The Missing Beracha: Unveiling the True Meaning of the Central Mitzvah of the Seder

By Aryeh Bienstock

Throughout the Seder we perform many mitzvos. We eat Matzah, Marror, and drink four cups of wine, making a bracha beforehand each time. Yet, the crux of the Seder is Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim. Why then do we not make a bracha on the mitzvah of Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim, just like we do for all these other mitzvos?

There are numerous reasons suggested throughout the generations to explain why we don’t recite this bracha. One technical answer that is suggested is that we actually fulfill the mitzvah in kiddush and that the bracha on kiddush is also going on this mitzvah.

Another answer is that of the Chatam Sofer. He says it isn’t the bracha at the beginning of the seder that covers Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim, but the bracha we make at the end of the Maggid. However, that poses a simple question. We generally have a rule that brachot should be said before the performance of a mitzvah. Why then, by this mitzvah do we make it afterwards? The Chatam Sofer explains based on another exception to this rule. When a convert goes to the mikvah, the bracha is said afterwards, since the action is done by the ger who isn’t Jewish yet. The Ger hasn’t gone through the religious transformation yet and therefore cannot make the bracha. The same is true by us at the Seder. We cannot make the bracha before Maggid because we haven’t gone through the religious transformation that Maggid gives us yet and we cannot make the bracha until we are transformed.

A third answer is suggested by the Maharal in his commentary on the Haggadah. He explains that one only makes a bracha on a mitzvah that has an action, but the mitzvah of Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim isn’t action-oriented. How is that possible! Don’t we spend the whole night telling the story!? Isn’t that an action? The Maharal explains that the mitzvah is not to say over the story, but rather to impact your heart. The whole point of staying over the story is to feel differently. How so? It is supposed to increase your Emunah in Hashem and Hashgacha Pratis. It is to show you and everyone else that Hashem is involved in your life and that he cares about you. The mitzvah isn’t the action of telling, but the internal strengthening of belief. This is why there is no bracha.

The sefer Sarei Alafim by Rabbi Efraim Twerski explains that the best way to do this is to speak about Emunah and how Hashem is involved in your life. This is what the pasuk האמנתי כי אדבר that we say in Hallel is telling us. Dovid HaMelech is telling us that by speaking about Emunah and how Hashem is involved in your life you can and will increase your Emunah in Hashem and your family's Emunah.

May we take these ideas to heart and be zoche to improve our Emunah through telling the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, and have a transformational religious experience through our Seder.