Pesach - 5780

Pesach - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

The Mishnah in Zevachim [56b] states, "The Pesach offering is eaten only at night,

it is eaten only until midnight, it is eaten only by those registered for it, and it is

eaten only roasted. In Pesachim [89a], the Mishnah adds, "They may register or

withdraw from it only until it is slaughtered." There is much discussion on related

issues, but in the end, one may only eat the Pesach if they are registered for the

group in advance of the sacrifice in the Temple. People are only allowed to join

one group, and may not change which group they will be part of after the animal is

brought on the Altar, which is usually the morning of Erev Pesach, many hours

prior to the seder.

But wait. Open any haggadah to the beginning of Maggid, the section retelling the

story of the exodus from Egypt. The first paragraph, albeit in Aramaic, is very clear.

The ha lachma anya, second sentence reads, "let anyone who is hungry come in and

eat." Very honorable and proper. Many commentators write about the unity of Israel,

and that we should take care of our brethren who do not have, but doesn't this directly

contradict those Mishnayot above? We are inviting people to come in off the street to

join the seder, people who were not registered in advance for the Pesach sacrifice.

Sefer HaChinuch lists various people who we are not to feed from the Pesach, such

as heretics or non-Jewish neighbors, so clearly there are limits to who gets to eat

from it. These people are prohibited from the Pesach sacrifice period, whether they

are hungry or not. The haggadah's reference to "anyone who is hungry" appears

therefore to be limited.

Vilna Gaon refers this paragraph of Maggid to two types of poverty, listed in the next

sentence: "this year we are here", and "now we are slaves". He adds that another

form of poverty is "lack of knowledge". Taken together, he says that participation in

the seder is invited for anyone with a spiritual hunger, and these people do not need

to eat of the roasted meat itself.

But this still leaves us with the haggadah telling us to do something, albeit good,

that is in direct contradiction of halacha. Along comes Rav Shlomo Zalman

Auerbach with a solution.

Rav Shlomo Zalman notes that there are two sacrifices involved here, the Pesach

and also a chagigah. The Pesach is 'dessert', to be served after everyone at the

table is satiated. The chagigah is the meal. We can feed the Pesach only to those

who registered in advance, but there is no such restriction on the chagigah. The

haggadah tells us to invite in anyone who is hungry to eat from the chagigah and

any other foods, and to be nourished from the spiritual 'food' involved.

Of course, this would only apply in the days when we have sacrifices, so how do

we deal with it today? We do not have a chagigah now, but we can use any foods

to substitute. We do not have the Pesach, but we substitute matzah. There is no

restriction on the matzah as there is on the Pesach itself, so there is nothing at the

table today we cannot serve to anyone, registered or not, heretic or not, Jew or not

(although some have a tradition for other reasons to only invite Jews to a seder).

Anyone who is hungry may come and eat.

Rav Yaakov Emden has an entirely different take. He looks at the doubled verse in

the haggadah, "Anyone who is hungry come in and eat, all who are in need come and

make the Pesach". He says the first part refers to needy non-Jews and the rest refers

to needy Jews. Non-Jews, being forbidden to eat of the Pesach, are excluded from

the second part, but still included based on the commandment to provide for needy

people. Jews are invited in to "make" the Pesach, meaning to bring in their piece of

their own sacrifice to eat it alongside of other Jews rather than alone. The need there

is not from hunger, rather from being part of the community. Today, without the

sacrifice, the Jew would be able to partake of the matzah we use as a substitute.

When the Temple is returned to us, all this may change, but only with regard to the

Pesach itself, which will again be limited to those non-heretical Jews who preregistered

for the sacrifice. How will the Jew on the street, who did not register, manage to observe

this requirement? That falls under other laws, possibly under the rules of Pesach Sheini,

the second iteration a month later that the Torah sets to cover those who were unable

to come to the first one. We will still be able to feed the hungry, both physically and

spiritually. That is the core of Judaism.