As anyone who attended a Pesach Seder knows, on that auspicious night, we make sure to eat "marror" - bitter herbs. The simple reason is that it's serves as a reminder for the bitter exile that our fathers went through in Egypt.
The Ibn Ezra however explains this idea a bit differently:
"One of the Spanish sages said as follows: It is well known that Egypt, due to the constant presence of the Nile river, is very moist and humid. As a result of the lack of the rain and the abundant of humidity, the Egyptians were accustomed to eat at every meal various types of bitter species, either of grasses or mustards. Even if an Egyptian had a meal of bread alone, the bitter herbs were always present, in which he would be able to dip his bread. This was a cure for their [harmful] air."
However, the Ibn Ezra concludes "We will rely on the explanation of our predecessors, as they explained the marror being a commemeration of the bitter times in Egypt."
אבן עזרא (פירוש הארוך) שמות יב, ח
ועי' משנה פסחים פ"י מ"ה, ובגמ' פסחים קטז, א-ב
Wouldn't Ibn Ezra's understanding make more sense with the fact that Jews were commanded to eat the maror while still in Egypt (Exodus 12:8)? I know that Rashi there maintains that this too was to recall their bitter ordeal, but it is hard to understand recalling or commemorating the bitter ordeal when still a slave. Ibn Ezra's understanding fits better. In a similar vein, Ohr Hachayim (ad loc.) maintains that the normal way of eating roast meat was with maror.
ReplyDeleteDavid:
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point, although one can simply argue that this was already at the stage when Hashem was telling Moshe all about the imminent freedom, thus the taste of freedom was already there.
Interesting to note, the Ohr hachayim indeed comments in a similar vein, but he take a different approach, namely that the normal way of eating roast meat is with marror to be able to appreciate the good taste of the meat thereafter, thus maximizing the feeling of luxury and freedom. So in truth, your question would apply to the words of the OH"CH as well.