פסחים 116 — Soncino English Talmud

¹so here too a piece [is taken]. Another interpretation: just as a poor man fires [the oven] and his wife bakes, so here too, he heats and she bakes. THOUGH HAROSETH IS NOT A RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENT. Then if it is not a religious requirement, on what account does he bring it? — Said R. Ammi: On account of the kappa. R. Assi said: The kappa of lettuce [is counteracted by] radishes; the kappa of radishes, [by] leeks; the kappa of leeks, [by] hot water; the kappa of a these, [by] hot water. And in the meanwhile let him say thus: ‘Kappa kappa, I remember you and your seven daughters and your eight daughters.in.law.’ R. ELEAZAR SON OF R. ZADOK SAID: IT IS A RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENT. Why is it a religious requirement? R. Levi said: In memory of the apple-tree; R. Johanan said: In memory of the day. Abaye observed: Therefore one must make it acrid and thicken it: make it acrid, in memory of the apple-tree; and thicken it, in memory of the day. It was taught in accordance with R. Johanan: The condiments are in memory of the straw; [and] the haroseth [itself] is a reminder of the day. R. Eleazar son of R. Zadok said: Thus did the grocers cry, ‘Come and buy ingredients for your religious requirements. MISHNAH. THEY FILLED A SECOND CUP FOR HIM. AT THIS STAGE THE SON QUESTIONS HIS FATHER; IF THE SON IS UNINTELLIGENT, HIS FATHER INSTRUCTS HIM [TO ASK]: ‘WHY IS THIS NIGHT DIFFERENT FROM ALL [OTHER] NIGHTS. FOR ON ALL [OTHER] NIGHTS WE EAT LEAVENED AND UNLEAVENED BREAD, WHEREAS ON THIS NIGHT [WE EAT] ONLY LEAVENED BREAD; ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS WE EAT ALL KINDS OF HERBS, ON THIS NIGHT BITTER HERBS; ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS WE EAT MEAT ROAST, STEWED OR BOILED, ON THIS NIGHT, ROAST ONLY. ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS WE DIP ONCE, BUT ON THIS NIGHT WE DIP TWICE.’ AND ACCORDING TO THE SON'S INTELLIGENCE HIS FATHER INSTRUCTS HIM. HE COMMENCES WITH SHAME AND CONCLUDES WITH PRAISE; AND EXPOUNDS FROM ‘A WANDERING ARAMEAN WAS MY FATHER’ UNTIL HE COMPLETES THE WHOLE SECTION. G E M A R A. Our Rabbis taught: If his son is intelligent asks him, while if he is not intelligent his wife asks him; but if not, he asks himself. And even two scholars who know the laws of Passover ask one another. WHY IS THIS NIGHT DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER NIGHTS? FOR ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS WE DIP ONCE, WHILE ON THIS NIGHT WE DIP TWICE. To this Raba demurred: Is then dipping once indispensable all other days? Rather, said Raba, It was thus taught: For on all other nights we are not obliged to dip even once, whereas on this night, twice. To this R. Safra demurred: A statutory obligation on account of children! Rather, said R. Safra, He teaches thus: We do not dip even once, whereas this night [we dip] twice. HE COMMENCES WITH SHAME AND CONCLUDES WITH PRAISE. What is ‘WITH SHAME’? Rab said: ‘Aforetime our fathers were idolaters’; while Samuel said: ‘We were slaves.’ R. Nahman asked his slave Daru: ‘When a master liberates his slave and gives him gold and silver, what should he say to him?’ ‘He should thank and praise him,’ replied he. ‘You have excused us from saying "Why [is this night] different?"’ observed he. [Thereupon] he commenced by reciting, ‘We were slaves.’ MISHNAH. R. GAMALIEL USED TO SAY: WHOEVER DOES NOT MAKE MENTION OF20^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ

^ᵃnote:The blessing for the unleavened bread must be said over a piece of mazzah only, not over a whole one, to emphasize Israel's poverty in Egypt. (Hence three mazzoth are required, two because every festival and the Sabbath require two loaves, and a third which is broken, so that the blessing may be recited over the piece.)
^ᵇnote:Without delay, as they’ cannot afford more fuel should the oven cool.
^ᶜnote:Even wealthy people must bake the unleavened bread without unnecessary delay, lest it turn leaven.
^ᵈnote:V. supra 115b.
^ᵉnote:While waiting for the cure to take effect-or perhaps, until he takes these.
^ᶠnote:Under which the Israelitish women in Egypt gave birth to their children; v. Sot,. 11b.
^ᵍnote:Wit which they made bricks.
^ʰnote:Which are mixed in the haroseth.
^ⁱnote:Just as the straw was kneaded into the clay.
^ʲnote:Lit., ‘parched.grain merchants’ — such would sell spices etc. too. Rashi and Rashbam: vendors who sat behind latticed windows.
^ᵏnote:Lit. , ‘and here’.
^ˡnote:Why all this unusual procedure?
^ᵐnote:I.e., in Temple times, v. supra 70a.
^ⁿnote:So the text as emended, and it is thus quoted in the Gemara; v. O.H. 473. 7 and z"y 9 a.l.
^ᵒnote:The answer must be intelligible to the child.
^ᵖnote:Deut. XXVI, 5.
^ᵠnote:If he has no wife.
^ʳnote:‘Obliged’ (hayyabin) connotes a religious precept, whereas as stated supra 114b the first dipping is merely to stimulate the children's wonder.
^ˢnote:The modern liturgy combines both, commencing however with the latter.
^ᵗnote:Perhaps better: ‘explain.’ as R. Gamaliel's main point is that their purpose must be explained; v. Kaplan, Redaction of the Talmud, p. 203.

²THESE THREE THINGS ON PASSOVER DOES NOT DISCHARGE HIS DUTY, AND THESE ARE THEY: THE PASSOVER-OFFERING. UNLEAVENED BREAD, AND BITTER HERBS. THE PASSOVER-OFFERING IS [SACRIFICED] BECAUSE THE OMNIPRESENT PASSED OVER THE HOUSES OF OUR FATHERS IN EGYPT, AS IT IS SAID, THEN YE SHALL SAY: IT IS THE SACRIFICE OF THE LORD'S PASSOVER, FOR THAT HE PASSED OVER etc. THE UNLEAVENED BREAD IS [EATEN] BECAUSE OUR FATHERS WERE REDEEMED FROM EGYPT, AS IT IS SAID, AND THEY BAKED UNLEAVENED CAKES OF THE DOUGH WHICH THEY BROUGHT FORTH OUT OF EGYPT etc. THE BITTER HERB IS [EATEN] BECAUSE THE EGYPTIANS EMBITTERED THE LIVES OF OUR FATHERS IN EGYPT, AS IT IS SAID, AND THEY MADE THEIR LIVES BITTER etc. IN EVERY GENERATION A MAN IS BOUND TO REGARD HIMSELF AS THOUGH HE PERSONALLY HAD GONE FORTH FROM EGYPT, BECAUSE IT IS SAID, AND THOU SHALT TELL THY SON IN THAT DAY, SAYING: IT IS BECAUSE OF THAT WHICH THE LORD DID FOR ME WHEN I CAME FORTH OUT OF EGYPT. THEREFORE IT IS OUR DUTY TO THANK, PRAISE, LAUD, GLORIFY, EXALT, HONOUR, BLESS, EXTOL, AND ADORE HIM WHO WROUGHT ALL THESE MIRACLES FOR OUR FATHERS AND OURSELVES; HE BROUGHT US FORTH FROM BONDAGE INTO FREEDOM, FROM SORROW INTO JOY, FROM MOURNING INTO FESTIVITY, FROM DARKNESS INTO GREAT LIGHT, AND FROM SERVITUDE INTO REDEMPTION. THEREFORE LET US SAY BEFORE HIM, HALLELUJAH! HOW FAR DOES ONE RECITE IT? BETH SHAMMAI MAINTAIN: UNTIL ‘AS A JOYOUS MOTHER OF CHILDREN,’ WHILE BETH HILLEL SAY: UNTIL ‘THE FLINT INTO A FOUNTAIN OF WATERS,’ AND HE CONCLUDES WITH [A FORMULA OF] REDEMPTION. R. TARFON USED TO SAY WHO REDEEMED US AND REDEEMED OUR FATHERS FROM EGYPT, BUT HE DID NOT CONCLUDE [WITH A BLESSING]. R. AKIBA SAID: ‘SO MAY THE LORD OUR GOD AND THE GOD OF OUR FATHER SUFFER US TO REACH OTHER SEASONS AND FESTIVALS WHICH COME TOWARDS US FOR PEACE, REJOICING IN THE REBUILDING OF THY CITY AND GLAD IN THY SERVICE, AND THERE WE WILL PARTAKE OF THE SACRIFICES AND THE PASSOVER-OFFERINGS etc. AS FAR AS BLESSED ART THOU, O LORD, WHO HAST REDEEMED ISRAEL.’ GEMARA. Raba said: He must say ‘and us did he bring forth from there.’ Raba said: He must lift up the unleavened bread, and he must lift up the bitter herb, but he need not lift up the meat; moreover, it would appear as though he ate sacrifices without [the Temple]. R. Aha b. Jacob said: A blind person is exempt from reciting the Haggadah. [For] here it is written, it is because of that [zeh], while elsewhere it is written, This our son [zeh]: just as there the blind are excluded, so here to the blind are excluded. But that is not so, for Meremar said: I asked the scholars of the School of R. Joseph, who recites the Aggadah at R. Joseph's? And they told me, R. Joseph; Who recites the Aggadah at R. Shesheth's? And they told me, R. Shesheth. — These Rabbis held that un-leavened bread nowadays is a Rabbinical obligation. Hence it follows that R. Aha b. Jacob holds that unleavened bread nowadays is a Scriptural obligation? But Surely it was R. Aha b. Jacob himself who said: [The obligation of eating] unleavened bread nowadays is Rabbinical! — He holds, Whatever our Rabbis enacted, they enacted it similar to the Scriptural Jaw. But according to R. Shesheth and R. Joseph too, surely it is certain that whatever our Rabbis enacted, they enacted similar to a Scriptural law? — How compare! As for there, it is we: since it should have been written, ‘He is our son,’ whereas it is written, ‘This our son,’ you may infer that it comes to exclude blind persons. But here, if not ‘for the sake of this’ what should be written? Hence it comes [to intimate], ‘for the sake of the unleavened bread and bitter herbs.’ THEREFORE IT IS OUR DUTY.^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ

^ᵘnote:Ex. XII, 27.
^ᵛnote:Ibid. 39.
^ʷnote:Ex. I, 14.
^ˣnote:Ibid. XIII, 8.
^ʸnote:‘Praise ye the Lord,’ with which Hallel commences.
^ᶻnote:Ps. CXIII, 9.
^ᵃᵃnote:Ibid. CXIV, 8.
^ᵃᵇnote:Hatham is the technical term meaning to round off a liturgical passage with a blessing formula, ‘Blessed art Thou, O Lord.’
^ᵃᶜnote:So the text as emended, ‘sacrifices’ referring to the hagigah of the fourteenth, which was eaten before the Passover-offering (v. supra 70a); hence it is mentioned before too.
^ᵃᵈnote:When saying, ‘This unleavened bread’ ‘ . . ‘this bitter herb.’
^ᵃᵉnote:Which is set in memory of the Passover-offering; v. R. Joseph's dictum supra 114b.
^ᵃᶠnote:If he lifted up the meat as he said ‘This Passover-offering,’ it would look as if he had actually consecrated it as a sacrifice, which is forbid den, Since sacrifices may not be offered without the Temple (Raba refers to post-Temple times). Hence he must not lift up the meat.
^ᵃᵍnote:Lit., ‘this’.
^ᵃʰnote:Deut. XXI, 20.
^ᵃⁱnote:For ‘this our son’ implies that his parents see and point at him.
^ᵃʲnote:Haggadah.
^ᵃᵏnote:R. Joseph and R. Shesheth were both blind.
^ᵃˡnote:Sc. that unleavened bread must he eaten on the first night of Passover (the interdict of leavened bread of course is Biblical). Hence the reciting of the Haggadah is likewise Rabbinical, and therefore ‘unaffected by R. Aha b. Jacob's deduction.
^ᵃᵐnote:For he states his law generally, and therefore meant it for post-Temple times too.
^ᵃⁿnote:On which it is based. Hence since the blind were exempt from reciting the Haggadah when it was a Scriptural obligation, they are still exempt now that it is only Rabbinical.
^ᵃᵒnote:They reject the law entirely, together with the analogy on which it is based.
^ᵃᵖnote:v. Sanh., Sonc. ed. p. 486, n. 2 and 3.
^ᵃᵠnote:I.e., it does not intimate that he who recites must see it, but simply means: it is for this reason that I eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs viz., because of what the Lord did for me etc.