The Disappearance of Moshe in the Haggada - Rabbi Ari Ze'ev Schwartz

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There is an ancient story that is told every Pesach; a story that every type of people in the universe resonates with. Like any other story that steals the hearts of the masses, it involves a villain and a hero. The villain we frown upon and attack with our cruelest curses, while the hero we rise up on our flag of morals and exclaim with a proud voice, “He represents us!” Pharoah is the name of the villain and Moshe is our hero. How much courage it must have taken for a man who grew up in the very palace of the villain to rebel and stand up for his downcast people. What inner strength he must have summoned in order to overcome his fear of public speaking. What audacity he must have possessed in order to lead an enslaved people from a bursting metropolis of food, shelter and wealth, into a dry, barren desert.

Inspiring, right?

The only problem with this story is that it isn’t the story that we tell on the night of Pesach. Moshe's name isn’t mentioned even once in the Haggada…

Do Jews Ignore Their Heroes?

In finding a solution to this problem, it might be helpful to look at another great hero of Jewish history and see how we relate to him. The great 11th century Rabbi, Moshe Maimonides (the Rambam), whose Mishnah Torah is learnt by every serious student of law and Talmud, or his Guide for the Perplexed, by every lover of Jewish philosophy, and even the simple Jew who prays out of the siddur each morning, where he comes across Rambam’s “13 Principles of Faith.” Do we dedicate a day in the Jewish calendar to his remembrance? Do we make a pilgrimage to his grave to drop coins to receive blessings? All of the above is something worthy of a hero…a Martin Luther King day, or the Queen of England day. Why so little gratitude from the Jewish people for its heroes? Why such modesty for its icons’ achievements? The one Jew who received honor and recognition for religious reasons was cast out by Jews and used as the figurehead for a new religion!

What is the secret of the missing hero, the missing Moshe in the Haggada of Jewish history?

"You Shall Not Make for Yourself an Idol (Shemot 20:4)"

Perhaps I might suggest the following solution. If the way of the world is normally to load praises and tributes on their heroes as time goes on, to create a nostalgia and romanticism around its famous singers, artists and film stars, to build up images of its heroes, then in true Jewish spirit, we see the total opposite; “you shall not make for yourself an idol (Shemot 20:4),” the destruction of the images of its heroes. The story of Pesach, told from a Jewish perspective, is not Moshe focused, but freedom focused (zman cheirutanu). It is not Moshe we aspire to be. The haggada reads, “In each and ever generation one is obligated to view himself as thought he has gone out of Egypt.” The nullification of the external hero provides the opportunity for the appearance of the hero within. The more a generation idolizes the Martin Luther Kings, Gandhis, Nelson Mandelas, etc., the less it challenges itself to be its own savior. Indeed, the destruction of heroes in Judaism is secretly a way of building more and more heroes for the following generation. For what is the reason we call a hero an idol? Do they not serve as the same function as idols of ancient times- to save a person from his life’s sufferings through the path of passive redemption?

In many ways, the disappearance of Moshe in the Haggada is a protest against two things. One: the refusal to romanticize the past as an excuse for belief in the future self. Two: the rejection of external saviors who often take the place of the inner savior that we call in today’s modern language: “self-belief.” After all, what does our love for superheroes like Superman, Spiderman and Batman do for us if not comfort us with the fantasy that someone ‘out there’ will save our imperfect world. The sickness, crime, and war that fills our world is often too overwhelming, and we all have a sweet tooth for the “Matrix,” Harry Potter, “the one” who will finally end all pain once and for all.

"Each Person Has the Potential to be Righteous Like Moshe Rabbeinu"

So perhaps this is the message of the Haggada; not necessarily the disqualifying of Moshe's heroic role in our proud history, but rather, to teach, as Rambam writes in Hilchot Teshuva (5, 2):

“A person should not entertain the belief held by fools…that at the time of a man’s creation God decrees whether he will be righteous or wicked. This is untrue.
Each person is fit to be righteous like Moshe Rabbeinu…”

The absence of Moshe in the Haggada is a question mark and challenge to each and every one of us who would rather rely on ‘the hero’ of our past or the ‘messiah’ of the future, and instead, to become the superman in our present lives, right here and right now.

haggadah Section: Introduction