From the Haggadah of the Baal Shem Tov to the Rebbe's Haggadah

00:21 We have mentioned in the previous lecture that we have here in the library, in the collection of the library, about fifteen hundred editions of the Haggadah over the years. Today we will discuss those Haggadahs that have a special connection to us, to Hasidis, and especially to Hasidis Chabad. Let us start with the Haggadah that was written in the Siddur of the Baal Shem Tov. In the time of the Baal Shem Tov, the Siddur Ha-Arizal with the Kavanos of Kabbalah of the Arizal on the Siddur was not published yet. So he gave-- But it was copies, written copies flowing around in different places. So the Baal Shem Tov gave a task to his scribe to copy the whole Siddur from one of those Kisve Yad, one of those Siddur Ha-Arizal in manuscript. It wasn't just copied. When he told him, "When you come in middle of Shemoneh Esreh, leave space of two pages for my pupils to write their names and their special requests, so when I daven Shemoneh Esreh, before I come to Shemoneh Tefila, to the Bracha of Shemoneh Tefila, I should be able to read their names and their requests and have it in mind." So that Siddur includes also the Haggadah Shel Pesach with the Kavanos Ha-Arizal. One of the pupils of the Talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov was Reb Shapsai of Rashkov. He edited this Siddur Ha-Arizal with the Kavanos of the Arizal that was in some Kisve Yad. He edited the te- the task- the text, he added some

02:56 parts, and it was published later in the year of Tov Kuv Nun Dalet, seventeen ninety-four. This Siddur was very, very special by the Rabbeim that used to use this Siddur for the Kavanos Ha-Arizal, especially the night of the Seder of Pesach. In addition to a regular Haggadah, they would have this Siddur open in the pages of the Haggadah, and while they are saying the Haggadah, they would check the Kavanos Ha-Arizal as described in the Haggadah of Reb Shapsai of Rashkov. Then we have the Alter Rebbe itself edited a Siddur. He edited the text, and he added sometimes the Halakots that are related to the davening in a, a line or two before the paragraphs of the Siddur. In that Siddur, he included the Haggadah, too, where with many notes before the paragraphs for the Dinim and the Minhogim of saying the Haggadah or doing the other parts of the Seder in the night of Pesach. The first Siddur that we know of, of the Alter Rebbe, he published himself in the year of Tov Kuv Samech Gimel, eighteen oh-three, in Kobust. This Siddur we do not have in the library. Yes, we do have it in the library, but it is still kept in Moscow among close to ten thousand volumes of the collection of the Rabbeim that was taken away and are kept in the library in Moscow. For so many years, there is so much efforts to get them to return this collection to us among this Siddur that the Alter Rebbe has

05:44 edited and published. And from that we come closer to us, the Haggadah that the Rebbe himself edited The Rebbe wrote a biur on the Haggadah, on the text of the Haggadah, and on the halachas that are written in the Haggadah, and the minhogim that are written in the Haggadah of the Alter Rebbe. He published it for itself as a separate entity of Haggadah Shel Pesach in the year of Tov Shin Vav, 1946, here in New York. He would, in the footnotes under the Haggadah, or on a side page, he would write the biur, the commentary on the text of the Haggadah, and on the minhogim that are related to the Seder of Pesach. Much of it, he copied from other Haggadahs that was published over the years, and he would write in the end of the paragraph or the middle of the paragraph from which sefer he took that idea. He didn't copy the text of that sefer, just the idea he took, and he wrote where it is taken from. But he made it very short. He didn't write specifically in that sefer which page it is or which paragraph it is for people to be able to check. If someone wants to learn the Rebbe's biur on the Haggadah and check the source, it was difficult for him to find the sefer, and then to find exactly where in that sefer the Rebbe took these details from. Even more than that, even the name of the sefer, the name of the Haggadah, the

08:24 name of the pirush of the Haggadah, or others for him, he wouldn't write specifically the whole name. He would write it in Rosh Yeteves, only abbreviation. So it's difficult for a person to be able to check the source of each idea that the Rebbe incorporated into his commentary on the Haggadah. Several years ago, we took on ourselves to study the whole Haggadah, the whole commentary of the Haggadah of the Rebbe, and each ma'amarim source that the Rebbe wrote, we checked where it is. We wrote the whole name of the sefer, the page or paragraph where it is exactly in the sefer, and a quotation of the line of that sefer that the Rebbe took this idea from. We have published it together with the Rebbe's Haggadah for one to be able to learn the Rebbe's Haggadah and to be able to check the sources of the Rebbe in the footnote. All together in the Haggadah, there are about a thousand times that the Rebbe is quoting Sforim, and we have gave the quotation and the source where this is taken from. That's not only thing that the Rebbe wrote, not only commentary, not only minhogim. Very often, the Rebbe has a whole pilpul and a biur in halacha according to the different chitas in poskim. All this is included in his commentary on the Haggadah, which is called Likutei Taimim Uminhogim. Taimim means the reason for each minhag, Uminhogim, the details of each minhag.