Komentarz do Pesachim 10:12

ערבי פסחים סמוך למנחה – before the afternoon [worship] a bit, like a half-an-hour, at the beginning of the tenth hour. For the daily offering/Tamid was made at nine and-one-half hours (i.e., if the sun rose at 6:00 am and set at 6:00 pm – this would be at 3:30 pm), and before the Minha/afternoon sacrifice a half hour would be at the beginning of the tenth hour [of the day] (i.e., 3:00 pm).

Introduction The tenth chapter of Pesahim is perhaps the best known chapter in the entire Mishnah, for it describes the Pesah seder, one of the rituals most-observed by Jews in the modern world. The laws and practices of this chapter form the basis of the seder and Haggadah to this day. Some of its texts will be familiar to us from their inclusion in the Haggadah. It has also been studied exhaustively by scholars, partly because of its importance to the Christian tradition according to three of the four Gospels, Jesus’s last supper took place on the eve of Pesah, the same time when we celebrate our seder. (Note that I did not say that Jesus’s last meal was a seder. I do not believe that this is an accurate statement.) I will make some introductory remarks due to the importance of this chapter. First of all, most scholars today do not think that a seder meal on Pesah existed during the Second Temple period, while the pesah was still offered. While the Temple stood, the meal consisted of the eating of the pesah, matzah and maror, and they were probably accompanied by some singing and perhaps drinking of wine, but there was no formal ritually ordered meal that accompanied them. The rabbis after the destruction of the Temple initially struggled to find a replacement for their cataclysmic loss. One replacement for the loss of the Temple and the pesah sacrifice was the institution of a formal meal on Pesah, one certainly modeled after the Greco-Roman symposium, the formal “high-class” meal with which the rabbis were familiar. The most notable aspects of the seder, the reclining, the wine, the hand-washing, the dipping of food, the types of food served and even the discussion surrounding the Exodus from Egypt all have parallels in Greco-Roman descriptions of the formal meal called the symposium. That rabbis borrowed Greek and Roman customs should be no more surprising to us than the fact that when Jews get dressed up to go to synagogue today they dress in the same clothes as do the other members of society. Therefore, rather than characterize the rabbis as borrowing Greek and Roman customs, a more accurate statement would be to say that when the rabbis looked to shape their own religious experience by establishing a formal Pesah meal, they did so in the way with which they were familiar. The seder continued to develop throughout the centuries and therefore what we read in the Mishnah is an early form of the seder and not all that close to that which we know and observe today. The first Haggadot, written texts, were not composed until the 8th or 9th centuries, the same time when the first siddurim were composed. With regard to the Mishnah itself, there are many later interpolations that have found there way into our text. These interpolations, almost all of which are liturgical, come from the Haggadah. As the Haggadah developed, people added to the Mishnah texts that they knew from their Haggadah or changed the Mishnah to match their practices. I shall note many examples as we proceed. However, the basic text upon which I will base my commentary is the version found in the common printed editions such as Kehati, Albeck, etc.

לא יאכל אדם – in order that he would eat Matzah with an appetite because of the beautification/adorning of the Mitzvah/religious act. And bread, simply, he is not able to eat, for Hametz/leavened products are forbidden from the sixth hour and onward, but Matzah also [is forbidden] as we say in the Jerusalem Talmud that a person who eats Matzah on the eve of Passover is like who has engaged in sexual behavior with his betrothed in the house of his father-in-law , and [this prohibition] was not necessary, other than for other foods, so that he would not fill his stomach with them.

On the eve of Pesah close to minhah one may not eat until nightfall. On the eve of Pesah one should not eat from minhah time and afterward so that when it comes time for the meal one is hungry and one will eat the matzah with a good appetite. This is at the ninth hour, roughly speaking around 3 PM.

עד שיסב – on a bed or at the table in the manner that free people [eat].

Even the poorest person in Israel must not eat [on the night of Pesah] until he reclines. In the ancient world formal meals were eaten while reclining on couches which lied close to the ground. One leaned to the left and a small table was placed in front of the diners. Usually there were about three diners per couch. Typically, only the wealthier classes ate in this manner whereas the poorer folk ate while sitting. On Pesah, according to the Mishnah, even poor people are to eat while reclining.

ולא יפחתו לו – and those who distribute Tzedakah that supports the poor.

And they should give him not less than four cups [of wine], and even from the charity plate. The seder meal is structured around the drinking of four cups as we shall see in the coming mishnayot. Our mishnah states that when charity distributors are handing out wine to poor people so that they shall have wine to drink they should not give them less than four cups of wine. Others explain that the mishnah is addressing all Israelites when observing the seder they should not have less than four cups of wine, even if they have to take from the charity plate.

מד' כוסות – corresponding to the four languages of redemption that is found in the Torah portion of Vaera (Exodus 6:6-7): “I will take you out,” “I will save you,” I will redeem you,” and “I will take you [to be My people]....

ואפילו הוא מתפרנס מן התמחוי – that is the poorest of the poor as is taught in the Mishnah in the Tractate Peah (Chapter 8, Mishnah 7) - he who has food for two meals should not take from the soup-kitchen.

מברך על היום – At the beginning, the Sanctification of the Day and afterwards comes the wine, and since he Sanctified [the day] at its beginning [with the kindling of candles], so he should do before the blessing [on the wine].

Introduction This mishnah contains a debate between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel over the order of the blessings recited over the first cup of wine. Today we call these two blessings together “Kiddush”, which comes from the word “sanctify.”

מברך על היין – first [on the wine], and the same law applies to making Kiddush on bread, for the wine or the bread engender the Sanctification of the Day, and if he has no wine or bread, he should not recite Kiddush.

They mixed him the first cup: Bet Shammai says: first he blesses over the day and then over the wine. Bet Hillel says: first he blesses over the wine and then over the day. As we shall see throughout this chapter, important events at the seder are marked by the “mixing” of a cup of wine. In the ancient world wine was drunk diluted with water so as to prevent a person from becoming intoxicated. To drink undiluted wine was considered coarse behavior. Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel debate the order of the blessings. Bet Shammai says that we first recite the blessing over the day. This blessing is “Who sanctifies Israel and the festivals.” Afterwards we recite the blessing over the wine, “Who creates the fruit of the vine.” The reasoning for this is that according to Bet Shammai the day causes the wine to be drunk. Bet Hillel says that the wine is blessed first. There are two reasons for this. First of all, the presence of the wine allows us to recite the blessing over the day. Secondly, the blessing over the wine is a commonly recited blessing whereas the blessing over the day is rare. The rule is that common things are recited before uncommon things. The order which we follow today is, as is almost always the case, according to Bet Hillel.

הביאו לפניו – the vegetables so that a young child will recognize them and ask, for it is was not the manner to bring vegetables [to the table] before the meal.

Introduction In this mishnah they begin to bring in front of him the food. We should note that the foods are brought in front of him before the discussion and recitations which we shall encounter in the following mishnayot. It is not entirely clear from the Mishnah itself whether they ate before the recitation of the “haggadah”, the ritual retelling of the story of the Exodus, or whether they first told the story and then ate, as we do today.

מטבל בחזרת – not specifically lettuce, for this first dipping is with other vegetables, other than if he lacked other vegetables, he would dip with lettuce in place of other vegetables. And the language of “dipping” means eating, and because all of their eating was done by dipping, which is called eating by dipping. However, this dipping was not with lettuce, as it is taught further on [in our Mishnah] that they would bring before him unleavened bread and lettuce and Haroset, it follows that they had not yet been brought.

They bring [it] in front of him. He dips lettuce before until he reaches the appetizer that precedes the bread. As did the previous mishnah, this mishnah continues to describe foods brought in front of him by a servant. Although many Jews probably could not afford servants, the mishnah relates to each Jew on the seder evening as if he is a member of the upper class. The mishnah does not say what “it” is that they bring in front of him. Some commentators add that it is vegetables and lettuce, while others say that it is a table. Whatever it is, it is clear that appetizers are served before the meal. Today we call this appetizer “karpas”, a Persian, Aramaic and Arabic word for celery. In mishnaic times they probably used lettuce as the appetizer. Other sources mention other appetizers as well. The mishnah may allude to this when it says “until he reaches the appetizer that precedes the bread.” The mishnah may be stating that he continues to eat appetizers until the final appetizer is brought. We should note how different this is from today’s custom, according to which a very small amount of a vegetable is eaten and then people can go hungry until the main meal is brought (and if they are at my seder they can shoot me mean looks as I go on and on).

עד שמגיע לפרפר את הפת – to the eating of the unleavened bread. And this comes to inform us that no other eating interrupts between the eating of the vegetables and the eating of the unleavened bread. For before that he would arrive to that lettuce which was commanded, upon which he recites the blessing “on the eating of bitter herbs,” he eats unleavened bread first, as it is written (Numbers 9:11): “They [shall eat it] with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” Matzot/unleavened bread first and afterwards bitter herbs/Maror.

They bring before him matzah, lettuce, and haroset (and two though the haroset is not mandatory. Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Zadok says: it is mandatory. After the appetizers are completed, the servants bring in front of him the main festival foods, the matzah, lettuce and haroset. The matzah is explicitly commanded by the Torah. The lettuce is the bitter herbs (see abover 2:6) also mandated by the Torah. Haroset does not appear in the Torah. Haroset, a mixture of wine and fruit or wine-vinegar and fruit, was a common food in the Greco-Roman world. It was probably added to the Pesah meal after the destruction in an attempt to provide more foods for the seder. In the Talmud it is explained as having different symbolic meanings, most familiarly that it represents the mortar used to make the bricks in Egypt. Others say that it should have a sharp flavor to remind us of the slavery in Egypt. Still others say that the apples used in making it are to remind us of the “apple” in Egypt, a symbol of the fertility of the Israelite women. According to the first opinion, haroset is brought to the table but it is not mandatory. Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok says that it is mandatory.

וחרוסת – which we make from figs, and nuts, peanuts and almonds and several kinds of fruits and we place in it apples and we clean them with a mortar and mix them in vinegar and put spices, reed stalks, cinnamon, like thin, long wicks, in memory of the straw (used by the Israelite slaves to build the treasure-cities for the Pharaoh) and it needs to be thick, in memory of the plaster.

And in the Temple they bring the body of the pesah before him. The mishnah notes that in Temple days at this point they would bring the pesah in front of the seder participant. Note that the main part of the mishnah describes the seder as it existed after the Temple was destroyed. Only at the end does the mishnah note when the pesah was eaten during Temple times.

שאין חרוסת מצוה – but rather for medicinal purposes to nullify the burning of the lettuce which is bad and hard on the body like poison.

ר"א ברבי צדוק אומר מצוה – in memory of the apple that women would give birth to their sons there (i.e., in Egypt) without pain, and in memory of the plaster.

Charoset is mixture which has acidity in it and something similar to straw, and this is memory of the mortar. And we make it like this: Soak figs or dates and cook them and pound them until they are wet and knead them with spikenard or hyssop or something similar, without grinding them. And Rabbi Eliezer said that charoset is a mitzvah and in his opinion, one would need to say a blessing "who has commanded about eating charoset" and that is not the halakha.

וכאן הבן שואל – In all the books, it is not written, "וכאן"/”and here,” but rather [it is written], "וכן"/and similarly, like (Numbers 27:6): “The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just/"וכן בנות צלפחד דברות" , that is to say, and it is the law that when pouring the second cup [of wine] is when the child asks, “Why is [this night] different?”

Introduction This mishnah contains the heart of the commandment to tell the story of the Exodus, including the so-called “four questions” or “Mah Nishtanah” and the midrash. These are all still part of the seder ritual to this day. In this mishnah I have deviated from my normal practice of using the version contained in printed versions of the text because it is so radically different from the original version. The “four questions” developed over time and later copyists revised the original “questions” of the mishnah with those familiar to them. If you wish to see the “four questions” as they are recited today, you can check any standard Haggadah and they can easily be found on line. Cited and explained below is the “Mah Nishtanah” as found in early mishnaic manuscripts.

הלילה הזה כולו צלי – At the time when the Temple existed, the child would ask as such.

They mixed him a second cup, and here the son questions his father. The significance of the moment is marked by the pouring of the second cup. The occasion is the beginning of the telling of the story of the Exodus, which begins with a question. The reason that the story begins with a question is probably in allusion to a few verses in the Torah in which a son asks his father the meaning of the rituals observed (see Exodus 12:26, 13:14, and Deuteronomy 6:20-21).

מתחיל בגנות – at the outset our ancestors were idolaters and they were slaves.

If the son lacks the intelligence to ask, his father instructs him: On all other nights we dip once, on this night we dip twice? On all other nights we eat hametz or matzah, on this night only matzah. On all other nights we eat roasted, stewed or boiled meat, on this night only roasted. The son is supposed to freely form his own question. The mishnah does not provide him with a list of questions which he must ask. I repeat, the “Mah Nishtanah” which we will examine below is not a list of questions which a child must ask but originally was a list of prompts, statements which the father would make to spur a kid who has not asked a question into doing so. I am not telling you this to ruin your Pesah celebration. (Please believe me.) You should continue with the lovely practice of the youngest child reciting the Mah Nishtanah, just as we do in our house. Just know that things used to be done slightly differently. Also, it might be a good idea to get the children genuinely thinking about the content of what we are saying and not just focused on singing the song.

ומסיים בשבח – that God (literally, “the place”) brought us close to His service and redeemed our ancestors from Egypt.

He begins with shame and concludes with praise; and expounds from “A wandering Aramean was my father” (Deuteronomy 6:20-25) until he completes the whole section. We now get to the list of statements (after my previous comment I won’t call them questions). You should immediately note that there are only three, and only one of them is the same as the one we still recite today (#2). I shall explain each statement briefly. They are recited in the order in which they are done during the seder. 1) Dipping was a normal part of every meal. However, it was normally done at one part of the meal and therefore, the second dipping which was done with the haroset and bitter herbs was unusual. 2) This question has remained to this day and should not need any explanation. 3) As we learned in the above chapters, the pesah could only be eaten roasted. Therefore, the statement notes that on other nights the meat could be cooked in any way while tonight it can only be roasted. The most interesting thing about this section is that it seems that people were still eating a pesah-like lamb after the destruction of the Temple. Indeed, there is evidence that some Jews continued to eat roasted meat after the destruction, and this mishnah fits with those practices.

The main part of the seder is telling the story of the Exodus. The mishnah notes two elements to this. The first is telling the story by beginning with “disgrace and concluding with praise.” In the Talmud they debate whether the disgrace is the physical slavery in Egypt or the spiritual degradation of our idol-worshipping forefathers. The praise is the praise to God for taking us out of Egypt. The second element is an extended midrash (expounding) on Deuteronomy 6:20-25. It is not entirely clear why these verses and not others were chosen but in my opinion the likeliest answer is that they are brief yet comprehensive. The midrashist connects these few verses with the original story in Exodus and adds his own commentary as well. In my translation I have left the words “Arami oved avi” untranslated because they can be translated either as “My forefather was a wandering Aramean”, in which case the phrase refers to Jacob or “An Aramean tried to kill my forefather” in which it is Lavan to whom the verse refers. Our Haggadot understand it the second way.

כל שלא אמר ג' דברים אלו – that he did not explain the reasons of these three things.

Rabban Gamaliel used to say: whoever does not make mention of these three things on Pesah does not fulfill his duty. And these are they: the pesah, matzah, and bitter herbs. The pesah because the Omnipresent passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt. The matzah because our fathers were redeemed from Egypt. The bitter herb because the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers in Egypt. In every generation a man is obligated to regard himself as though he personally had gone forth from Egypt, because it is said, “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: ‘It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8). Therefore it is our duty to thank, praise, laud, glorify, raise up, beautify, bless, extol, and adore Him who made all these miracles for our fathers and ourselves; He brought us forth from slavery into freedom, from sorrow into joy, from mourning into festivity, from darkness into great light, and from servitude into redemption. Let us say before him, Hallelujah!
This mishnah has become a liturgical text, that is a text that is recited on a ritual occasion, namely the seder. It has been a part of the Haggadah since the Haggadah was composed. As is common, as the liturgy expanded the text of the mishnah grew as well. Below, the pieces that are in small font are later additions to the mishnah, additions which appear in our Haggadot but were not originally part of the Mishnah itself. There are other additions in the Haggadah which do not appear even in later versions of the mishnah.
Now to the content. In this mishnah Rabban Gamaliel demands that we explain the three main food items at the table, pesah, matzah and marror, while these items lay in front of us. Because he mentions the pesah, some scholars posited that this Rabban Gamaliel lived while the Temple still stood and the pesah was sacrificed. I believe it is more likely that the mishnah is representing a post-Temple reality and that this is the same Rabban Gamaliel whom we already encountered who believes that the pesah can still be eaten even without a Temple. The ritual here replaces, at least as best as is possible, the loss of the Temple. When sacrifices can no longer be offered, words, study and prayer take their place.
An interesting side note to be made is the comparison of Rabban Gamaliel with Jesus’s words at the Last Supper, assumed by three of the four Gospels to have taken place on the eve of Pesah. Jesus gives symbolic meaning to the wine (his blood) and to the matzah (his body). There is some correlation between that which Rabban Gamaliel demands and that which Jesus does according to the Gospels. Scholars have attempted to discover which ritual was earlier did the early Christians modify an ancient Jewish custom? Or did rabbinic Jews engage in polemics against Christians, saying this is the symbolic meaning and not what you say it is? I don’t believe we can know the answer to this question, and it may not be a good question. What the two faiths have in common is that both impart symbolic meaning to the seder meal in a world in which the central structure, the Temple, has been destroyed.
The mishnah itself is straightforward and probably familiar to most of us; hence I have refrained from making any direct comments.

וחותם בגאולה – that is to say, they conclude the Haggadah with the blessing of redemption. And the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] did not explain this matter how we make the blessing, but Rabbis Tarfon and Akiva came to explain the matter: Rabbi Tarfon states that we open with the words: “Praised are You….” But he does not conclude it with “Praised are You…,” a thing that we have regarding the blessing for fruits and the blessing of the commandments, which are one [blessing] of gratitude/thanksgiving. But according to Rabbi Akiva, we conclude this with “Praised are You…,” because we add in it words of acceptance and request, “so You should cause us to arrive, etc.” And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiva.

Introduction This mishnah is concerned with the recitation of the Hallel at the seder. The Hallel is a group of Psalms from Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. Today it is recited on the three festivals (Pesah, Sukkot and Shavuot), on Hannukah and on Rosh Hodesh (the new month). All of the sages agree that at the seder the Hallel is split into two parts. The first part is recited before the meal and the rest is recited afterwards. The disagreement is over how much is recited before the meal. The second section of the mishnah contains the formula of the blessing recited after this first part of the Hallel is recited.

How far does one recite it? Bet Shammai say: Until “As a joyous mother of children” (Psalm 113). But Bet Hillel say: Until “The flinty rock into a fountain of waters” (Psalm 114). Bet Shammai says that before the meal is eaten, at a relatively early hour in the evening, they should not recite Psalm 114 which starts, “When Israel went forth from Egypt” because the children of Israel had not left Egypt at that early time in the evening. In contrast, Bet Hillel says that the children of Israel did not leave until the next daybreak does this mean that we shouldn’t say Psalm 114 until daybreak? That would be absurd. Rather, since they began to tell the story of the Exodus before the actual Exodus happened, they may recite Psalm 114 before the meal.

And he concludes with [a formula of] redemption. Rabbi Tarfon says: “Who redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt”, but he did not conclude [with a blessing]. Rabbi Akiva says: “So may the Lord our God and the God of our fathers bring us to other appointed times and festivals which come towards us for peace, rejoicing in the rebuilding of Your city and glad in Your service, and there we will eat of the sacrifices and the pesahim” etc. until “Blessed are You who has redeemed Israel.” Bet Hillel holds that one should conclude the blessing with a formula mentioning redemption. It seems that Bet Shammai would hold that redemption is not mentioned at this point in the evening because the children of Israel have still not been redeemed from Egypt. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva disagree over how the blessing is formulated. For Rabbi Tarfon it is a simple blessing, one which mentions the past redemption but does not have a formal conclusion. The whole blessing reads “Blessed are You, Lord our God, Master of the Universe Who redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt and brought us to this night.” Note that “and brought us to this night” is not found in the printed edition of the Mishnah but is found in early manuscripts. According to Rabbi Tarfon only the past redemption is mentioned. Rabbi Akiva, on the other hand, sees the Pesah redemption as the paradigm for the future redemption, one which will bring Israel back to her land and the Temple to restoration. Hence the blessing includes a mention of hope for the future. We should note that the version of the blessing which I have translated above is the one found in the printed edition of the Mishnah. The end reads “Who has redeemed Israel”, which refers to the past. The version found in early manuscripts is “Who redeems Israel”, referring to the future. Today we recite Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon’s version in a combination and we conclude with “Who has redeemed Israel.”

ברכת שיר – there are those who say, “The soul of all that lives [shall bless Your name]…” and there are those who say, “All Your works will praise You….” And it is has become the practice to recite both.

Introduction This mishnah discusses the third and fourth cups of wine and the conclusion of the meal.

בין שלישי לרביעי לא ישתה – so that he not become inebriated and further, he would be unable to complete the Hallel (i.e., Psalms 113-118).. And if one would say that he is already inebriated, for he drank to his desires during the course of the meal, wine that is partaken of during the meal does not make one drunk; wine after the meal makes one drunk.

They poured him a third cup, blesses over his meal. The Grace after the Meal, or Birkat Hamazon, is recited over a third cup of wine. We should note that according to the Mishnah and Talmud Birkat Hamazon is normally recited over a cup of wine, meaning that one holds a cup of wine while reciting the Birkat Hamazon, then recites a blessing over drinking wine (borei peri hagefen) and then drinks the cup at the end. Some people still have this custom today, at least on Shabbat and festivals.

A fourth [cup], he concludes the Hallel, and recites over it the blessing of song. The fourth cup is recited over the recitation of the Hallel. In the Talmud there is a debate over what the “blessing of the song” is. Some say it is “Nishmat Kol Hai”, a prayer recited during the morning prayers of Shabbat and festivals. Others say it is “Yehallukhah Adonai Elohenu”, which is a prayer recited at the end of Hallel on other occasions. Today we recite both.

Between these cups if he wants he may drink; between the third and the fourth he may not drink. Between the second and third cups it is permitted to drink more wine. This is the time when the meal is consumed and it was allowed to drink extra cups during the meal itself. However, it is forbidden to drink between the third and fourth cups lest he gets drunk and is not able to complete the seder. The rabbis thought that drinking alcohol while eating would not cause one to get drunk.

מפטירין – I heard the language of (Psalms 22:8): “[All who see me mock me;] they curl their lips, [they shake their head],” that is to say, they open and say, and my teachers/Rabbis explained the language of taking leave from his friend, for when they leave from the meal, they should not conclude it with the Afikomen, “to take out from before you,” that is to say, remove your utensils from here and let us go and eat in another place, neither bread nor anything, and this was decreed lest one comes to eat the Passover sacrifice in two places, but it is permitted to eat other things in his first place, as long as he does not uproot himself from this group to eat them with another group. And there is in the Gemara (Pesahim 119b) one who explains that “After the Passover meal, we don’t conclude with the Afikoman,” to mean that we don’t take out types of sweet things, and after they have eaten the Passover sacrifice, they should not conclude the meal with the eating of sweet things and fruits that are regularly eaten as a desert, and even in their [own] place, so that they don’t lose the taste of the Passover [sacrifice] from their lips. And this is the most important thing. But just as we don’t conclude the meal after the Passover offering with an Afikoman, we don’t conclude after eating Matzah with an Afikoman, for they would need to eat an olive’s bulk of Matzah at the end at the time when there is no Passover sacrifice, and after that Matzah, we don’t conclude that meal with the eating of another thing.

Introduction This mishnah brings the description of the seder to its conclusion.

ישנו כולם לא יאכלו – if they began to eat their Passover sacrifice and all of them went to sleep, they should not return to eat, for it appears as if they are eating in two places, and after they have slept, they dismiss from their minds from eating more, and he considers it as eating in two places, and it is a mere stringency, but the same law applies concerning Matzah in our times.

One may not conclude the pesah meal with an afikoman. Saul Lieberman, the great Talmudic scholar of the past century, explained that “afikoman” refers to a Greco-Roman custom to engage in revelry at the conclusion of the symposium, the formal meal. People would go from house to house, drinking and carousing. The rabbis prohibited this custom, preferring instead that a Jew should discuss the laws of Pesah and the story of the Exodus until the morning prayers. As an aside, the fact that the rabbis had to assert the differences between the seder and the symposium strengthens the theory that the two were essentially not all that different, and that in essence the seder was a “Jewish symposium” as some scholars have called it. The Talmud explains the word “afikoman” in two ways. First, of all it may mean that one should not go from one house to the other. Secondly, it may mean that one should not eat anything after eating the pesah. Lieberman explains both as referring to the Greek custom of revelry. The foods which the Talmud proscribes were meant to whet one’s appetite so that one would wish to drink more.

רבי יוסי אומר נתנמנמו יאכלו – it refers to the beginning where the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] said that if someone of them went to sleep, they should eat, and Rabbi Yosi comes to state that these words [refer to] if they dozed off but did not become sunk in sleep, but if some of them dozed off, those who dozed off should not eat when they awaken from their sleep. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yosi.

If some of them fell asleep, they may eat [the pesah when they wake up]. If all of them fell asleep they may not eat. Rabbi Jose says: if they napped, they may eat, but if they fell asleep, they may not eat. This section deals with the laws concerning the pesah sacrifice. If some of the members of the “havurah”, the eating company, fell asleep during the meal, when they wake up they may continue to eat the pesah because other people stayed awake the whole time. However, if everyone fell asleep then they have all turned their attention away from the pesah and they may not go back to eating it. This is akin to eating the pesah in two different places, which is forbidden. [This sort of reminds me of our seder!] Rabbi Yose says that even if everyone fell asleep they may eat it, as long as they only napped. If they fell into a deep sleep, they may not eat it when they wake up.

הפסח אחר חצות מטמא את הידים – for it is considered as Notar/portions of sacrifices left over beyond the legal time and bound to be burnt, from midnight onward, and the Rabbis decreed concerning “Notar” that it defiles the hands, as it is written concerning the Passover sacrifice (Exodus 12:8): “They shall eat the flesh that same night,” and it is written there (Exodus 12:12): “For that I night I will go through the land of Egypt…” Just as there, it is until midnight, so also here, until midnight.

Introduction The final mishnah of Pesahim deals with the status of the pesah after it has been left pass the time in which it may be eaten. It also deals with the blessings recited over the pesah and the hagigah, the sacrifice that accompanies the pesah.

ברכת הפסח – “who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to eat the Passover sacrifice.” The blessing of the [festival] sacrifice: “who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to eat the [festival] sacrifice. And the sacrifice that is mentioned here is the Hagigah/the Festival offering of the fourteenth day [of Nisan]. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiva.

The pesah defiles one’s hands after midnight. The pesah sacrifice can be eaten only until midnight (Exodus 12:8). This verse does not actually specify midnight, but this is how it is interpreted by some sages. Since it cannot be eaten after midnight, it becomes “remnant” if it is left over (see Leviticus 7:17-18). The issue of defiling hands is explained below.

Piggul and remnant defile one’s hands. If any one of the four essential procedures (slaughtering, receiving the blood in a vessel, bringing the blood to the altar and sprinkling the blood on the altar) for a sacrifice is done with the intent of eating the sacrifice or burning up its non-eaten parts on the altar after the time in which this must be done the sacrifice is considered “piggul” and it must be burnt (not on the altar). “Remnant” refers to any sacrifice that is left over past the time in which it may be eaten. The sages decreed that piggul defiles the hands so as to discourage priests who wanted make people’s sacrifices into piggul. They decreed that remnant defiles the hands so that priests wouldn’t be lax in eating and then disposing of the sacrifices.

If he recited the blessing for the pesah, he thereby exempts the sacrifice [the hagigah]; [but] if he recited the blessing for the sacrifice [the hagigah], he does not exempt the pesah, the words of Rabbi Ishmael. Rabbi Akiva says: this does not exempt that nor does that exempt this. According to Rabbi Ishmael, the pesah is the more essential of the sacrifices. The hagigah (for an explanation of this sacrifice see above 6:3) accompanies the pesah, but it itself is secondary. Therefore, if one recites the blessing over the pesah (the essential), he is exempt from reciting the blessing over the hagigah, which is only an accompanying sacrifice. But if one recites the blessing over the hagigah he is still obligated to bless over the pesah. Rabbi Akiva, on the other hand, sees both sacrifices as being different, neither “accompanying” the other. Therefore, reciting a blessing over one does not exempt the other. Congratulations! We have finished Pesahim. It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us to finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. Pesah is certainly one of the most important and closely observed holidays in the Jewish calendar. The seder is perhaps the single Jewish ritual that has been observed for the longest period of time and has captured the hearts of Jews for thousands of years. Even the most casually observant Jew knows that on Pesah one does not eat bread. I hope that learning this tractate has helped us get back to the sources of some of these laws, and that when we observe our own Pesah holidays and our own seder we keep them in mind and share them with others. Congratulations on learning another tractate of Mishnah. May you have the strength and time to keep on learning more! Tomorrow we begin Shekalim.