Why does the Haggadah give two different—and seemingly contradictory—reasons for eating Matzah?

One appears near the beginning of the Seder. The other comes near the end. And they don’t seem to say the same thing.

This isn’t just a textual question—it goes to the heart of what freedom actually means.

In this episode, we uncover why these two explanations both exist—and how, when taken together, they redefine the freedom we celebrate on Passover.

In this series, Unlocking the Haggadah, we reveal the hidden structure behind the Seder so that each part connects into a deeper, more meaningful conversation.

In the next episode, we explore a historic disagreement within the Haggadah that still shapes how we experience the Seder today.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This evening we discuss the significance of and practice of Eruv Tavshilin, a practice allowing us to prepare for Shabbat on Friday which is Yom Tov, which we will do this Wednesday. We examine the elusive paragraph in the Haggadah of Ha Lachma Anyah (this - Matza - is the bread we ate as slaves), and how this is connected with inviting guests to our Seder. Then we explore the special Haftorah for this Shabbat, the prophecy of Malachi, and how it is related to the Afikomen at the Seder.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

When was the last time you stopped and counted - not your problems - but your blessings, one by one?

Why does the Haggadah spend time counting miracles - 60, 240, even 300? It feels like the kind of passage designed to lose the room.

But what if this “technical” debate is actually pointing to one of the central goals of the entire Seder?

In this episode, we uncover how the rabbis are teaching us not to count miracles - but to notice them. To break redemption into its smallest parts and recognize each one.

This is the deeper meaning of Dayanu: not just a song, but a discipline of gratitude - appreciating every step, every layer, every element of every gift.

And more than that: the Seder quietly asks us to add our own list. What are the blessings in your life right now?

Because this is what transforms the Seder from history into experience. This is how we reach the goal: “to see ourselves as if we are being redeemed tonight.”

Miss this - and the Seder is just storytelling.

See it - and it becomes yours.

In the next episode, we explore a historic dispute in the Haggadah that still shapes how we live today.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

We have a striking practice at the Seder: when we mention the Ten Plagues, we remove a drop of wine from our glass - diminishing our joy in recognition of the suffering of the Egyptians, even our enemies.

And yet, at the very same Seder, many of us use finger puppets for the plagues, place toy frogs on the table, and sing playful songs about Pharaoh in pajamas.

So which is it? Are we meant to restrain our joy at the downfall of our enemies - or to celebrate it?

This is not a trivial question. It cuts to the heart of how Judaism understands justice, compassion, and the moral cost of victory - then, and in the complex and often painful realities we face today.

We explored this tension at length in Mining the Riches of the Parsha (January 29, 2026), and I return to it here to take a clear and principled stand.

In this series, Unlocking the Haggadah, we uncover the hidden structure of the Haggadah so that every paragraph leads logically to the next - and the entire Seder becomes a thoughtful conversation rather than a confusing collection of texts.

In the next episode, we turn to Dayanu and discover why it may be one of the most misunderstood - and central - sections of the Haggadah.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: / @rabbimichaelwhitman

Instagram: / adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG...

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

Many people get lost when the Haggadah begins its detailed commentary on the four Torah verses describing the Exodus. At this point in the Seder, the method feels unfamiliar—and many quietly start counting the minutes until dinner.

But this “Midrashic” method isn’t random or obscure.

It blends literal, metaphorical, and allegorical interpretations in a way that is designed to provoke discussion, disagreement, and personal insight.

In other words, this is the moment the Haggadah stops being something you read - and becomes something you discuss and debate.

In this episode, we show how this section invites participation and helps each person see the Haggadah as relevant to their own life and experience.

In Unlocking the Haggadah, we reveal the hidden structure of the text so every paragraph leads logically to the next - turning the Seder into a genuine conversation.

In the next episode, we’ll explore the surprising insights this Midrashic method draws out of the Torah verses themselves.

The Haggadah does something strange.

Instead of telling the Exodus story directly, it builds the entire narrative around a passage spoken 40 years later.

Why?

That unexpected choice reveals two hidden goals of the Seder:

not just to understand what happened - but to experience it as if it happened to me; and to arrive at genuine, heartfelt gratitude.

In this series, Unlocking the Haggadah, we uncover the hidden structure of the Haggadah so that every paragraph leads logically to the next — transforming the Seder from a confusing collection of texts into a meaningful conversation.

In the next episode, we’ll explore the unique and often misunderstood interpretive method the Haggadah uses — and why it matters.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

The Passover Haggadah is not just a script for telling the story of the Exodus. It is also a framework for discussing the Jewish story in every generation — including our own.

One of the most powerful passages is “V’Hi She’amdah,” the paragraph that reminds us that in every generation there are those who rise against the Jewish people — and that God has protected us again and again.

In Israel, many people sing these words to the famous melody of Yonatan Razel. It is often sung at weddings — sometimes even in bomb shelters during times of war — expressing the deep Jewish certainty that despite every danger, we will endure and ultimately triumph.

In this episode of Unlocking the Haggadah, we explore why this paragraph may be the moment at the Seder when we talk about what is happening to Jews today — in Israel and around the world.

In this series, Unlocking the Haggadah, we uncover the hidden structure of the Haggadah so that every paragraph leads logically to the next — and the entire Seder becomes a thoughtful conversation rather than a confusing collection of texts.

In the next episode, we’ll unlock the next piece of that structure.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

In the middle of the Haggadah, we suddenly encounter a bizarre idea: maybe the Seder should have taken place two weeks earlier.

Why does the Haggadah suddenly suggest that the Seder might have taken place on the first day of the Jewish month of Nissan — two weeks before Passover?

Why would anyone think that? And why raise the question when we are already in the middle of the Seder itself?

The first of Nissan was a momentous day in Jewish history. The events of that day are what made the Exodus possible. In a profound sense, that day trumps the creation of the world as a turning point in history: it is the day the Jewish people earned God's respect and became God's partners — and two weeks later God takes them out of Egypt.

In this series, Unlocking the Haggadah, we uncover the hidden structure of the Haggadah so that every paragraph leads logically to the next — and the entire Seder becomes a thoughtful conversation rather than a confusing collection of texts.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

At the Passover Seder, we are taught to respond differently to four types of children. Each one asks a different question, and each one needs a different kind of answer.

But the Haggadah’s response to the “wicked” child is deeply puzzling. Why does it sound so harsh? Why do we seem to insult a child who is simply asking questions? Many people feel uncomfortable when they reach this moment in the Seder.

Drawing on the teachings of R. Tzaddok HaKohein, we explore a very different approach. The presence of this child at the table is itself a sign of hope. Questions and doubts are not enemies of faith — they are invitations to conversation.

We also share a remarkable story from the first Jewish prayer service in Buchenwald, just days after the end of World War II, which reveals what it truly means to respond to doubt with sensitivity and compassion.

In this series, Unlocking the Haggadah, we uncover the hidden structure of the Haggadah so that each paragraph leads logically to the next - transforming the Seder from a confusing collection of texts into a thoughtful and meaningful conversation.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This evening we discuss our ability to choose the perspective we take on anything that happens, and where we see this in our Parsha. We analyze why the command to build the Mishkan must follow the Parsha of Mishpatim, because we cannot serve God with funds or objects we obtain unethically. And we provide a sweeping view of the narrative arc of the Book of Exodus, based on an essay by Ezra Sivan, that compares and contrasts the two national building projects, one at the beginning of Shmot and one at the end. And the difference between them is Shabbat.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.