Entering a New Realm

The first sefer I ever taught was the Haggadah. While at Ohr Somayach, I was inspired by a remarkable series of shiurim on the Haggadah, primarily based on the Maharal and the Malbim, given by the late Rabbi Uziel Milevsky ztz”l. And over the years, I continued to add to the original material.

Consuming many peirushim on the Haggadah allowed me to host large groups of young Neve Yerushalayim students excited to be at a Seder lasting until the early morning. But as my children grew and became the focus of our Seder, I came to feel that something was missing, and that I had consistently failed to recreate the experience of Yetzias Mitzrayim at the Seder table.

That sense was reinforced when I interviewed Rav Reuven Leuchter six years ago about a new commentary on the Haggadah he had just published. He confided that he had never read any peirush on the Haggadah, and that his Sedorim always ended by chatzos, and yet all the participants were elevated by the experience. He implicitly confirmed that my approach was wrong.

Unbeknownst to me, my friend Rabbi Simcha Bunim (Benny) Berger read that interview and was inspired to write a peirush to the Haggadah based on the Maharal’s Gevuros Hashem and the approach to the Maharal that he imbibed from his great teacher, Rav Moshe Shapira ztz”l.