Seder Night - Brachot Galore!
“Baruch Hashem, I Have Children and Grandchildren!”
Seder Night is a night unlike any other night in the year. Aside from the excitement and the tremendous anticipation that Seder Night brings with it, it is also a night of blessings. There will be twenty(!) blessings recited this year at the Seder alone.
- Two for Kiddush
- Two for Havdalah
- Shehechiyanu
- Karpas
- The blessing over the redemption
- The second cup of wine
- Washing hands before eating the matzah
- Hamotzi over the matzah
- Al Achilat Matzah– the special blessing made over eating the matzah
- Al Achilat Maror– the special blessing made over eating the bitter herbs
- Four blessings in Birkat Hamazon
- The third cup of wine
- Yishtabach
- The fourth cup of wine
- Al Hagefen the blessing recited after drinking wine
Two of the blessings are unique to Seder Night and are not recited at any other time in the year: the blessing over the matzah, “al achilat matzah,” and the blessing over the bitter herbs, “al achilat marror.”With your permission, I would like to focus on the special blessing that is recited over the matzah. After reciting the standard blessing “Hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz,” which is said whenever we eat bread, we add another blessing before we eat the matzah, “Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech haolam asher kidshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu al achilat matzah – Blessed are You, Hashem our
It is truly one of the most enchanting moments in the Jewish year, as we recite these magical words that will not be said again until next Seder Night!
In truth, making such a unique blessing and eating the matzah on Seder Night is such an elevated experience that one would think it should warrant the Shehechiyanu blessing to be recited over it. The Avudraham points out that we do not recite Shehechiyanu over eating the matzah because Shehechiyanu was already said at the beginning of the Seder and it covers all the new mitzvot performed during the Seder. However, the Avudraham adds another reason for not reciting the Shehechiyanu blessing a second time. He explains that at the conclusion of the “Maggid” section (which is the main part of the Seder, describing the exodus from Egypt, beginning with “Ha Lachmanyah” and lasting until we drink the second cup of wine), we thank Hashem for having given us the opportunity to eat matzah and bitter herbs on this exalted night. The sentiments expressed in the blessing are the same as those of Shehechiyanu, and therefore there is no necessity to recite it again.
There is something extraordinary about matzah. The Chatam Sofer powerfully describes how matzah is a completely spiritual food. Matzah is so special that he compares it to the manna that Hashem fed us during our forty-year journey in the desert. In its essence, matzah is so spiritual that our eating it elevates us and draws us closer to Hashem. “If so,” asks the Chatam Sofer, “why are we not commanded to eat matzah all year round to remain in the spiritual state of ecstasy that eating the matzah on Seder Night has the potential to bring us to?” Because, he answers, we are human beings and we are composed of two disparate parts. We are the only element in Hashem’s world that was created with both a spiritual and a physical dimension. Our task in this world is to live our lives in a state of absolute balance so that the spiritual and the physical can exist within us in harmony. On Pesach, and particularly on Seder Night, we eat only matzah because Pesach symbolizes the beginning of our Nationhood. We have been designated by Hashem to be His spiritual ambassadors in this world. In effect, eating matzah on Pesach gives us the spiritual balance to be able to eat bread, that symbolizes the more physical dimensions of the world, during the rest of the year without its physicality overwhelming us.
It is now clear why we need to recite an extra blessing before we eat the matzah for the first time. The blessing “al achilat matzah” conveys our feelings of passion and excitement at being able to fulfill the remarkable mitzvah of eating matzah on Seder Night! As the Maharal explains, that is why the custom is not to dip the matzah in salt on Seder Night as we do when we make Hamotzi throughout the year. Because our love for the mitzvah is so overwhelming that we do not want to take away – even by an iota – from the taste and the purity of the matzot.
May it be the Will of our Father in Heaven that the entire Jewish Nation be blessed with an uplifting and inspiring Seder Night this year. And that we all merit to internalize the beauty and the holiness of the uniquely precious mitzvah of “achilat matzah”!
