Since we have enjoyed out gefilte fish, how about a salad? If we are Ashkenazi, not so simple. If vegetables need to be peeled, we run into the issue of "borer". Even if we determine that peeling a vegetable is NOT borer, the halachah stipulates...
Wait, did I say at the end of my last post that we should have some tea? Wow, does that open a can of worms! How shall we make it? I have discussed in other posts, that ,in the laws of Shabbat, a vessel cooking over the fire is a "kli Rishon"...
It is forbidden to heat water on Shabbat to the point that one could be scalded. There are different estimates of how hot that is, but scientifically, that is between 130 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit (54-60 C). One may not wash in water that has...
"Credo" (I believe) is a major part of every Church service in traditional Christianity. One of the first parts of the service is the recitation of one or more "creeds"; basic beliefs of the Church, formulated mostly in the fourth century. The...
The Exodus from Egypt is one of the most central themes in Scripture. Many of the commandments specifically are done "as a memorial of the Exodus". We are often reminded in the Torah "I am HaShem who brought you up out of Egypt". Although all of...
Although all agree on the definition of chametz, many other foodstuffs have become "forbidden" by custom. These customs took on a life of their own. This is especially true of Ashkenazim, but not exclusively so. The classic example of this is...
The prohibition of owning chametz is stated in the Torah "there shall be seen no leaven or sourdough in your homes", which appears several times in the Torah, albeit with slightly different wording. One who possesses chametz, even if not in his...
Passover (Pesach) is NOT the Biblical name for the holiday, but rather "Hag HaMatzot" (The festival of unleavened bread". Pesach is actually the name of the sacrifice, which was offered on the afternoon BEFORE the actual beginning of the holiday,...
The Torah has two mitzvot relating to matzah. One is that the Passover sacrifice must be eaten together with matzah and maror. There is, however, a second command to eat matzah "in the evening" (of the first night of Passover), aside from that...
From the Talmud, we can see that matzah looked very different at that time than what we are now familiar with. First of all, there were no matzah bakeries. Each family baked their own, throughout the holiday. (This is still done in many Yemenite...
A great debate has raged over the last one hundred and eighty years, regarding matzah made by machine, rather than by hand. The fact is, however, that the early responsa on the subject are actually irrelevant, as the nature of the machine process...
The measurements used in the Torah (cubit, span, hin, and others) are only known approximately. Those used in the Talmud would seem to be more straightforward; the bulk of an olive (k'zayit), the bulk of an egg (k'beitzah), the hand breadth...
The Maror (bitter herb) was an adjunct to the Passover sacrifice, rather than a mitzvah in and of itself. By rabbinic enactment, it was instituted to be eaten at the Passover Seder, in memory of the bitterness of slavery, as well as to inculcate...
So why does the Talmud see lettuce as the preferred choice for Maror? While it is true that wild lettuce (also known as "opium lettuce", as it contains a mild narcotic) is extremely bitter, it is listed as the least preferable of the five species...
In speaking about which herbs are acceptable for the Marror; the bitter herb, I left off with the issue of lettuce. There is no question that lettuce is the preferred marror of the Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud even notes that all the herbs...
