Should We Take The Korban Pesach With A Grain Of SALT? (Seuda Shlishit, Green Road Synagogue, Parashat Bo 5778)

He should wash his hands and make the blessing, "On the washing of the hands," and take the Matzot in the order in their original order-- the broken piece between the two un-broken pieces. He should pick them up and make the blessings, "HaMotzi," and "On the commandment of eating the Matza." Afterwards he should take pieces of the top full one and the middle broken one and dip them in salt. /* Gloss: The custom on the first night is NOT to dip them in salt because "Plain Bread" does not need salt." */ Then, he should eat an olive's portion of each one while leaning... (DBS translation)

The custom is not to dip them: This comment refers to our practice on the first night(s). In contrast, during the remainder of the holiday, he would dip them in salt. Plain bread doesn't need salt, but on the first night, even more so, the lack of salt emphasizes that it is Lechem Oni. (DBS translation)

(1) The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: (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. (7) They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. (8) They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. (9) Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted—head, legs, and entrails—over the fire. (10) You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. (11) This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to the LORD. (12) For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the LORD. (13) And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (14) This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. (15) Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (16) You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. (17) You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. (18) In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. (19) No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country. (20) You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.

Another explanation: "Choose sheep for yourselves." This is spoken of in the verse (Psalms 97:7), "All who worship images, who vaunt their idols, are dismayed; all divine beings bow down to Him." -- when God told Moshe to slaughter the Paschal lamb, Moshe said to Him, "Master of the universe, how can I possible do this action that you command? Don't You realize that the lambs are worshipped as gods by the Egyptians?" For it says in the verse (Shmot 8:22), “It would not be right to do this, for what we sacrifice to the LORD our God is untouchable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice that which is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes, will they not stone us!" God responded, "By your life, Bnai Yisrael will not leave Egypt until they slaughter the gods of the Egyptians right in front of their eyes, so that I can make known to them that their gods are nothing." We find that this is what He did, for on that night he struck all of the Egyptian firstborns and on that night, Bnai Yisrael slaughtered their Paschal lambs and ate them. The Egyptians saw their firstborns killed and their gods slaughtered and they did not do anything in response. This is in accordance with the verse, (Bamidbar 33:4) "The Egyptians meanwhile were burying those among them whom the LORD had struck down, every first-born—whereby the LORD executed judgment on their gods." (DBS translation)

Talk to the congregation of Israel and say (Shmot 12:1-2), "On the tenth day of this month." Would it not have been better to take the lamb directly from its pen? Yet the command was to select it on the tenth of the month. This teaches us that on the tenth of the month Bnai Yisrael tied the lambs to their bedsteads. When the Egyptians entered the houses and saw the tied up animals, their souls would flee from them.

Rabbi Hiya the son of Rabbi Acha of Yafo taught about the verse (Shmot 12:21), "Select and take a lamp for your families," that each of the Jews was to take the god of the Egyptians and [cause it] to be slaughtered in front of the Egyptians so that ?it would cause him to feel turmoil and he would mutter? (Translation by DBS)

Chose [lambs] for yourselves:

Rabbi Yosi HaGlili explained the verse to say, "Take from that which is worshiped by pagans and attach it to a Mitzvah."

/* Comment: It seems that this agrees with the teachings of the RAMBAM in the Guide to the Perplexed: The underlying purpose of the command to the Jewish people to bring sacrifices was to cause them to separate themselves from the practices of the other nations who would slaughter and bring incense to their gods. Thus, the Jewish people were commanded to direct this holy worship towards God. And despite the fact that there were many who argued with the RAMBAM on this matter, the truth is that the RAMBAM has good support, and his words derive from a holy place. This is explained further in the Midrash on Parashat Achari Mot (Vayikra 17:3-4): "If anyone of the house of Israel slaughters an ox or sheep or goat in the camp, or does so outside the camp; and does not bring it to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD," is similar to a prince whose heart was full with himself and regularly ate animals that were found dead or torn up. His father, the king, said to the prince, "You shall always eat from my table." In this way, the prince desisted from his practice. The Jewish people enthusiastically worshiped the pagan gods by sacrificing goats. In consequence, bad things would happen to them. God said to them, "You should bring your sacrifices to Me at the Tent of Meeting, and thus they ceased from worshiping the pagan gods. This explanation from the Midrash accords with the teaching in the Guide to the Perplexed. */

Rabbi Elazar taught: The god of the Egyptians was a sheep, and God commanded to do acts of justice to it, which included burning it in the fire, as it says (Devarim 7:25), "You shal consign the images of their gots to the fire." This was done in order for the aroma to spread far and wide. Further (Shmot 12), "Its head with its legs with its entrails." Further, its bones were scattered in the market. And these actions were the harshest ones the Egyptians had to endure, as it says (Bamidbar 33:4), "acts of reckoning." (DBS translation)

(13) You shall season your every offering of meal with salt; you shall not omit from your meal offering the salt of your covenant with God; with all your offerings you must offer salt.

Don't spare salt - it is a Covenant with your Lor]. The covenant was extablished with salt during the six days of creation when the lower waters were promised that they would be brought as part of the sacrifices on the altar, and with the water libation on Sukot (Rashi and the Midrash). The Ibn Ezra says that the simple meaning is that He brought you into a covenant and made you swear that you wouldn't bring and eat insipid sacrifices for that would be disgraceful. Because this covenant of sacrifices is archetypical, other covenants (Bamidbar 18:19 and Chronicles 13:5) are similarly referred to as "Covenants of salt" which would be everlasting like the salt covenant of sacrifices. But the Ibn Ezra [is inconsistent] and explains that the covenant (in Bamidbar) is called a salt covenant in accordance with the verse (Jeremiah 17:6) a salt barren land. But there is no truth to his explanation. Rather, because the Torah uses the name Elokim (the covenant with your Lord) and the Torah does not use the name HaShem here (the covenant with your God, or the covenant with your Lord your God) like it does in the rest of the text about the sacrifices, I understand it as follows: Salt water is heated by the strength of the sun and leaves a deposit of salt, and the freshwater waters the earth which sprouts and brings forth plant life. If the salt is put upon the land it will burn it and the land will not sprout and bring forth plant life. Behold, in this same way, the Covenant contains all of the measures: The Water and the Salt and the Fire. ["And you, O Migdal-eder, Outpost of Fair Zion, It shall come to you: The former monarchy shall return— The kingship of Fair Jerusalem." (Micah 4:8)] The first kingdom belongs to HaShem is like salt which gives flavor to all foods and can sustain and also destroy in its saltiness. This is how salt is like the covenant. (DBS translation)

You shall surely salt all of your sacrifices. In order to coronate God as master of all opposites which are found in the world and which have caused many to utter the heresy that one divinity cannot be the source of two opposites. Behold, salt holds in its very nature a thing and its opposite, for it has the power of fire and warmth, and it also has the derivative of water. The Kabbalists say that these are akin to God's attribute of Justice and Mercy. Thus, it is called the Covenant of your Lord because when you bring salt on the alter, you are coming into a covenantal relationship with God and giving him reign over all opposites. All Mincha offerings (?) except that of the Kohen (?) were given to the Kohen to eat. Thus, the Mincha is a kind of Tzedaka which itself is compared to salt on account of its ability to preserve and sustain meat. If you lack salt, you lack money. The Tzedaka of the sacrifice is greater than the sacrifice itself as it says (Proverbs 21:3), "To do what is right and just is more desired by God than sacrifice." When the verse says, "With all of your sacrifices bring salt," it means that the Tzedaka (salt) which is brought with every sacrifice is more dear to God than the sacrifice itself. The simple understanding of "All your sacrifices" includes even meat sacrifices (and not just Mincha offereings). (DBS translation)