There is a reason that Moshe Rabbeinu established that we begin studying upcoming festivals thirty days prior to their commencement. There are laws to review, new situations to assess and insights and renewed inspiration to derive. But nothing compares to the preparations we make for Pesach. For many this hachanah translates to a trip to the local Kosher grocery and spending  a pay-check or two, hours of cleaning and scouring and perhaps attending shiurim on the latest kosher-for-Pesach rules and regulations. How many of us spend parallel time preparing for our hallowed task of Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim, our annual task to tell the story of our redemption from Egypt? The children come home with projects, songs and vortlach – depending on their age. They learn new ideas, angles and commentaries. While their participation is laudable and encouraged, we are the ones leading our s’darim and we too should take seriously the task of telling this most precious story of the miracles, of shame and redemption.

Chazal in their inspired wisdom were ahead of their times regarding pedagogy. The model of the arba banim demonstrates their knowledge and appreciation of differentiated instruction. They grasped the notion that people learn better with visual aids (b’zman shematzah umaror munachim l’fanecha) and the didactic tactic of asking questions.

While the tana’im taught us that we begin with the shame and conclude the story with praise, how else did the baal haHagadah organize the materials in the Magid section, the portion of the Seder where we fulfill the mitzvah of Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim?  We do have a seder haseder – kadesh, urchatz…- but that gives us the overview of the entire Seder. I am not familiar with a cute song that teaches us the different parts of Magid.

The Malbim in his Hagaddah unlocks the mystery of the seder of Magid. He opines that Magid is ordered based on a verse we all know:  v’higad’ta l’vincha bayom hahu leimor, ba’avur zeh asah Hashem li b’tzeisi mimitzrayim, ‘you shall relate to your son on that day saying because of this Hashem performed for me when I left Egypt’ (Shmos 13:8). He argues that the organization of Magid bases itself on this verse.

The words v’higad’ta l’vincha, you shall relate to your child, refers to the text beginning with avadim hayinu and ending with the fourth child. Bayom Hahu, on that day, refers to the portion yachol merosh chodesh, which addresses when the mitzvah of Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim is to take place. Although the third section corresponds to but one word in the verse, leimor, saying, it represents the largest chunk of Magid, namely, from Mitchilah, in the beginning our ancestors were idolaters, and concludes after dayeinu. 

The fourth section of Magid, ba’avur zeh, because of this, is accomplished via the statements of Rabban Gamliel, pointing out the pesach, matzah and maror. Clearly the word zeh, this, is key to this understanding, as we are pointing something out at the seder. The next fragment of our verse is asah Hashem li, Hashem performed for me.  The Malbim teaches us that the paragraph b’chol dor vador chayav adam liros es atzmo k’ilo hu yatza mimitzrayim, in each generation man must see himself as if he himself was taken out of Egypt, accomplishes this. Here the word li, to me, is the key. Finally, the last two words of the verse b’tzeisi mimitzrayim, as I left Egypt, refer to the first two paragraphs of Hallel, which specifically reference the exodus.

Just as the kadesh urchatz song helps us prepare for a long glorious night of stories, matzah, maror and hallel, the Malbim’s insight should help set the table for Magid. It helps pace the mitzvah of Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim, and organizes the order of this night which is so crucial to the transmission of our holy mesorah.