I was reading a Haggadah and it says that the head of the seder is the only one required to have a plate with all the necessary foods on it. Is it praiseworthy to have each member have all these foods on their own plates too?
Please cite sources.
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Sign up to join this communityI was reading a Haggadah and it says that the head of the seder is the only one required to have a plate with all the necessary foods on it. Is it praiseworthy to have each member have all these foods on their own plates too?
Please cite sources.
Actually if you read Pesachim 115b, you can see that in the old days each guest was reclining on a sofa, therefore each of them were provided with a small table and a seder plate with the required foods. Rashbam comments that nowadays we are rather sitting around one big table, so only the leader has a plate with all these foods and distributes them to the guests to eat:
מצה לפני כל אחד ואחד - מנהג שלהן היה להסב על המטות והיה שלחן לפני כל אחד ואחד הלכך צריך מצה ומרור לפני כל אחד ואחד על שולחנו אבל לדידן אין צריך כי אם לפני מי שעושה הסדר והוא יחלק לכל אחד מצה ומרור:
See also Artscroll Pesachim 115b2, footnote 23 for further details. The Tur writes also that it is unnecessary to provide all the participants with a plate and the necessary foods:
ואין צריכין להביא מכל אלו לפני כל אחד ואחד, אלא לפני בעל הבית והוא יחלק לכולם.
So eventually this single seder plate version was codified in Shulchan Arukh Orach Chayim 473:4:
מביאין לפני בעל הבית קערה שיש בה שלש מצות ומרור וחרוסת וכרפס או ירק אחר (וחומץ או מי מלח) ושני תבשילין