The Light in the Darkness - Pesach 2026

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Yisroel Reisman’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

[music] >> One of the most famous lines in the Haggadah is the words Man Nishtana Halaila Hazeh Mi Kol Halailos. Something said by the child at the table. He asks, as it's usually translated, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" In the Gra Haggadah, he makes the following point. He says, "Laila ends with a kamatz hey. It's a word that ends in the manner of a lashon nekevah." Words in Hebrew are divided between words which are masculine and feminine. And typically, the kamatz hey ending is a feminine ending. If so, it should say Man Nishtana Halaila Hazois Mi Kol Halailos, Zois being the feminine form of Hazeh. So, the Gra asks why it says Halaila Hazeh. Why the feminine Laila here is expressed with a masculine description? And that to that he answers that this night is like yom. He's referring to the concept of Laila Kayom Yoyair. That Pesach night was in many ways like a day. Day symbolizes a time of liberation, a time of joy, a time of redemption. Darkness always symbolizes a time of challenge, a time where God seems hidden, a time where everything around the person looks dark. Says the Gra, the night of Pesach is Halaila Hazeh. Even though it's night, it's described as masculine because Laila Kayom Yoyair. This is a vart of the Gra, a thought of the Gra, which in of itself seems rather understandable and easy enough. The Turch Mima in his Pirush on Parshas Ki Sisa, the pasuk Mechalaleha Mais Yom Mas, in his notes, brings this Gra, and he writes that it makes no sense. As a matter of fact, the language he writes is echt bedavar pashut kazeh. The Gra seems to have made to have made an error. While it may be true that the kamatz hey ending is typical of words which are

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1. 0:13[music] >> One of the most famous lines in the Haggadah is the words Man Nishtana…
2. 1:48Darkness always symbolizes a time of challenge, a time where God seems hidden, a time where…
3. 3:26Echad, rather. Balaila Echad in the masculine form. It doesn't say Balaila Achas. And that's true…
4. 5:04talmidim of two great people in two different centuries in two different places made the same…
5. 6:42the night on which they brought the first korban Pesach, the night on which they were…
6. 8:14There's always an element of light. There's always the growth from the from the galus, the…
7. 9:49Many years ago, about shuva from Eretz Yisrael came to us in the United States, and…
8. 11:27That's a problem. As we were talking, he mentions, "And you know, it's a funny thing.…
9. 12:59as about shuva and he had this incident with Pesach." He said, "Yes, I'm his son."…
10. 14:34for which it is said halayla hazeh, the masculine form of night. And so we come…

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