A few years ago, I conducted a little research on Nirtzah. The very first thing I learned is that according to many commentators, Nirtzah is not merely that one concluding paragraph, “Hasal Sidur Pesach K’Hilchoso….” The Nirtzah section is actually both that and all the songs at the back of the book. Together they constitute Nirtzah and they are more significant than they might appear at first glance.
The word “Nirtzah” is not translated in a bunch of haggadot (I checked nine different haggadot we have at home). When it is translated, it seems to most commonly be defined as “acceptance” (the definitive Maxwell House Passover Haggadah, 2019 edition, renders it as “Acceptance of the Divine Service)”. I’ve also seen it translated as “conclusion” and, in Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s haggadah, as “parting.”
In his essay “The Power of Moments Through Nirtzah and the Steps of the Seder” (YU To-Go series, Pesach 5779), Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda points out that Nirtzah is not part of the haggadot of the Geonim or the early Rishonim; it only starts to make appearances in the haggadot of later Ashkenazi rishonim like the Maharam M’Rotenberg and the Terumas HaDeshen. According to a brief commentary on the chabad.org website, “Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi did not include ‘The Order of Pesach is concluded’ in his haggadah for indeed, the Seder never concludes. Its message endures throughout the year.”
As I surmise, later Rabbinic leaders saw a need both for a formal end to the Seder (closure is important) and for the last ‘taste’ of Seder night to be one of joyous song.
Perhaps reflecting that view, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin wrote in “Just One: The Hoffman Family Haggadah” (published by NCSY), “The redemption did not end when they left Egypt—the Egyptians were still chasing them. The redemption from Egypt was only complete once they crossed the sea. And what did the Jewish people do once the redemption was finally complete? They sang. “Then Moshe and the Jewish people sang this song (Shemos 15:1)” Like the Jewish people after Egypt, our Passover Seder also ends with singing. Nirtzah, the final section of the Seder, is a compilation of songs and poems. The Seder ends the same way the original Passover story ends: Freedom expressed through song.”
Rabbi Lavenda writes that according to Rabbi Nachum MiBreslov, “We have finished the Seder. But have we finished? Can man ever begin to do anything for the Infinite Creator? Or can we only want to? God desires our heart. We desire God. We want to serve Him, but we know that our actions are inadequate.” According to this approach, the ‘acceptance’ paragraph and the songs that follow signify that we leave the Seder still wanting more, still striving to sing praise and thanks to our Creator.
The songs of Nirtzah are a fervent wish for continued engagement with Hashem.
Harry Glazer, the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link, can be reached at [email protected]
