PESAH POTPOURRI: *
On the Origin and Development of Some
Lesser-Known Pesah Customs1
The
holiday of Pesah has been blessed with hundreds of laws. Indeed, almost one-sixth
of Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim is devoted to the laws of Pesah. It has
also been blessed with many well-known customs which have been discussed and
debated by various scholars.2
In this article,
we shall discuss some of the lesser-known Pesah customs – or at least lesser-known
to Ashkenazic Jews. Some started in Sefarad and migrated to Ashkenaz and
some migrated in the opposite direction. Most are still practiced by one
group of Jews or another. Many rabbis and educators will find these customs
welcome additions to their repertoire of minhagim.
Using the Lulav to
Burn the Hametz or to Bake Matzah
In two places in the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 39b and Shabbat 117b), we
are told that when Rav Ami and Rav Assi happened to come upon a loaf of bread
which had been used for an Eruv3 they would recite hamotzi over
the loaf. They said: “Since one mitzvah was done with this loaf,
let us do another”. These passages became the basis for reusing items which
had been used to fulfill one mitzvah in order to perform another mitzvah.4
R. Yehudah ben Kalonymus (Ashkenaz, twelfth century) used to save the aravot (willows)
from the lulav in order to burn the hametz, basing himself
on the above passage, and this custom was recorded in all of the classic
custom books of Ashkenaz.5 In modern times, Iraqi Jews used the aravot from Hoshana
Rabbah.6
In Yemen, on the other hand, it was the custom to use the lulav, hadassim and aravot as
fuel for the oven when baking matzah shemurah.7 Finally,
the Jews of Syria, Morocco and Baghdad used the lulav both for burning
the hametz and for baking matzah.8
Wearing White at the Seder
This custom is common among hassidim, who wear a kittel,
as well as among the Jews of Morocco.9 Many interesting and convoluted
explanations have been given for this and similar customs throughout Jewish
history.10 But the simple explanation seems to be that white is
a symbol of joy on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hoshanah Rabbah, Pesah and
other pilgrim festivals and at weddings.11
“Silver and
Gold Vessels”
The Jews of Nadishurani and Rakoshpaluta in Hungary used to decorate the seder table
with all of their gold and silver jewels. They explained that this was to
remember all the gold and silver which the Israelites received from the Egyptians.11a
Open Doors
or Closed Doors? We have learned in the tractate of Ta'anit (20b): “Rav
Huna (Babylon, third century) - whenever he ate bread would open his door
and say: “kol
man dizrikh latay v'laykhol” (whoever needs, let him come and eat)”.
This custom, which Rav Huna observed all year long, is echoed in Hah
Lahma: “kol dikhfin yaytay v'yaykhol, kol dizrikh yaytay v'yifsah” (whoever
is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is needy, let him come and make
Pesah).
Rav Matityahu Gaon (Babylon, ninth century) says that the custom of our forefathers
was to leave the doors open during the seder so that poor Jews would join
them, but already in his day this was no longer the custom since they would
give food to the poor before Pesah so that they would not have to beg.12
In Yemen, many Jews left their doors open during the seder, but
for a different reason. They said that the redemption would come on Pesah
eve, so they left their doors open in order to allow a swift exit to greet
the Messiah!13
On the other hand, the Jews of Libya and Djerba had the opposite custom.
On the first two days of Pesah and on both days of Rosh Hashanah “a stranger
could not set foot in their borders nor benefit from their possessions”.14 In
1938, Nachum Slouschz explained that this was a remnant left over from the
Almohad persecutions in the twelfth century when the Jews observed Pesah
and Rosh Hashanah in secret and were afraid lest informers enter the house
and spy on them.15 Goldberg, on the other hand, said that the
custom is based on the fact that the paschal lamb may only be eaten by those
who joined a specific paschal group (Pesahim 61a),16 while Frija
Zuartz said the purpose was to prevent non-Jewish neighbors from inundating
their Jewish friends for unlimited free food!.17 Whatever the
reason, this custom led the Jews of Meslatah in Libya to translate the verse “kol
dikhfin” into Arabic as ”whoever is hungry, let him come and taste nothing”!18
“The Wandering
Jew”
There is a widespread custom among Sefardic and Oriental Jews, according
to which, various members of the family at various points in the Seder dress
up as if they had just left Egypt. Other family members ask formal questions
and “the wandering Jew” explains that he has left Egypt and is on his way
to Jerusalem. These ceremonies differ in various details; what follows is
a representative selection:18a
a)
Benjamin
II (Yisrael ben Yosef Benjamin) described such a ceremony “in Asia” ca.
1853. They dress up a young man in “kley golah” (Ezekiel
12:3 - “gear for exile”) and before the recitation of the Haggadah,
he appears before the participants with his staff in hand and his
satchel on his shoulder. The father asks him:
From where do
you come, O pilgrim?
From the land of Egypt, says the lad.
Did you go out to freedom from the bondage of Egypt?
Yes indeed, replies the lad, and now I am a free man.
Where are you going?
I am going to Jerusalem, he replies.
With great joy the participants begin to tell the story of the Exodus…19
b)
R.
Ya'akov Sapir described the custom in San'a, Yemen in 1858:
The seder is observed as is the custom among all Jews. One
of the members of the family takes a matzah and ties it in
a scarf on his shoulder and walks around the house. The others ask
him: “Why are you doing this?” And he replies: “So did our ancestors
when they left Egypt in haste”.20
c)
The
Jews of Morroco had the following custom:
After reading the Haggadah, all of the men put a stick with a bundle
on their shoulders and they leave the house in haste, running and shouting: “So
did our ancestors leave Egypt, ‘their kneading bowls wrapped in their
cloaks upon their shoulders' ” (Exodus 12:34).21
d)
Nahum
Slouschz describes a similar custom in Libya before the seder and
concludes: “This custom is widespread in almost all oriental lands,
and in every country there is a different nusah”.22 Indeed,
this custom was observed in the Caucasus, Iraq, Kurdistan, Djerba,
Syria, and among the Sefardic Jews of Seattle.23
However, surprisingly
enough, this custom is first mentioned in Germany 650 years before Benjamin
II described it in Asia, and it is documented in Poland in the sixteenth
century and in Germany and Hungary in the twentieth!
a)
Rabbi Asher
of Lunel states in his Sefer Minhagot, written ca. 1210
in Provence: I heard that in Allemagne (Germany), after eating karpass,
they uproot the table and take the matzot and wrap them
in coverings and bear them on their shoulders and walk to the corners
of the house, and then they return to their places and recite the
Haggadah.24
b)
R. Shlomo Luria
(Lublin, 1510-1573) devoted one of his responsa (no. 88) to the
laws of the seder: After the meal, he [= the person leading
the seder] takes out the hidden treasure, i.e. the afikoman as
is, wrapped in a cover, and he drapes it behind him and he walks
approximately four cubits in the house and says: “So did our ancestors
go with ‘their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks' ”(Exodus
12:34).
This responsum is quoted in the standard commentaries to the Shulhan
Arukh25 and this custom may even be illustrated in
the Prague Haggadah of 1526, which pictures a man with a walking staff
and satchel on his shoulder next to Exodus 12:34 quoted above.26
c)
In 1951, Prof.
Alexander Scheiber documented similar customs among his students
at the Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest, who came from the Hungarian
towns of Szatmar, Zemplen, Vatz, Tisfolgar and Puntok. In the latter
town, when they reached Yahatz, the father would wrap
the afikoman in a scarf, put it on his shoulder, stand
up, and say to his family in Yiddish: “geimir, geimir!” (Let us
go! Let us go!). 27
d)
This custom
has survived among German Jews until today.28 When I
lectured on this topic in Jerusalem before Pesah in 1991, a woman
told me that in Karlsruhe, in southern Germany, her father would
put the matzah wrapped in the sedertuch (white matzah cover)
on his shoulder and say: “So sind die Kinder Jisroel aus Mizraim
gegangen, so war es” (Thus did the Children of Israel leave Egypt,
so it was).
Passing the Matzah
When Persian Jews reach the ha lahma paragraph the mula takes
the three matzot shemurot wrapped in a white cloth in his fingers,
chants ha lahma… kadesh u'r'hatz… The three matzot go down
the line from hand to hand. Young and old, men and women – each person is
required to recite ha lahma and kadesh u'r'hatz until each
participant has done so.29
What is the source of this custom? Rabbi Elazar says in the Tosefta: “One
grabs the matzah for the children so that they should not sleep”.30 The rishonim gave
five different explanations for this passage. Maimonides' explanation was
codified in his code (Hametz Umatzah 7:3): ”… so that the children
will ask questions. And one grabs the matzah from one hand to another and
the like”. This interpretation was subsequently supported by Rabbeinu Manoah
(ca. 1264) and quoted by the Meiri (ca. 1300).31
So it seems that the Persian custom reflects a literal understanding of Maimonides'
interpretation of Rabbi Elazar.
A Seder Plate
on the Head
In 1985, Shemuel ben Hallal, an Israeli who stems from Morocco via Venezuela,
told me that in his family they recite the sentence “bivhilu yatzanu
mimitzrayim” - “In haste we left Egypt” three times before ha lahma.
Then the person leading the seder walks around the table three times
tapping the seder plate on the head of each participant, each time
tapping harder. The children like to jump up in order to hit the seder plate
with their heads.
As it turns out, this custom did not begin in Morocco in the twentieth century,
but rather in Spain in the fourteenth century.32 The first evidence
for this custom is in an illustration found in the Barcelona Haggadah (ca.
1350) in which a father is shown balancing the seder plate or basket
of matzot on the head of one of his children.33
The Guadalajara Haggadah, which was printed in Spain ca. 1480, is the first
known printed Haggadah. The instructions before ha lahma read: “v'nosin
hake'arah al rashey hatinikot” - “and one lifts/carries the seder plate
on/over the heads of the children”.34 The Hida, R. Hayyim Yosef
David Azulay, visited Tunis in 1774. Rahamim, the servant of his host, took
the seder plate and passed it three times over the head of each
male participant. When he started to do the same to the women, the Hida told
him not to, using a play on words based on Judges 5:30.35
Benjamin II mentioned above, described this custom among North African Jews,
especially in Tunis, ca. 1853 and related that if a person did not have the seder plate
passed over his head, “he believed that he would be unlucky for the rest
of his life”.36 R. Alexander Levinson, an Ashkenazic Jew, visited
the Jews of Omzav in the Sahara desert. When the eldest person touched his
head with the seder plate, Levinson did not know what was happening.
He jumped up and flipped the entire plate. When he saw that everyone was
angry at him, he told them he had done so in order to remember the parting
of the Reed Sea!37
R. Ya'akov Moshe Toledano describes the Moroccan custom in his Ner Hama'arav published
in 1911,38 while Ida Cowen describes the same custom among the
Jews of Izmir, Turkey in 1971.39 Indeed, it is common until today
among the Jews of Libya, Morocco, Tunis and Djerba.40 What is
the reason for this interesting custom?
R. Shemtob Gaguine asked some Moroccan rabbis in 1932. They replied that
they believe that if they circle the seder plate around the heads
of the participants, it can protect them from all harm and a long list of
blessings will come upon them. R. Gaguine himself wrote that in his opinion
the custom was meant to encourage the children to ask questions.41 Tuvia
Preschel explains that R. Gaguine guessed correctly – in an indirect fashion.
The Talmud says (Pesahim 115b): “Why do we uproot the table? The house of
R. Yannai said: so that children should notice and ask questions”. R. Moshe
Pisanti supplies the missing link between the talmudic custom and the Spanish-North
African custom in his Hukkat Hapesah, a Haggadah commentary published
in Salonika in 1569. He says that he found a source which says that we must “lift
the seder plate for the recitation of Mah Nishtanah…42 Furthermore,
when they lift the seder plate, they pass it over the heads of the participants
in order that they should wonder about it and ask questions…”43 In
other words, “uprooting the table” in the Talmud so that the children should
notice and ask questions became “lifting the seder plate”. In the
course of lifting the plate and putting it on the side, it passed over the
heads of the participants. One thing led to another and by the fourteenth
century, the father was placing the seder plate on the heads of
the children so that they should ask questions.
Haroset with
an Earthy Flavor
R. Zidkiyahu ben Avraham writes in his Shiboley Haleket (Italy,
ca. 1250): “Some put a little clay or grated brick [in the haroset]
in memory of the clay”.44 R. Menahem di Lonzano (Italy, d.1608)
reacted to this custom:
I was
aghast to see such madness. Maybe on Purim they will draw blood,
in memory of the decree of death! But they need to change anguish
to joy and bad to good! And this mistake stems from a scribal error
in the Rashbam and Rashi to Pesahim (fol. 116a) where it says “and heres (clay)
which they pound in memory of the clay”. And I checked in an old
manuscript of the commentary which says: “And haroset which
they pound in memory of the clay”. And this is undoubtedly correct,
for this is a commentary on the words “haroset zekher latit” in
the Talmud.45
The Bet David
by R. Yosef Philosof (Salonika, 1740) reports that “in Salonika the elders
testified that they used to put chopped calermini stone in the haroset”.46 The
Hida, who quotes all of the above, concludes: “But it seems that this custom
is not practiced in most towns”.47
During the American Civil War (1860-1865), a group of Jewish
Union soldiers made a seder for themselves in the wilderness
of West Virginia. They had none of the ingredients for traditional haroset available,
so they put a real brick in its place on the seder plate!48
Finally, Shemuel ben Hallal informs me that his Moroccan uncle, who is a
rabbi in Brooklyn, is accustomed to grating rocks into the haroset.
Indeed, he adds so much rock that the haroset tastes terrible!
I do not believe that these customs are based on a scribal error
in Rashi or Rashbam. Rather, this is an attempt to illustrate the
slavery of the Israelites in Egypt in a very “concrete” fashion!
Parched Grain and Nuts
In the talmudic period, parched grain and nuts were the equivalent of candy
and chocolate today. Thus the Mishnah in Bava Metziah (4:12), which lists unfair
business practices, says that “a storekeeper should not distribute parched
grain and nuts to children because he accustoms them to come to his store”.
This is the background for Rabbi Yehudah who says in a beraita (Pesahim
109a) that one distributes parched grain and nuts to children on Erev Pesah so
that they should ask questions and not fall asleep.
The Talmud Yerushalmi (Pesahim 10:1, fol. 37b) adds that Rabbi Tarfon
used to do so. This halakhah was codified by Maimonides (Hametz Umatzah
7:3 and Yom Tov 6:17-18). The Soncino Haggadah published in 1486 says that
the seder plate must include parched grain and nuts “for the children
so that they should ask questions and not fall asleep”.49 A modern
equivalent would be to distribute candy or chocolate to the children so that
they should not fall asleep.
Hibuv Mitzvah (Affection
for Mitzvot)
The concept of hibuv mitzvah, which is found in a number of Talmudic
passages and medieval halakhic works,50 is the source for two
Pesah customs. R. Isaiah Horowitz, the Shelah, (Frankfurt am Main, Prague,
Israel 1565-1630) says that it is customary to kiss the matzot and maror at
the seder because of hibuv mitzvah.51
His contemporary R. Yosef Yuzpah Hahn (Frankfurt am Main, 1570-1637)
says that “when eating [the afikoman] he should put his hand under his
chin, so that if crumbs fall from his mouth, they will fall into his hand
and he will eat them because of hibbat hamitzvah”.52
The Power of the Afikoman
The afikoman was believed to have protective powers.53 In
seventeenth century Poland they would “break a piece off of the afikoman,
pierce it and hang it on the wall”.54 Indeed, Hebrew author David
Frischmann (1859-1922) published a story “Akhan Asher B'varsha” which describes
a Jewish boy in Warsaw who was so hungry that he ate the afikoman hanging
on the wall!55
In Lybia and Tunisia, the afikoman was carried by sea travelers
as an antidote for a raging sea.56 In Persia, it was kept in the
pocket as a charm for plenty and blessing.57 It was also used
as a charm for pregnant women to ensure male children, to cure someone who
is mute, to ensure silos full of grain, to protect against bullets, and to
prevent a river from overflowing its banks.57a
“Shefokh Hamatkha” - “Pour
Out Thy Wrath”
Quite a few scholars have already detailed the history of these verses, which
are recited after Birkat Hamazon and before Hallel.58 We
shall describe here three customs related to these verses, which they do
not mention:
a)
The apostate
Antonius Margaritha (born ca. 1490) relates in his book Der
Gantz Judisch Glaub published in Augsberg in 1530 that when
Jews open the door for shefokh, someone in costume enters
the room quickly, as if he is Elijah himself coming to announce
the coming of the Messiah.59 R. Yosef Yuzpah Hahn (1570-1637)
mentioned above says “how good is the custom that they do something
in memory of the Messiah. One falls into the entranceway at the
beginning of shefokh to show during the night of our first
redemption our strong belief in our final redemption”.60
Apparently, someone would pretend to be Elijah coming through
the door, and Rabbi Hahn thought that this was a wonderful
custom. But R. Yair Hayyim Bachrach (1638-1701) was opposed
to this custom: “But what the
servants and maids are accustomed to make the figure of a man and the
like, something frightening when the door is opened – this is only
licentiousness and derision”.61
This custom clearly fits in with the Cup of Elijah and other Elijah
customs at the seder.62 It may have been another
tactic to keep the children awake. On the other hand, this may be
a misunderstanding of the “wandering Jew” skit which took place, as
we have seen, at many different points in the seder.
b)
In the Haggadah
Shel Pesah with the commentary of the Maharal of Prague
(1525-1609) first published in Warsaw in 1905, we find another
custom related to Elijah. In the instructions, the author says
that after drinking the third cup of wine, we fill the fourth
cup, and we fill another cup in honor of Elijah the Prophet.
Afterwards,
it is customary to open the door in honor of Elijah the
Prophet, and it is fitting to say this while the door is
open: “May the All-merciful send us speedily Elijah the
Prophet of blessed memory, and may he tell us good tidings,
and salvation. As it is written (Malakhi 3:23-24): “Behold
I will send you Elijah the Prophet, before the coming of
the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. He shall reconcile
parents with children and children with parents, so that,
when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter
destruction.” And it is written (ibid., v. 1): “Behold,
I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and
the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly.
As for the angel of covenant that you desire, he is already
coming.” 63
This is indeed
a beautiful custom, but we now know that this haggadah,
first published by Rabbi Yudl Rosenberg (1859-1935), was
also written by R. Yudl Rosenberg! This prolific author,
who happens to have been Mordecai Richler's grandfather, was also
the author of Nifl'ot Maharal, first published in 1909.
That work is the main source for the idea that the Maharal created
a Golem. Both works are based on manuscripts supposedly
found in the “Royal Library of Metz”. The only problem is, that
such a library never existed! These works and others were the products
of R. Yudl's fertile imagination.63a
c)
Some modern Haggadot include
an alternative version of Shefokh Hamatkha instead of,
or in addition to, the traditional verses.63b
Rabbi Leopold Stein (1810-1882) was a German Reform rabbi who published
numerous Reform prayers and prayerbooks over the course of forty years.64 In
his Seder Ha'avodah, published in Mannheim in 1882, he printed
the following instead of Shefokh Hamatkha:
Shefokh ruhakha al kol bassar
V'yavo'u kol ha'amim l'ovdekha
Shekhem ehad v'safah ahat
V'hayta lashem hamelukhah.
Pour out Your spirit on all flesh
May all nations come to serve You
Together in one language
Because the Lord is the Sovereign of Nations.65
In Hatza'ah L'seder, a new Israeli Haggadah published
by the staff of the Midrasha at Oranim Teachers' College in 2000, the
following addition appears after the three traditional Shefokh verses:
A piyyut which exhibits a different attitude to non-Jews:
Shefokh ahavatekha al hagoyim asher yeda'ukha
V'al mamlakhot asher b'shimkha kor'im
Biglal hassadim shehem ossim im zera ya'akov
U'meginim al amekha Yisrael mipi okhleihem
Yizku lirot b'tovat b'hirekha
V'lismoah b'simhat hagekha.
(found in a Haggadah manuscript from the early sixteenth century).66
This prayer was first published by the bibliographer Naftali
Ben-Menahem in 1963. It was supposedly discovered by Rabbi
Hayyim Bloch (1881-ca. 1970) in a beautiful manuscript on
parchment from the estate of Rabbi Shimshon Wertheimer (1658-1724).
The Haggadah was supposed to have been edited in Worms in
1521 by “Yehudah b”r Yekutiel, the grandson
of Rashi”, but the manuscript was lost during the Holocaust.67
However, a number of scholars have pointed our that this prayer was
probably invented by Hayyim Bloch himself,68 who was born
in Galicia and later moved to Vienna (ca. 1917) and New York (1939).69 He
was one of the rabbis who published the Kherson letters attributed
to the Besht and his disciples, which later turned out to be forgeries.70 He
also published a letter from the Maharal of Prague, whose authenticity
was already disproved by Gershom Scholem.70a Finally, from
1959-1965 he published three volumes containing over 300 letters of
great rabbis opposed to Zionism,71 but Rabbi Shemuel Hacohen
Weingarten has proved that these “letters” were invented by Rabbi Bloch
himself!72 Therefore, we may assume that “Shefokh Ahavatkha” was
not composed in Worms in 1521, but rather by Rabbi Hayyim Bloch ca.
1963!
The Parting of the Reed
Sea
The last customs we shall discuss take place not at the seder, but
on the seventh night of Pesah. According to the Sages, our ancestors crossed Yam
Suf, the Reed Sea, on the seventh night of Pesah. Various groups of
Jews have developed ways of reenacting the splitting of the Reed Sea.
a)
The Gerer Hassidim
gather in the shtibl on the seventh night of Pesah; they
drink wine and they dance. They then pour a barrel of water on
the floor, lift up their long cloaks, and “cross the sea” while
declaring the towns which are located on the way to Gur. At each “town” they
drink l'hayyim and then continue to Gur. When they “reach” Gur
after “crossing the sea”, they once again drink l'hayyim and
thank God for reaching their destination.73
A similar custom from Reishe, Galicia, in the 1890s is described by
my great uncle Herman Leder (1890-1973) in his Yiddish memoir Reisher
Yidn:
There were several other Jews who were devoted to certain mitzvot more
than to others. One of them, was Reb Ephraim Tzibele.
Until today I don't know why he was called Tzibele (onion).
As a child, I frequently asked, but no one knew the answer. He lived
on Melamdim Street. He was an extremely frum (pious) Jew who
sat day and night studying and praying. His special distinction lay
in the fact that he demonstrated with his children how the Jews crossed
the Reed Sea after they were redeemed from Egypt.
He lived in a little wooden house which consisted of one
room for himself and his family. One heard little about him
all year long and one took little interest in him. But when
the seventh day of Pesah arrived, everyone talked about Reb
Ephraim Tzibele, because on that night he used to lead his
wife and children through the Sea of Reeds. Since there was
no sea in his house, he created a miniature “sea”. He turned
over the keg of water which stood by the door and flooded the room
with water. He then took his family and crossed the “sea” with them,
from one side of the room to the other. Many people used to gather
there that night to witness the demonstration.74
Similar customs were observed in at least six Hungarian towns until
the Holocaust.75
b)
In Jerusalem,
on the other hand, the hassidim of Reb Arele (1894-1947) in Meah
Shearim recreate the splitting of the Reed Sea in a different fashion.
The disciples act as the sea and the rebbe represents the Children
of Israel. The rebbe passes through them and the students slowly
part, allowing him to pass through.76
c)
Finally,
R. Ya'akov Moshe Harlap (1883-1951) developed a custom which was
continued by his disciple, R. Shaul Yisraeli (d. 1995). Hundreds
of Jews – young
and old, hassidim and mitnagdim, halutzim,
yeshiva students and soldiers – would congregate at his house in
the Sha'are Hessed neighborhood of Jerusalem. Rabbi Harlap
would deliver divrey torah interspersed with singing.
At twelve midnight, Rabbi Harlap would stand up, put on a white kittel and
begin to chant Shirat Hayam (Exodus 15). He would sing
a special niggun (tune) with the assembled, followed by
responsive singing of Shirat Hayam, one verse at a time.
After Shirat Hayam, they would sing the Melekh Rahaman paragraph
from the Musaf service and dance with great fervor. Indeed,
those who were there said that Hayam was an abbreviation
of Harav Ya'akov Moshe.77
The above is just a small
sample of Pesah potpourri. We hope that these customs will enrich the sedarim of
those who decide to adopt them, as they have enriched the sedarim of
millions of Jews throughout the generations.
Abbreviations
Ben Ezra = Akiva Ben Ezra, Minhagey
Hagim, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, 1962
Dobrinsky = Herbert Dobrinsky, A Treasury of Sephardic Laws and Customs,
New York, 1986
EJ = Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1971
Goldschmidt = Daniel Goldschmidt, ed., Haggadah Shel Pesah, Jerusalem,
1960
Kasher = Rabbi Menahem Mendel Kasher, Haggadah Sheleimah, Jerusalem,
1955
Lewinsky = Yom Tov Lewinsky, ed., Sefer Hamoadim: Pesah, Tel Aviv,
1948
Scheiber = Alexander Scheiber, Yeda Am, 1/7-8 (Nissan 5711), p. 6
Sperber = Daniel Sperber, Minhagey Yisrael, 6 Volumes, Jerusalem,
1989-1998
Wassertil = Asher Wassertil, ed., Yalkut Minhagim, third edition,
Jerusalem, 1996
Notes
* This article was originally
published in Conservative Judaism Vol. 55, No. 3 (Spring 2003),
pp. 58-71. It is reprinted here with the permission of the Rabbinical Assembly.
Some of the notes have been updated. An excerpt of this article entitled “The
Use of Drama at the Pesah Seder” was published in Insight Israel ,
Vol. 3, No. 7 (April 2003) and was subsequently printed in my book Insight
Israel – The View from Schechter , Jerusalem, 2003, pp. 31-38. That
book can be ordered from www.schechter.edu or
from www.amazon.com .
1. This article is the
second in a series. For the first article, regarding Hanukkah customs, see Conservative
Judaism 53/2 (Winter 2001), pp. 41-50, which was reprinted in Insight
Israel , Vol. 4, No. 4 (December 2003).
2. For example, Shabbat
Hagadol has been discussed thoroughly by Kasher, pp. 50-54 and Ben
Ezra, pp. 204-209. The Cup of Elijah has been discussed by Israel Levi, REJ 67
(1914), pp. 125-128; Kasher, pp. 94-95, and 161-178 (Hebrew pagination);
Rabbi Yehudah Avida, Koso Shel Eliyahu Hanavi , Jerusalem, 1958;
Rabbi N. Wahrman, Hagey Yisrael Umoadav , Jerusalem, 1959, pp.
148 ff; Dov Noy, Mahanayim 44 (1960), pp. 110-116; Yehudah Rosenthal; Mehkarim
Umekorot , Vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1966, pp. 645-651; Rabbi Shlomo Goren, Torat
Hashabbat V'hamoed , Jerusalem, 1982, pp. 145-154; Shmuel and Ze'ev
Safrai, Haggadat Hazal, Jerusalem, 1998, pp. 177-178. The spilling
of the wine during the recitation of the ten plagues has been discussed
by Kasher, pp. 126-127 and Ben Ezra, pp. 241-243. The songs Ehad Mi
Yodea and Had Gadya have been discussed by Kasher, pp.
190-191; Goldschmidt, pp. 97-98; Shimon Sharvit, Bar Ilan 9 (1972),
pp. 475-482; M. Z. Fuchs, Assufot 2 (1988), pp. 201-226; and
cf. the list of articles in Yosef Tabori, Reshimat Ma'amarim B'inyaney
Tefilah Umoadim, Jerusalem, 1992-1993, pp. 198-199.
3. Either Eruv Hatzerot (Rashi
to Berakhot and Shabbat ibid.) or Eruv Tavshilin (Meiri
to Berakhot ibid.). For an explanation of these terms, see EJ,
Vol. 6, cols. 849-850.
4. For other examples not
related to Pesah, see R. Hayyim Wiener, The Responsa of the Va'ad Halakhah
of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel , Vol. 4 (5750-5752), p. 70 and
note 33 (also available at www.responsafortoday.com).
5. Horev 10 (1948),
p. 159; Sefer Minhagim d'vey Maharam Mirotenberg , ed. Elfenbein,
New York, 1938, p. 68; Sefer Minhagim L'rabeinu Avraham Kloizner ,
ed. Dissin, Jerusalem, 1978, p. 55, par. 13; Hagahot Maimoniot to Hilkhot
Sukkah 7:26, par. 1; Darkhey Moshe Ha'arokh L'orah Hayyim 664
(end) and the Rema in Orah Hayyim 664:9; Minhagey Maharil ,
ed. Spitzer, Jerusalem, 1989, p. 377, par. 9.
6. Wassertil, p. 176.
7. R. Yosef Kafah, Halikhot
Teiman, Jerusalem , 1960, p. 34 and Yehuda Ratzhabi, B'ma'agalot
Teiman , Tel Aviv, 1988, p. 218.
8. Dobrinsky, pp. 352,
358, and Kaf Hahayyim to Orah Hayyim 664:60.
9. Wassertil, pp. 276,
445; Dobrinsky, p. 263.
10. The most thorough discussion
of the kittel is that of Yitzhak Dov Markon, Melilah 1
(1944), pp. 121-128.
11a. Scheiber p. 6. The
custom is based on Exodus 3:22; 11:2; 12:35 .
12. B.M. Lewin, Otzar
Hageonim to Pesahim , Jerusalem , 1931, p. 112, par. 304.
For other sources related to this custom, see Kasher, p. 194 and Safrai
(above, note 2), pp. 176-177.
13. Lewinsky, p. 389. It
could be that the Jews of Yemen preserved the original custom of Rav Huna
but gave it a different explanation. For the tendency of Yemenite Jews to
preserve ancient customs, see Shaul Lieberman in: Yahadut Teiman ,
Jerusalem , 1976, p. 350 = idem., Mehkarim B'Torat Eretz Yisrael ,
Jerusalem , 1991, p. 602.
14. Sefer
Korot Luv V'yahadutah – Higid Mordechai , ed. Goldberg, Jerusalem , 1982, pp.
300 and 303.
15. Nahum Slouschz, Sefer
Hamassaot: Massa'ee B'eretz Luv , Vol. 1, Tel Aviv, 1938, p. 90.
16. Goldberg (above, note
14), p. 378, note 16.
17. Frija Zuartz in: Yahadut
Luv , Tel Aviv, 1960, p. 377.
18. Notes 14-17 above are
based on Sperber, Vol. 1, pp. 57-59.
18a. For discussions of
this custom, see Ben Ezra, pp. 236-238; Sperber, Vol. 3, pp. 113-114 and
Vol. 4, pp. 185-187. Ben Ezra p. 237, note 9 says that the custom is based
on Pesahim 65b, but this seems unlikely.
19. I have translated this
passage from Israel ben Joseph Binyamin, Sefer Massey Yisrael ,
translated into Hebrew by David Gordon, Lyck, 1859, p. 126. Cf. J. J. Benjamin, Eight
Years in Asia and Africa from 1846-1855 , Hanover , 1863, p. 328. The
Hebrew and English are not identical; the Hebrew seems to be based on the
German edition, while the English seems to be based on the French.
20. R. Ya'akov Sapir, Even
Sapir , Vol. 1, Lyck, 1866, p. 89a.
21. Lewinsky, p. 397 and
cf. Dobrinsky, p. 262.
22. Quoted by Lewinsky,
p. 401. It is odd that this paragraph is missing in Slouschz's book (above,
note 15), Vol. 2, p. 90 which seems to be Lewinsky's source.
23. Lewinsky, pp. 395-396,
398; Wassertil, pp. 177, 354, 526; Dobrinsky, pp. 256, 276-277.
24. Simha Assaf, ed., Sifran
Shel Rishonim , Jerusalem , 1935, p. 157. This passage is later quoted
in Orhot Hayyim , Florence , 1750, fol 79b; Kol Bo, Lvov , 1860,
fol. 12a; and R. Moshe Pisanti, Hukkat Hapesah, Salonika , 1569,
fol. 8a.
25. Ba'er Heiteiv to Orah
Hayyim 473, subpar. 19 and in a briefer fashion in Magen Avraham ibid.,
subpar. 22 and Mishnah Berurah ibid., subpar. 59.
26. See now the
new facsimile edition of the Prague Haggadah, Jerusalem , ca. 2004, near “Matzah Zo” (the
pages are unnumbered).
27. Scheiber, p. 6.
28. Wassertil, pp. 84-85.
29. Lewinsky, p. 390, and
cf. Wassertil, p. 463.
30. Tosefta Pisha 10:9,
ed. Lieberman, p. 197 and cf. the parallel beraita in Bavli
Pesahim 109a. See Tosefta Kifshuta ad loc ., p. 653 for three
of the medieval explanations of this passage.
31. Bet
Habehira to Pesahim , ed. Klein, Jerusalem, 1966, pp. 231-232,
and note 300 ibid.; Rabbeinu Manoah to Maimonides ad loc ., ed.
Frankel, Jerusalem, 1975, p. 338.
32. Most of the sources
quoted below were collected by Tuvia Preschel in: Victor Sanua, ed. Fields
of Offerings: Studies in Honor of Raphael Patai , Cranbury , New Jersey
, 1983, Hebrew Section, pp. xvii-xx.
33. Therese and Mendel
Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages , Fribourg , Switzerland
, 1983, plate 378. The child appears to be a girl. This illustration is not
mentioned by Preschel.
34. Quoted by Preschel,
pp. xviii-xix. Regarding this Haggadah, see Yitzhak Yudelov, Otzar Hahaggadot ,
Jerusalem , 1997, p. 1.
35. The Hida, Ma'agal
Tov Hashalem, Berlin-Jerusalem, 1934, p. 62 = Preschel, p. xvii.
36. Benjamin II, (above,
note 19), Hebrew edition p. 126 = Preschel, ibid. = English edition, p. 328.
37. Lewinsky, p. 398 =
Preschel, pp. xvii-xviii.
38. R. Ya'akov Moshe Toledano, Ner
Hama'arav, Jerusalem , 1911, p. 215 (= Jerusalem , 1973, p. 303) =
Preschel, ibid.
39. Ida Cowen, Jews
in Remote Corners of the World , Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1971,
pp. 301, 309 = Preschel, ibid.
40. Wassertil, pp. 381,
441, 513, 516-527; Dobrinsky, p. 261.
41. R. Shemtob Gaguine, Keter
Shem Tob, Vol. 3, London , 1948, p. 129 = Preschel, ibid.
42. For an illustration
of that custom from northern Italy ca. 1450, see Rafael Weiser and Rivka
Plesser, eds., Treasures Revealed, Jerusalem , 2000, p. 64.
43. R. Moshe Pisanti, Hukkat
Hapesah , Salonika , 1569, fol. 8a = Preschel, p. xix.
45. This passage is quoted
from a manuscript by the Hida, Birkey Yosef to Orah Hayyim 473,
subpar. 12, Vienna , 1860, fol. 96a.
46. Quoted by the Hida,
ibid.
47. The Hida ibid. The
Hida is quoted in an abbreviated fashion by Kasher, p. 64 and by Avraham
Berliner, Ketavim Nivharim , Vol. 2, Jerusalem , 1949, p. 216.
48. Noam Zion and David
Dishon, A Different Night, Jerusalem , 1997, p. 113.
49. Quoted by Kasher, p.
61. Regarding this early Haggadah, see Yudelov (above, note 34), p. 1.
50. Sukkah 41b; Shabbat
33b; Shabbat 130a; Sotah 13a; Hullin 133a. For medieval halakhic literature,
see H. J. Zimmels, Ashkenazim and Sephardim , London , 1958, pp.
259-262.
51. Sheney Luhot Haberit, Part
II, p. 45, quoted by Zimmels, p. 261. I was not able to locate this passage
in the Shelah.
52. Yosef Ometz ,
Frankfurt am Main , 1928, p. 170, par. 774.
53. See Ben Ezra, pp. 239-241;
EJ, Vol. 2, col. 329; Philip Goodman, The Passover Anthology , Philadelphia
, 1973, pp. 378-379 for many different customs.
54. Ba'er Hetev to Orah
Hayyim 477, subpar. 4 and Magen Avraham to Orah Hayyim 500,
subpar. 7.
55. Kol Kitvey David
Frischmann , Vol. 2, Part 2, Warsaw - New York , 1929, pp. 21-30.
Rabbi Shmuel Avidor Hacohen referred me to this story; it is also referred
to by Ben Ezra, p. 240, note 25.
56. Wassertil, pp. 381,
514.
57. Ibid., p. 464.
57a. Ben Ezra, p. 240.
58. Kasher, pp. 177-180;
Goldschmidt, pp. 62-64; H. D. Chavel, Sinai 63 (1968), pp. 91-92;
Zekhariah Goren, Mehkerey Hag 6 (1995), pp. 95-96; Safrai (above,
note 2), pp. 174-176.
59. These and
the next two sources are taken from Sperber, Vol. 4, pp. 169-170, and Joseph
Guttman, “The
Messiah at the Seder”, in: Sh. Yeivin, ed., Studies in Jewish History… Presented
to Raphael Mahler, Merhavia, 1974, pp. 29-38. Regarding Margaritha,
see EJ, Vol. 11, cols. 958-959.
63. Haggadah shel Pesah
Lamaharal , London , 1960 = Jerusalem , 1971, pp. 154-155. The author
explains in his commentary Divrey Negidim (ibid.) that he himself
invented this custom.
63a. For a good survey
of R. Yudl Rosenberg's literary activity, see Shnayer Z. Leiman, Tradition 36/1
(Spring 2002), pp. 26-58. Regarding the haggadah which he attributed
to the Maharal, see ibid., note 27 and R. Abraham Benedict, Moriah 14/3-4
(Sivan 1985), pp. 102-113.
63b. For a survey of Shefokh
Hamatkha in Reform and Conservative haggadot , see Debra
Reed Blank, Conservative Judaism 40/2 (Winter 1987-88), pp. 73-86.
64. Regarding Leopold Stein,
see The Jewish Encyclopedia , Vol. 11, New York, 1905, p. 540;
Harry Ettelson, CCAR Yearbook 21 (1911), pp. 306-327; Jakob Petuchowski, Prayerbook
Reform in Europe , New York, 1968, pp. 155-159, 178-179, 235, 244ff.
257, 270ff., 281, 338-340; Robert Liberles, Leo Baeck Institute Year
Book 27 (1982), pp. 261-279.
65. Leopold Stein, Seder
Ha'avodah: Gebetbuch fur Israelitische Gemeinden, Vol. I, Manheim,
1882, p. 184. I copied this prayer from a secondary source many years ago.
The HUC Library in Cincinnati seems to possess the only extant copy of
this prayer book (see Petuchowski, above, note 64, p. 10), but it is now
stored at an off-site storage facility so I was unable to obtain a xerox
of the page in question. However, this type of emendation was typical of
Stein's liturgical reforms.
66. Hatza'ah L'seder ,
Tel Aviv, 2000, p. 105. Here is a translation: “Pour out your love on the
nations who know You, and on kingdoms who call Your name. For the good which
they do for the seed of Jacob, and they shield Your people Israel from their
enemies. May they merit to see the good of Your chosen, and to rejoice in
the joy of Your nation”. It was reprinted this year in Mishael and Noam Zion, Halayla
Hazah , Jerusalem , 2004, p. 120.
67. Naftali Ben-Menahem, Mahanayyim 80
(1963), p. 95.
68. Shlomo Rozner and Avraham
Rosenthal, Daf L'tarbut Yehudit 164 (Iyar Tamuz 5747-1987), p.
8; Zekharia Goren (above, note 58), pp. 97-98.
69. For his biography,
see Rabbi Meir Wunder, Me'orei Galicia , Vol. 1, Jerusalem , 1978,
cols. 502-506. My thanks to Rabbi Wunder and Prof. Ze'ev Gries for references
to literature about Bloch.
70. Regarding “the Kherson
genizah”, see Yizhak Refael, Sinai 81 (1977), pp. 129-150 (and
especially p. 137 for Rabbi Bloch's publications); Ze'ev Gries, Sefer
Sofer V'sippur B'reishit Hahassidut , Tel Aviv, 1992, p. 110, note 1;
Moshe Rosman, Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem
Tov , Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1996, pp. 123-125.
70a. Gershom Scholem, Kiryat
Sefer 1 (1924), pp. 105-106.
71. R. Hayyim Bloch, Dovev
Siftei Yesheinim , New York, 1959-1965. For previous articles by Bloch
on the same topic, see Alkoshi in the following note.
72. R. Shemuel Hacohen
Weingarten, Sinai 32 (1953), pp. 122-127; idem., Hasefer 3
(1955-1956), pp. 35-48; idem., Mikhtavim Mezuyafim Neged Haziyonut ,
Jerusalem , 1981: Gedalia Alkoshi, Moznayim 42 (1975-1976), pp.
212-215.
73. Ben Ezra, p. 245.
74. Herman Leder, Reisher
Yidn , Washington , D.C. , 1953, p. 73.
75. Scheiber, p. 6.
76. Regardiing Reb Arele,
see EJ, Vol. 14, cols. 325-326. I was told about this custom at one of the
lectures I delivered about Pesah customs. I have been unable to find any
written evidence of this custom.
7. D. Yehudah, Mahanayim 25
(1955), pp. 90-91; A. Malkiel, Duchan 8 (1966), pp. 55-59; Leah
Abramowitz, In Jerusalem , April 1, 1994 , p. 7.
Prof. David Golinkin
is the President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety. If you wish to abbreviate
the article, please contact Rabbi Golinkin at: golinklin@schechter.ac.il.
The opinions expressed here are the author’s and in no way reflect
an official policy of the Schechter Institute.
| 