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Week 24 - Wednesday - 10 May 2000

PESACHIM: CHAPTER 10 : MISHNA 1

Pesah eve close to minhah, one may not eat until it becomes dark. And even a poor person in Israel may not eat unless he reclines. And they may not give him less than four cups of wine, and even from the charity plate.

Kehati

As has already been mentioned (in the Introduction to the Tractate), this entire chapter deals with the detailed laws of the Seder.

Pesah eve close to minhah - as we have already explained (Ber. 4:1), the time of the minhah prayer is determined in accordance with the time the afternoon tamid is offered. Since the tamid was offered every day at nine and one half hours of the day (see 5:1, above), the time for minhah was determined as beginning at nine and one half hours; this is called minhah ketanah. This is to be distinguished from the time of mihah gedolah which begins at six and one half hours of the day (based on the time of the slaughtering of the tamid on Pesah eve, as explained, ibid.). The Gemara explains that this mishnah refers to minhah ketanah, and "close to minhah" means about half an hour prior to the time of minhah ketanah, i.e., at approximately nine hours of the day (this is about 3 p.m.; see the introduction to 4:1, above), one may not - begin to (Rabbeinu Nissim) - eat until it becomes dark - so that he will eat the matzah at night with a hearty appetite, in order to beautify the mitzvah. The mishnah used the wording "until it becomes dark" because of what was taught in the Tosefta: "The obligation of the korban pesah, matzah, and bitter herb is only after it becomes dark; the reason for this is because it is written, 'And they shall eat the meat on this night' (Ex. 12:8)." Matzah and bitter herb are compared to the korban pesah (Tosafot). Rambam writes: "one may not eat on Pesah eve from a short time before minhah, so that he will eat the matzah with a hearty appetite. He may, however, eat a small amount of fruits or vegetables, but he may not gorge himself on these foods. The early Sages would refrain from eating on Pesah eve, in order to eat the matzah with a hearty appetite, and so that the mitzvot would be precious to them" (Hil. Hametz u-Matzah 6:12).

And even a poor person in Israel may not eat - on Pesah night, unless he reclines - he sits on a cushion or on a couch, leaning on his left arm, and he eats and drinks while reclining, in the manner of free men, in memory of Israel's exodus from slavery to freedom. According to one interpretation, this mishnah teaches that even a poor person, who does not normally recline, and who lacks a cushion or couch on which to recline, is nevertheless obligated to eat while reclining, e.g., by sitting on a bench, because a poor man's reclining on a bench is considered to be "reclining" (Tosafot, Mordekhai).

And they may not give him less than four cups of wine - the Sages enacted the obligation to drink four cups of wine during Seder (see below for the reasons for this enactment): the first cup: the Kiddush, the sanctification of the day, is recited over it (see mishnah 2, below); the second cup: the narrative portion of the Haggadah is recited over it (see mishnah 4, below); the third cup: the Grace after Meals is recited over it (see mishnah 7, below); the fourth cup: the Hallel is completed over it (see mishnah 7, below).

This mishnah teaches that even for a poor person who is supported by charity, the charity administrator, who distributed to the poor their needs, may not give him less than four cups of wine, and even - if he is the poorest of the poor, who takes - from the charity plate - from which food is given to the poor (see Pe'ah 8:7). If the charity administrator does not give this to him, he must do the utmost so that he will have wine for four cups, e.g., he sells his clothing, or borrows, or hires himself out, in order to purchase wine (Rashbam).

The Jer. Talmud lists several reason for the Rabbinic enactment of the four cups:

(1) corresponding to the four expressions of Redemption stated in reference to the Exodus from Egypt: "I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched hand, and with great judgements; and I will take you to Me for a people" (Ex. 6:6-7);
(2) corresponding to the four times "cup" is mentioned in connection with Pharaoh, in the Torah passage about the butler: "And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand"; "and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup"; "and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand"; "and you shall give Pharaoh's cup into his hand" (Gen. 40:11, 13) - events that eventually lead to the Redemption from Egypt (Hameiri);
(3) corresponding to the four kingdoms to which Israel was enslaved: the Chaldees, Media, Greece, and Edom (Rome). The Bible alludes to four cups they will have to drink: "Take this cup of the wine of fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it" (Jer. 25:15); "Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, That made all the earth drunken" (Jer. 51:7); "Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup" (Ps. 11:6); "For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup surely the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall drain them, and drink them" (Ps. 75:9). As an allusion to this, the Sages enacted that the passage "Pour out Your wrath " is to be recited over the fourth cup" (Hameiri);
(4) corresponding to the four cups of punishment which the Lord will give to drink to the non-Jewish nations, there are the four cups of consolation which the Lord will give to drink to Israel, allusion to which are to be found in the Bible, e.g.: "O Lord, the portion of my inheritance and of my cup" (Ps. 16:5); "my cup runs over" (Ps. 23:5); "I will lift up the cup of salvations" (Ps. 116:13). (Salvations is in the plural, implying two.)

PESACHIM: CHAPTER 10 : MISHNA 2

They mixed for him the first cup - Bet Shammai say, He recites the blessing over the day and afterwards recites the blessing over the wine; but Bet Hillel say, He recites the blessing over the wine, and afterwards he recites the blessing over the day.

Kehati

This and the following mishnayot, through mishnah 8, explain the details of the Seder. This mishnah discusses Kiddush, with which we begin the Seder.

They mixed for him - the head of the household, the first cup - to recite Kiddush over it. The head of the household conducts himself in the manner of a free man, and the others, who serve him during the Seder, pour for him his cup (as has already been explained in other places, the wine during Mishnaic times was extremely strong, and it was necessary to mix it with water; this is the source of the expression to "mix" wine),

Bet Shammai say, He recites the blessing over the day - the blessing of the sanctification of the day: "Who has chosen us from every nation," and afterwards recites the blessing over the wine - "Who creates the fruit of the vine"; but Bet Hillel says, He - first - recites the blessing over the wine, and afterwards he recites the blessing over the day - the blessing of the sanctification of the day. This dispute has already been recorded in Tractate Berakhot (8:1), regarding Kiddush benedictions recited on any Shabbat or Festival night, and regarding one who recited the Kiddush over bread. A baraita in the Gemara explains Bet Shammai's reason: because "the day causes the wine to come." i.e., the wine is required only because of the sanctity of the Shabbat or Festival day. A second reason: the sanctity of the day begins before the Kiddush is recited, therefore, the blessing of the sanctification of the day should be recited first, and afterwards the blessing over the wine. Bet Hillel's reason is that the wine (or the bread) causes the blessing of sanctification to be recited, for if there is no wine (or bread), a person may not recite the Kiddush. A second reason: because the blessing of the wine is more frequent, unlike the blessing of the sanctification of the day, and the general rule is that something performed frequently takes precedence over something infrequent. The halakhah is in accordance with Bet Hillel.

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