If companions were reclining, and they [precipitately] arose to go to the synagogue or to the Beth Hamidrash, when they go out they do not need a blessing beforehand, and when they return they do not need a blessing at the beginning. If companions were reclining to drink wine and they arose [departed] and returned, they need not recite a blessing [anew].
So now we ask why we are encouraged to lean on this night. Leaning represents freedom — in those days only a free man had time to recline. If your family is anything like my family, you will be reclining against a variety of bedroom pillows, scatter cushions and rolled up blankets. Not the last word in interior design, but fabulously comfortable and symbolic. Friday night Kiddush. At the time when there are [only] two beds, the [most] senior [person]4 reclines on top of the first [bed] and the second one to him [in seniority reclines] below him i.
And at the time when there are three beds, the [most] senior [person] reclines on top of the middle [bed], the second one to him [in seniority reclines] above him, [and] the third one to him [in seniority] reclines below him. It was stated: [For the eating of] the unleavened bread reclining is necessary; for the bitter herbs reclining is not necessary. Yet they do not disagree: one [ruling] refers to the first two cups, and the other ruling refers to the last two cups.
Others explain it in the contrary direction: on the contrary, the last two cups necessitate reclining, [because] it is precisely then that there is freedom; the first two cups do not necessitate reclining, [because] he is still reciting 'we were slaves. Lying on the back is not reclining ; reclining on the right side is not reclining. Don't upgrade your standard of living, upgrade your standard of giving. The Jew's responsibility is to never forget where he came from.
The salt water is to remind us of the tears from when we were slaves in Egypt. It is so important to remember that we have suffered. Another example of that is that at the peak of a Jewish wedding, the custom is to break a glass. The glass is to symbolize that, no matter how happy we are, we always remember that we are missing something.
We are missing our temple. We are not where we would like to be as a nation. We never allow ourselves to over celebrate. Why is it that on all other nights we eat leavened bread or matzah, and on this night only matzah? Matzah is made out of plain flour and water in a short period of time. The maximum amount of time that we allow the dough to be out of the oven is 18 minutes, so we do not allow it to rise.
Leavened bread is is like the ego. Ego is to puff ones self up with hot air. The Hebrew word for "reclining" is mesubim. I assume many of you have driven through Mesubim junction, on Route No. Its name indeed commemorates the fact that four eminent rabbis were attending a Passover meal at the "yeshiva" literally sitting down of their one-time student and now peer, Rabbi Akiva "in B'nei Berak," and they talked the whole night through, laying back comfortably and perhaps scheming and planning the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans C.
What is the significance of "reclining" - as opposed to "sitting" - that merits naming a very busy junction on a main thoroughfare after it, and also makes it one of the things that makes the seder so distinctive? To get to the bottom of this, it is worthwhile to ponder the attributes of the piece of furniture on which we are supposed to place our posteriors in the normal order of things: the chair, a word that comes from the Greek, a compound of kata, "down," and hedra, "to sit" cf.
There is more to a chair than meets the eye or the backside , as you can gather from the following quotes taken from a book by Galen Cranz "The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design" W. Norton, : " Archaeologists of southeastern Europe The oldest physical chairs we have come from the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun, who died in about B.
The reason for starting the Seder with the four questions is to stimulate the curiosity of the child since learning absorption is better when the child's curiosity is aroused to the point that he asks a question. For this reason we do several changes such as dipping a vegetable in salt water solely for the purpose of stimulating the young child.
Another important change mentioned in the Four Questions is reclining. Since one of the reasons that we recline is to stimulate the child to ask questions. So if the reason to recline is only because we must eat as nobility, today we would not recline. But since we must make many changes to stimulate the child, therefore as uncomfortable as it may be, we must continue to recline.
Good luck in balancing your food on your fork if you choose to eat the entire meal while reclining on your left side for that is considered meritorious. Whereas you may get gravy stains on your shirt or blouse, you will certainly enhance the Seder in the eyes of all and your children will not easily forget the great experience of a genuine Seder. Email us with the offensive URL www. March Passover Edition.
0コメント