Q&A: Laws of Passover
Laws of Passover
Question
Hello Rabbi!
- Can one fulfill the obligation to expound on the laws of Passover before Passover through this very law itself (that one must expound on the laws of Passover before Passover)?
- Can one fulfill the obligation of “and you shall tell your son” through the story of the sages who sat in Bnei Brak and told of the Exodus from Egypt, thereby fulfilling “and you shall tell your son”? This is quite similar to the previous question.
3. P.S. The search bar on the site disappeared for me. Is that a problem on my end, or was the site renovated and they intentionally removed it?
Thank you
Answer
I still have the search bar. Maybe contact Oren, the site administrator.
- Why not? It reminds me of a story from Netivot Olam Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. There was a soccer player there who had become religious, a nice and fairly naive fellow. At the afternoon meals, someone would say a Torah thought each time. One day nobody got up. So that fellow stood up and said that there is an obligation to say a Torah thought at meals, otherwise it is as if one ate from sacrifices to the dead. Then he sat down.
- Here it is obvious that one can, since this itself appears in the Haggadah as part of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. I don’t see any logical obstacle to this, just as in the previous section.
Discussion on Answer
1. I don’t see a difference, as long as it is a law from the laws of Passover. And besides, it also achieves the purpose of the obligation, because once they have learned it, they know that they must study the laws of Passover.
2. In the Haggadah we tell about our forefather Jacob. Is that the story of the Exodus from Egypt? Why? Just as telling what happened before it counts as the story of the Exodus from Egypt, so too does telling what happened after it. There is what set the Exodus from Egypt in motion, and there is what resulted from the Exodus from Egypt. As I understand it, these parts are not just a mere custom; rather, this is how the custom developed for telling the Exodus from Egypt. Of course there is no obligation specifically to say this, and one could say something else, but the custom is to tell the Exodus from Egypt this way.
1. The purpose of saying the law at the meal is presumably the very study of the law, so it does not matter which law you say. But regarding the thirty days before Passover, perhaps the purpose of this law is that a person study practical laws relevant to Passover itself, whereas this law itself does not achieve the purpose of the obligation?
2. What is the connection between saying these parts of the Haggadah, which comes by force of custom, and the actual telling of the Exodus from Egypt, which is the obligation itself? If those sages had invented a story about other people who were sitting and telling of the Exodus from Egypt, would they have fulfilled their obligation?