Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center
Date: Tuesday, 14 Apr 1992 16:59:45 EDT
From: Center for Return <CFRQC@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: A Byte Of Torah I,XX The Seder

  ||                                                                      ||
 ----                         T H E  S E D E R                           ----
|    |                                                                  |    |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     A                                   BS"D
   Volume I                       B Y T E     The Electronic
     Issue XX                       O F          Torah Weekly
                                 T O R A H
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    |                                                                  |    |
 ----                    Editor : Zev S. Itzkowitz                       ----
  ||                                                                      ||


                           Dvar Torah of the Week
                           ----------------------

"Kadeish UrChatz Karpas Yachatz Magid Rachtzah Motzee Matzah Marror Koreich
Shulchan Oreich Tzafun Bareich Hallel Nirtza." (Passover Haggadah - Beginning)

 The above is the order of the Seder which we do on Passover night. Why did
Chazal, the Sages, organize the Seder in such a fashion? Could the Seder
possibly have been arranged in some other form or fashion? The following will
hopefully provide a partial insight into why Chazal set up the Seder in the
manner that they did.
 We first start off with Kadeish, the Kiddush. Whenever we begin a meal on a
Jewish Holiday or Shabbos, we proclaim what is special about that day, over all
other days and then sanctify it by reciting a Kiddush.
 Next is UrChatz. This is washing the hands, but without a blessing. This is
the next item in the Seder, because it is standard procedure for a person to
wash his hands after making Kiddush (Rabbi Aaron of Koyadinov). However, we are
not going to eat matzah (the unleavened bread) or the meal for a while. So then
why must we wash? To explain this, we must look at the next item in the Seder.
The next item is the Karpas, a vegetable (i.e. parsley). Chazal knew that we
would not eat the meal immediately after Kiddush. Hence, to perk the curiousity
of the kids (since the Seder is meant to educate the kids and all those who are
unaware of the meaning of Passover), plus to insure that we do not starve (as
the meal won't be served for a while), and to prepare our stomachs for the
coming 15+ course meal, we have what is known as a Parperes Hapas, an
appetizer. The standard appetizer of old was not Franks in Blankets, Potatoe
Knishes, or Chicken Fricasee, but rather, was a type of vegetable (i.e. celery,
parsley, potatoe, all of which are healthier than today's appetizers). We can
now correlate the first three items of the Seder. During the time of the Holy
Temple and the time immediately afterwards, the populace was scrupulously
careful to follow the laws of ritual-cleanliness. One of the ways that transmit
ritual-uncleanliness is through something that is wet. The standard way of
eating the ancient type of appetizer, was to dip it into something wet
(i.e. saltwater). This is similar to today's dipping of French Fries into
Ketchup. Hence, dipping the Karpas into saltwater consequently renders the
Karpas susceptable to becoming ritually-unclean. In addition, according to
Rabbinic Law, a person's hands are considered to be in the category of
rendering objects that are capable of ritual-uncleanliness, thus
ritually-unclean. However, if one washes one's hands, the hands are then
considered outside of this category. However, washing before eating a wet item
fell into disuse some time after the destruction of the Holy Temple. However,
for eating this vegetable, Chazal reinstituted this law for the seder. Hence,
the correlation between Kadeish, Urchatz, and Karpas.
 The next part of the Seder is Yachatz, the breaking of the middle matzah.
Usually, once the appetizer is eaten, one starts to prepare oneself for the
meal itself. Hence, we prepare the "bread" (in our case, the Matzah), for the
meal. There is an interesting argument in Tractate Pesachim. In the Bible,
matzah is called Lechem Auni, meaning, poor bread or poor person's bread. The
Talmud states that one of the reasons why the Bible called it thus, is to tell
us that we are supposed to eat the Matzah exactly as a poor person would eat
bread; by breaking it into pieces, and putting the rest away for later (thus,
the reason why we break a matzah and put the other piece away). This presents a
problem. If we just place the usual two whole "breads" (matzah in our case),
then we will not have the minimal requirement of two whole "breads" (according
to some) to properly say the blessing. Many of our later Sages resolved this
conflict by placing three matzos in front of them. Two matzos are used for the
blessing, and the third is used to be broken. This third matzah is then put
back into the middle, so that when the blessing is said on the matzos, it will
look as if the blessing was said on the two "bread" minimum.
 The next part is Magid, the re-telling and re-living of the Exodus. This night
is a special night, and is different from all other nights. Before we can start
the meal, we must first declare why we are doing this whole celebration and
explain what it is all about. We accomplish this by encouraging the kids to ask
questions; What is all of this? Why is this night so different from all other
nights? We then answer their questions and retell the story of the Exodus from
Egypt. This helps us to fulfill two commandments at the same time. 1) To retell
the story of the Exodus to our children and to those who do not know. 2) To
remember and mention the Exodus from Egypt, especially on this night of nights,
our deliverance from the hands of the Egyptians into freedom. After fully
retelling the story of the Exodus, we are finally ready to eat.
 The standard way to start a festive holiday meal, is to wash and "break bread"
(or matzah as is our case), hence Rachtza and Motzee-Matzah. It is interesting
to note that there are two blessings that we make on the Matzah. The first is
the standard blessing that is made on any type of bread (i.e. made fron one of
the five grains (wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and oats) and water), the HaMotzee.
The second blessing is Al Achilas Matzah, meaning, on the eating of the matzah.
This special second blessing is said because this is the only day that we are
commanded to eat matzah. On all other days, it is optional to eat matzah (of
course one can not eat any leavened item during this time), but on the seder
night (and some say throughout the first day of Passover as well), it is
obligatory to eat matzah. We eat the matzah to remember the haste in which we
left Egypt, which consequently did not allow the dough of the Children of
Israel to leaven before being baked.
 After the Matzah, the item which represents our haste in leaving Egypt, we
must then mention the bitterness of our oppression in Egypt. This bitterness is
represented by Marror, the bitter herb.
 After this is Koreich. This is the way how Hillel the Elder used to eat the
Pascal Sacrifice at the time of the Holy Temple. He used to eat the Pascal
Sacrifice together with the Marror and Matzah as a sandwich. However, why
should we care how Hillel the Elder ate the Pascal Sacrifice? Did we not
already fulfill the commandment to eat Matzah and Marror? In Tractate Pesachim,
there is an argument on how the Pascal Sacrifice should be eaten. Should it be
eaten by itself, or together with Matzah and Marror. Unfortunately for us, this
argument was never resolved. Therefore, to be sure of both accounts, we do both
ways (but with the obvious omission of the Pascal Sacrifice). We then say that
the Koreich is how Hillel the Elder used to eat it, because he was the most
prominent Sage at the time this argument was recorded and/ or recollected. He
was therefore used as the example. It is interesting to note, it is believed
that at the time of the Holy Temple, the matzah of that time was similar to the
Yemenite Matzah of today rather than the matzah seen in modern day stores. The
Yemenite Matzah is a Matzah-pita (obviously unleavened). It is therefore
possible that according to Hillel the Elder, the Pascal Sacrifice was eaten
like a shwarma (lamb in pita with vegetables).
 Finally, after expounding and narrarating why this night is so special, while
fulfilling all the commandments attached to it, we are finally ready for the
15+ course festive holiday meal, known in the seder as Shulchan Oreich. Enjoy!
 After indulging in the 15+ course meal, we are ready to proceed to the most
significant point of the night, the Afikoman (a.k.a. Tzafun). It is at this
place in the Seder that one would have eaten the Pascal Sacrifice during the
time of the Holy Temple. This sacrifice, a lamb, is the symbol of our freedom.
There are two basic laws governing the sacrifice. 1) The lamb must be roasted.
2) One can not break the bones of the lamb (while eating the lamb) in order to
suck out the marrow, etc. This is because these two acts exemplify freedom and
being well off. All Jews due to their freedom, were basically on equal footing
with one another and were happy. Recall, "Who is truly happy? He who is happy
with his lot in life and with what he has." Being free and being released from
bondage, made them all happy. What person wants to be a slave to someone else's
whims and desires? Thus, at the time of the Exodus, when the Children of Israel
became truly happy with their lot, they thus acquired wealth (besides for
acquiring monetary wealth as well). Therefore, they and we (for we are truly
happy about the Exodus too), must eat the Pascal Sacrifice as a free and well
off person, which is accomplished by the two laws mentioned above. However, in
today's day and age, since we can not offer the Pascal Sacrifice, we use matzah
as a substitute.
 After eating the meal and the Afikoman, we say the Grace after Meals, hence
Bareich.
 After all this has happened, we are finally redeemed. For this, we must give
thanks to Hashem for redeeming us. This is accomplished by reciting (or by
others, singing) the Hallel. As a note, we do start the Hallel before the meal.
This is because, before one can start to satisfy oneself (i.e. eating the
meal), one must first appreciate and thank Hashem for all that He has done for
him.
 After we finish thanking Hashem, we notice that there is still something that
is lacking in our freedom; we are still in Exile. O' Hashem, just like you
redeemed us from our bondage in Egypt, please redeem us from the bondage of
this Exile. Please let us return to the Land of Israel in a United Jerusalem
and let us be free from all the persecutions that have haunted and plagued us
throughout our history. May we see the coming of the Messiah in our days. Amen.

Please direct any comments, questions, etc. back to me here at CFRQC@CUNYVM,
or on internet CFRQC@cunyvm.cuny.edu. Please pass it on to a friend. If you
want to subscribe, please send a msg to listserve@israel.nysernet.org
with the msg: SUB bytetorah <first name> <last name>.  --Zev Itzkowitz
-------
                       ____________         ___*___
    T o  B o l d l y  (____________)       (_______)  G o  W h e r e  N o
       Y i d  H a s               \\      //   v        G o n e  B e f o r e
                                   \\    //
            /////                ___\\__//_
       *       //               (__________}                           *
      * *      //         // //                                       * *
   * * * * *  ///////// // // /////// //////// /// /// /// //////  * * * * *
    *     *          // // //      //       //  //  //  //   //     *     *
   * * * * *         //            /        //  // //  //    ///   * * * * *
      * *            //                     //  ////  //      //      * *
       *         /////                ///////// ///////       /        *
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish