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Friday, April 15, 2011

Opening the Door for Eliyahu Hanavi

As you will notice by the Seder night, towards the end, after Birkas Hamazon, many have the custom to go to the door, open it up, and recite the pessukim "שפך חמתך - pour out Your wrath..." In Siddur Mahari"d, it mentions that this is to usher in the prophet Eliyahu.
Another practical explanation for this custom as well as to why we say these specific phrases:
In medieval times, the blood libel was rampant. Christians accused Jews of using Christian blood to bake their matzos. To this end, they would often plant a dead Christian lad in a Jew's yard around Pesach to lend credence to the claim. Thus, came the Seder, as a precautionary measure, Jews would open the door and scrutinize the area to ensure no charlatans were about scheming their evil. Bitterly bemoaning this terrible libel, they would exclaim "Hashem, pour out Your wrath on the evildoers!"
מטעימים פסח אות מט
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Monday, April 11, 2011

Beets on Pesach

Many have the custom to eat borscht - beet soup, or just beets, on Pesach. The Belzer Rebbe, R. Yissachar Dov Rokeach, once related:
"I always wondered what the reason for this custom was. I asked many great people, but no one knew why. I once happened to be with some great sages from Lithuania and they told me the following reason:
The Tzadokim, who denied the Oral Torah, interpreted the passuk "כָּל-מַחְמֶצֶת, לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ - You must not eat anything leavened" to also mean anything which has a sour taste (the word "חמץ - leaven" sharing a root with the word "חומץ - vinegar"). Therefore, the Tzedokim would not eat beets on Pesach. To show that they did not support the Tzeadokim’s ruling, devout Jews adopted the custom of eating beets on Pesach."
בשם האדמו"ר מהרי"ד מבאלזא, הובא בהגדה של פסח מדרש בחידוש עם הוספות אמרי קודש על הפיסקא "מצה זו." בשם החידושי הרי”מ, הובא בספר “חשוקי חמד” (זילברשטיין) ברכות לט, א. “הלכות והליכות” (רלב”ג) ע’ 40

Thursday, April 7, 2011

What Is Karpas?

As mentioned yesterday, the karpas is an unknown vegetable. This miמhag is sourced in the Gemara (פסחים קיד ,א), but it only mentions that it should be a vegetable; it is dipped before the meal to arouse the curiosity of the children (שו"ת הרשב"א המיוחסות לרמב"ן סי' ר"ב).
The Mahari"l was the one to say that it should be a vegetable called "כרפס" as it contains the words "ס פרך - sixty (i.e. sixty myriads, 600,000 total) worked hard," a reference to the number of Jews who were enslaved in Egypt (מהרי"ל הל' סדר ההגדה, הובא במג"א סי' תע"ג סק"ד).
Problem is that we don't really know what "karpas" is. The Mahari"l gives a translation ("איפך"), but that is also not clear. R. Nosson Adler, the teacher of the Chasam Sofer, toiled diligently to identify the abstruse vegetable. He concluded that it's celery. The common old word for this was "אפיא" (similar to the original word of the Mahari"l). The Chasam Sofer gave a hint to the signifigance of this vegetable, as the letters are an acronym for the words "אפועל ישועות אתה."
שו"ת חתם סופר או"ח סי' קלב
ועי' שם לעוד רמזים במיני מרור
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Potatoes for Karpas, Making a "Shehakol"

On the Seder night, we dip "karpas" in salt water. What exactly karpas is is not clear, and there are many customs of what to use. It is definitely a vegetable that requires a brachah "ha'adamaha," but beyond that, there are not many more specifications. (שו"ע הרב או"ח סי' תע"ג סט"ז-י"ז)
Some have the custom of using a potato. This is quite interesting, as many holy sages through the years were accustomed to making a brachah of shehakol on potatoes, based on a wording of the Aruch who defines potatoes as part of the fungus family that grow from the air. Such was the practice of the R. Chaim of Tzanz (the "Divrei Chaim"), R. Naftoli of Ropshitz, R. Moshe Teitelbaum (the "Yismach Moshe"), R. Yitzchak Eizik Safrin of Kamarna, etc. Nevertheless, came the seder night, they would make a brachah of ha'adamah on the potato for karpas.
This can possibly be reconciled based on the following interesting psak: If one makes a ha'adamah on a mushroom (with the appropriate brachah being shehakol), they are post facto yotzei and need not make another brachah (ארץ החיים (צ'רנוויץ) ברכות מ, א על רש"י ד"ה דעיקר אילן). In light of this, we can understand that while regularly making a shehakol on a potato, for the Seder night, these holy men were able to use it for karpas and make the brachah ha'adamah.
שו"ת שרגא המאיר ח"ד סי' קי"א אות ג
ברכת הפסח סי' י"ב, פתחי זוטא אות ג
See here and here, and here

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Do We Really Wash For Wet Fruit?

As you will see on the Seder night, one of the steps is "ורחץ," where we wash our hands before touching the wet vegetable to be used for karpas.
Washing for wet fruit is a halachah brought in Shulchan Aruch (שו"ע או"ח סי' קנ"ח ס"ד). Yet, for some reason, this practice is not very widespread and is not seen very often throughout the year...
There is some room for justification: Washing for wet fruit is out of fear that the fruit will become tamei as a result of one's impure hands touching the liquid that subsequently contaminates the fruit. This was in pertinent in days of old when people ate their regular food only while pure. Today that we are tamei anyways, there is room to justify (albeit not being the accepted halachah).
It is said of the R. Chaim Halbershtam (Grand Rebbe of Tzanz, author of "Divrei Chaim") that washing for karpas on Pesach need only be done by the head of the group. It is further testified that in Poland and Russia, no one was careful with this practice throughout the year.
The Rebbe, quoting the Chok Yaakov, however, says that even those that are not careful the whole year should do so on the Seder night to arouse the interest of the children.
שו"ת שרגא המאיר ח"ד סי' קי"א אות ב
ועי' שו"ע הרב או"ח סי' קנ"ח ס"ג. ערוה"ש שם ס"ד
ועי' הגדה של פסח עם לקוטי טעמים ומנהגים פיסקא ורחץ ונט"י ואינו מברך
See here

Monday, April 4, 2011

The Divinity Of Shulchan Aruch

From the day that R. Yosef Karo penned his magnum opus, the Shulchan Aruch, it became the accepted word of law for all Jewish communities. Especially after the Ram"a appended his notes to it, it became the universal book of halachah for all Sefardim and Ashkenazim alike.
The Shulchan Aruch with the glosses of the Ram"a is so binding that no one can pasken halachah contrary to it. If one claims in court that he wishes to be ruled according to an arguing opinion, he is not listened to. Not only that, but piles of halachos have been learned from the exact wording of the Shulchan Aruch and the Ram"a. Volumes of responsum were authored to answer questions and deal with its wording, and they are all definitely the word of G-d.
Now, it's obvious that R. Yosef Karo and R. Moshe Isserles could not have possibly intended all the thousands of halachos that were developed from their words, for this is not humanly possible. But, the spirit of Hashem was infused in their writings in a way that their words had no personal inclinations and as such were the word of G-d. In them are contained the halachos for all time.
אורים ותומים הגהות על תקפו כהן סוף סי' קכ"ג-ד
See here