Jewish World Review April 19, 2000/ 14 Nissan, 5760

Seder 101: Three tips for a kosher Passover Seder

By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE PASSOVER SEDER is a, well, a . . . Seder . “Seder ” in Hebrew means order. The unique celebratory meal of Passover — the Seder — is an orderly sequence. It has two purposes: to re-live the Exodus, and to arouse the children’s curiosity. All of the prescriptions that define the order of the Seder are designed to accomplish these two purposes. The adults need to know; the children need to ask. The adults need to re-experience G-d’s mighty salvation; the children need to be sufficiently thrown off guard to be drawn into the their own incipient internalization of the original experience of — the Divine concern for — the Jewish people.

The Code of Jewish Law, commented on by Mishnah Berurah and Aruch ha-Shulchan, lays down many details of the Seder .

Number one: Start on time
“A person’s table should be arranged while it is still daylight so that one may begin immediately with nightfall.” The Seder is a unique opportunity. Do not dawdle, so that the children end up going to sleep; do not squander the minutes: this is the message of the Code of Jewish Law.

At the same time, it is not permissible to begin early. This is normally allowed on a Sabbath or other Jewish festival. Then, it is permissible “to add holiness to mundane time.” Sabbath and festivals begin at sunset, but they may begin a bit early. Holiness can extend.

Not on Passover. This is because the Pascal lamb is compared to matzah. The Pascal lamb — the idol god of Egypt that the Jews sacrificed to show that they accepted no idols — was offered only when the ancient Holy Tabernacle and Temple stood. Then, the Pascal lamb, by Torah decree, was eaten only at night. The Pascal lamb is not with us now, but that which is compared to it — matzah — is. Therefore, matzah is eaten at night, not earlier; the Seder begins at night.

Number two: Keep certain things in mind. The Seder is mental work
The recitation of the Haggadah — the story of the Exodus — includes the recitation of many blessings. Perhaps the most well known are the blessings over the four cups of red wine (or red grape juice). Each blessing requires a double intent.

“Blessed are You, G-d, King of the Universe, Who creates fruit of the vine” — this is the blessing, but the intent is not only to drink a specific liquid. It is to fulfill a commandment or mitzvah of drinking four cups of wine.

Therefore, at the recitation of the Kiddush or opening “sanctification” — when one drinks the first cup of wine — one must have a double intention: to sanctify the festival day, drinking the wine in association therewith; and to drink the first of four cups of wine in association with the Passover Seder . One cup, two sanctities. One cup, two intents. The first intent is for the festival sanctity in general, the second intent is for the sanctity of the Seder ’s four cups in particular.

Also with the recitation of the Kiddush , one should intend to fulfill the mitzvah of all four cups of wine. Each of the coming cups will have its own blessing, but the second, overlapping intent — to fulfill a specifically Seder -related obligation — is to be kept in mind at Kiddush time.

Intent is not always associated with a blessing pre se.

Before the recitation of the Haggadah, one must have a specific intention in mind to fulfill the mitzvah of recounting the Exodus. The Seder is more than a storytelling or history session; it is the fulfillment of a mitzvah.

What, precisely, does the recitation include? Not, according to one authority, the famous “Mah Nishtanah” (why is this night different). This, of course, is the stage of the Haggadah at which virtually every Jewish child becomes the star of the evening.

In the middle of the Haggadah, there is a hole, so to speak. No adult fulfills any obligation by reciting the "Mah Nishtanah" (unless, alas, the adult is celebrating the Seder alone). The duty of the parent is to stimulate the child to ask questions about the formation of the Jewish people, in order to feel a part of it. The "Mah Nishtanah" is for the children. If an adult thinks that he fulfills part of his obligation to recite the Haggadah by reciting the "Mah Nishtanah," he might miss the whole point: his obligation is to give answers. An adult must know that the Haggadah is not merely a prepared script. While it must be recited in entirety, if the child is not instructed thereby, the adult must put the lessons into his own words — words that the children will understand.

Number three: bitter herbs or maror. What qualifies?
Some years ago, there was posted on the bulletin board of a synagogue I attend a reprint of an article from a medical journal. It recounted the power and possible medicinal effects — and damaging effects — of bitter herbs made straight from the root. Jewish law discourages this in a few ways.

First, there are five vegetables that qualify as maror. Third in line of preference is the root. First is romaine lettuce.

Second, if one grounds the root by oneself, one should leave it uncovered so that its sharpness decreases. Some say it should be uncovered from the time it is ground, others from the beginning of the Seder. Either way, its sharpness is decreased, albeit in different degrees. Now, if a person with expert eyesight is not available to check romaine lettuce for the unkosher bugs frequently found in it, it is preferable to use the “root.”

All other things being equal, family custom should also be a determinant in the selection of which of the five acceptable types of vegetables one uses for maror.

JWR contributor Rabbi Hillel Goldberg is Executive Editor of The Intermountain Jewish News. Send your comments by clicking here.

© 2000 Rabbi Hillel Goldberg