16
votes
What is the modern Jewish interpretation of Exodus 12:11?
The Mishnah cites eating in haste as one of the few differences between the paschal offering that first year and that of subsequent years. The modern Passover meal is modeled primarily on the latter.
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16
votes
What is the minimum number of people for a seder?
Shulchan Aruch, OC 473:7, gives instructions for what to do if by yourself, from which we see that that's a possibility.
- 73.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Seeking mnemonic for the order of the Pesach Seder
Here are some more simple ones:
גפן. קידוש. [נר. הבדלה.] זמן. נטילת.
ירקות. אדטה. וטבל. בצע. עניא. כסא. ונשתנה. נטילת. שלימה מוציא. ופרוס אכילת
עמה. חסא. מרור. טבל. כרך. וסעד. בצוע. מפטיר. ונוטל. ...
- 100k
12
votes
Accepted
Is there a halachic preference order to the grains used for matzot?
The Mishna in Pesachim 2:5 reads as follows:
אלו דברים שאדם יוצא בהן ידי חובתו בפסח: בחיטים, בשעורים, בכוסמין ובשיפון ובשיבולת שועל
These are the things with which a person may discharge his ...
- 45.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Jewish viewpoint on Gentiles celebrating a Christian Seder?
An ex-Christian once described to me the seder that her church did when she was growing up. It was adapted from the haggadah, the text that we Jews use, but it had some Christian overlays. I don't ...
- 56.9k
10
votes
Accepted
What's the deal with horseradish at the seder?
TLDR: The Talmud's preferred plant for Maror is lettuce-like and leafy. In cold climates people started using horseradish root because it was still too cold to grow leafy plants at Pesach time, and if ...
- 100k
10
votes
Accepted
What's the source for the מעשה בר' אליעזר... שהיו מסובין of the הגדה?
This source isn't found anywhere in the same form (Daniel Goldschmidt says this in his haggadah). But compare Tosefta Pesachim 10:8:
מעשה ברבן גמליאל וזקנים שהיו מסובין בבית ביתוס בן זונין בלוד והיו [...
- 10.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Sources of the story about drinking milk to fulfill the four cups at the seder
In her book about the family heritage, Shulamit Soloveitchik Meiselman writes this exact story about her great-grandfather¹, Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik². Also known as the Beis HaLevi.
The book is ...
- 3,879
9
votes
Does my uncircumcised friend still needs to be circumcised in order to join the meal for Pesach?
Many laws applied to the Passover offering that do not apply to the Seder. For example, the Passover offering can only be eaten by people who are Tahor (a specific form of ritual purity). There is no ...
- 5,420
8
votes
Accepted
Rav Belsky's illustration on how to lean by the seder
I believe this is the video that you're looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZY25Fj8qE
Rav Belsky does not show the tapestry, but he leans in a manner very similar to what you described. He ...
- 19.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Responses to the Chacham and Tam
Menachem Ben Yashar provides a fascinating answer here, very summarized as follows:
The Yerushalmi's version was written during the time of the Beis Hamikdash, and thus, there was a real Halachic ...
- 21.2k
8
votes
What is the reason we say שפך חמתך, pour out your wrath?
Ritva explains that there are two reasons for the inclusion of this verse (Jeremiah 10:25) at this point in the Haggada. First of all, because the four cups correspond to the four retributions God ...
- 35.9k
8
votes
why does the ma nishtana say we dip 2 times when we actually dip 3 times?
This question can be addressed by noting that there is a dispute among the rishonim whether Korech should get dipped at all. See Tur O.C. 475 with commentaries, and Shulchan Aruch there with ...
- 49.9k
8
votes
Is there such a thing as a kosher replacement for the egg on the Pesach plate?
Mishnah Pesahim 10:3 states:
הביאו לפניו מצה וחזרת וחרוסת ושני תבשלין
They bring before him matzah, lettuce, haroset and two cooked dishes.
As we will see, these 'two cooked dishes' are what ...
- 45.2k
8
votes
Is there such a thing as a kosher replacement for the egg on the Pesach plate?
The Gemara (Pesachim 114b) tells us what different amora'im held one should eat in fulfillment of the two cooked dishes, and so obviously there are kosher alternatives (though maybe not the option of ...
- 25.3k
8
votes
Why isn't the bracha "Al Achillat Matzah" said before eating the Afikoman?
Rashi himself asks your question on Pesachim 119b!
His answer (quoting a principle of Rav Chisdah regarding maror from Pesachim 115a) is:
לאחר שמילא כריסו הימנו היאך חוזר ומברך עליו
After he ...
- 45.2k
8
votes
Do they change the text of the haggadah in Israel?
Many commentaries do not take this at all literally. On that basis saying this phrase in Israel would be as the authors intended, and one would not need to change to another phrase because it wasn’t ...
- 681
8
votes
Accepted
We dip karpas because of aristocracy
I don't know if this the earliest source, but Don Yitzchak Abravanel in his commentary Zevach Pesach on the Haggadah uses this idea:
כי הנה בכל הלילות אין אנו חייבין לטבל אפילו פעם אחת. והלילה הזה ...
- 45.2k
8
votes
Why are the words related to Biur Chametz in Aramaic?
The Magen Avraham (Orach Chaim 434:2) writes, that the reason why we say it in Aramaic, is because that was the language that all Jews understood back then, and in order to nullify the Chametz, one ...
- 3,297
7
votes
At the seder, unsupported mid-air leaning feels awkward. In reality, how should I recline?
Rav Yisroel Belsky (zt"l) said that one should lean slightly to the left, with one's elbow on the table, in a very comfortable manner. See the YouTube video for more detail.
Here's a screenshot from ...
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7
votes
Four cups of wine by the Pesach Seder -- From the Torah?
Some commentators maintain that, according to the Talmud Yerushalmi, the obligation of the ארבע כוסות (Four Cups) is מן התורה (a Torah obligation). This is the view of the Kli Chemdah (Parshas Va'era) ...
- 14.6k
7
votes
What is a typical Teimani Seder like?
These differences are from my teimani friend who has been to both ashkenazi and sefardi Sedarim.
• a seider plate isn’t used at the seider; rather the vegetables are set around the table, and the ...
- 4,796
7
votes
What is a typical Mizrachi Seder like?
Here's a link to my "Celebrating the Exodus from Egypt in Egypt". (I am adding the text on request in case the link dies. My father was Sephardic and my mother was Mizrahi, so we were in both worlds.)...
- 23k
7
votes
What did they say instead of Ha Lachma Anya in Temple times?
(Pesudo)-Malbim in Midrash Haggadah advances the following theory.
This passage originated in the Babylonian Exile (and thus is in Aramaic) and was recited on the afternoon before Pesach. It was ...
- 45.2k
7
votes
Accepted
Why is making salt water prohibited on Shabbat?
Shabbat 108 forbids making a large amount of salt water on shabbat.
Rashi ad loc. explains that the prohibition is because it looks like one is going to be tanning hides, one of the avot melachot. ...
- 45.2k
7
votes
Why is the word "Makkat" added to 10th plague of Bechorot?
The plague names are all for the substance of the plague. The plague came in the form of blood, frogs, etc. Bechorot would imply an infestation of firstborns.
- 9,302
7
votes
Accepted
The fifth son at the seder
I believe it was the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who, in a 1957 pre-Pessah letter, urged Jews worlwide to find and invite the "fifth son" to their seders. This became the mission of Chabad. You can ...
- 23k
6
votes
Accepted
When was Nirtzah added?
R. Yosef Zvi Rimon's book Hagaddah MiMekorah pins the songs of nirtzah to the end of the fifteenth century. He relates the following:
In all of the haggadah texts of the Ge'onim...and Rishonim, ...
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