ויסב אלהים את העם מכאן אמרו רבותינו (פסחים צט, ב) אפילו עני שבישראל לא יאכל עד שיסב שכך עשה להם הקדוש ברוך הוא שנאמר ויסב אלהים:
(Exodus 13:18) "God tilted the path [vayasev]..." From here our rabbis said (Pesachim 99b), "Even the poor Jewish man cannot eat until he leans [sheyesev], for this is what God did for them, as it says, "And God tilted the path."This is also quoted by others, such as the Abudraham, in his discussion of leaning at the seder:
וכל מי שצריך הסבה אם אכל ושתה בלא הסבה לא יצא. ואמרינן בואלה שמות רבה (פ"כ י"ח) ויסב אלהים את העם מכאן אמרו רבותינו אפילו עני שבישראל לא יאכל עד שיסב שכך עשה להם האלהים שנאמר ויסב אלהים את העם. וכתב אבי העזרי בזמן הזה שאין רגילות בארצנו להסב יושב כדרכו ואינו צריך להסב.
Anyone who is required to lean and eats and drinks without leaning, he does not fulfill his obligation. And we say in Exodus Rabbah: "God tilted the path..." From here our rabbis said , "Even the poor Jewish man cannot eat until he leans, for this is what God did for them, as it says, "And God tilted the path." And the Avi HaEzri writes that today, we don't normally lean, a person should sit as he normally does and does not need to lean.
(This might be an important midrash - does it indicate a Torah obligation, or an asmachta of a rabbincal obligation?)
What is the connection between the two? What does God's circuitous route have to do with leaning at the seder? I am collecting answers in this list, most seem very similar:
- Rav Menachem Mendel Kasher, in Torah Shelema, quotes the Ktav Sofer that it means the following: The emphasis is the "poor Jewish man." How can the poor man, the most destitute person, lean at the seder, when there are so many reasons to not feel free? How can the rabbis insist he do something he does not feel? The answer is that the poor man might think he's in a hopeless situation, no way out, but that's what the Jews felt in the desert - that they were trapped, with no way out. God took them out from a situation that felt hopeless, and he could here to the poor man as well. The same tilting God did then, the poor person should keep in mind now.
- A similar idea: Sometimes God takes us on circuitous routes. The poor man may think that he will be poor forever, but it may just be a stop on the circuitous path of the man's life. Tomorrow is another day, and perhaps the next time he leans, it will be on a better foot.
- From the Shu"t Divrei Yatziv OH 210: The reason God takes a circuitous route is because He was concerned (so to speak) "פן ינחם העם", lest the nation (am) turns around. The Alshich says that this refers to the mixed multitude, the non-Israelite members of the group, who were scared and would turn around at the sign of war. Indeed, he says, the Torah describes the "children of Israel" as leaving "חמושים", which midrashically means "armed." If they were armed, and therefore prepared for war, they wouldn't be scared and turn around. So the "am" that God is concerned for is obviously the mixed multitude, not the "children of Israel." Therefore, says the Divrei Yatziv, even the poor Jewish person leans at the seder as a free person, demonstrating that the Jews are always free so long as they learn Torah (which arms us). Even when we eat maror, even when our lives are bitter, we lean because we have the Torah to defend us against any onslaught.
- Similar to all of these: The lesson is that freedom is an ontological truth of being Jewish. No matter what external circumstances make us feel enslaved, the redemption of the Jewish people in Egypt is so essential to the nature of the Jewish people that even the most downtrodden person is truly a king. So when God took them on a circuitous route, that symbolizes the external nature of the exile before they return to Israel. The exile cannot change the nature of the Jewish people. A famous Maharal (Gevurat Hashem 61) that speaks to this:
יש מקשים מה הועיל לנו היציאה הרי אנו משועבדים בשאר מלכיות דמאי שנא מלכות מצרים משאר מלכיות. ודברי הבאי הם כי כאשר יצאו ישראל ממצרים קבלו הטוב בעצמם עד שהיו ראוים בעצמם להיות בני חורין מצד מעלתם, וזאת המעלה עצמית לישראל שהם ראוים להיות בני חורין מצד עצם מעלתם, ודבר מקרי לא יבטל דבר עצמי כלל כי עדיין על ישראל המעלה הזאת שהם בני חורין בעצמם עם השעבוד, במקרה, כי אחר שהוציא הקדוש ברוך הוא את ישראל ממצרים ונתן אותם בני חורין ולא עוד אלא אף מלכים שנאמר (שמות י"ט) ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, זה השם הוא לישראל בעצם והמעלה והחשיבות שיש בזה בזה לא נתבטל בגלותם שהוא (הגלות) במקרה, ולפיכך אומרים חכמי ישראל (שבת קי"א ע"א) כל ישראל בני מלכים הם אף בגלותם, וזה מצד המעלה והחשיבות שקנו ישראל בעצם לא נתבטל במקרה כלל, ואין ספק שכמה דברים הם נמשכים אל ישראל מן המעלה והחשיבות, אחר שהם בני חורין בעצם ואל יגרע כחם מה שהם עבדים במקרה, ודבר פשוט הוא זה ואין להאריך בדבר שהוא מבואר למי שהבין דבר זה - The Baal HaTurim thinks (based on Bamidbar Rabbah) that this alludes to the idea that God didn't tilt their path, but set a table and prepared them food to eat, as it says in Psalms 78:19 - "Yea, they spoke against God; they said: 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?"
- Rav Levanon answers here that the earlier midrash indicates that "ויסב" means that God encircled the Jewish people to protect them. If so, maybe the encircling of the clouds are like the protection of kings by the palace and the guards. Thus, we are all kings on the seder night be recreating this "kings palace."
- He cites Rav Soloveitchik as saying that it took a long time from leaving Egypt to getting to Israel, because of God's circuitous route, and this shows the Jewish people's great faith in God. So too, we lean on the Seder night to say that we, too, have faith like our ancestors that we will eventually be in Israel and in redemption.
- The Beracha Hameshuleshet on Mishnah Pesachim 10:1 asks on Tosafot's Yesh Maforshim which has a "yesh meforshim" that the line that even a poor Jewish man cannot eat until he leans, is going on the previous part, and means to say that even if he hasn't eaten for several days, he cannot eat until he leans. However, asks the Beracha Hameshuleshet, the Midrash clearly sees it as the law of leaning itself, nothing special about eating or not eating for a long time! The Yad Hachaim answers that it seems that Tosafot had the girsa that was "ואפילו" - "and" (which is how the Mishna has it and not the Gemara, and also how the Yerushalmi has it), which connects to the previous line, while the midrash had the girsa we have without the vav. And he points to Tosafot Menachot 40b which says "אפילו" witha vav goes on the previous statement.
But we could say with even more pshat, that the yesh meforshim explains this midrash as well. The point is that even the poor person, who has not eaten in a long time, must wait until he leans. Similarly, God took the Jewish people on a long route, which would mean they would not see Israel for a long time. Yet, they had to wait for the right time, and this is the lesson for the poor man as well. - The Avir Yaakov says on Beshalach: The Chatam Sofer in his drashot understands what it says in Maariv "He took out his nation Israel from Egypt לחירות עולם" that this means "freedom from the world" - the desert was meant to be an oasis divorced from desires of the world. This is true freedom, being able to live without worldly desires. So, says the Avir Yaakov, the world seems to think that freedom is lots of money, possessions, and power, when in fact, Jews believe that even a poor person can be free if they work on their desires.
- Why would you think the poor person wouldn't have to lean? Isn't he like any other Jew? Tosafot on the page say that maybe you would think he doesn't have to lean because he has no pillows to lean on, so its not really leaning "in a way of freedom." Ritva, however, cites Tosafot as saying that a poor person never leans during the year, so you would think they wouldn't have to on Pesach either. Perhaps this midrash is saying this second reason, that one should lean, even if it is not what they do normally. So too, God took them on a circuitous route the Jews would not normally have gone down.
- The Beer Yosef on Beshalach writes: The Maaseh Hashem from R. Eliezer Ashkenazi says that we say Avadim Hayinu in response to the Mah Nishtana to answer the specific question of why we lean tonight. We say that God took us out with a great and mighty hand, and we want to demonstrate absolute and complete freedom, by leaning. If Pharoah had just let us out with the great power demonstrate by God, we would have the moral obligation to be grateful to him. But God took us out in a way that takes away that moral obligation, and thus we are completely free. So we lean. So this explains the midrash, says the Beer Yosef. God took us the long way to trap us, have the Egyptians chase after us, and then to need to completely rely on God to rescue us. Thus, the only moral obligation of gratitude is toward God, and no human. To demonstrate everyone is completely free from gratitude toward Egypt, everyone, even the poor person, must lean.
- Different but similar: A rich person is defined by Chazal as someone who is happy with their lot. By contrast, then, a poor person is unhappy with their lot. The people could have complained when God took them a roundabout route, but they did not. At that moment, even the poorest person was rich because they were just happy that God took them out, and appreciative of that fact. They were happy with their lot. Whatever would happen now, it would have been enough, dayeinu, for them to be grateful. Therefore, even the poor person today should recreate that aspect of gratitude, a thankfulness that stays even when being taken a roundabout way, by leaning like God "leaned" the Jewish people.
- Similar: A person who is poor financially might be rich spiritually. God took the Jewish people the hard way, to teach them that freedom isn't physical, but spiritual. And so, when they would come against war, they would be ready with the knowledge that God will protect them because of their spiritual merits. Even a poor person, physically speaking, should lean with the riches of spirituality.
- In Bareiach Hatichon, by Yosef Chaim Bron, he writes: In Berachot 8a (and other places), you find the term "סב" referring to an elderly person (indeed, we call a grandfather a "saba" in Hebrew). He is so called because as an elderly person, he "leans" on his staff to stand because of a "bent" back. The idea is that סב can encompass the concept of moving away from something straight - in the case of the old man, his back, but also moving away from a direct path. So too, God took us on a different path, from the paved path that would have been bad for us, to the uncommon path that was good for us. We lean on the seder night to remember this "lean" away from what was normal for us at the time, slavery. He adds that the verse says, "God tilted the path of the people," as in the most simple people, the masses. This is why even the poor person, who doesn't know so much, must lean to represent this move as well.
- Here's a crazy one, from the Divrei Tovah on Beshalach. He says that had God taken us the short way, we would have arrived in the land of Israel in one day. Remember, they are traveling on Chag Hamatzot, having ate the Pesach the night before. If they arrive in Israel that day, they would have kept only one day of chag. But since God had them go the long way, they were in Chutz Laaretz, and therefore He was literally "יסב" them - He made them have to lean again and have the Seder for another night, for Yom Tov Sheni shel Galuyot! Therefore the derivation makes sense - God made them lean for another night, and if we know they leaned the second night, they obviously leaned the first night. Hats off, very creative.
- Yismach Moshe says that the Israelites were so downtrodden leaving Egypt they were not sure if they deserved redemption. They didn't believe in themselves. So God gave them the understanding that they could lean like free people, that they were already free, even if they had a hard time believing it. So too, a poor person should feel this on the seder night.
