Pesachim

THESE 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.1 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.2 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.3 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.4 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!5 HOW FAR DOES ONE RECITE IT? BETH SHAMMAI MAINTAIN: UNTIL ‘AS A JOYOUS MOTHER OF CHILDREN,’6 WHILE BETH HILLEL SAY: UNTIL ‘THE FLINT INTO A FOUNTAIN OF WATERS,’7 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].8 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-OFFERINGS9 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,10 but he need not lift up the meat;11 moreover, it would appear as though he ate sacrifices without [the Temple].12 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],13 while elsewhere it is written, This our son [zeh]:14 just as there the blind are excluded,15 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 Aggadah16 at R. Joseph's? And they told me, R. Joseph; Who recites the Aggadah at R. Shesheth's? And they told me, R. Shesheth.17 — These Rabbis held that un-leavened bread nowadays is a Rabbinical obligation.18 Hence it follows that R. Aha b. Jacob holds that unleavened bread nowadays is a Scriptural obligation?19 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.20 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!21 As for there, it is we: since it should have been written, ‘He is our son,’ whereas it is written, ‘This our son,’ 22 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.’23 THEREFORE IT IS OUR DUTY. Lord.’ Passover-offering (v. supra 70a); hence it is mentioned before too. 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. Biblical). Hence the reciting of the Haggadah is likewise Rabbinical, and therefore ‘unaffected by R. Aha b. Jacob's deduction. obligation, they are still exempt now that it is only Rabbinical. bread and bitter herbs viz., because of what the Lord did for me etc.