a friend asked me:
why do we only have a seder on the first night(s)?
as I was not sure of the answer, I pass the question on to you, my dear readers who have been silent of late.
aside: I feel very accomplished when I can have an entire conversation on the phone in Hebrew, even if it is just to order a sherut to the airport. :)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
the holiday of questions
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7 comments:
I think it's because one should, in theory, actually get up for shacharit sometime over Pesach. that, and one shouldn't cause tall, fat owners of famous hotels to go broke because of all his charity to poor children who are too lazy to pay for their own sedarim. the rabbis were obviously concerned for this sort of person, and thus, there is only one/two nights of seder.
also, i think it should be pointed out that there are probably two seders in hutz l'aretz because the rabbis recognized that there has always been, and will always be the choice to live in haAretz and be po or to live in hu"l and rake in money.
i suppose the difficulty in this line of reasoning is that exact case of the tall, fat hotel owner, who rakes in money in hutz l'aretz but still comes to haAretz to celebrate only one day. thus, our sages obligated him to pay for five hungry college students' meals. also, i believe this individual has the option to indulge in a second seder, but only for the food. obviously only for the food. obviously.
I think this should prove to you that demanding comments can be dangerous.
kate-
I sense some antagonism towards tall, fat hotel owners. Not sure if this is actually what the rabbis had in mind.
anon-
I like to live on the wild side. like tonight I ordered out grilled chicken, something I have never had before.
Ok, so the boring vaguely serious answer (and I think a right one): the holiday in question is actually a composite of two somewhat separate holidays, Chag Hamatzot and Chag Hapesach. The first is starts and ends on the 15th of nissan and continues for 7 days, while the second starts and ends on the 15th. The seder is a combination of the two, which centers (or centered) around the Korban Pesach and the retelling of the story, both tied to the one-day holiday. Matza, as you can see in the shiur I linked to above, contains aspects of both.
ilan-
thanks for the boring, vaguely serious answer. it explains a lot!
lovely to have you stop by. :)
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