How to Prepare for Pesach - Rabbi Shraga Noson Dahan shlita

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

00:09 Speaker 2 Okay, hello everyone. We’re starting the class. Until now, in our class, we’ve been learning the laws of Shabbos. We’ll take a short break from that and turn toward Pesach. We’ll start preparing a little for Pesach. What are the principles, and is there even a mitzvah to start preparing for Pesach now? Are we just being extra strict, or not? There are some very interesting halachos here. There are also many classes available online, and I’m going to try to bring a little order to the subject. One of the most familiar sayings is, “Children aren’t chametz”—sorry, “Dust isn’t chametz, and children aren’t the Pesach offering.” In other words, people say, “Come on, there’s no need to shake out the dust and move it from place to place. We need to be more realistic, more practical.” But the truth isn’t quite so simple. And if we can move the dust from place to place, let’s move it. But let’s look at the sources and bring some order to the halachos. So, we ask about the laws of Pesach thirty days beforehand. Moshe Rabbeinu instituted for the Jewish people that they should ask and expound on the matters of the day: the laws of Pesach on Pesach, the laws of Shavuos on Shavuos, and the laws of Sukkos on Sukkos. The Gemara in Megillah explains that on each Yom Tov, we should learn about and engage with the matters of that Yom Tov itself. That’s the rule. Now, what’s the difference between asking and expounding? We’ll discuss that another time. But what does it mean? To engage with it, ask about it, take an interest, get answers. There’s another Gemara, in Pesachim, that doesn’t say to engage with the matters of the Yom Tov during the Yom Tov. It says something else: “Thirty days before a festival, we expound on the laws of the festival.” So what does that mean—thirty days beforehand? If the Seder night is on the fifteenth,

02:20 Speaker 2 and the first mitzvah we deal with is already on the fourteenth, in the evening, then thirty days beforehand is Purim. On Purim, we already need to start learning about Pesach.

02:28 Speaker 3 On Purim, you’re thinking about it.

02:29 Speaker 2 You need to learn the laws of Pesach. What does “learn” mean? What does it mean to expound and ask? What’s the practical halachic difference? Is this a law for rabbis, rather than for every Jew—that the rabbi has to give a lecture? Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds that it begins two weeks beforehand.

02:46 Speaker 3 It says he instituted it for the Jewish people.

02:47 Speaker 2 But he instituted that the Jewish people should ask. I understand “ask,” but “expound” sounds like something the rabbis need to do. Rabbeinu Nissim, the Ran, explains it this way: “It’s about priority.” There’s a concept in halachah called “asking a question relevant to the subject and answering according to halachah.” What does it mean to ask a relevant question? If I’m speaking to you now about the laws of Purim, don’t ask me about Sukkos. It’s not relevant. We’re focused on a particular occasion and learning its halachos. If you bring up something else, it’s confusing; it takes the focus away from what we’re dealing with. But there’s another aspect: priority. Four people come to ask the rabbi a question. One asks about Sukkos because that’s the topic he happens to be studying. Another asks about a bris, though he’s already a grandfather and has no children who need a bris. And one asks about Pesach. So whom do I answer first?

03:58 Speaker 3 Pesach.

03:58 Speaker 2 Pesach. That’s what the Ran says: priority in answering questions. But in halachah, it doesn’t say “expound.” Why not? Because today we already have books. In the past, all this learning came from the class I would teach. But today, the learning comes from—

04:26 Speaker 3 Books.

04:26 Speaker 2 Books. There are books. Go and get books. You have websites, WhatsApp groups, handouts—what don’t you have? Everyone is ready with the halachic information. So the emphasis is on asking. You have questions—what does it mean to ask? Asking means engaging with the subject. Once you engage with it, questions will come up. So we’re already in the mode of preparing the house for Pesach—starting when? Starting now. We ask about the laws of Pesach thirty days before Pesach. Now, think about this: we ask about the laws of Pesach. The Ran asks: Doesn’t it say that Moshe instituted for the Jewish people that they should expound on the laws of Pesach on Pesach? So what does asking and expounding mean? The practical difference is that a question about Pesach is considered relevant to the subject. He is essentially bringing the view of the Rif. Now I want to show you what the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch says. He brings order to all these halachos about what to ask and what to look into. We’ll also see how this affects our day-to-day preparations for Pesach in practice, including some interesting things we may not have noticed. The early Sages instituted, when the Beis Hamikdash stood, that those who taught publicly should begin expounding on the laws of a festival thirty days before it. What’s that—is it rain?

05:47 Speaker 3 It’s actually pleasant.

05:48 Speaker 2 Boruch Hashem.

05:49 Speaker 3 Boruch Hashem.

05:52 Speaker 2 I’m just thinking about the people who had a chuppah ten minutes ago. Boruch Hashem, they finished the chuppah and then the rain started. The chuppah was outdoors.

05:58 Speaker 3 Outdoors.

05:58 Speaker 2 Outdoors.

05:58 Speaker 3 Wow, wow. They just had a chuppah?

06:01 Speaker 2 A chuppah, yes, yes. I gave the blessing right around the breaking of the glass.

06:04 Speaker 3 Wow.

06:05 Speaker 2 Okay. So, when the Beis Hamikdash stood, they instituted that those who taught publicly should begin expounding on the laws of a festival thirty days beforehand. That means the laws of Pesach from Purim, the laws of Shavuos from 5 Iyar, and the laws of Sukkos from 14 Elul. Everyone living in Eretz Yisroel had to bring three offerings for the festival. Which offerings? The olas re’iyah, the shalmei chagigah, and the shalmei simchah. Every offering had to be free of any blemish and of other things that would disqualify it. There are many, many laws concerning offerings. That’s why the Sages decided to teach the laws of the festival thirty days beforehand: to remind people about the festival so they wouldn’t forget to prepare animals fit for an offering, and so they would have the full thirty days to do so. There are many, many details and halachos, and you need to be focused on preparing for these offerings. Today, we don’t have offerings.

07:10 Speaker 3 [unclear]

07:11 Speaker 2 Yet this enactment was not abolished among the Jewish people even after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Each scholar would review the laws of the festival with his students thirty days beforehand, so they would be familiar with its halachos and know what to do. For the general public, they would expound on the laws of the festival on the Shabbos before it. In other words, on Shabbos Hagadol they would tell everyone the halachos, because on that Shabbos all the people from the surrounding villages would gather to hear the laws of the festival from the scholar. That is why, in later generations, the custom developed for the scholar to speak about the laws of Pesach on the Shabbos before Pesach—unless that Shabbos is Erev Pesach. If it’s Erev Pesach, giving a lecture before the Yom Tov won’t help, because you won’t have time to prepare. In short, it’s the Shabbos before people get busy with the festival. The laws of Sukkos are taught on Shabbos Shuvah. But Shavuos has no special halachos; it’s like an ordinary Yom Tov, so there’s no particular need to do that. The main thing is to teach them Hashem’s ways and instruct them in what they must do—not as is customary now. We need to be practical and focused. Pesach is coming: what do I do? And in these generations, when a scholar no longer teaches his students the halachos because everything is written in books, it is a mitzvah for each person to learn the halachos until he knows them—until he is familiar with them and knows what to do. Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, instituted for the Jewish people that every scholar should speak publicly on each festival about the matters of that day: on Pesach, the Exodus from Egypt; on Shavuos, the Giving of the Torah; and on Sukkos, being surrounded by the Clouds of Glory. He should also teach the halachos people need, so they know what is forbidden and what is permitted: the laws of Pesach on Pesach, the laws of Shavuos on Shavuos, and those of Sukkos on Sukkos. Even though you’ve already taught for thirty days, continue giving talks during the festival. Nowadays, though, the custom is not to teach the halachos during the festival itself, because everything is written in books. So what do we do during the festival, on Pesach itself? It’s not the time to start learning the laws of Pesach. We expound on the Haggadah and on the matters of the

09:07 Speaker 2 day, as will be explained in section 529. So, to sum up what this means in practice: we are called upon to open a book and start learning thirty days before the festival—to begin learning about it and engaging with it. What we’re doing today isn’t just a class. We’re learning the laws of the festival together and helping one another. We need to look at the halachos and know what to do. Today the halachos are accessible, and we need to open them thirty days beforehand. This is a mitzvah and an enactment of Moshe Rabbeinu. Besides that, it has some other very interesting implications. Thirty days means we’re already in Pesach mode. Where does that show up?

09:48 Speaker 4 Impaired vision.

09:49 Speaker 2 You went abroad, moved house, went on a trip. If you intend to return by Pesach, you’ll come back and get the house ready before Pesach. If you don’t intend to return, there’s no problem; you can leave the house. While you’re far away abroad, say, “I relinquish any chametz I have at home, including any I have there by mistake.” You don’t have to clean. You don’t have to search, because no one will enter the house, and you’re relinquishing and declaring everything ownerless. You can also sell it. But if it’s within thirty days, you have an obligation to clean.

10:26 Speaker 4 What—thirty days before when?

10:27 Speaker 2 Before Pesach. If you’re already leaving for abroad, you have an obligation to search the house before you leave, in the holes and cracks. Say you’re going abroad tomorrow: tonight you need to take a candle and search the holes and cracks, just as you would on the night before Pesach.

10:46 Speaker 4 Even if you’ll return after Pesach?

10:48 Speaker 2 If you’ll return after Pesach, you search without a blessing.

10:51 Speaker 4 Yes.

10:51 Speaker 2 Because the enactment is to search on the night of the 14th, but you’re searching now. It’s a search without a blessing, and you’re obligated to do it. And if you didn’t search, you need someone—my brother, say—to search for you on the 14th. In other words, you have an obligation to search.

11:05 Speaker 4 Even though I won’t be home.

11:06 Speaker 2 Even though you won’t be home.

11:07 Speaker 4 What’s the reason?

11:08 Speaker 2 And if you arrive—

11:09 Speaker 4 Thirty days.

11:09 Speaker 2 Because you’re already within thirty days. You’re already in Pesach-preparation mode. You’re leaving, so check that you don’t have chametz.

11:15 Speaker 4 But if he isn’t home, why can’t he just...?

11:18 Speaker 2 He has to search.

11:19 Speaker 4 No, no—if he relinquishes it.

11:20 Speaker 2 And that’s what he writes. It isn’t in your handout, but it appears in section 436, in the Shulchan Aruch. Someone who travels overseas or sets out with a caravan, and doesn’t leave anyone at home to search for chametz, has to search before leaving. And if he intends to return before Pesach, he has to search and then leave. Why? Because he might return at twilight on Erev Pesach and have no time to search and nullify the chametz. Then he gives various examples. Are you preparing a storage room for Pesach now? You have to check that it’s free of chametz. Are you starting to clean a room? You start checking that it isn’t dirty. You pick up a book, and you’re already more careful: “No, now we’ll put it on a clean table.” What changed? A week ago you weren’t so particular, but now I’m within a month of Pesach. In other words, I’m in Pesach mode, halachic mode. This isn’t some stringency born of people’s fondness for excessive cleaning. It’s halachic mode. I’m careful about everything I do. I’m careful already: Where am I putting this? What will happen to it? For example.

12:24 Speaker 4 An example.

12:26 Speaker 2 For example.

12:27 Speaker 4 You don’t let the children eat there. Yes, say, on the couch—I can already see something there.

12:30 Speaker 2 For instance, the couch: “Guys, no eating here.” Kneading dough while wearing rings. “Nonsense, fine, I’ll clean them before Pesach.” Take them off now—what’s the problem? Take them off now. Unless she doesn’t intend to wear them on Pesach. But if she does, then take them off already. It’s a shame, because chametz will stick to them without you seeing it, and then there’ll be more fresh dough. It’s a shame. The same with someone handling a phone while kneading dough.

12:55 Speaker 4 Yes. The children start doing that from Chanukah—you’re going to tell them this?

12:59 Speaker 2 Right. So the halachah says thirty days. Already now, don’t touch it. Don’t touch your phone while kneading dough. Leave it alone. Eat chametz in the living-room area, not in the bedrooms. The whole idea is awareness, awareness, awareness, awareness. The Meiri says something in Tractate Avodah Zarah. It says: “But wasn’t it taught: We ask about the laws of Pesach thirty days before Pesach? Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says two weeks.” So the Meiri says: “What we learned, that we ask about the laws of Pesach thirty days before Pesach, isn’t only about questions. It applies to every effort needed for the festival. It is proper to begin,” says the Meiri, “and to attend to the needs of the festival thirty days before it.” More than that: when I fill a barrel with wine, do I need to check that the barrel is clean? No. If there’s some tiny amount in it, I put in the wine and it’s all nullified; nothing is visible. Ah, so that’s where the...

14:10 Speaker 4 Now I understand where this is going.

14:11 Speaker 2 Ah. I understand. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, through Whose word everything came to be.

14:19 Speaker 4 Amen.

14:26 Speaker 2 So the Maharil says something like this. He writes: “Mahari Segal said that because of the obligation to expound on the laws of Pesach for thirty days, it says in Sefer HaAgudah, an early work, that anyone filling a wine barrel between Purim and Pesach”—meaning he’s filling the barrels now; he had kept wine outside—“should check first that the barrel is clean.” What changed? Didn’t I check before? Now you’re within the thirty days. There’s a rule that chametz is nullified before Pesach, so you don’t need to check the chicken, for example. But during these thirty days, check. Why? Because perhaps some crumbs will suddenly come to the surface. Check. That’s the idea. You have to be careful to fill it using utensils suitable for Pesach, with no chametz in them, or an old utensil in which no chametz has been left overnight. You should also put a new tap on the barrels. If you want the wine for Pesach, put on a new tap; perhaps a little chametz stuck to the old one. “And when the thirty days before Pesach begin,” says the Maharil, “people customarily begin sweeping and cleaning the rooms and washing utensils. And first and foremost, the most important thing is to buy wheat for the poor.” Fine, you’re being stringent, you’re doing everything in the best way—excellent. Don’t forget, don’t forget the... the poor people out there. Take care of them. “Likewise, someone who turns his home into a storeroom, bringing straw or wood into the house, should first clean it to make sure there is no chametz. But that is specifically when he brings it in between Purim and Pesach, because then the thirty days have begun.” So we see that the importance of these preceding thirty days actually appears in halachah. It isn’t just something to discuss in a Torah class, or a nice vort. It’s serious, essential preparation for Pesach.

16:16 Speaker 4 Is there an issue with what an animal eats before Pesach?

16:19 Speaker 2 Yes, we’ll talk about that in a moment. We’ll get to questions and answers shortly. And a book on the laws of Pesach says that some people whitewash their homes before Pesach. Look, there are people who... some people paint. Do you paint your walls for Pesach?

16:35 Speaker 4 Yes.

16:35 Speaker 2 And someone will immediately say, “No, let’s focus on what matters, not on something secondary.” What chametz would be on a wall? Who wrote... who said you have to paint, that painting is obligatory? So he says that some people whitewash their homes before Pesach, and there’s a source for it. It’s in Shulchan Aruch, section 445, paragraph 6. And... there’s a nice basis for it. No, what it says there in Shulchan Aruch is to scrape... scrape the walls. Check them—take some sandpaper, scrape, at least as high as children can reach and touch, so no bits of biscuit or other pieces remain stuck there. Do that first. In other words, there is a reason for it. But there’s also something about this in Tractate Middos, concerning the Beis Hamikdash.

17:28 Speaker 4 One at a time. You’re going to study them one at a time. This isn’t working.

17:32 Speaker 2 It says in Tractate Middos that twice a year they would whitewash the altar—the altar and the ramp. Once for Pesach and once for the festival. And the Sanctuary...

17:51 Speaker 4 Which festival?

17:53 Speaker 2 Sukkos.

17:54 Speaker 4 Wow.

17:55 Speaker 2 And the Sanctuary once a year. They would whitewash the Sanctuary of the Beis Hamikdash, but the altar and the ramp used for the offerings were cleaned and whitewashed for Pesach and Sukkos, so they would look nice. That provides a basis for whitewashing rooms before Pesach. If you can do it—it isn’t halachah. What the Shulchan Aruch says as halachah is to scrape the walls, to make sure there isn’t dough stuck to them. But we’ve offered a basis for... a basis for whitewashing rooms. The Magen Avraham wrote...

18:29 Speaker 4 Scrape the walls.

18:30 Speaker 2 Scrape the walls. By “scrape,” I mean...

18:32 Speaker 4 Whitewash.

18:32 Speaker 2 No, no. Whitewashing is an enhancement. The Shulchan Aruch is stating the basic halachah. It says to... scrape the walls of the house. Meaning, check them and, in short, clean the walls too, at a height where traces of chametz might have been left by someone touching them with dough. Where, for example? Give me an example. You don’t need to do the bedroom. Who goes into the bedroom with dough and touches the walls? But in the kitchen you have a kitchen table and a wall—this isn’t a stringency. Go over that area and clean it. Put a little bleach on the wall, clean it, scrub it. Make sure there isn’t a piece of dough somewhere in your kitchen. Certainly. It’s explicit in the Shulchan Aruch. So yes, there is a reason to remove things from the walls too. Check that nothing has been left on the baseboards in the kitchen. Sometimes there are little... sometimes sesame seeds. Yes, things remain there. Right. Under the refrigerator, under... You have to understand that in the time of the Shulchan Aruch, walls were such that there really were gaps between... Our walls here are smoother, but pay attention to these things.

19:30 Speaker 4 If you put bleach on it, does that make it unfit to eat?

19:32 Speaker 2 It makes it unfit, yes.

19:35 Speaker 4 You can do that. In the car.

19:40 Speaker 2 Ah.

19:40 Speaker 4 There’s lavender too.

19:41 Speaker 2 In the car, between the seats. You drive and drive and drive and drive, and something always remains. The Magen Avraham...

19:47 Speaker 4 Put bleach there.

19:47 Speaker 2 So we said that there’s also an enhancement in whitewashing, for anyone who wants to, if they have time.

19:51 Speaker 4 Make it clear to me.

19:52 Speaker 2 Clear some time in your schedule. The Magen Avraham...

19:56 Speaker 4 And the child too.

19:57 Speaker 2 He writes: “It says in the machzorim that for the entire thirty days, a person should examine everything he does so that no chametz remains stuck to it in a way that he won’t be able to remove or clean.” So that’s what I told you. That’s what I meant, for example, about talking on the phone while you’re working with dough. For these thirty days, try not to do that. Get the dough off it—do whatever you can so that as little as possible sticks to your phone.

20:24 Speaker 4 A good idea is to replace your phone every year.

20:25 Speaker 2 And it says in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch.

20:28 Speaker 4 But when you’re handling dough, do you talk on the phone?

20:32 Speaker 5 No, I try not to.

20:33 Speaker 4 No, something’s not...

20:34 Speaker 2 And so it says in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch: “Throughout the thirty days before Pesach, it is good to take care and examine everything one does, so that no chametz remains stuck to it in a way that one cannot remove.” He uses exactly the wording of the Magen Avraham. The Aruch Hashulchan, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, writes—he’s somewhat repeating the Magen Avraham—and adds: “Anyone who looks at a sefer while eating, from Purim onward, should make sure nothing remains in the sefer, so that he won’t find it on Pesach.” Now, with sefarim you know you used at the table, we try to check them carefully so that nothing is there. So what are we talking about? What’s the concern? What’s the concern?

21:18 Speaker 5 That chametz got inside.

21:19 Speaker 2 What, a crumb?

21:19 Speaker 5 Between the pages.

21:20 Speaker 2 What is that crumb? It’s nothing.

21:21 Speaker 4 A crumb—you do this with your mouth and eat it.

21:24 Speaker 2 A crumb is nothing. That needs looking into.

21:25 Speaker 4 But what are the chances?

21:26 Speaker 2 We’ll talk about that in a second.

21:28 Speaker 4 What kind of slip?

21:29 Speaker 2 There was a great Torah scholar...

21:31 Speaker 4 I think he’s concerned about it.

21:32 Speaker 2 His name was Rabbi Menashe Klein, the Menashe Hakatan. He wrote a very... a series of important halachic books, including responsa, called Mishneh Halachos. Someone once told me that nowadays they should write a similar book and call it Sefer Meshaneh Halachos—“The Book That Changes Halachos”—to suit the times. But meanwhile, we’re managing with Mishneh Halachos. And he writes the following...

22:00 Speaker 5 What needs changing?

22:01 Speaker 2 He writes—sorry, those who pay the property tax. He ruled stringently that sefarim also require a search for chametz. On the night of bedikas chametz, he writes, you should search inside them too. Why? First, because there may be crumbs, and you have to check. Let me explain. The view that says you don’t need to check, or even be particular about it at all, holds that a crumb has no substance. A crumb, a crumb is nothing, but—

22:35 Speaker 4 It isn’t considered chametz?

22:36 Speaker 2 Now, why would it be nothing? It is chametz. But there’s an opinion that less than the required amount is not prohibited by Torah law. Many poskim, though, say no: if it’s less than the required amount, you aren’t liable for kareis over it.

22:52 Speaker 4 But not for any amount, either.

22:53 Speaker 2 But you are obligated to get rid of it on Pesach. Yes, whatever the amount. Most poskim—many poskim—say that even less than a kezayis definitely has to be removed. The second reason the author of Mishneh Halachos gives involves a dispute. Shalom uverachah. There’s a dispute involving the Tzlach, Tziyun Lenefesh Chayah. Do you know who wrote Tziyun Lenefesh Chayah? The Noda BiYehudah wrote a sefer called Tziyun Lenefesh Chayah, and he writes as follows: There’s a dispute about whether the prohibitions of bal yera’eh and bal yimatzei apply to half a shiur—meaning less than a kezayis—or not. Whether they apply or don’t apply. But according to the view that even half a shiur must be removed, crumbs certainly have the status of half a shiur, and one has to be careful. Tosafos brings another concern: lest one eat it. What does that mean? I picked everything up, and as I’m opening the sefer, some chametz sticks to me. I do this, and I’ve eaten the chametz.

24:09 Speaker 5 It crumbles.

24:10 Speaker 2 Sometimes you forget; you see something there.

24:12 Speaker 5 No, you crumble it; you do this.

24:13 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly. I don’t know, sometimes things like that happen. You put chametz into your mouth on Pesach. That’s what Tosafos says. What’s the reason for the prohibition? Lest one eat it. There’s a concern that one might eat it. You have to be careful about that.

24:25 Speaker 5 There was once an issue with newspapers, because they had—

24:28 Speaker 2 We’ll talk shortly about chametz that has lost its status as chametz. We’ll talk about it.

24:36 Speaker 5 So it doesn’t matter.

24:36 Speaker 2 And sometimes, you know, you take matzah and put it down while you’re learning from a sefer, and a crumb of bread sticks to it. There’s a halachah—primarily concerning liquids—of chametz that becomes significant again after being nullified. It... even after it’s been nullified, it becomes significant again, sorry. Suddenly it has substance because it’s joined with something else like it. So we’re concerned about all these things, and that’s why we check. This is what the Raavan writes in Pesachim: “Even though a person nullifies chametz in his heart”—this is no longer in the sources—“he must search for it and remove it from the house wherever it may be.” That’s why the early authorities had the practice of washing benches and tables, lest chametz be stuck to them, and the storage boxes too—all the tables and surfaces—so that it wouldn’t mix with our food on Pesach, whether with something of its own kind or another kind, and make it forbidden. And there’s an actual halachah in Pesachim, page 45b, about dough in the cracks of a kneading bowl. Meaning, you have a bowl in which you knead dough. Say it was once made of earthenware, but you always cleaned it. You didn’t cook in it or leave food sitting in it, so it hadn’t absorbed chametz. They would clean it and use it. What’s the problem? Sometimes a little dough remains in the cracks of the kneading bowl, and we’re concerned about that. If there isn’t a kezayis, the Gemara says it is nullified because of its small amount—provided you don’t use the kneading bowl on Pesach. So you don’t have a problem of chametz that remained in your possession over Pesach, because it’s an insignificant amount worth nothing. But if you use the vessel on Pesach, you have to worry that when you put dough in it, the dough will stick to what’s in the cracks and suddenly join with the chametz dough. Then it’s a problem. That’s why we’re concerned.

26:43 Speaker 5 That’s according to the Yemenites and the Ashkenazim.

26:45 Speaker 2 That’s the Raavan’s view. Wait. And that’s why, in his view, you have to check even for crumbs. Mishneh Halachos brings another reason: just as we’re concerned to search for chametz in case we find a fine piece of bread, even searching for crumbs may lead you to find a biscuit you forgot about. A biscuit is a fine piece of chametz. So search for crumbs, and perhaps you’ll find something bigger—like the person who went looking for donkeys and found a kingdom.

27:15 Speaker 5 But that doesn’t apply to sefarim, because you don’t know what’s in there.

27:18 Speaker 2 No, it could be that while you’re searching, you suddenly notice a biscuit that fell behind something. Who knows? And he says something else. He says, folks, besides that, why are you starting to look for ways out? Our fathers and teachers, generation after generation, had the practice of checking the sefarim before Pesach as much as possible. About this we say, “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” It’s lovely that you attended a Torah class where the teacher wanted to bring everyone closer to their Father in Heaven; we give classes like that too. Folks, Pesach isn’t complicated. Check that there’s no visible chametz, nullify it, and everything is fine. But we come from homes with a tradition. We saw our mother and father and grandmother working hard. We can too—what happened? It’s all right; nothing terrible happened. Be enthusiastic, be excited. If it’s making you sick, take out the second note right away. Folks, you don’t have to make yourself sick over it; we don’t need to—

28:15 Speaker 5 That isn’t chametz.

28:16 Speaker 2 We don’t need to have OCD. But on the other hand, we do need to feel some excitement. And he says: “There is the principle, ‘Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.’” Now we’re moving up a level. This isn’t about making the mitzvos routine; it’s about doing them properly. If our mother and father taught us at home to be especially careful about chametz on Pesach, let’s do that too. We should know what the halachah is and what is a stringency—that’s all fine—but [unclear]. That’s what the Mishneh Halachos writes: “And they practiced it, even where they had merely made a safeguard, being stricter about chametz than about other prohibitions.” Chametz is something we’re accustomed to, but we have to be careful with it. He says, though—and this is what the Mishneh Halachos writes—“For all these reasons, one certainly should not change the practice.” You should check the books and check the house for crumbs. Jews are holy, and they check everywhere they can. In fact, people who could would even repaint the walls every Pesach, as we saw earlier with the customs they practiced, following what was done in the Beis Hamikdash, where they painted certain areas. So that’s the case for doing it. Now I’ll tell you the case against it. Here: Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul, a very great Torah scholar who follows Sephardic practice and wrote Or LeTzion, a foundational work on halachah, actually brought a response to the Chazon Ish’s approach. The Chazon Ish wrote in Hilchos Pesach, section 167, paragraph 18, a novel ruling: even a concern that there may be less than a kezayis of chametz requires you to check and ascertain. That’s what the Chazon Ish writes. You have to check and ascertain everything, even if the amount is small. Why? What’s his reasoning? He cites Tractate Pesachim: for a non-Jew’s chametz, you make a partition ten tefachim high so that there is a clear indication that it belongs to the non-Jew. You don’t put the non-Jew’s chametz in the middle of the table and say, “That’s his, and this is mine.” You make it clearly distinct so

30:10 Speaker 2 you won’t touch it, lest you forget and eat it. And the Chazon Ish says: “From here we see that there is no difference between a biscuit and a crumb.” You make a partition even for a non-Jew’s crumbs, and so—on that basis, the Chazon Ish says, check everything.

30:26 Speaker 5 But that doesn’t belong to a non-Jew; it’s yours.

30:29 Speaker 2 If you do it for a non-Jew’s chametz, that means you’re concerned you might eat it. So surely you should do it for your own chametz, lest you eat it. That’s why, the Chazon Ish says, you have to check the books in case there are crumbs there, even if there isn’t a kezayis of chametz. Or, if you don’t want to check the books, make a partition. That’s what the Chazon Ish writes. You don’t want to check the books you used during a meal, which might therefore have crumbs in them? Make a partition. That way there’s no confusion.

30:58 Speaker 5 If I close it up.

30:59 Speaker 2 And he says—[unclear]—Tractate Pesachim says this too. Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul says: “We have not seen our teachers practice this way.” Among us Sephardim, that wasn’t the practice. “It seems to me that the reason for the custom is that we do not worry that a kezayis of chametz in the books might fall out and be eaten,” because it isn’t a kezayis, and we don’t worry about crumbs either. Why? Crumbs aren’t considered significant. As the Gemara says—or, at most, if, G-d forbid, he accidentally eats one, there is no penalty of kareis, because it’s less than a kezayis, and he didn’t intend to eat it at all. So the Sages didn’t require us to go to so much trouble over such a concern. That’s what he writes. And the Rambam, in Hilchos Chametz Umatzah, changed the wording of the Gemara.

31:49 Speaker 5 There’s no kareis, but there is a rabbinic issue.

31:51 Speaker 2 No, but if you don’t know—

31:53 Speaker 5 You’re being lenient about a rabbinic prohibition.

31:53 Speaker 2 If you don’t know. No, I’m not being lenient—not about a rabbinic prohibition. But he says that if it’s only a remote concern raised by the Sages—that perhaps you’ll put your hand there and accidentally eat it without even realizing you’re eating it—the Sages didn’t make you go to so much trouble over that. It isn’t a Torah prohibition, and there would be no kareis. So perhaps you might accidentally violate a rabbinic prohibition, yes, but the possibility is so remote, while the effort involved is very great. Going through the books one by one is complicated. So Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul says you don’t need to. And he says that in Hilchos Chametz Umatzah, chapter 2, halachah 14, the Rambam changed the Gemara’s wording and wrote: If a kezayis of chametz is found in a beam, the person is required to bring... If it’s up on a beam, he is required to take a ladder and remove the chametz. What do you mean, sell it? “I don’t want it; I won’t touch it.” Take it down. Why? Because sometimes it falls from the beam, and then suddenly you have chametz in the house. That is his wording. What do you see from here? It’s specifically a kezayis for which you’re required to climb up, make the effort, and take it down. With less than a kezayis, Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul says, the Rambam’s words indicate that you don’t have to go to the trouble. It’s out of reach; that’s fine. And if we follow the Chazon Ish, who makes no distinction between a kezayis and less than that, why does the Rambam distinguish between them? The Rambam does distinguish: he says that for less than a kezayis, you don’t have to. Rather, it seems clear that for less than a kezayis that’s out of reach, as on a beam, you don’t have to. Certainly, when it’s only a possibility, you aren’t obligated to check. So he says the same about books: perhaps there are crumbs in them, and you’re worried they might fall out and you might eat them, but there’s no obligation to check. If, however, you haven’t nullified the chametz, you must dispose of it even if it’s less than a kezayis, because the prohibition against eating less than the prescribed amount applies. But you don’t have to check for it, because it’s insignificant.

33:51 Speaker 2 But you do have to nullify it. You do have to dispose of it. You have to say, “I nullify every crumb I didn’t check for and didn’t see,” because it’s insignificant and has no substance—but you have to nullify it. Why? Because nullification and disposal apply even to less than a kezayis. It doesn’t mean, “Don’t nullify it because it’s insignificant.” Nullify it, dispose of it, but you don’t have to inspect every book and drive yourself crazy. That’s the Sephardic position. It seems the Ashkenazim were somewhat stricter about this. Look at the Magen Avraham.

34:15 Speaker 6 No, brother.

34:16 Speaker 2 Shulchan Aruch Harav.

34:18 Speaker 6 I don’t know.

34:18 Speaker 2 Aruch Hashulchan. Besides, someone whose parents practiced this way, even if they were Sephardic, and who, thank G-d, still has a home founded on Torah and mitzvos, should keep doing it as long as he can, provided it doesn’t lead to a major argument at home.

34:32 Speaker 6 He’s talking about you, Aharon.

34:34 Speaker 2 But if... And in line with what he says—

34:37 Speaker 6 Thank you.

34:37 Speaker 2 Rabbi Ovadia Yosef also writes in Chazon Ovadia that the accepted custom is not to check books for crumbs of chametz left in them when they were open during a meal. Listen: he isn’t talking now about books you didn’t open. He’s talking about books that were open in the middle of a meal, with bread right beside them while you were speaking. He says you don’t need to check them. That’s what he writes.

34:59 Speaker 6 Not check them?

35:00 Speaker 2 Yes. That’s what Rabbi Ovadia says. As they said in Tractate Pesachim, “Crumbs are not considered significant.” Why? Because you relinquish ownership of them. They required checking only out of concern that you might find a substantial loaf and want to keep it.

35:12 Speaker 6 So wait, wait, then—

35:13 Speaker 2 “Nor have we seen the elder rabbis taking extra precautions out of concern for this.” So according to the contemporary Sephardic halachic authorities, Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, there is no need to check the books at all.

35:29 Speaker 6 Then I don’t have to check the table either. I have crumbs that I relinquish ownership of.

35:33 Speaker 2 Good. But what’s different? On the table, if you’re going to put kosher-for-Pesach food there, you certainly expect to eat there. So you clean places where you eat. But books aren’t surfaces you eat on.

35:46 Speaker 6 But you also go back to them.

35:47 Speaker 2 But they aren’t eating surfaces. You aren’t going to put matzah on top of bread now. At most—

35:52 Speaker 6 No.

35:52 Speaker 2 A few more matzah crumbs will fall out. You’ve nullified everything anyway. It’s insignificant; it doesn’t matter. But we do try to be careful. All right? It depends on each person and their custom. That’s it. So that’s one of the things involved in preparing thirty days in advance. What did we say about those preparations? Make sure the house is clean. Start cleaning the house. Start whitewashing, if someone wants to whitewash. Start cleaning the house, planning for Pesach, and buying things for Pesach.

36:24 Speaker 6 Be careful.

36:24 Speaker 2 You start, you start. It’s written here on your list. Buy wheat. And now another law concerning the thirty days before Pesach, one that appears almost nowhere: Is it permissible to eat matzah on Erev Pesach?

36:45 Speaker 7 On Erev Pesach? No.

36:48 Speaker 6 No.

36:48 Speaker 2 Why not?

36:49 Speaker 7 So it will taste good to you that evening.

36:52 Speaker 2 The comparison the Gemara gives is that someone who eats matzah—

36:58 Speaker 6 Wait, but what about thirty days before Pesach?

36:59 Speaker 2 Hold on, hold on. Someone who eats matzah thirty days... Ah, sorry. Someone who eats matzah on Erev Pesach is compared—this is a metaphor—to someone who has relations with his betrothed in his father-in-law’s house. What does that mean? The man was already betrothed—not like today, when people have an engagement party. That’s not what it means. Today, we do it under the chuppah. The chuppah combines two stages, betrothal and marriage. Why? Because in the past—

37:30 Speaker 6 Because she wouldn’t be available to him.

37:31 Speaker 2 Exactly. In the past, they didn’t have all the means of communication we have today.

37:34 Speaker 7 It’s good they talked.

37:36 Speaker 2 Because back then there weren’t all the means of communication we have today. So when someone was getting married, he would first become engaged. Under Torah law, once they were engaged, she couldn’t marry anyone else, but she was also forbidden to him because they hadn’t completed the marriage yet. And... after the marriage, she was permitted to him. Sometimes he would disappear. They would get engaged, and then he would disappear.

38:08 Speaker 6 Wow.

38:08 Speaker 2 She would remain an agunah all her life—not married, but engaged. So our Sages—

38:15 Speaker 6 That’s what we’re talking about.

38:16 Speaker 2 Instituted a practice of putting the engagement and the marriage—

38:19 Speaker 6 Before the government gave her the money.

38:20 Speaker 2 They held the engagement—

38:21 Speaker 7 After the gifts or before the gifts?

38:22 Speaker 2 They held the engagement and the marriage side by side. They put them right next to each other.

38:32 Speaker 7 Ah, so there wouldn’t be problems.

38:33 Speaker 2 And that’s how it was. Now, we’re at a wedding. We’ve said the blessings for the engagement and the blessings for the marriage, but as long as the marriage hasn’t been completed, she’s still forbidden to him. So we tell him, “Now, don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s Erev Pesach. You’re busy getting things ready, but the matzah and maror haven’t yet been set before you. Wait a little longer, until the mitzvah of the moment is complete, and then you can eat the matzah with an appetite.” So that’s the idea. The time hasn’t arrived yet. You’re occupied with matzos, but you’re not eating them yet. Why are you occupied with matzos? Because the time for the Pesach offering has already arrived.

39:12 Speaker 6 Yes, right.

39:13 Speaker 2 About the Pesach offering it says, “They shall eat it with matzos and bitter herbs.” So wait—but in the evening, you’ll eat matzos. That’s the comparison. Now, why is this comparison important? Because it will help us understand the law. When do you tell someone, “Wait, wait, the ceremony isn’t over yet”? When the ceremony has started. You wouldn’t say that to someone who just told you over the phone that he’s getting married in two months, right? You say “Wait, wait” to someone who is already involved in the wedding. We’re in the middle of the ceremony; let it finish in its own time. So according to this reasoning, if we say that thirty days beforehand is already the beginning of preparations for Pesach—

40:02 Speaker 6 Thirty days.

40:03 Speaker 2 Then thirty days beforehand is already when we tell him, “Easy, easy, wait, [unclear],” because we’re already involved in the mitzvos of Pesach. We’re already involved in the mitzvos of Pesach. As brought in several places, including the Rif, strictly speaking the prohibition against eating matzah applies only on Erev Pesach. That’s brought in the Yerushalmi and the Gemara: “Anyone who eats matzah on Erev Pesach is like one who has relations with his fiancée in his father-in-law’s house.” There’s a dispute among the Rishonim about what time the prohibition begins. In practice, it begins at dawn on Erev Pesach. The Shiyarei Knesses Hagedolah, in his notes on the Beis Yosef, writes that some have the practice of being stringent and not eating matzah from Rosh Chodesh onward. From Rosh Chodesh.

40:46 Speaker 6 Rabbi Ovadia permits eating matzah ashirah—

40:48 Speaker 2 Wait, wait, wait. And he brings the reason that you can’t fulfill the obligation with it.

40:53 Speaker 6 There’s no, there’s no reason to—

40:55 Speaker 2 And they brought—just a second, just a second. And the Mishnah Berurah brings this very view, cited in the Shiyarei Knesses Hagedolah and the notes on the Beis Yosef: some have the practice of not eating matzah from Rosh Chodesh onward. And in Igros Moshe, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein explains the reason for this stringency of not eating it from Rosh Chodesh. He examines what it means to compare it to “one who has relations with his fiancée in his father-in-law’s house.” He says there are two ways to understand it. That’s what Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says. Either it’s because she’s still unmarried, or it’s because she has been betrothed to him. In other words, they’ve made a formal act of betrothal, but he may not be with her before his marital obligation takes effect. What does that obligation mean? There’s a time for it. There’s a time when a man is meant to be with her. When? After the wedding. There is seclusion, then a wedding feast, and then he brings her into his home, and then he is with her. He can’t do it beforehand, because that was part of the process of marriage. But that’s one view, and the first view is something else: it’s because she isn’t married to you yet. She’s still unmarried. And Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says something remarkable. He says this is the subject of a dispute among the Rishonim: Does the prohibition begin in the morning, or only at midday on Erev Pesach? He explains it like this: According to the second reason, a formal act of betrothal has already taken place; she is betrothed to him. She is now your wife, but you’re still in the middle of the process, so you may not be with her before the time for that marital obligation arrives—which is after he brings her into his home. According to that view, he says, the practice of prohibiting matzah from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, or even from Purim, is understandable. That’s what he writes. But according to the first reason, that she’s still unmarried, the comparison between eating matzah on Erev Pesach and being with one’s fiancée in his father-in-law’s house doesn’t fit. Why?

43:05 Speaker 2 Then eating matzah would be forbidden all year, because that reason isn’t specific to Erev Pesach. You might say—because the Rishonim give two reasons—first, just as you may not be with a woman you aren’t married to, so too you may not eat matzah. But what’s the connection? How is that similar to being with one’s fiancée in his father-in-law’s house? That would apply to any woman, at any time. So that can’t be it. The second view... He says that’s only a comparison, as though one should refrain from eating chametz. But the first view is about a fiancée. What does that mean? You’re already involved in the process, but she isn’t fully married to you yet, so the earlier prohibition still applies. And with matzah on Erev Pesach, on the contrary, the Pesach laws already apply to him, and that itself creates a kind of prohibition. The Pesach laws have already begun to apply to him, so we tell him not to eat it from the morning. And that, he says, explains the novel idea of why some are stringent from Rosh Chodesh, a month in advance: because you’re already occupied with Pesach. It’s as though you’ve already started the wedding ceremony.

44:08 Speaker 6 The time is already here for the community.

44:09 Speaker 2 Yes. And then he says it’s brought in the Chayei Adam. Yes, not to eat it, in fact, and there are... a few individuals who were stringent not to eat it from Rosh Chodesh. Some individuals didn’t eat it for thirty days beforehand; some were stringent from Rosh Chodesh. At the very least, don’t eat it from the morning of Erev Pesach. Sometimes there’s no choice. Hotels, for example, can’t afford to have bread around in the morning.

44:40 Speaker 6 Oh.

44:42 Speaker 2 It would be a mess. So they’ll tell them it’s better to eat matzah—

44:47 Speaker 6 Ashirah.

44:48 Speaker 2 Than to eat bread, because otherwise there could be chametz on Pesach. They shouldn’t eat regular matzah, but it’s better not to insist on that stringent practice and then accidentally violate a Torah prohibition later.

45:00 Speaker 6 Maybe there isn’t—there isn’t anyone; there’s no need.

45:02 Speaker 2 In the army, for example, when Pesach came around, they would make everything kosher for Pesach four days before the holiday. Why? Because they needed people on duty, and by Erev Pesach everyone was going home. So if, for example, Pesach fell on Shabbos, the buses were already leaving at noon on Thursday. Who would clean the base for Pesach? They also had to start preparing all the food so it would be kosher for Pesach. So when would they start cleaning?

45:33 Speaker 6 Sunday.

45:34 Speaker 2 On Monday they’d shut things down, and on Tuesday and Wednesday they’d make everything kosher for Pesach. So what were the soldiers left to eat on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday? Do you want them eating field rations? What would they eat? No matzos and no bread. So they said, “Let them eat matzos.” Then some years people said, “But what will happen? They’ll eat matzos on Erev Pesach?” Not on Erev Pesach—fine, we can be lenient. But on Erev Pesach? What will happen? It’s forbidden. So they told us, “We’ll make special matzos”—matzos not made lishmah. What does that mean? Matzos made with the opposite intention. When making them, they would say, “We’re making these so that no one can fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah with them.”

46:15 Speaker 6 Right.

46:16 Speaker 2 So these are matzos that aren’t like the matzos that... Technically, they’re the same matzos, but they aren’t like the matzos for the evening. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, whose yahrzeit is today—I had the privilege, I was about eighteen and a half at the time—I had the privilege of being with him in his final moments. I was a volunteer at Shaare Zedek. I said Shema and Vidui with him. After everyone left, we removed the equipment and prepared him. After we said the prayer for the departure of the soul, everyone left. I stayed beside him and did what I needed to do. Then we took him out of intensive care, on the eighth floor of Shaare Zedek, and brought him to the elevator. There were nine of us. I said, “Wait, there’s a rabbi here, a Torah scholar. Let’s call one more person.” I said to someone, “Come, can you join us and be the tenth?” We went down in the elevator, along the corridor, and laid him in a room there. He lay there for a few minutes, and then someone from the chevra kadisha, Rabbi Goldstein, arrived and took him. But along that stretch of corridor, we really were ten. I found the tenth person for the funeral procession, and we were ten. The next morning, when I came to his funeral and saw hundreds of thousands of people there, I understood what an enormous privilege it had been to be the tenth person in Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s funeral procession. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach was an extraordinary Torah scholar. To be beside him in the last moments of his life—he looked like an angel of Hashem Tzevaos. His face was truly radiant, with a smile upon it. Ah, an enormous privilege. I still remember the prayers I said standing beside him in those special moments. We also did keriah, the whole medical staff, because he was also the rabbi of the medical center. I remember the hospital director,

48:05 Speaker 2 Professor Natan Levy, told everyone to do keriah, so everyone did, even the doctors in their hospital clothes. They made the tear in our clothes, and we did keriah. I remember praying that Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant us the merit to learn from his wisdom and from his love of Torah. Those really were very, very special moments, and I’m sure they affected me. I love halachah very much; I live halachah. I really feel that Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s image illuminates the approach to halachah, the understanding of halachah, and the search for halachic solutions. At seventeen, he wrote a special treatise on the halachah of electricity—electricity on Shabbos. I’m talking about electricity on Shabbos. Who knew what electricity was? He had revolutionary opinions, unlike those of the Chazon Ish.

49:00 Speaker 8 Wait, so is it permitted or forbidden? Well, people talk about that a lot. What? What?

49:04 Speaker 2 What you’re saying.

49:05 Speaker 8 Electricity on Shabbos.

49:06 Speaker 2 Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach says—

49:09 Speaker 8 If, in his opinion, it’s permitted.

49:10 Speaker 2 Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach says regarding—regarding—

49:15 Speaker 8 Why?

49:17 Speaker 2 Matzah that wasn’t made lishmah. He said—and he foresaw the consequences. I actually hadn’t seen his reasoning, but my opinion was similar to his. Later I saw, boruch Hashem, that I had arrived at the same conclusion as great Torah scholars. He said not to get into it, because people might make a mistake and eat the matzah not made lishmah on Seder night, and according to the opinion that it doesn’t fulfill the mitzvah, they won’t have fulfilled it. Besides, people will come to think that it’s...

49:46 Speaker 8 Permitted.

49:47 Speaker 2 Ah, that this kind is permitted, and [unclear]. But Rabbi Elyashiv said it’s better to have that, since there’s an argument that it does fulfill the mitzvah, than to have actual chametz. You should know, this whole matter isn’t so simple. Incidentally, in the army they made the matzos that weren’t lishmah with a special marking. But it really is a halachic issue. Rabbi Shlomo Moshe[?] said, “May you have a good, long life.”

50:16 Speaker 8 Amen.

50:17 Speaker 2 He wrote to me that IDF soldiers, including Sephardim, should say Hamotzi over it if they eat matzah because they have no choice.

50:24 Speaker 8 Before Pesach?

50:25 Speaker 2 Yes, because if you’re eating matzah because you have no choice, then as far as you’re concerned, that’s your bread right now. So he wrote that even Sephardim should say Hamotzi over it. It’s also written in a responsum. The responsum he wrote to me was also published in Toras Hamachaneh, volume 3, on halachah. In practical terms, if that’s what you have, that’s what you eat.

50:45 Speaker 8 Ashkenazim say Mezonos over it.

50:46 Speaker 2 Yes, yes, because you also have bread alongside it.

50:48 Speaker 8 Yes, but excuse me—Ashkenazim?

50:51 Speaker 2 Ashkenazim say Hamotzi. There’s no question about it for them.

50:52 Speaker 8 That’s it.

50:54 Speaker 2 Ah, that’s it.

50:56 Speaker 8 Ashkenazim, even on an ordinary day?

50:58 Speaker 2 Yes, yes, yes.

50:58 Speaker 8 If right now, if right now—

50:59 Speaker 2 Yes, certainly.

51:00 Speaker 8 Yes.

51:00 Speaker 2 That’s a novel ruling. It’s a major novelty that Sephardim say Hamotzi over it.

51:03 Speaker 8 We say Mezonos.

51:04 Speaker 2 That they say Mezonos over it is a major novelty.

51:06 Speaker 8 Because there’s other bread.

51:07 Speaker 2 Because there’s other bread. But it is novel, because if you ate a cracker made of flour and water, or toast, you’d say Hamotzi over it. Here, though, it’s considered something you crunch. There are several reasons for that. It’s a major novelty, because it’s a special food, and during the year it’s considered something that accompanies the meal. That’s novel.

51:25 Speaker 8 Something you wrap around the matzah.

51:26 Speaker 2 Yes, and it probably makes sense that this may also relate to the earlier view of what Sephardic matzah was like. Maybe I’m being presumptuous in suggesting this, but Sephardic matzah was soft, so they really did wrap food in it. It was there to accompany the food, not as the main part of the meal.

51:50 Speaker 8 Jam with beans.

51:52 Speaker 2 And that’s why they aren’t concerned about it. No, Sephardim aren’t concerned about that at all. So when you have bread, you have bread. Otherwise, it’s like something you use to wrap food. All right, but that’s the Sephardic view. In any case, we brought this up, and we mentioned Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Let’s talk a little about kimcha d’Pischa. We also spoke about the thirty days, so now is the time to start checking and making sure everyone has something to eat—everyone has something to eat on Seder night. There shouldn’t be a Jew who doesn’t have everything he needs on his Seder table. “All who are hungry—

52:39 Speaker 9 “Let them come.”

52:39 Speaker 2 “Let them come and eat,” so that everything is plentiful. There are rules about who is obligated and who isn’t, but the Or Zarua says that some communities levy a mandatory tax, requiring everyone to contribute money.

52:54 Speaker 9 Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

52:56 Speaker 2 And the committee—

52:57 Speaker 9 The building committee.

52:57 Speaker 2 The village committee. The village committee. You pay that, right? The village committee.

53:00 Speaker 9 Yes.

53:01 Speaker 2 You have... the religious council too, also—

53:03 Speaker 9 Not everyone, not everyone. Some people—

53:04 Speaker 2 No, no, no, all right. Don’t—I understand.

53:06 Speaker 9 Some people have connections.

53:06 Speaker 2 Don’t start going through lists of who owes what now.

53:08 Speaker 9 No! Some people have even better connections. Say your wife is the...

53:12 Speaker 2 The secretary. There she is—here we go, folks.

53:14 Speaker 9 No names, Rabbi, no names.

53:16 Speaker 2 This is live. Let’s not get ourselves into trouble over this.

53:20 Speaker 9 No names.

53:21 Speaker 2 But yes, the Levites were exempt too. Some people do have an exemption.

53:25 Speaker 9 The Levites were exempt too.

53:26 Speaker 2 There are.

53:27 Speaker 9 What am I talking about?

53:27 Speaker 2 Some people have an exemption.

53:29 Speaker 9 That’s what I’m talking about.

53:30 Speaker 2 Why?

53:31 Speaker 9 Yes.

53:31 Speaker 2 They work hard enough as it is.

53:33 Speaker 9 Yes.

53:34 Speaker 2 Why? Ah...

53:40 Speaker 9 He works hard too, Rabbi.

53:42 Speaker 2 A tax.

53:42 Speaker 9 A tax.

53:42 Speaker 2 A tax on everyone... And then it’s important that they make sure everyone has an equal share. That’s the communal idea: put your money in the central fund, and then everyone gets a share according to their circumstances. A kind of equality.

53:58 Speaker 9 Like a communal charity fund.

53:59 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly. And what’s special about buying wheat? Someone who needed help would feel that he had done something, that he hadn’t simply been handed ready-made food. It was less embarrassing for him. That’s the idea of buying wheat. But we really need to make sure people have food, matzos, and everything else they need, and that everyone has plenty, with Hashem’s help.

54:28 Speaker 9 Amen.