Matzah, Marror and Haroset

(2) This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. (3) Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. (4) But if the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. (5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (6) You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight.

'At evening, you shall eat unleavened bread] until the twenty-first on the month at evening (Ex. 12:18). Perhaps you are obligated as to unleavened bread all seven [days]." [Therefore the teaching says, "[You shall not eat] it with [anything leaven]" (Deut.16:3). "With it" [the passover sacrifice] you are not obligated concerning unleavened bread all seven [days].

If so, why does it say, "until the twenty-first of the month at evening'? For [otherwise] I might have [assumed] that it applies [only] when you have the passover offering. When you do not have the passover offering whence [do you learn it]? [Therefore] the teaching says, "With it you shall eat unleavened bread" (Deut. 16:3). The verse makes it an obligation.

I only know [from this] concerning within the Land of [Israel], outside the Land, whence? [Therefore] the teaching says, "In all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread" (Ex. 12:20).

(3) They bring [it] in front of him. He dips lettuce before until he reaches the appetizer that precedes the bread. They bring before him matzah, lettuce, and haroset (and two dishes) though the haroset is not mandatory. Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Zadok says: it is mandatory. And in the Temple they bring the body of the pesah before him.

(5) Rabban Gamaliel used to say: whoever does not make mention of these three things on Pesah does not fulfill his duty. And these are they: the pesah, matzah, and bitter herbs. The pesah because the Omnipresent passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt. The matzah because our fathers were redeemed from Egypt. The bitter herb because the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers in Egypt.

(5) These are the things with which they fulfill their obligation on Pesah: with wheat, with barley, with spelt, with rye, and with oats.

(4) Rabban Gamaliel says: three women may knead at the same time and bake in one oven, one after the other. But the sages say: three women may be engaged with the dough at the same time: one kneads, one shapes and one bakes. Rabbi Akiba says: not all women and not all kinds of wood and not all ovens are alike. This is the general principle: if it [the dough] rises, she should slap it with [hands dipped in] cold water.

Rav Pappa said: Everyone agrees that while fulfilling the mitzva of eating matza on Passover, one places the piece inside the whole and breaks. What is the reason? With regard to matza the phrase “Bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:3) is written, and the poor typically eat their bread in pieces. Therefore, eating matza on Passover evening, the broken matza is also significant.

(6) And these are the herbs with which one discharges his obligation on Pesah: with lettuce [hazaret]; with chicory [olshin]; with wild chicory [tamkah]; with picridium [harhavina], and with sonchus [maror]. They fulfill their obligation whether they are moist or dry, but not preserved [in vinegar], nor stewed nor boiled. And they combine to the size of an olive. And they fulfill their obligation with their stalk[s].

And Rav Pappa said: A person should not leave bitter herbs in the ḥaroset for a lengthy period of time, lest the sweetness of the spices in the ḥaroset nullify its bitterness. And the bitter herbs require a bitter taste, and they are not bitter when marinated in ḥaroset.