Responsum: On the Haggadah

There are those who say, during the Kiddush of Passover, “ . . . who sanctified Israel,” and when they finish reciting “The Four Questions” do not say, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt” and do not say, “At first, our ancestors were idol worshipers,” but rather say, Joshua said to the whole people (Joshua 24:2) up until and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt (Joshua 24:4), and then they recite from “Blessed be the One who keeps His promise” until “Go out and learn,” and read “An Aramean was destroying my father” until the end of the whole section [see Deuteronomy 26:5–8], just the verses as they are, but they do not recite any of the midrash, and they recite: “Rabban Gamaliel would say,” and “He who redeemed us,” and Hallel (m. Pesaḥim 10:5–6).

I am greatly astonished at this! Needless to say one who acts in this manner has not fulfilled their obligation, for anyone who does do this is actually a sectarian, disloyal, denies the words of our sages, and is contemptuous of the words of the Mishnah and Talmud. All communities must excommunicate him and separate him from the community of Israel, as it says: He himself [i.e., one who disobeyed a communal proclamation] would be separated from the assembly of the captivity (Ezra 10:8).

And is the passage “We were slaves in Egypt,” written by the sages, not from the Torah? Does it not state, “Then you shall say to your son: We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt (Deuteronomy 6:21)”? Is not the passage beginning with Joshua said to the whole people essentially the same as the section “At first, our ancestors were idol worshipers”? For we learned that “one begins with disgrace and concludes with praise” [m. Pesaḥim 10:4]. And we said: What is the meaning of the term: “with disgrace”? Rav said that one should begin by saying: “At first, our ancestors were idol worshipers,” and Samuel said: “We were slaves” [b. Pesaḥim 116a]. Were it not for the resentment in their hearts and their disloyalty and their desire not to recite the words of the Mishnah and Talmud, why would they mind reciting “At first”?

Rather, these are sectarians and scoffers, who mock the words of the sages, and the disciples of ‘Anan—may his name rot—the great ancestor of Daniel, who said to all those who strayed and went whoring after him, “Forsake the words of the Mishnah and Talmud, and I will compose for you a Talmud of my own.” And they still maintain their error and have become a separate nation, and he composed a Talmud of wickedness and injustice for himself, and Mar R. Eleazar Alluf of Spain saw his book of abominations, which they call a Book of Commandments, how many [devious] stratagems it contains.

And now they must be excommunicated. They should not pray with Israel in synagogues and must be separated until they return to the good and accept upon themselves to act in accordance with the customs of the two academies [Sura and Pumbedita], for anyone who does not act in accordance with our customs has not fulfilled their obligation.