dvar Torah, apropos Passover, in which he discusses the difference between לספר
“le-sapper” and להגיד
“le-hagid”, both of which mean “to tell”. These are two seemingly identical instructions for the Passover seder service.
In the Torah (שמות יג:ח) we are instructed
וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה יְהוָה לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם which pointedly uses the word וְהִגַּדְתָּ . However, in the Hagadah itself the word לספר appears twice: the opening statement of עבדים היינו concludes with “כל המרבה
לספר ביצ”מ הרי זה משובח”. This is followed by the story of the five sages celebrating in Bnei Brak והיו
מספרים ביציאת מצרים כל אותו הלילה, again using the term לספר rather than להגיד.
In his eloquent discourse, Rabbi Gross refers to my late father Samuel Gross, obm, who was both a Torah scholar and a Hebraist, from whom he sought an understanding of the difference between the two terms. My father explained that לספר refers to a telling of that which is known and contains nothing new, no surprises. The term להגיד refers to a telling that is totally fresh, a revelation to the audience. As such, Rabbi Gross continued, we have the mitzvah of telling the story of the Exodus – לספר – but we must tell in such a manner that makes it fresh, new and exciting as if we had never heard it before, i.e. להגיד .