder, but this does not make sense. First, it states that they were “reclining”. The law of the Seder is that during certain parts we are required to recline – we recline when we drink the 4 cups of wine and eat the matza and Korech. Some recline during the entire Shulchan Aruch – the meal. The law clearly states, though, that there are times when we are not allowed to recline. One of those times is during Maggid – we are to sit straight and have awe of Hashem. So, how could these great Rabbis be reclining while discussing the Exodus of Egypt?

Also, there is another question – the students came running to the Rabbis and said the time for Shema has come. That means it is now day and we are no longer commanded in the mitzvos of the Seder. This is a problem because if they are discussing the Exodus, then they are at the Maggid section. If they are at Maggid, then they never ate the matza, marror, nor the meal. They only had 1 glass of wine instead of four. So, this statement made absolutely no sense to me… until I heard two answers.

The first answer is that this did not take place during Maggid. The great Rabbis fulfilled the entire Seder and finished by the proper time. There is a law that after the Seder a person should stay up and continue talking about the Exodus of Egypt until they become tired. Therefore, this event took place after the Seder was over. Therefore, they fulfilled all of the laws correctly.

The second answer I heard this year and it totally blew me away. If I remember correctly, it was the Chasam Sofer who said this. It is that this event did not take place on Pesach. It was on a different night. The Chasam Sofer then brought a proof stating that one of the members of this group would never travel on Yom Tov so this could not have taken place on the night of Pesach (as he was not from Bnei Brak).

I learned a great lesson from these answers – things are not always as they seem on the first look.

This past weekend, I was having a discussion with a Rabbi about something that happened recently. Someone did something incorrect and was punished. When I first heard the story, both my wife and I were very upset because it seemed like the person was getting a very harsh punishment for something that was not really very serious. This weekend I spoke with a Rabbi and he started to fill in some details which neither my wife nor I had originally heard. After hearing these details, not only did I no longer feel the person was punished too harshly but I felt the person was not punished enough. A few details were missing, but the whole story was turned around.

We can read or hear stories and think we understand the story perfectly. But it is very possible that we are missing some details. Therefore, before jumping to a conclusion a person needs to verify that they have all of the facts correct.

Good Shabbos! Good Yom Tov!
-yes
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