Sicha, Acharon Shel Pesach 5746
A. The Three Foods on the Seder Plate
At the Passover Seder, we eat matzah for two reasons: (a) it is the “bread of affliction” that reminds us of our enslavement in Egypt, and (b) it recalls the dough that didn’t have time to rise as the Jews fled Egypt in haste (Source 1). Both reasons are alluded to in the Torah (Source 2).
Additionally, the Torah commands us to eat maror (Source 3) and the Haggadah explains that maror reminds us of the bitter exile (Source 4).
A third item on the Seder plate is charoset. Maimonides explains that the charoset paste is reminiscent of the cement the Jews were forced to work with in Egypt, and rules that the matzah should be dipped into charoset (Source 5).
Raavad, in his glosses on Maimonides, argues with this, calling it “nonsense” and says the matzah should not be dipped into charoset.
What is the essence of their debate?
B. Unpacking the Meaning of the Seder
The Rogatchover Gaon explains: Both Maimonides and Raavad agree that the matzah was dipped into charoset during the Temple era. This is because matzah symbolizes the bread of affliction, and the charoset represents the cement of their slavery; thus, it is fitting to dip the matzah into it.
The Contemporary Seder Doesn’t Recall the Exile
The argument between these sages is only after the Temple era, when we no longer have the element of the matzah that recalls the exile. Why?
The Talmud says that after the destruction of the Holy Temple, the mitzvah of eating maror is no longer biblical, because the Torah bound maror to the Passover offering. Maror need not be consumed when the Passover offering is no longer sacrificed (Source 9).
The Rebbe explains the deeper meaning behind the loss of this mitzvah: At the Seder we observe various customs and rituals designed to help us (a) recall the exile and slavery in Egypt, and (b) recall our liberation and redemption from Egypt. Nowadays, living as we do in a period of exile, we do not need to do any ritual to remember the exile —we live it each day! Therefore, maror is no longer biblically applicable. The Seder element of recalling the exile and slavery became redundant.
For the same reason, when we eat matzah, we aren’t eating it to recall the exile—bread of affliction—because during exile we don’t need to be reminded how exile feels. We eat the matzah to taste how liberation feels.
Maror as a Remembrance for the Holy Temple
If so, why did the Sages institute the continued eating of maror during exile? The answer is that this is a practice established as a reminder of the Temple—to remember how things were done when the Temple stood, but not for the purpose of evoking a feeling of servitude.
Now, we can understand the disagreement between Maimonides and Raavad regarding how to act during exile:
Raavad maintains that in a state of exile, there is no longer a reason to mention the servitude, which we are already experiencing in any case. Therefore, there is no reason to dip the matzah in charoset, because matzah symbolizes freedom alone, whereas charoset symbolizes servitude, and there is no connection between them.
Maimonides, however, maintains that even during exile, we should dip the matzah in charoset as part of the custom and the desire to create a reminder of the Temple.
