How far does he say? Beth Shammai say: Until (Psalms 113:9): "a joyous mother of sons." Beth Hillel say: Until (Ibid. 114:8): "…a flint into a fountain of waters," and he ends with redemption. [That is, he concludes the hagadah with the blessing of redemption.] R. Tarfon says: "…who redeemed us and redeemed our forefathers from Egypt," without a concluding blessing. R. Akiva says: "So may the L rd our G d and the G d of our fathers bring us to other holidays and festivals that are approaching us, for peace — rejoicing in the building of Your city and regaling in Your service; and we shall eat there of the sacrifices and of the Pesachim — Blessed are You, O L rd, who redeemed Israel." [The first tanna did not explain the nature of the blessing, and R. Tarfon and R. Akiva come to explain it. R. Tarfon says that he opens with "Blessed" and does not close with "Blessed," as in the blessing over fruits and over mitzvoth, it all being one thanksgiving. And according to R. Akiva, he (also) closes with "Blessed," for he adds to it words of ingratiation and imploration, viz.: "So may He bring us, etc." The halachah is in accordance with R. Akiva.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
וחותם בגאולה – that is to say, they conclude the Haggadah with the blessing of redemption. And the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] did not explain this matter how we make the blessing, but Rabbis Tarfon and Akiva came to explain the matter: Rabbi Tarfon states that we open with the words: “Praised are You….” But he does not conclude it with “Praised are You…,” a thing that we have regarding the blessing for fruits and the blessing of the commandments, which are one [blessing] of gratitude/thanksgiving. But according to Rabbi Akiva, we conclude this with “Praised are You…,” because we add in it words of acceptance and request, “so You should cause us to arrive, etc.” And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiva.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
Introduction
This mishnah is concerned with the recitation of the Hallel at the seder. The Hallel is a group of Psalms from Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. Today it is recited on the three festivals (Pesah, Sukkot and Shavuot), on Hannukah and on Rosh Hodesh (the new month).
All of the sages agree that at the seder the Hallel is split into two parts. The first part is recited before the meal and the rest is recited afterwards. The disagreement is over how much is recited before the meal.
The second section of the mishnah contains the formula of the blessing recited after this first part of the Hallel is recited.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
How far does one recite it? Bet Shammai say: Until “As a joyous mother of children” (Psalm 113). But Bet Hillel say: Until “The flinty rock into a fountain of waters” (Psalm 114). Bet Shammai says that before the meal is eaten, at a relatively early hour in the evening, they should not recite Psalm 114 which starts, “When Israel went forth from Egypt” because the children of Israel had not left Egypt at that early time in the evening. In contrast, Bet Hillel says that the children of Israel did not leave until the next daybreak does this mean that we shouldn’t say Psalm 114 until daybreak? That would be absurd. Rather, since they began to tell the story of the Exodus before the actual Exodus happened, they may recite Psalm 114 before the meal.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
And he concludes with [a formula of] redemption. Rabbi Tarfon says: “Who redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt”, but he did not conclude [with a blessing]. Rabbi Akiva says: “So may the Lord our God and the God of our fathers bring us to other appointed times and festivals which come towards us for peace, rejoicing in the rebuilding of Your city and glad in Your service, and there we will eat of the sacrifices and the pesahim” etc. until “Blessed are You who has redeemed Israel.” Bet Hillel holds that one should conclude the blessing with a formula mentioning redemption. It seems that Bet Shammai would hold that redemption is not mentioned at this point in the evening because the children of Israel have still not been redeemed from Egypt. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva disagree over how the blessing is formulated. For Rabbi Tarfon it is a simple blessing, one which mentions the past redemption but does not have a formal conclusion. The whole blessing reads “Blessed are You, Lord our God, Master of the Universe Who redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt and brought us to this night.” Note that “and brought us to this night” is not found in the printed edition of the Mishnah but is found in early manuscripts. According to Rabbi Tarfon only the past redemption is mentioned. Rabbi Akiva, on the other hand, sees the Pesah redemption as the paradigm for the future redemption, one which will bring Israel back to her land and the Temple to restoration. Hence the blessing includes a mention of hope for the future. We should note that the version of the blessing which I have translated above is the one found in the printed edition of the Mishnah. The end reads “Who has redeemed Israel”, which refers to the past. The version found in early manuscripts is “Who redeems Israel”, referring to the future. Today we recite Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon’s version in a combination and we conclude with “Who has redeemed Israel.”
