Avraham has already passed nine of his ten tests, and G-d is standing in front of him with a covenant that will be stamped into the flesh of every Jewish male for the rest of history. The questions that come out of this moment are not small ones.

Why does the covenant take the form it does? Why does it happen at eight days old, before a child can consent or even understand? Why did Avraham himself wait so long, given that he understood the Torah long before Sinai? The answer to that last question comes from an explanation Rabbi Epstein first encountered in high school, and it turns on a Talmudic principle about commandments and merit. It also points to a short list of mitzvos that share a strange quality with circumcision: they can only be performed once.

Then there is Avraham's plea on behalf of Ishmael. On the surface it reads as a father asking that his older son not be cast aside. But Rabbi Epstein traces the request to something far larger: Avraham's understanding of the four exiles, Esau's conditional claim over the Jewish people, and why Ishmael's continued presence in the world may be exactly what allows the Jewish people to be redeemed when the time comes, without having to be perfect first.

Avram is 99 years old when Hashem appears to him with a new name for Himself, El Shaddai, and an interesting command: walk before Me and be perfect. Rabbi Epstein and Tom spend this episode unpacking what that actually asks of a person, and why Rashi reads "walk before Me" as something more demanding than walking with G-d, and what separates Avram's path from Noach's.

The verse goes on to talk about circumcision, and Rabbi Epstein relates the Talmud's exchange between Rabbi Akiva and a Roman about whether a perfect Creator would make an imperfect creation.

Finally, we learn about the three spiritual safeguards of the land of Israel hidden inside the second blessing of Birkas Hamazon, and why the Crusaders lost Jerusalem to a people who shared at least one thing with Avraham's descendants.

The Haggadah tells us that if we don't mention three things on Seder night, we haven't fulfilled the mitzvah: Pesach, Matzah, and Maror. But why reduce one of the most layered nights of the Jewish year to three items? What about freedom, slavery, our relationship with G-d?

In this special Passover episode, Rabbi Epstein sits down with Tom for a wide-ranging conversation about what the Seder is actually doing, and why those three symbols carry more weight than they might seem. The order matters: we start with Pesach (freedom), move through Matzah (the transition), and begin with Maror (the bitterness of slavery) because the goal of the whole night is to move in that direction.

But the conversation goes deeper than the Seder plate. Rabbi Epstein points to a detail that appears in the Torah 400 years before the Exodus: Lot serving matzah to the angels the night G-d destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. That night was Passover night. Lot was observing a Seder before there was an Egypt, before the Torah was given. Why? Because Passover night is more than a historical commemoration. G-d built something into that night, a window in creation through which we can actually leave our egos behind and step into a genuine relationship with Him.

The conversation also takes on the question of belief versus knowledge, and why the Torah insists on the latter. The first of the Ten Commandments doesn't say "believe that I am your G-d." It says to know. Rabbi Epstein walks through why the Exodus, a national revelation witnessed by millions, is the foundation for that knowledge, and why that distinction has everything to do with how we live our lives throughout the year.

Chag Kasher V'Sameach!