I opened up the Yad today on Hilchos Pesach and was taken aback on Rambam's choice of words for the title : "״הלכות חמץ ומצה. Firstly, why is the Rambam putting the Halachos of the seder (chapters 7 & 8) under this title? And now that Rambam has put them together, doesn't the title sound a drop anti climactic? Like aren't the Mitzvos of Chameitz and Matzah only parts (albeit Mitzvos in and of themselves) of the main Mitzvah of the holiday which is Sippur/Zechiras Yetzias Mitzraim which are performed at the Seder?
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2Is sippur the main mitzvah? How do you know that? The Torah calls it חג המצות– Double AA ♦Mar 17 at 2:35
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1There’s an intrinsic connection between matzah and sippur. לחם עוני = לחם שעונים עליו דברים הרבה. והגדת לבנך … בעבור זה - בשעה שמצה ומרור מונחים לפניך.– Joel KMar 17 at 7:12
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הלכות חמץ ומצה discusses 8 mitzvot, 1 chapter each. 6 are to do with Chametz, 1 is to do with Matza and the final 1 is to do with Sippur. This doesn't answer your question, but I'd say it weakens it, and in combination with what DoubleAA and Joel K said, even more so - especially if we combine Matza and Sippur following Joel's point– Rabbi KaiiMar 17 at 11:52
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You could ask the same question about other sections of Hilchos Zmanim. Why is only lulav mentioned of 4 minim, and only sukkah and lulav for Sukkos? Why is Purim only called megillah?– N.T.yesterday
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1 Answer
He has "Laws of Korban Pesach" in his section on sacrifices. He needed a way to refer to everything else about this holiday. The Torah calls it "Chag HaMatzos" (and in fact, Pesach per se is the 14th of Nissan); so what's most notable about the seven-and-a-half-day period if you take away the sacrifice? No Chametz, yes Matzah.
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I would think the thing most notable about that time is mainly zechiras yetzias mitzraim no? Mar 17 at 16:59