The Passover Haggadah: Moses and the human role in redemption

Judaism, Fall-Winter, 2006 by David Arnow

IT IS WIDELY ACCEPTED THAT THE PASSOVER HAGgadah attributes responsibility for the redemption from Egypt to God alone and leaves no room for a human role. Two proofs are said to confirm this:

* The words of the Haggadah itself: "The Lord brought us out of Egypt not by an angel, not by a seraph, not by a messenger, but by the Holy One, blessed be Her, Himself ..."

* The nearly universal belief that the traditional Haggadah makes absolutely no mention of Moses.

The following illustrates the common wisdom on this matter. The source is noteworthy--The Israel Passover Haggadah, a work by the great scholar of rabbinic literature, Rabbi Menachem Kasher.

    "And not by the hand of a messenger"--refers to Moses, for the
  plague of the slaying of the firstborn was effected only by the Holy
  One, blessed is He, and no other. The compilers of the Haggadah found
  no opportunity to quote even one saying or tale in praise of Moses. In
  fact, his name is not mentioned in the entire Haggadah. The compiler's
  purpose is to continually stress that thanks are due only to the
  Almighty for our miraculous redemption. (2)

The Hebrew in Kasher's Haggadah reads the same, but includes a footnote mentioning a biblical citation found in the Haggadah that indeed does mention Moses' name. Alas, the translation lacks this footnote!

This article examines the Haggadah's treatment of Moses and its understanding of the human role in the redemption from Egypt. Although the Haggadah certainly downplays his role in the Exodus, the traditional text has not entirely eliminated Moses: it refers to him twice, once by name and once obliquely. We begin by reviewing these references in light of the Haggadah's evolution and then turn to the Haggadah's midrash, "Not by an angel...." Reading this midrash against the backdrop of an ancient theological controversy--the "Two Powers in Heaven" heresy--and probing the likely sources of its language suggests that it argues against more than one supernatural participant in delivering the last plague and not against a human role in the Exodus. We then discuss the Haggadah's minimization of Moses as a precaution against tendencies to deify him. This historical background sets the stage for exploring the significance of Moses' presence in the Haggadah and of other passages in this text that point to the human responsibility in the redemption from Egypt. An excursus examines the origins of the myth of Moses' complete absence from the Haggadah. The notion derives from a comment by the Vilna Gaon and probably reflects his antipathy toward the Chasidic concept of the tzaddik.

Moses in the Haggadah

The Haggadah's two references to Moses are quite striking, actually: They frame the Exodus, marking the beginning and the end of the redemption. The first comes at the close of Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush--when God sets the plan in motion for redeeming the Israelites. The second comes just after the Israelites have safely crossed the Red Sea--the grand finale of the Exodus.

The first reference to Moses is indirect. It consistently appears in Haggadot attributed to the early Gaonim. (3) "'And by signs': This is the rod, as it is said, '... And take with you this rod, with which you shall perform the signs'" (Exodus 4:17). The "you" refers to Moses, to whom God is speaking in the cited verse. (4) Today, this appears in all traditional Haggadot. (5)

An overt appearance of Moses' name occurs in the section of the Haggadah that quotes the M'chilta d'Rabbi Yishmael, a 3rd-century midrash. Rabbi Yose the Galilean argues th]at the Egyptians suffered 50 plagues at the Red Sea. He cites the following as his proof text: "And when Israel saw the wondrous power [literally, 'great hand'] which the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord; they had faith in the Lord and in His servant Moses" (Exodus 14:31). (6) As is often the case in rabbinic literature, this midrash quotes the beginning of the biblical verse and assumes familiarity with the remainder. The Haggadot of Amram Gaon (d. 875) and Saadia Gaon (892-942) included this midrash and followed the same convention of quoting only the beginning of the verse from Exodus. (7) However, illuminated European Haggadot from the early 14th century routinely included the full verse and, with it, Moses' name. (8) For the past 700 years, traditional renderings of the Haggadah have included this single explicit mention of Moses.

Of note, Maimonides (1135-1204) omitted the M'chilta's midrash on the plagues from his Haggadah because he believed it was not widely known, although he recited it at his own Seder. (9) But Maimonides hardly intended to exclude Moses from the Seder. His words are intriguing to say the least.

    It is a mitzvah to inform one's sons even though they do not ask, as
  [Exodus 13:8] states: "You shall tell your son ..." A father should
  teach his son according to the son's knowledge: How is this applied?
  If the son is young or foolish, he should tell him: "My son, in Egypt,
  we were all slaves like this maidservant or this slave. On this night,
  the Holy One, Blessed be He, redeemed us and took us out to freedom."
  If the son is older and wise, he should inform him what happened to us
  in Egypt and the miracles wrought for us by Moses, our teacher;
  everything according to the son's knowledge. (10)