PARTIAL PESACH PREVIEW

Lot baked matzot for his visitors - Pesach in Vayeira. Yitzchak blessed Yaakov on Pesach eve after partaking of meat from the two goats that Rivka prepared for him - the Chagiga and the Korban Pesach. And Yaakov served him wine. Pesach in To'l'dot. And this week, we go out and see what Lavan attempted to do to Yaakov Avinu. Pesach in Vayeitzei. There's more, and we're not even into the Book of Sh'mot. We are reminded of Pesach throughout the year; and we should be, for the lessons of the Seder and of Pesach are meant for the entire year.

After various introductory practices and passages, the Hagada is ready to guide us to the fulfillment of V'HI'GAD'TA L'VINCHA, the mitzva of Hagada. This portion of MAGID begins with the famous words: TZEI U'L'MAD, go out and learn what Lavan attempted to do to Yaakov Avinu... And this leads us to the first of the four Bikurim-p'sukim that form the core of the Story of the Exodus. That pasuk indicates (according to the way we understand the reference to ARAMI) that Lavan caused Yaakov to go down into Egypt, and hence he (Lavan) is the starting point of the Mitzrayim-Exodus story.
A well-known question is asked on this connection between Lavan and Yaakov's descent into Egypt. After Yaakov left Lavan's house, he took his family back to Eretz Yisrael. There they lived 11 years until Yosef was sold into slavery, and another 22 years until he and his family went down to Mitzrayim to be with Yosef.

Lavan attempted to vanquish Yaakov and Yaakov went down to Egypt. That's the sequence in the pasuk, but there were 33 years between the two events.

Commentaries say (among other explanations) that it was Lavan's deception of Yaakov, by giving him Leah instead of Rachel that lead to the jealousy between the two sisters. That jealousy translated into the hatred of Leah's sons of Yosef. That lead to the brothers selling Yosef into slavery. And that brought them all down to Egypt. It might have been 46 years between Yaakov's marriages and his reunion with Yosef, but it was Lavan that brought Yaakov to Mitzrayim.

If this is part of the story of Pesach, then we hear it and study it during the readings of the second half of B'reishit. And on into Sh'mot. Not just at the Seder. And, perhaps, studying the story away from the Seder table, when many things claim our attention, allows us to learn some of the lessons that will hopefully make us better people and better Jews.