Once, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon: Considering that Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were older and wiser than the others, why weren’t they listed according to their age? The sages gathered in B’nai Brak, so called because they were in the home of the Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah who was the Patriarch and whose dishes and utensils sparkled (barak). Out of respect for the Patriarch, two sat to his right and two sat to his left. This story is brought as proof for the previous statement. Even though they were all experts in the four levels of Torah study, PaRDeS, they still spent the entire night recalling and recounting the story of the Exodus. In the Zohar we learn that when we tell the story of the Exodus, God sends His angels to listen to His children telling their story.

That entire night: note that the word night, lailah, is masculine here. Until midnight the evening is called la’yil which is feminine, and from midnight on the evening is called lailah. That entire night (lailah) implies that it was the second part of the night (the masculine part of the night) since the first part of the night was spent performing all the appropriate commandments. It is also possible that each of the sages spent the first part of the night in his own home performing the seder for the members of his household. After midnight that all came together in order to sing songs, and recite Song of Songs together until sleep overtook them.

Until their students came and said, ‘Our Rabbis, that time for the recitation of the morning Shema has arrived: Surely they saw that the sun was rising, surely their discussions and interpretation was not so all encompassing that they didn’t notice what time it was! The fact is that they were in B’nai B’rak⁶⁵which means lightening or brightness, Weil argues that they were a source of great light and so were unaware of when the night ended and when the time for the morning service had arrived. and the light of their discussion was so brilliant, they could not differentiate between day and night! Or possibly, a fire came from heaven and surrounded them so that they couldn’t see that daytime had arrived. Therefore, their disciples came and said to them that one should not mix up commandments with one another; it is the obligation of the night to tell the story of the Exodus and now during the day it is an obligation to mention the exodus when one recites the final passage of the Shema. They came to tell them that it was time to conclude one commandment and to perform another. Another explanation: The reason that the students came to remind their teachers about the Sh’ma was to emphasize the two aspects of the Exodus. There are two aspects to the story of the Exodus: one is telling the story of the actual Exodus from Egypt and the ten plagues; the second is the story of the splitting of the Red Sea. We mention the splitting of the Red Sea in the morning as part of the Shacharit service. The sages spent the whole night recalling the story of the Exodus. The disciples now came to remind their teachers that it is also necessary to recall the other half of the Exodus – the splitting of the sea – as part of the Shacharit service. According to Rav Yehudah,⁶⁶ the recitation of the Shema was ordained by the sages but the mention of the splitting of the sea is a Torah obligation. It was incumbent upon the students to remind their teachers of this because they were so engrossed in the discussion of the Exodus. Why does the Haggadah include a story about these five sages in particular? These sages disagreed over the issue of what part of the night one is obligated to recall and discuss the Exodus from Egypt. According to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, one is only obligated to do so until midnight.⁶⁷ His opinion was based on the idea that the Exodus took place at midnight. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehoshua, on the other hand, felt that the Exodus should be discussed all night long since the time of the flight from Egypt took place the following day, so we continue to discuss the story until the hour of the flight. Rabbi Tarfon, tangentially, was also involved in this disagreement. The argument went on all night long as to whether one is required to tell the story of the Exodus until midnight or until daybreak.

footnotes: ⁶⁵ Playing on the word, b’rak, ⁶⁶ BT Berachot 21a ⁶⁷ Mekhilta, Parshat Bo, chapter 18; Also see BT Berachot 9a. There is a lengthy discussion of the Halachic opinions in this passage but I have chosen to leave them out.