THE ABSENCE OF MOSES IN THE HAGGADAH

The human figure that dominates the Torah is undoubtedly that of Moses. Michelangelo eternalized it in marble and, upon contemplating the finished work, supposedly exclaimed: “Why don’t you talk?” Moses, the great lawgiver and ultimate leader of the people, combined mental vigor with emotional sensitivity, verbally punishing the Hebrews for their periodic deviations, but implored God not to punish them. He was even willing to submit to being erased from the annals of history if necessary to obtain divine forgiveness for the people. 

Heeding God’s call in the episode of the Sne, the burning bush, he returned to Egypt, where he was wanted as a criminal. He risked his life to fulfill God’s command: to free the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery. Assisted by his elder brother, Aaron, he went to Pharaoh’s palace on several occasions to request freedom of worship for his people and, using the powers that God had granted, he cast 10 plagues on the Egyptians, which finally convinced Pharaoh to allow the exodus.

The Torah insists that the account of these events must be repeated to the new generations: vehigadeta levinechah, and “you shall relate to your descendants the details of the events that led to the liberation of the slaves, your ancestors,” reads the Haggadah, the formal narrative dating back to the second BeitHaMikdash.

Rabbi Yosi the Galilean says, “How do we know that the Egyptians were punished with 10 plagues in Egypt? … When they were at sea, it is said, “And when Israel saw the wonderful power that the Lord unleashed upon the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they had faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” This verse of the Torah is the only mention of Moses in the Haggadah , and moreover, there are versions of the text that omit this verse. 

In this story that is repeated on the night of the Seder, the figure of Moses could have appeared on several occasions. The 10 plagues are recited, one by one, and a drop of wine is spilled, possibly symbolizing a tear for the damage each of them caused. This recitation should have included the name of Moses, who started the plagues when he appeared before Pharaoh at dawn and turned the waters of the Nile into blood, preventing the monarch from bathing in them.

Why is Moses‘ name absent  from the Haggadah’s account? It cannot be a coincidence, because Moses is ubiquitous in the sacred text. If an attempt were made to expunge his name from the Pentateuch, it would be totally headless and mutilated. The author of the Haggadah emphasizes the fact that God did not use either an angel or an emissary to extract the people: He Himself alone in all His glory and majesty took care of bringing them out of Egypt. 

Perhaps the intention was to point out that freedom is an essential condition of the human being and God chose not to delegate its achievement to highlight its condition as a fundamental value. Because the divine spark that resides in every human being is a reference to freedom. By creating man in His image and likeness, God had made him free, because God’s cardinal attribute is to be free, unconditioned.

During the episode of the Egel Hazahav, the Golden Calf, the people tried to deify Moses. Because the Egel was, in reality, a substitute  for Moses, who had temporarily disappeared. They danced frantically around the golden statue and exclaimed, “This is the Divinity, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.” It is possible to speculate that the author of the Haggadah tried to avoid confusion between God and man. Moses was the greatest of men because he spoke to God “face to face”; yet he continued to be a man. A great and exceptional man, endowed with talents never equaled, but always a man. Perhaps the one who composed the Haggadah wanted to avoid the bewilderment and ambiguity that pervades Christianity when it proposes the incarnation of God.