Passover Seder Interdependence of Narrative and Law: Master Meta Narrative of Exodus
Land of Israel Interdependence of Narrative and Law. Master Meta Narrative of Creation and Book of Genesis Exists to Support Our Right to Land of Israel (RYB”N on Rashi)
Before we discuss the Passover Seder and how it demonstrates the interdependence of narrative and law, let’s examine the example of the narrative leading up to enslavement in Egypt. Rabbi Yoel Ben Nun explains a famous Rashi commentary by saying that one cannot have law without a context. Any contract must begin with a preamble that names the sides and may provide background on why they wish to form a contract. It is boilerplate standard legal doctrine to write that the preamble to the contract is an integral part thereof. Thus, Rashi’s question on the first verse of the Torah, presumes that the Torah is a book of laws and teachings for how to live a Jewish life today. He asks, why doesn’t the Torah begin from Exodus 12 where the first Mitzvah is given to the children of Israel. His answer is that we are commanded to conquer and inhabit The Land (later known in Rabbinic literature as the land of Israel). Yet, we may face challenges in that others claim that the land belongs them more than to us. Rashi explains that the narrative of Genesis is necessary to teach that God created the world and allocated the land. God may take the land from one people and give it to another. For any reason or no reason. Ramban learns Torat Hagmul, the idea that God rewards righteousness and punishes evil, from Genesis and particularly explains how we inherit the land and what actions caused exile. Rabbi Yoel ben Nun learns additionally from Rashi that the commandment to conquer and inhabit the land of Israel is so important in Rashi’s eyes that it merits an entire book of the five books of Moses.
Passover Seder Interdependence of Narrative and Law: Rabbinic Law Requires Telling of Exodus from Egypt
Our tradition of the Passover Seder builds upon a Biblical requirement to celebrate the Exodus from Egypt in the springtime because in the springtime we left Egypt. (Deut. 16,1 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God; for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”) The Torah states that we celebrate on the 14th day of the first month, shall be “Pesach” to the LORD. (Numbers “28,16 And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the LORD’S passover.”) Yet the Exodus form Egypt and the myriad duties it imposes upon us as a people require an understanding of the narrative.
The Rabbinic requirement of the Passover Seder is to tell the story of the going forth from Egypt, on that night. It is law that mandates narrative. Yet, how can the Passover offering in our Holy Temple in Jerusalem be understood without the context of the narrative. The Seder takes a legal passage from the Hebrew Bible in Deuteronomy that starts out, “A wandering Aramean was my father…” That legal passage is Biblical law of how the Hebrew Bible teaches we must describe the Exodus from Egypt when bringing the first fruits offering in the place that God will choose. The Passover Seder then uses the original narrative as though it were commentary on that core legal Hebrew Bible text. The Passover Seder further takes the descriptions throughout the prophets as they retell the story of the Exodus and embeds them as though explanation on that the legal Biblical text.
The obligation to observe the Shabbat derives from the story of Genesis and during the prayers on Shabbat, the Rabbis require us to recite verses from the creation narrative. This is the pattern of the Rabbis, not only with the Passover Seder and Shabbat. The commandment of settling the land of Israel requires an understanding and telling of our historical narrative.
The Hebrew Bible has master meta narratives. God created the world. God is active participant in history. God brought us forth from bondage in Egypt. These master narratives inform us of the importance, priorities, and how to interpret many of the laws given to us by the LORD through the hand of Moses.