Everyday Judaism · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Living Jewishly podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back to Ask Away number eight. We are open season for questions here. Go ahead All right. So, since matzah is a special mitzvah, to eat matzah, reciting the blessing over the matzah after we already said the hamotzi is not considered already a wasteful blessing, meaning we recite the regular hamotzi blessing for matzah as if it was bread and then, because we have a special commandment, to eat matzah, it's a special mitzvah which deserves its own blessing. It's a very good question, correct? We're blessing the mitzvah, not the object, correct?

00:52
So regarding the question of someone who lives in a log cabin and needs wood for heat, the Torah tells us lo sevaru esh b'chomo shvasechem ye shall not kindle a fire. In part of kindling a fire, part of that prohibition is not adding wood or fuel to a flame that's already existing as well, and therefore it would be prohibited for one to add any wood or other form of fuel to the fire. So if someone is in such a situation, they should have, from before Shabbos, enough wood that would carry them through and keep them warm. If it didn't, you cannot add fire to that flame. That's a good question. Next question that's a great question. Yes, so the kitl that is worn traditionally at the Pesach Seder is the same kitl that people wear during the festivals of Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur if they're a chazen, if they're leading part of the service or Yom Kippur for all adult males who are married, and, additionally, it is the same as those who wear them on any festival. Anyone who leads a special part of the festival service will also wear a kittel. There are people who wear the kittel throughout all of the intermediary days as well. There's actually a famous picture of two great Jerusalem sages which I have hanging in my sukkah every year, of Rav Shlomo Zalman Arbach and his brother-in-law, rav Shlomo Shvadron, who was known as the Magid of Jerusalem, who was the storyteller of Jerusalem, and they're both there in their strimel and their white kittel on the intermediary day of Sukkot, holding their lulav and estrogel. A really beautiful, beautiful picture. And, yeah, that's an example of how the mitzvah is fulfilled in other holidays as well.

02:59
But on Pesach, particularly Seder night, it's worn by all adult males over the age of over marriage who are married. Again, as we mentioned previously, some have the custom not to wear it in the first year of marriage. Again, everyone should follow their own custom. Now, the first day of Pesach, we have a special prayer in synagogue, which is Tal, the prayer of Tal, and that's where we ask for the rain of the winter months to end, and now we begin the summer and we change our prayers as well, starting from Musaf, the first day of Pesach, and the one who leads that prayer will also wear a kittel in synagogue for that prayer, because it's a special part of the festival. That's a great question. The kittel is a primary obligation for men.

03:56
Now, during the high holidays, women follow the custom to also wear white. Now we have to know that a kittel is also the garment of a dead man, a dead person. The shrouds that we wear are also the kittel. It's one of the garments that is dressed upon a deceased person. So that's part of like us.

04:20
Remembering, bringing things home and remembering the reality of our mortality is a very serious component, particularly Pesach Seder, rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur, where these are times where we want to remember this and bring it to the prominent place of our consciousness. So at the Pesach Seder, a woman is not obligated to wear white to commemorate that part of the no, a woman is not obligated to that. And additionally, you should just know, as a side note, it's a festival and women want to be dressed up in their finest attire and we wouldn't want to take that away from a woman to dress in white. I don't, I don't. I've never seen the custom of women wearing white, particularly by the Pesach Seder, especially when there's wine being spilled and stuff like that. That would not make a woman's night special getting some grape juice or wine spilled on their white dress. So, yeah, so, regarding the question of whether or not we can use white wine, that's a great question.

05:33
White wine, the custom is to use red wine. The reason red wine is because red wine is commemorative of the blood of the first plague that God put onto the Egyptians, but also it's more regal. It's more regal and because we are like kings and queens, on this night we drink red wine, which is more royal, red wine, which is more royal, yeah, so, regarding the Maggid, it could be long for some and you don't want to read the whole thing per se. Some may not want to, some may not be familiar with or know how to or be able to, so, yes, so people around the table can read. It is proper, however, if possible, for the leader of the household to read the entire thing. So at least one person in the household is reading through the entire tale of the Maggid. If that is not possible, then yeah, you can take turns.

06:36
The most important part is to know what the story is and to remember that the Seder night is not just about reading if we're not going to understand, and it's not about doing things that we're not connecting with. We have to really be able to connect with what is going on at the Seder night, and that's the most important part. So the halacha tells us that we are supposed to pour the cup of wine at a specific time. So I would not recommend having all four cups right in front filled up already in advance. There's a time for everything and there's a proper time. We fill up the first one, we drink the first one, then, at the right time, we fill up the first one, we drink the first one, then, at the right time, we fill up the second one, we drink the second one, and then we go successively in that order. And it doesn't have to be different glasses, by the way, it can be the same glass. Yeah, there's no need for them to be pre-filled in advance.

07:38
That is an excellent question, since it's already Pesach by the time the second Seder comes. Does it also have to be after dark? Yes, and it's for even another reason because we begin counting the Omer on the second night of Pesach and the Omer it says that it has to be tmimos, which is pure, which is complete, and that means you have to count 49 complete days of the Omer. Therefore, we don't begin the second night of the Seder. The second Seder night does not begin till nightfall, so they don't start the evening service till nightfall, which could be at about 8.30 at night. So you're not getting home till 9.30 at night. It's even later than the first night and it's challenging, but that's the way it is when we live in Houston and we have a later sunset and later stars out than you do in other parts of the world. But yeah, that's a big thing to make sure that we don't begin the second night till the first day is complete, complete, complete.

08:43
In other holidays there are ways to accept the second day early. That's complicated in halacha, we can get into it another time, but I know that there are people who before the second day of a holiday again not for Pesach will take it in early before the first day ends, begin the meal before the first day ends as well and then continue it into the second day. So you can speak to your local rabbi about that as well. Good question, local rabbi about that as well? Good question. So I don't know that there is any like a special recipe for salt water. You know, I don't think there's like a Martha Stewart recipe for salt water, right, right, so as long as it's salted water, you could use any type of salt, as long as it's kosher for Passover salt, meaning that it is no other. You can see on the box that'll say kosher for Passover, but ensuring that it's salted and the water. It probably works better with warm water in the beginning to completely yes, to completely dissolve into the water.

09:55
Now there's another piece. Here is that you want the Seder table, the Seder experience, to flow and therefore there are people who have multiple bowls of all of the different things the karpas, the salt water, whatever it is. That's going on. You know even, what I try to do is I try to have the murrah already pre-bagged for each member around the table so that we don't have to go and do the measurements each time. We have all the matzah ready, because you want it to flow and you don't want people to be taking it takes a lot of time and it's already late by the time we start, so you don't want to add extra time to the already long Seder table. Try to minimize that, and we have. I try to have one of my children or myself prepare the matzah that's going to be needed for all of those different parts of the Seder and prepare the mara that we'll see next week in our Everyday Judaism podcast. We're going to talk about the mitzvah mara and all theakhahs that are relevant to that. But that's part of having a Seder that flows. The more we can prepare in advance and this year again, it's going to be even before Shabbos that preparation the better off we are All right.

11:10
So, regarding the Manashtana, which is the tradition that children ask questions, even adults ask the questions of distinguishing the differences of the night of Pesach to the other nights of the year. Yes, so the custom is for children to say it, but many have the custom that adults can say it. The halacha says that someone's got to ask the questions. Sessions. It typically, when you have a big group of people together, like in a synagogue, if they have a communal Seder, for everybody to say it will take two hours, sometimes three hours or more, and that would be a real bad tax on the people who are there. They'd have to pay with a lot of time and that's something which would be unpleasant for the participants. So they, and that's something which would be unpleasant for the participants. So they, excuse me. They're typically limited to a few select few, typically children, to ask those questions.

12:06
But if we're in our own homes it's best if everyone who's there can participate. We want everyone to feel part of it, for everyone to ask the questions. If a child doesn't want, we don't force them to. We don't force anything on our children. They're not interested in doing it, they're not comfortable doing it, they're embarrassed, they're shy. That's fine, we can move on to the next child. Sometimes they'll gain the courage to do so after they see other children reciting the or when they see other children receiving their treats and rewards for asking the questions beautifully. So yeah, that's not. It's not an obligation for them to say it. It is an obligation on the table that someone asked the question. All right, my dear friends, thank you so much, askawayattorchweborg. Please share your questions with us. We look forward to addressing them in future classes. My dear friends, have a magnificent week. Thank you for joining us, thank you for coming, thank you for listening and have a terrific week.

13:09 - Intro (Announcement)
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