Q&A: Reclining to the Right
Reclining to the Right
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In the Talmud in Pesachim (108a) we say that reclining to the right is not considered reclining, and Rashi and Rashbam disagree there about the reason. According to Rashi, reclining on the hand with which a person eats is not considered reclining, and according to Rashbam there is an additional reason: “lest the windpipe come before the esophagus.” In the Shulchan Arukh (472:3) it is ruled that one should not recline to the right, and the Rema adds that there is no distinction for a left-handed person, meaning that even a left-handed person reclines to the left like everyone else. The reason is that we are concerned for Rashbam’s reason, “lest [food enter] the windpipe first,” and danger is treated more stringently than prohibition. According to this, it is difficult, because the whole reason they instituted reclining is that it is the manner of freedom; therefore, “reclining to the right” is not considered reclining because that is not a comfortable position, and therefore it is not considered “freedom.” If so, why should a left-handed person recline to the left like everyone else, when for him this is considered “reclining to the right,” which does not count as freedom? The law should have been that if he cannot recline to the right because of danger, he should not recline at all.
Answer
Reclining is a rabbinic law, so it is reasonable that they instituted it as a uniform rule without distinctions.
Beyond that, reclining to the right expresses freedom, and one does not necessarily have to actually feel physically comfortable (even if originally people reclined to the right because they felt more comfortable, by now it is already an established social convention). This is a matter of consciousness, not sensation. And perhaps it depends on whether a person is obligated to “show himself” or to “see himself” as though he had left Egypt.