What if leaving Egypt is not only a story about the Jewish past, but a spiritual journey we are invited to make ourselves?
In Rav Kook on the Haggadah, Pardes faculty member Yiscah Smith leads listeners through a ten-part exploration of Rav Abraham Isaac Kook’s commentary on the Pesach Haggadah, drawing primarily from his Olat HaRa’ayah. The series offers an opportunity to prepare for the Seder slowly and intentionally, moving through its familiar words and rituals with fresh spiritual questions.
At the center of the series is the movement from slavery to freedom—not only nationally, but internally. Yiscah explores Rav Kook’s teachings about moving from limited to expanded consciousness, from fear toward compassion, and from the constricted parts of ourselves toward a more expansive way of living.
Episodes delve into specific moments of the Seder, including Kadesh, Karpas, Yachatz, Magid, Pesach, Matzah, Maror, Koreich, and more. Along the way, seemingly familiar rituals become openings into questions about independence, abundance, memory, longing, personal growth, and the gradual—and sometimes revolutionary—process of becoming free.
Rather than waiting until the days immediately before Pesach to open the Haggadah, this series invites listeners to linger over its ideas and prepare inwardly for the holiday.
Rav Kook on the Haggadah offers a journey through the Seder that is at once textual and deeply personal—inviting us to ask not only how our ancestors left Egypt, but what freedom might require of us today.
