פסחים-פד

The מגיד of Kelm once gave a שבת הגדול דרשה in Germany.  Amongst those present were a group of Reform rabbis who smirked at his remarks. The מגיד said to them “I’ll tell you an interesting story that relates to the ענייני היום.  As a man sitting at the סדר table reading the הגדה got to מעשה רבי אליעזר, he slowly pronounced each and every word.  His wife thought that he had already gotten to counting the מכות and she began dipping her pinky into the glass of wine. “These are not מכות,” he told her. “These are רבנים.”  The woman felt embarrassed, so that when he actually did get to the מכות, she was afraid to dip her finger into the wine, concerned that she might be mistaken again.  Perhaps דם and צפרדע are also רבנים.  Smiling, her husband told her: “The earlier ones were real רבנים but the רבנים that we have here are only מכות.”

05/07/2020