The Torah-Level Mitzvos Performed on the Night of the Seder - Rabbi Michael Shlomo Avishid shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 In this class, we’ll discuss the laws of Pesach. We’re thirty days before the holiday, and there’s a well-known halacha in section 429 that we should study the laws of Pesach. So each of us should use our free time during these days to study them, and together we’ll try to do that as well. There are many laws of Pesach, but in this first class we’ll begin with the mitzvos connected to Seder night that are from the Torah. As you know, even cleaning for Pesach is not necessarily a Torah requirement, since we nullify the chametz, and once we do that, the chametz is essentially no longer ours. “No chametz shall be seen by you”—you may not see your own chametz, but you may see chametz belonging to others or that is ownerless. So according to Torah law, chametz lying in the house could be left there if we’ve nullified it. Anyone who has studied tractate Pesachim remembers the opening discussions of this subject. Why do we remove the chametz? Because we might come to eat it, as Tosafos says, or because the nullification might not have been wholehearted. But ultimately, the requirement not to keep chametz in the house is rabbinic. On this night, by contrast, we have mitzvos from the Torah, including some unusual ones, and those are what we’ll discuss in this first class. First, there’s the mitzvah of “You shall tell your son”—that is, to recount the Exodus from Egypt. Everyone has grappled with what’s new about this: throughout the year, including Seder night, we have a mitzvah to mention the Exodus from Egypt by day and by night. So what’s new about the mitzvah on Seder night? Many answers have been given. In his commentary on the Haggadah, the Rebbe himself brings some six answers. Among the best-known is that throughout the year, it’s enough to remember the Exodus from Egypt by day and by night, even in one’s heart, in thought. On Seder night, by contrast, it must be spoken aloud. Another major practical difference

02:41 Speaker 2 is that for the year-round mitzvah, it’s enough simply to mention the Exodus from Egypt, without going into detail. On Seder night, by contrast, we have a mitzvah to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt. And not only that—we have a mitzvah to do so all night, as everyone knows from the Mishnah we recite in the Haggadah: they told the story that night until the time came for the morning Shema. That’s why it’s ruled in the Shulchan Aruch, section 481, that we do not drink after the cups. It’s also known that we don’t even eat or drink, not even water, as the Alter Rebbe’s Siddur seems to indicate. One reason is not to lose the taste of the afikoman from our mouths. But regarding drinking, which shouldn’t interfere with the taste as much, the main concern is not to become intoxicated. Why? Because we need to recount the Exodus from Egypt until sleep overtakes us. Often we have opportunities to talk during the meal and afterward, when there are many guests in the house. We might want to stay at the table after the Seder, or sit on the sofa. It’s worth knowing that the Shulchan Aruch says that even during those hours, until we go to sleep, we should be occupied with telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt and its miracles and wonders. Or, as the Alter Rebbe also writes there in section 481, we can discuss the laws of Pesach too: anything connected to the laws of Pesach and the story of the Exodus is part of “You shall tell your son.” We are, in effect, engaging with the Exodus from Egypt. So we need to know that we have a mitzvah here, and it’s a Torah mitzvah. As is well known, the Alter Rebbe writes in section 60, in the laws of Shema, that when performing a positive Torah mitzvah, we must intend to fulfill our obligation, and that intention is indispensable. We can’t just perform a mitzvah out of habit, by rote, without

04:57 Speaker 2 thinking explicitly that we have a command from Hakadosh Boruch Hu that we must obey and carry out. For every Torah mitzvah, we need to intend to fulfill our obligation. In fact, the Alter Rebbe there also cites the Magen Avraham, who says that rabbinic mitzvos require intention too. The difference is that, after the fact, a lack of intention does not invalidate a rabbinic mitzvah, whereas for a Torah mitzvah it does. So it’s important to know that we have a Torah mitzvah to recount the Exodus from Egypt throughout that night, and the more we do so, the more fully and beautifully we fulfill it. I mentioned that this mitzvah is from the Torah. Still, it’s worth noting that the Alter Rebbe writes in section 472, paragraph 25, that women are obligated on this night just as men are. This is a principle that will be very important later in the class: on Seder night, a woman is obligated in all the mitzvos. With prohibitions, that’s straightforward—a woman is obligated in all the Pesach prohibitions. But it’s also true of the positive mitzvos of Seder night, without exception. Everything said about a man applies to a woman too. The difference, he says, is that her obligation is rabbinic. That’s because the positive mitzvos the Torah specifies for Seder night, such as recounting the Exodus from Egypt, are time-bound positive mitzvos, from which women are exempt. So why is a woman obligated? As he brings, there are several early authorities and several opinions on this. The Alter Rebbe gives the reason that women, too, were part of that miracle, and therefore they must recount the Exodus from Egypt. This clearly implies that, according to the Alter Rebbe, a woman’s obligation to recount the Exodus—whether by reciting or listening to the Haggadah—is rabbinic, because women, too, were part of that miracle. Of course, the words of the Sages are weightier than the words of the Torah, and their words are precious. So women must fulfill the mitzvah properly, no less than men do. I just wanted to note that for

07:00 Speaker 2 a woman, this obligation is rabbinic. Eating matzah, by contrast, is of course a Torah obligation, and we’ll discuss it later in the class. The Alter Rebbe emphasizes there, in paragraph 25, that a woman is certainly obligated by the Torah to eat matzah, even though it’s a time-bound positive mitzvah, because the verse links it to the prohibition against eating chametz. Since the prohibition against eating chametz applies to her, so does the positive mitzvah to eat matzah on Seder night. Since reciting the Haggadah is a positive mitzvah—Torah-mandated for men and rabbinic for women—it must be done properly, the way one fulfills a mitzvah. There’s even a halacha in section 473, paragraph 48, where the Alter Rebbe writes that one must recite the Haggadah and Hallel. Reciting Hallel while seated is itself a significant exception. Hallel is important, and it would be fitting to say it standing. But the Sages wanted everything done on this night to be done in a manner expressing freedom. As the Alter Rebbe explains at the beginning of section 472 regarding reclining, all the practices of this night must express freedom, so they permitted us to sit for Hallel. But permission to recite Hallel seated certainly doesn’t mean we can say it slouched over on our side or in some other improper posture. Sorry—rather, it must be recited with awe and reverence. That is the wording of the holy Shelah, cited in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. So this is an important detail: the entire Haggadah is recited seriously, sitting properly, not slouched over on one’s side, so that we observe this halacha as we should. When you look at sections 472 and 473, it seems clear from the Shulchan Aruch in general and the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch that usually the person leading the Haggadah is the one who recites it and holds the Seder plate; no one else at the table holds one, even

09:10 Speaker 2 The men who are invited, the children, and the girls too. The host holds the Seder plate, distributes the food, and recites the Haggadah. That is what the Shulchan Aruch says. In practice, the custom is a little different. Everyone says the Haggadah quietly, but the host—or at least one of the people present—must certainly say it aloud, as the Arizal emphasizes. Once, the Rebbe was at a table where they were saying the Haggadah quietly, and the Rebbe pointed out this halachah, that it needs to be said aloud. That is the custom in Jewish homes: one person, usually the host, says it aloud, though sometimes they divide up the passages. But even when one person reads aloud, the custom today is for every person to say the Haggadah quietly as well. There is a very important halachah here. We have a mitzvah to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt in detail, and one way to fulfill it is by reciting the Haggadah oneself. So in section 473, paragraph 42, there is a clear halachah that people need to understand the passages. In the Holy Land, that is sometimes not so difficult, because Hebrew is their native language. But women and children, and often men outside Israel as well, do not always understand the Hebrew well enough. So it says that they need to understand. The Alter Rebbe even writes there that if a child is capable of understanding the entire Haggadah, it should all be explained to the child. In other words, this is not just an extra stringency. Baruch Hashem, we often see in Jewish homes that some passages are translated into English, French, or other languages. We need to realize that this is part of the halachos of the Seder Haggadah: people need to understand the passages they say. There is a question that often comes up for shluchim who have very large crowds attending their Seders in different parts of the world. We do not always have the option of saying the entire

11:22 Speaker 2 Haggadah and having everyone stay to fulfill the mitzvah. After all, there is a clear halachah in Shulchan Aruch, section 472, that you cannot simply have someone drink the four cups one after another, eat a kezayis, and thereby fulfill the obligation. Each cup needs to be drunk in its proper context. This one is for Kiddush, this one is for that part of Hallel, this one is during Maggid, and so on. Each has its place; this is the cup for Birkas Hamazon. So every shliach should know the halachah in section 473, paragraph 43, where the Alter Rebbe writes what the essential enactment of the Pesach Haggadah was and which passages are so important that they cannot be omitted. That can also guide those who say the entire Haggadah as to where to pay particular attention and where to place emphasis when translating. The list is there. I think people may even have put together booklets with an abridged Haggadah, arranging the cups around particular passages: “We were slaves to Pharaoh” through the end of that first passage; then the passage beginning “Our ancestors were idol worshippers” through the end of “An Aramean sought to destroy my father”; and then the passage of Rabban Gamliel, from “This matzah that we eat—why?” through the blessing “Who redeemed Israel.” These passages shorten the Haggadah considerably, and sometimes shluchim have no choice but to be familiar with this option. Since this is also a Torah mitzvah, and the Torah mitzvah applies on this night—meaning from nightfall—there is a clear halachah, with virtually no disagreement in Shulchan Aruch or its commentaries at the beginning of section 472, including in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch: the Seder must begin only after nightfall. Kiddush must be made only after

13:28 Speaker 2 nightfall. We know that on Shabbos and Yom Tov, one can generally make Kiddush before nightfall, daven Maariv before nightfall, and do other things then, because one may add from the weekday to the holy day. There is no problem with that. True, the Alter Rebbe writes at the beginning of section 267 that there is reason to take account of the Shelah’s view, that even if a person ate before nightfall, they should eat a kezayis after nightfall. But according to the basic halachah, one may begin before nightfall. Of course, in Chabad we do not generally follow that practice during the year. The Lubavitch custom is to daven Maariv at its proper time, even though the Alter Rebbe writes otherwise. That is the Lubavitch custom, and sometimes we even daven at the proper time at the expense of davening with a minyan, as we learn from the Tzemach Tzedek at the beginning of his Chiddushim on Tractate Berachos. Eating, too, is generally done after nightfall. But according to the basic halachah, it is permitted to begin earlier, and shluchim sometimes make use of that during the year. On Seder night, however, there is a clear halachah. It was not stated regarding Maariv—that is more a subject the poskim discuss in the laws of Shavuos, in section 494. But regarding Seder night, the point emphasized in the name of the Terumas Hadeshen, and ruled by the Taz, the Mechaber—the Taz, the Magen Avraham, excuse me—the Alter Rebbe, and everyone else, is that Kiddush, as part of the Seder, and the Haggadah as well, must all take place after nightfall. Sometimes a shliach may find this difficult because of the hours in his country: nightfall is rather late, and even reciting the abridged passages of the Haggadah would take them late into the evening. He worries that they will not be able to reach many Jews. First of all, one should not be quick to rely on leniencies in this matter. Always consider whether fewer people would really come if the Haggadah began at the proper time in an abridged form. At most, arrange Maariv for them a little earlier and begin the Seder

15:33 Speaker 2 right at nightfall. Doing it in an abridged form is certainly preferable, because that is the ruling in Shulchan Aruch, section 472, without disagreement, and that is how the Alter Rebbe and all the other authorities rule. But sometimes, on the ground, it really can happen that we would miss out on reaching a great many Jews. As is well known, it is specifically in the laws of Pesach that the Shulchan Aruch has a section I call the “mivtzoim section”: section 484. How do you conduct a Seder for other people? There is an entire section of Shulchan Aruch devoted just to that. So if it is clear that, in practice, people will have difficulty arranging a Seder that begins only after nightfall, and that people may leave before they can fulfill the mitzvah, one can ask a rav about the specific circumstances and obtain some leniency—at least to begin the initial parts, including Kiddush—while certainly making sure that the eating of matzah takes place at night. This would rely on individual poskim who are not cited in the commentaries on Shulchan Aruch. The Chasam Sofer, on page 99 of Tractate Pesachim, understands the discussion to mean that there is, in fact, no problem with beginning the meal before nightfall. There is also the view of the Tashbetz, known as the Rashbatz of Algeria, one of the great poskim, who likewise wrote that this is permitted. So sometimes, with special permission and in consultation with a rav who considers the circumstances on the ground, it is possible to obtain some leniency. But as we said, we are now discussing the mitzvah of the Haggadah, and according to the basic halachah, the Haggadah must be said after nightfall, like the other mitzvos of the night, including Kiddush and eating matzah. In principle, it must all be done during this night. There is another topic we will address now in the class: another positive Torah mitzvah, the mitzvah of eating matzah. And this time, as I mentioned earlier, in section 472, paragraph 25, the Alter Rebbe writes that a woman, too, is obligated by the Torah to eat a kezayis of matzah on this night. “In the evening you shall eat matzos,” as

17:50 Speaker 2 As stated in the Gemara on page 120, at the end of Pesachim. True, there is an opinion of one of the Tannaim that it is not obligatory nowadays. But in practice, the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch rule that it is, and all the halachic authorities without exception agree that we have a mitzvah from the Torah. So this mitzvah, too, requires intention. True, the Shulchan Aruch says in siman 475 that because this is a mitzvah of eating, even if a person did not intend to fulfill the mitzvah, as long as he knew that this night was Seder night, that is enough to fulfill his obligation. He does not need explicit intention to fulfill it. But as Jews, we always want to do things properly from the outset, so it is worth thinking explicitly that we are fulfilling a mitzvah from the Torah when we eat the kezayis of matzah. So in this class we will discuss exactly how to fulfill this mitzvah, because people often find it difficult to work out how to do it in practice. We have several opportunities to eat matzah on Seder night: Motzi Matzah at the beginning, korech, and the afikoman. We will talk about all of them. But first, what most often leaves people uncertain is the beginning: the first kezayis, the first two kezaysim eaten at Motzi Matzah—how to eat them, how much time to take, and how to divide them up. So we will go into all the details. Of course, this is a subject one could discuss for hours, because so many of the Rishonim take different approaches: starting with Rashi in Arvei Pesachim and the Rashbam there—his grandson also has a commentary on Arvei Pesachim—and Rabbeinu Chananel, the Rosh, the Rambam, and the Semak. There is a great deal of discussion on this subject. Do we need lechem mishneh, as we do every Shabbos and Yom Tov, as stated in siman 274 and on page 129 in the halachic authorities? How exactly do we do it?

20:02 Speaker 2 What is primary here? Over what do we say the blessing of hamotzi? Is it over the lechem mishneh, the top matzah? Or is it over the broken matzah? After all, our Sages generally teach that the matzos must be “the bread of affliction,” and one interpretation of that is the bread of a poor person. “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” A poor person usually cannot get a whole loaf, a whole matzah; during the year, he is generally given pieces of bread. So that raises questions. Perhaps we do not need lechem mishneh at all this time, or perhaps we need only one and a half matzos, or two matzos with a half in the middle. There are many, many approaches among the Rishonim, so it is a very long subject. Even in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch and among the other halachic authorities, siman 475 presents several opinions before giving the final halachic ruling. We will focus mainly on that halachic conclusion: first, what the Shulchan Aruch says should be done from the outset, and what it suggests when that is difficult. Then we will see that in practice we do things a little differently, look at why, and be as practical as possible in offering advice on how to do it correctly. Siman 475 explains that when we reach Motzi Matzah, the head of the household and everyone else wash their hands. We will focus first on the head of the household, and then on the others at the Seder. The head of the household needs to eat two kezaysim. Why two? Because the Rishonim disagree about which matzah is the primary one for fulfilling the Torah mitzvah of eating the first kezayis. According to some opinions, the top matzah is for hamotzi, while the second matzah is for the mitzvah of the night, eating matzah. The first is for lechem mishneh,

22:09 Speaker 2 as we do with lechem mishneh. And the middle matzah—we should remember that it was broken near the beginning of the Seder: Kadesh, Urchatz, Karpas, Yachatz. At Yachatz, we broke the matzah into two pieces. The larger piece is kept for the afikoman at the end of the meal; according to Chabad custom, it is broken into five pieces, corresponding to the gevuros that we seek to sweeten. What remains is the smaller piece of the middle matzah. So when we reach Motzi Matzah, we have two whole matzos on the Seder plate, with the smaller piece of the broken middle matzah between them. When the head of the household says hamotzi, he puts his fingers into the Seder plate and holds all three matzos between them: the top, middle, and bottom matzos. He says the blessing of hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz, because we need lechem mishneh. He holds the middle matzah too, because according to some opinions among the Rishonim, hamotzi may apply to it as well. When he reaches the blessing over eating matzah, he lets go of the bottom matzah—it is held between his fingers, let’s say below his little finger—and holds only the top and middle matzos while saying the blessing over eating matzah. Now the question is how he should eat them. First of all—and this concerns everyone—there is the time limit. That relates to how we eat the matzah. Usually, when we discuss how long one has to eat a given amount, we think of the time called kedei achilas pras. There are opinions that it is four minutes, others that it is nine minutes, and others that it is six minutes. Rabbi Chaim Naeh’s opinion of four minutes is often publicized. But it is worth publicizing, and being careful, to eat it within three minutes, following the report in the name of Rabbi Eliezer of [unclear], who heard from [unclear] that, according to the Tzemach Tzedek, it is three minutes. So from the outset, one should eat it within three minutes. That is generally the standard for kedei achilas pras. We will go into the details later, because some aspects are rabbinic and others are from the Torah. But for a Torah obligation, one should certainly be careful to keep to three minutes from the outset; if not, there is the six-minute period.

24:28 Speaker 2 Six minutes is given in the responsa of the Tzemach Tzedek, and it is a second option for someone who has difficulty. There is also a measure of nine minutes. We will return to this later; it depends on what is written in siman 612, in the laws of Yom Kippur. The Alter Rebbe cites the opinions of Rashi and the Rambam on what the measure of kedei achilas pras actually is: the time it takes to eat three eggs’ worth or four eggs’ worth. For a Torah obligation, we follow the stricter opinion; for a rabbinic obligation, we follow the more lenient one. This makes a practical difference when eating matzah, because not every time we eat matzah that night is a Torah obligation. The first kezayis is from the Torah; the other kezaysim are rabbinic, as the Alter Rebbe writes explicitly in siman 458, se’if 11. The practical implication is that korech and the afikoman are rabbinic obligations, so we apply the rules for rabbinic obligations, not the stringencies that apply to Torah obligations. We will see how to put that into practice. So, generally, for a Torah obligation, the measure of kedei achilas pras is about three minutes from the outset, or six minutes. For someone who is ill and finds it very difficult, it is sometimes possible to allow nine minutes. But there is another detail here on this night. There is

26:17 Speaker 2 The idea is that you have to eat it all at once. That means swallowing the entire kezayis at once: chew it, break it down in your mouth, and only after that swallow the kezayis in one go. This is also brought in the Magen Avraham regarding maror and korech, and the Alter Rebbe brings it in siman 475 as well, not only regarding the matzah there. So here, too, it says about all of them that they must be eaten with a single swallow, all at once. Everyone asks: Where did this idea come from? Eating normally counts together as long as it is within the time it takes to eat a pras. Why is there now an additional requirement to actually eat it all at once? Some want to say that it is because of the obligations of the mitzvah. The Vilna Gaon wanted to derive it from the discussion in Pesachim 114, which says that if one ate matzah in halves, he has fulfilled his obligation. What does “fulfilled his obligation” mean? That bedi’eved, if he ate half the matzah and then the other half within the time it takes to eat a pras, he has fulfilled his obligation. That implies that lechatchilah, one should not eat it in halves; one should eat it all at once. In the end, the Shulchan Aruch puts it this way: Since we recited the blessings of Hamotzi and Al Achilas Matzah, we do not want an interruption between the matzos. Strictly speaking, Hamotzi applies to the upper matzah and Al Achilas Matzah to the lower one, but because there is a difference of opinion, we take all views into account. So to satisfy all views, the Shulchan Aruch says to put both kezaysim into your mouth together, chew them, and then swallow what you have chewed in two swallows: first one kezayis all at once, and then the other. There is an extensive discussion in the Alter Rebbe and among the poskim generally—this is also brought in the Beis Yosef—about whether you literally have to put both kezaysim into your mouth at once, or whether you put them in gradually

28:18 Speaker 2 without swallowing anything, then chew everything thoroughly and swallow one kezayis in a single swallow, followed by the other kezayis. Is that what it means, or does it mean literally putting both kezaysim into your mouth at once? Today, certainly, with our matzos being thin wafers—as stated in siman 461, this has long been the custom—our matzos are thin. Strictly speaking, matzos can be up to a tefach thick, so they could even resemble a thick laffa. Then it is much easier to picture what the early authorities were talking about: being able to put that much in your mouth, chew it and swallow it together. Today, by contrast, they are thin wafers, and they are also hard and spread over a larger area, so clearly it is very difficult to do this. There is therefore a disagreement about whether you must literally put it all into your mouth at once, or put it in a little at a time and then chew it all in your mouth. Today it does not make much difference to discuss who is right. I have an opinion on the matter, but Rabbi Ashkenazi’s son wrote that you must actually put it all in at once. Others understand the Alter Rebbe differently. I remember that when articles on this came out some twenty years ago or more, [unclear] also wrote about it. Everyone debates it, but there is little point in dwelling on it, because ultimately that is not what we do in practice, and it is not practical either. Still, we first have to say what is written in the Shulchan Aruch. The Shulchan Aruch tells us to take the two kezaysim. Let us use the second explanation, that they do not have to be put in

30:01 Speaker 2 all at once. That, too, is not really practicable: you put them in little by little, chewing as you go but swallowing nothing. Once both kezaysim have gradually entered your mouth, you chew them thoroughly and swallow one kezayis all at once, followed by the other. That is what it says. It then says that if this is difficult—because it is difficult to chew two kezaysim in your mouth—there is another approach: first chew just one kezayis from the upper matzah, to which the blessing of Hamotzi primarily applies. So you begin with the upper matzah. You eat one kezayis, and when you have finished it, you put in the kezayis from the middle matzah, chew it and swallow it all at once. That is the second approach offered in the Shulchan Aruch. In practice, we do not do that either. It is difficult too. Since we do not do it that way, and cannot swallow everything at once—and swallowing everything at once, even a single kezayis, is not the way it is customarily done—what we do is take the upper matzah and, this is the most practical way, take the middle matzah. After reciting the blessings, as we explained earlier, we eat them together like a sandwich. Of course, the kezaysim of matzah—both for Hamotzi and Al Achilas Matzah, and for korech and afikoman—must be eaten while reclining. Regarding reclining, and this will also be relevant to the coming classes, we should note that the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch says: “He should prepare his seat.” It is not that a person simply arrives and assumes there will immediately be a comfortable place for him. He has to prepare it and think about it while it is still daytime: how can he arrange to recline properly? Because there is a halachah that if

32:00 Speaker 2 it does not count as reclining, then according to halachah he has not fulfilled his obligation and must repeat it. Bedi’eved, one repeats the first kezayis of matzah, and also the second cup of wine. If one had in mind when drinking the first cup that he could drink more afterward, then he can repeat the first cup too. But in principle, strictly speaking, what it says is that one repeats the second cup and the first kezayis. By contrast, regarding afikoman, in siman 477, and korech, in siman 475, it says that bedi’eved, if we did not eat them while reclining, it is not a problem. But reclining is very important for the first kezayis of Hamotzi matzah, so we need to know what it means. You recline to the left. Sometimes the best thing is to take a chair with an armrest on the left, perhaps add a cushion for comfort, and lean slightly in a comfortable position. Leaning on the table like this can sometimes be even worse: you end up eating or drinking uncomfortably, and there are questions about whether you fulfill your obligation at all that way. If a person at least turns to the side and leans a little, that can work and may be more comfortable. But we simply need to observe this halachah in the Shulchan Aruch: “He should prepare his seat.” A person should think about how to sit comfortably while eating. So he reclines to the left, as we said, takes the upper matzah and the middle matzah, and eats them together like a sandwich, little by little. He must eat both kezaysim within one period of the time it takes to eat a pras. Since we cannot manage to swallow them all at once, we can at least ensure that they count together. Why does the Shulchan Aruch

33:52 Speaker 2 The suggestion is that if you can’t do that, you should eat a kezayis from the top matzah and a kezayis from the bottom one separately? That’s on the assumption that we could at least swallow it all at once. But if even that is difficult, then today we do something else. Swallowing it all at once isn’t really possible for us. So what can we at least do? Rely on the long-accepted rule that when you eat the amount within the time allowed for eating a pras—within three minutes—it all counts together. Or six minutes, as we said, if three is difficult. So that’s the practical way to eat the matzah while reclining. Now, how much matzah do we actually eat? In siman 486 it says explicitly that the measure is by volume. There is a very well-known disagreement between the Rambam and the Mordechai: is a kezayis half an egg, or a third of an egg, or a little more? Since there is a disagreement, the Alter Rebbe rules clearly that in matters of Torah law we must be stringent. The first kezayis is certainly a Torah obligation, so we must be stringent and make it the volume of half an egg, not a third. By contrast, for rabbinic obligations—as we mentioned regarding siman 475, se’if 14—according to halachah, as [unclear] explains at length in [unclear], once we’ve eaten a kezayis, whether from the top matzah, the middle matzah, or the two together, we have fulfilled the Torah obligation. So at least one kezayis must be half an egg. The other kezaysim can be a third of an egg in volume. The same applies to maror, which nowadays is a rabbinic obligation, as we’ll see in the next class: its measure is also a third of an egg. Only for a berachah after eating, where in a case of doubt we refrain from reciting the berachah, are we stringent and require half an egg. Anyone who

35:46 Speaker 2 wants to see the details can look at siman 486. It’s not such a long siman. Since this is a measure of volume, the amounts are clearly much smaller than people think. The matzos for the Seder aren’t machine-made; they’re shmurah matzos. In Chabad, we don’t eat machine-made matzos at all—not even giving them to the youngest children, as the Rebbe emphasized several times. Since handmade matzos each come out a little different, you can’t give an exact measure. But the stringent Torah measure works out to roughly a quarter of an average matzah. I’m including extra grams for what might remain between the teeth and not get swallowed within three minutes—or sometimes get stuck there for quite a while. So if you want an amount that will cover all opinions, it’s about fifteen grams. It’s true that the figure often publicized for a kezayis of matzah is twenty-seven, or even twenty-nine to thirty grams. Many Sephardim follow that practice too, based on the Kaf HaChayim and others, who gave the measure in dirhams, which works out to twenty-seven grams. But I certainly don’t want to overturn established practice. Everyone should follow their custom and their rabbis. I know Rabbi Ginzburg always publicizes the larger measure of thirty grams, so everyone should follow their practice. I’m only giving my opinion, and that of several important Chabad rabbis who measure by volume. There is also a report, cited in Piskei Teshuvos, that even Rabbi Chaim Naeh spoke with

37:39 Speaker 2 Rabbi Auerbach, a”h, before his death and told him that he had probably given a measure that was too large. But these are all things we’ve heard secondhand. Everyone should follow their rabbis. I think I’ve stated my view: it’s about fifteen grams, roughly a quarter of a matzah. For the other matzos, even the second kezayis, you can go lower—to about a sixth of a matzah. But of course these aren’t exact measures. What you should do is prepare and weigh the kezaysim in advance. In Chabad, the custom, as the Pri Megadim writes in siman 486, is to set up the Seder plate just before Kiddush, not earlier. But you can certainly select the matzos and prepare the kezaysim for everyone at the table, which we’ll discuss shortly, while it is still day. You can weigh out fifteen grams of matzah. For the other kezaysim, including afikoman, you can use even less: about a sixth of a regular matzah, which is around ten grams. As for the time allowed to eat it, the Alter Rebbe writes in siman 612 that for rabbinic obligations there is more time for eating a pras, so you can go almost up to nine minutes. But if someone wants to be careful to eat quickly and knows they can manage it, why not? Let them eat it in three minutes, or in six. We do, though, have easier options here. Everything said above concerns the matzah eaten by the head of the household. What about everyone else at the table? First, to remove any doubt: although some books have written that the custom for women is different and one can be more lenient, the Alter Rebbe states as clearly as day in siman 472, se’if 25, that women are no less obligated than men in all the mitzvos of this night. Therefore, the whole question found among the Rishonim—in Rashi, the Rashbam, the Semak, and all the opinions cited here—which led us to conclude that one must eat a kezayis from the top matzah and a kezayis from the middle matzah, certainly applies to women too. It also says clearly in siman 473, se’if 24, that the head of the household distributes portions from his kezaysim to everyone. It says there that he distributes the maror and the matzos. There is also the halachah in siman 458, se’if 10, where the Alter Rebbe writes that the middle matzah must be larger than all the others. Why? Because it must provide two kezaysim for those at the table: a kezayis for Motzi Matzah and a kezayis for afikoman. So this is clear from what is said in the Shulchan Aruch; there was no need to emphasize it. The Rishonim didn’t need to spell out that the same thing must be distributed to the others. What you eat, you must distribute to them. In fact, we do find it stated explicitly. Anyone looking for sources can see the Kol Bo, which discusses this, and even the Raavyah, who is cited briefly in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. These are important early sources. Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yoel HaLevi, known by the name of his work Avi HaEzri or Avi Asaf—people know these works from the laws of niddah—and the well-known Raavyah is also cited in the laws of Shabbos. He was the teacher of Rabbi Yitzchak of Vienna, who in turn taught Rabbi Yitzchak, the teacher of the Maharam of Rothenburg—a chain of important Tosafists. In any case, it says there explicitly, without any doubt, that one must distribute a kezayis from the top matzah and a kezayis from the middle matzah as well. A kezayis is distributed to everyone; it’s straightforward. So the Shulchan Aruch didn’t

39:36 Speaker 2 The Alter Rebbe says it as clearly as day in section 472, paragraph 25: women are no less obligated than men in all the mitzvos of this night. So all the questions raised by the Rishonim—Rashi, Rashbam, the Semak, and all the opinions cited here—through which we reached the conclusion that one must eat a kezayis from the top matzah and a kezayis from the middle matzah, certainly apply to women as well. It also says clearly in section 473, paragraph 24, that the head of the household distributes portions from his kezaysim to everyone. It says there that he distributes the maror and the matzos. There is also the halachah in section 458, paragraph 10, where the Alter Rebbe writes that the middle matzah must be larger than all the others. Why? Because, he writes, one needs to distribute two kezaysim to those at the Seder: a kezayis for Motzi Matzah and a kezayis for the afikoman. So it is clear that the Shulchan Aruch did not need to spell this out, and the Rishonim did not need to spell out that the same portions must be distributed to everyone else. What you eat, you must distribute to the others. In the end, though, we did find it stated explicitly. For anyone looking, there is the Kol Bo, which discusses it, and it is even in the Raavyah and cited briefly in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. These are important sources among the Rishonim: Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yoel Halevi, known by the name of his work, Avi HaEzri or Avi Asaf. Everyone knows these works, including in the laws of niddah, and there is also the well-known Raavyah, including in the laws of Shabbos. He was the teacher of Rabbi Yitzchak of Vienna, who was himself the teacher of Rabbi Yitzchak, who taught the Maharam of Rothenburg—a chain of important Tosafists. So it says there explicitly, without any doubt, that one must distribute a kezayis from the top matzah and a kezayis from the middle matzah. The kezaysim are distributed to everyone, and that is straightforward. So the Shulchan Aruch did not have to

41:35 Speaker 2 We need to say this. The Alter Rebbe already said in siman 472, section 25, that all these requirements apply to everyone. The problem is practical. A woman also needs to eat a kezayis from the upper matzah, to account for the possibility that the hamotzi was actually said over the upper matzah and the mitzvah of eating matzah applies to the lower one, or vice versa, according to the Semak. So she, too, needs to receive a kezayis from the upper matzah and a kezayis from the middle one from the head of the household. The question is whether we have enough. First of all, baruch Hashem, we often have sons at the Seder. When sons are present, the Chabad custom is not like what is written in the Shulchan Aruch, that only the head of the household has a Seder plate. The Chabad custom is that every boy over bar mitzvah has a Seder plate. And often, everyone knows their own children—how much they want one and how much they love having a Seder plate. So each one wants a Seder plate and wants the matzos, and they are the first to choose the matzos. So in practice, it is very common for children to have Seder plates too, although strictly speaking, only the head of the household needs one. And as we said, the established custom is that at least every boy over bar mitzvah has a Seder plate. So if there are several sons at home, we have options. The first solution concerns the kezayis from the upper matzah, which we eat to account for the view that the mitzvah of eating matzah is fulfilled with it. Since, as we said, a kezayis is a quarter of a matzah, the head of the household certainly has enough to share. He can take a quarter of the upper matzah for himself and divide nearly another two or three portions among other people. So there is his wife and perhaps daughters, and now he does not have enough for everyone. But there are other sons at the table who can also share a kezayis from their upper matzah with them. As for the lower matzah, that really will be difficult, because

43:42 Speaker 2 with the lower matzah, the larger piece went to the afikoman and the smaller piece remained. But since we said that a kezayis is a quarter of a matzah—and, according to Torah law, one can fulfill the obligation with as little as a sixth of a matzah—we can manage here too, to some extent. And if we cannot, many people do the following, and here it is less of an issue: the point of eating from the upper matzah is to include the lechem mishneh. So we have more or less taken care of the lechem mishneh. The head of the household can share with at least two or three people, including himself, and the other sons can share as well. As for the kezayis from the middle matzah, if there is not enough, one can prepare bags containing a kezayis of matzah before Yom Tov. After all, it is eaten not because of lechem mishneh, but because it is a broken piece—lechem oni, the bread of poverty. And she has a broken piece too. So a woman also eats both kezaysim. Of course, for young children who find it hard to eat two kezaysim, the basic law says that if a person has difficulty—in both senses of the word—eating both kezaysim, then what is essential under Torah law is one kezayis at motzi matzah. But anyone who is old enough to be trained in the mitzvah and can eat both kezaysim should do so. What is clear, though, is that sometimes people take two kezaysim of cut matzah in bags so that, say, a woman can take them from the box rather than from the Seder plate—the husband has not given her any—and eat two kezaysim of matzah because that is what the Haggadah says. That really is not the right thing to do, because it accomplishes nothing. The whole reason for eating a kezayis from the matzah over which hamotzi was said is

45:39 Speaker 2 to account for the opinion that one must eat a kezayis from the lechem mishneh. But this piece was not part of the lechem mishneh. She simply took a piece of matzah. Even if she takes a whole matzah from the box and breaks off a piece, it was not included in the lechem mishneh, so there is no point in doing that. And indeed, if there is not enough for everyone, there is no reason to eat two arbitrary kezaysim of matzah. What matters is eating a kezayis of matzah, because the primary opinion is that the mitzvah of eating matzah is fulfilled with this matzah, the broken middle one. But as I said, there are often solutions. Some people, even when there is no other solution, distribute additional sets of three whole matzos, and each person holds them—or at least holds them for the lechem mishneh. All right, that is not so customary among us, and there is no need to introduce that practice specifically. But we have mentioned the available solutions. The question that remains is when to distribute the matzah. The head of the household also has to eat it quickly, ideally within three minutes, and he has said the blessings of hamotzi and al achilas matzah over it. So it would seem that he should start eating as soon as possible. As the Alter Rebbe writes explicitly in siman 167, contrary to the Rema’s view that one may distribute the bread to those at the table before the head of the household tastes it, the Alter Rebbe says no. In section 20 of siman 167, I think, he says that the head of the household must taste it first and then distribute it. But many halachic authorities have said that, since we have a problem here and this is necessary for eating matzah—so that everyone can eat it within the required time of achilas pras—perhaps there is a special allowance here, and perhaps even [unclear] would agree that we may distribute it. So now that we have said what we are distributing, let us say that

47:31 Speaker 2 there is at least a kezayis from the upper matzah. Sometimes he does not distribute from the middle matzah, but as I said, in that case the women or the others at the table can at least take a kezayis of matzah from a bag prepared beforehand. But should he distribute the kezayis from the upper matzah? After all, on Shabbos too, we always distribute from the lechem mishneh. So it is certainly worthwhile to distribute from the lechem mishneh, and we said that when there are several sons, it is possible to distribute several portions from their upper matzos. Should we do that beforehand? Some want to say that this time it is permitted, because it is needed for eating matzah. We see many similar things here with kiddush bemakom seudah—the requirement to make kiddush where the meal is eaten. Kiddush is made at the beginning, and sometimes hours pass before the meal continues. But as Reb Chaim writes, and as everyone has written, everyone asked how we fulfill kiddush bemakom seudah when there are seemingly such long interruptions. The answer is that it is all for the sake of the Seder, so it is permitted. There are opinions like that. To really resolve the problem here, in my humble opinion, we also need to add another consideration. Do the people at the table—for example, the women who hear the head of the household on Shabbos and Yom Tov as well as on Seder night—fulfill their obligation through his blessings of hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz and al achilas matzah? Or, when they receive their piece or begin to eat, do they say hamotzi themselves during the year, and both hamotzi and al achilas matzah on Seder night? The Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch does rule like the Magen Avraham, in siman 274 and in several other places, that women fulfill their obligation when only the head of the household says hamotzi. It says this elsewhere as well. In practice, we know that this is not the Chabad custom. There is also a letter from the Rebbe on this subject. It is based on the Eshel Avraham of Buczacz—not the Pri Megadim, but

49:26 Speaker 2 The second one, who was a chossid, explicitly writes that the custom is to recite Hamotzi. So for women who do not recite Hamotzi, that could change the ruling, and sometimes it really is best to distribute matzah to them beforehand. But if they do recite Hamotzi, it is less of a problem for them, since they have not fulfilled their obligation through his blessing. Of course, that raises a question: How can they recite their own blessing over the food and still fulfill the obligation of lechem mishneh through him? After all, if they fulfill the obligation of lechem mishneh through him, that means they are relying on the head of the household’s bread. But as the Eshel Avraham says, and as the Rebbe also explains, the two can be treated separately: they can fulfill the obligation of lechem mishneh through the head of the household without fulfilling the obligation of the blessing over the food through him. There are reasons for the custom of reciting Hamotzi oneself. So since women today, including in our communities, generally recite both Hamotzi and Al Achilas Matzah when they receive their portion, as is customary on Shabbos and Yom Tov, it is not such a serious problem if they sometimes have to wait. That is one explanation. But since we have already spent a long time on this subject, here is what can be done: To take all the opinions into account, including what the Rav wrote in section 167, the head of the household takes a kezayis from the top matzah and a kezayis from the middle one. He can leave the rest of the top matzah there, and each woman already has the kezayis she prepared for herself in a bag from the broken middle matzah, as we said. Often, as we mentioned, the head of the household does not have enough to distribute to the daughters, so they can take it themselves. He can simply take about a quarter of the top matzah, leaving three-quarters on the table. Then everyone can share it: the daughters can take from the matzah so that they, too, taste

51:30 Speaker 2 and take some of the top matzah, either from the head of the household or from the brothers who are at home. That is the best way to avoid any interruption. The head of the household can start eating immediately while they take their portions. He will not distribute it himself as he usually does, so as not to lose time. It is best not to get entangled in this halachah by making too long an interruption, especially since we recited Al Achilas Matzah after Hamotzi, and it has already been some time since Hamotzi. So he should eat, and they should take their portions. That is regarding the kezayis of matzah. We will just finish up. That was about the matzah of Maggid, of Motzi Matzah. Afterward there is also korech, which we also eat while reclining. There, too, one must eat a kezayis, but by then there is not so much of a problem. When we recite Hamotzi Lechem Min Haaretz and Al Achilas Matzah, we have in mind the matzah in korech and in afikoman as well. That is why there is a very important halachah in Shulchan Aruch: we do not speak about anything unrelated between eating the matzah of Motzi Matzah and eating korech. Some opinions say not to speak even until afikoman, but that would make it impossible to talk during the meal. The Rebbe himself noted that doing so would be an excessive stringency, and the Shulchan Aruch discusses this as well. So we are not stringent to that extent, but it does say that when reciting Al Achilas Matzah, we should have korech and afikoman in mind too. We must remember not to speak between eating the matzah after Hamotzi and korech. Often people speak casually: we finish eating the two kezaysim in three minutes and are so happy that we managed it

53:32 Speaker 2 that we start chatting about it. But that is no laughing matter. Saying in the middle of it, “How wonderful, we did it! I ate it in three minutes, in four minutes”—those remarks add nothing to Seder night, and ideally such talk is not permitted. Certainly, after the fact, it does not mean one has to recite the blessing again. But ideally one should not speak, and we need to pay attention to this halachah. As for afikoman, as we said, ideally we eat it while reclining. If we did not recline, it is not a serious problem. Strictly speaking, we can take a little more time to eat it, since its obligation is rabbinic. As we said, [unclear], we can use the more generous time allowance, sometimes even up to nine minutes. But if someone wants to be stringent and eat it within three or six minutes, that can be better—why not? Afikoman should also ideally be eaten before midnight. There is a debate about whether it may be eaten after midnight if the time has already passed, and many poskim say it may. The wording is that “one must be careful” about this; it does not necessarily mean that eating it afterward is forbidden. But ideally, do not rely on that opening. Better not even to know about it. Afikoman should be eaten before midnight, while reclining. This time, though, there is a halachah that because the poskim disagree about whether this matzah commemorates the Pesach offering that was eaten with matzah, or the matzah that was eaten with the Pesach offering, we should eat two kezaysim at the end of the meal. We have to be able to eat them, too. We should give this some thought during the meal and not fill ourselves so completely that we can barely swallow anything more, raising questions about whether we can fulfill our obligation of afikoman at all. But we should eat

55:25 Speaker 2 two kezaysim to take both opinions into account: the matzah eaten with the Pesach offering and the Pesach offering eaten with matzah. Here the halachah allows a little more flexibility. Women often find it harder to eat so much, so more leniency is sometimes given to them, but the same applies to men: if someone finds it difficult to eat two kezaysim of matzah, they should eat just one kezayis of afikoman matzah. But the Rebbe’s Haggadah says that one must make a stipulation, as the poskim write. What is the stipulation? To say that this kezayis should count as the matzah eaten with the Pesach offering, if that is what is required; and if the halachah is that it commemorates the Pesach offering, then this kezayis should count as though we had eaten the Pesach offering. That is the stipulation one should make. It is worth publicizing, because people often do find it difficult to eat two kezaysim at the end of the meal. Shalom and blessings. With Hashem’s help, in the next class we will discuss the rest of Seder night.