Pesachim
Tractate of the Talmud | |
---|---|
Seder: | Moed |
Number of Mishnahs: | 89 |
Chapters: | 10 |
Babylonian Talmud pages: | 121 |
Jerusalem Talmud pages: | 71 |
Pesachim (
Two reasons are given for the name of the tractate Pesachim being in the plural: either because the tractate originally comprised two parts, one dealing with the Passover sacrifice, and the second with the other aspects of the holiday, before they were combined into a single tractate named Pesachim during the
The basis for the laws included in this tractate are derived from the Torah, largely from the Book of Exodus, in Exodus 12:1-29, Leviticus 23:5-8, Exodus 13:3-10 and Exodus 23:15-18, as well as Leviticus 23:5-8, Numbers 9:2-14 and Numbers 28:16-25, and Deuteronomy 16:1-8.[4]
The tractate consists of ten chapters and has a
Apart from the
Etymology
The name of the tractate Pesachim is the Hebrew plural of the name of the Passover festival Pesach, and there are two explanations given for this:
Firstly, the tractate contains two distinct parts, which were originally separate, until combined into a single tractate during the
One part, now comprising chapters one to four and chapter ten, addresses the laws of Passover that apply always and everywhere, such as the removal of chametz from the home, the eating of matzah, and the Seder on Passover night. The second part, now chapters five to nine, concern the laws of how the Passover sacrifice was offered and eaten at the Temple in Jerusalem while it existed. This part is more relevant thematically to Seder Kodashim, the order of the Mishna concerned mainly with the sacrificial offerings in the Temple.[6]
In the only surviving manuscript that contains the complete text of the Babylonian Talmud, known as the Munich Codex, the current tenth chapter appears as the fourth, so that the chapters concerning the practical observances of the festival follow one another consecutively.[3][7]
The early medieval Jewish commentators, known as the
A second reason given for the plural name of the tractate is that there are, in fact, two Passovers: the "second Pesach" on the 14th of Iyar was instituted a month after Passover for those who were unable to offer the Passover sacrifice on the eve of the holiday on 14th of the month of Nisan, in accordance with Leviticus 9:6-12. Accordingly, the title of the tractate in the plural recognizes this, although the Mishnah almost entirely concerns the first or "Great" Passover.[3][2][8]
Subject matter
The subject matter of this tractate covers the various laws of all the aspects of the
The topics discussed in this tractate are derived from the Torah in the Book of Exodus, Exodus 12:1-29, Exodus 12:43-49, Exodus 13:3-10 and Exodus 23:15-18, as well as Leviticus 23:5-8, Numbers 9:2-14 and Numbers 28:16-25, and Deuteronomy 16:1-8.[4][8]
Other Biblical references to the subject matter are found in Joshua 5:10-11, 2 Kings 23:21-23, Ezekiel 45:21-24, Ezra 6:19-22, 2 Chronicles 30:1-5, and 2 Chronicles 35:1-19.[8]
Structure and content
In all the editions of the Mishnah, Pesachim is the third tractate of the order Mo'ed. The tractate comprises ten chapters and 89 paragraphs (mishnayot). It has a
Tractate Pesahim can be divided into three sections: The first four chapters dealing primarily with laws concerning the
An overview of the topics of the chapters is as follows:
- Chapter 1 deals with the search for leaven (bedikat chametz) and its removal, when and where it is necessary, and how and when chametz is to be destroyed, and the time limit for eating leavened food on the day before Passover; it describes the signal on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to notify the people when they were required to destroy their chametz; and concludes with regulations about burning unclean sacred food.[4][3][9]
- Chapter 2 continues the subject of chametz, such as the time from which any benefit from leavened food other than eating it is forbidden, the status of leaven which was kept until after Passover, including the status of leaven pawned or as pledges for monetary loans to non-Jews; it then discusses the making of the
- Chapter 3 lists various foods regarded as cḥametẓ, and which are not chametz themselves but contain leaven and for which a person failing to destroy them is guilty of transgressing the Biblical prohibitions, the search for leaven and its removal when the eve of Passover occurs on a Sabbath, cases in which travelers, who have set out on a journey and remember that they had not destroyed leavened food at home must return to do so; and by association, cases in which a pilgrims returning home from Jerusalem, discovers that they are carrying sacrificial meat, must go back to burn it at the Temple in Jerusalem.[4][3][9]
- Chapter 4 begins with the statement that refraining from work on the eve of Passover depends on local custom (minhag) and discusses the strength of local customs in making and determining law; it then digresses to discuss various laws which depend on local customs and the binding force of customs in several different matters, and references practices of which the Rabbis did not approve and the extent to which they were able to stop them.[4][3][9]
- Chapter 5 begins the discussion of the Passover sacrifice and other aspects of the sacrificial service at the Temple in Jerusalem, including the timing of the daily sacrifice (tamid) on the eve of Passover, and time for the sacrifice of the Passover sacrifice and circumstances which disqualify a lamb for use as the Passover sacrifice; it continues to describe the ceremonies in the Temple accompanying the slaughtering of the Passover sacrifice, the rows of priests, the accompanying music, and the three groups of the people who are required to recite the "Hallel" and finally, the manner of slaughtering the sacrifice when the eve o Passover falls on a Sabbath, and further preparation of the paschal lamb.[4][3]
- Chapter 6 continues to discuss the sacrificial arrangement when Passover falls on a Sabbath, and with related issues such as when another animal must be sacrificed together with the paschal lamb, animals used for this sacrifice, and cases in which slaughtering the Passover sacrifice on the Sabbath is forbidden.[4][3]
- Chapter 7 begins with the methods for roasting the Passover sacrifice, and examines problems regarding ritual impurity (tumah) affecting a person participating in the sacrifices, including those sacrifices which a person who is in a state of tumah may offer but not eat; the position when either the community or the sacrifice or parts of it become ritually impure; the time when the inedible parts of the offering such as the bones, and other remnants of the sacrifice must be burned, what part of the animal can be eaten, and the regulations about separate groups eating their sacrificial meat together in the same location.[4][3][9]
- Chapter 8 considers the questions of who may offer the Passover sacrifice on behalf of another, the position of women, slaves, mourners, and the ritually impure in respect of the Passover offering, and the requirement of registering for a particular sacrifice and being permitted to eat only of that sacrificial animal’s meat, and by association with this, other laws of registration are also discussed.[4][3][9]
- Chapter 9 begins with the regulations for those who are ritually impure or on a distant journey and unable to observe the Passover sacrifice at the proper time and are required to observe the Second Passover a month later, the difference between the first and the second Passover and the difference between the Passover which was celebrated in Egypt during the Exodus and all subsequent Passovers; the chapter transitions to discuss a variety of other problems, such as the exchange ("temurah") of a Passover sacrifice, offering of a female animal, mixing of the Passover sacrifice with other sacrifices, and cases in which the animal designated as a Passover sacrifice has been lost or exchanged.[4][3][9]
- Chapter 10 reviews the arrangements and regulations for the Passover night meal,
Historical context and significance
And thou shalt tell your child in that day, saying: It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
— Exodus 13:8, [8]
The Mishna was composed towards the end of the
The Passover holiday was a central
By the time the Mishnah was compiled in the second century C.E., significant parts of
The annual retelling of the story of the
Liturgical uses
The structure and content of most of the liturgical selections used at the Seder were defined during the period of the Mishnah, and with some minor variations, came to comprise the traditional Haggadah that is used by Jewish communities to this day. The Talmudic passages of this tractate formed the basis for one of the earliest known partial texts of the Haggadah, included by
The opening words of the Haggadah, after the
The text of Ma Nishtana ("How is this night different") and now known as "The Four Questions" originates in the Mishnah (Pesachim 10:4) as a set of statements said after the meal and not before it, by the father rather than the child (Talmud, b. Pesachim 116a). It passed through several stages, notably after the destruction of the Temple, when the statements were posed as questions designed to maintain the attention of the children during the telling of the Passover story which now took place before the meal; the statement about the roast offering was replaced by the one concerning reclining, and the question about bitter herbs was added.[13][14][15][16]
The passage Avadim Hayinu ("We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt") begins the formal telling of the story of the exodus from Egypt, following the Mishnah’s directive to "begin with the shame and end with the praise" (Pesachim 10:4). The Talmud records the views of two third-century Talmudic sages, Rav and Shmuel, regarding the starting point and content of the narrative (Talmud, b. Pesachim 116a), either "We were slaves..." or "In the beginning our ancestors were idol worshippers..." At different times one or the other introduction was used, but both views were finally accommodated in the Haggadah, beginning with the answer according to Shmuel.[13][15][16]
The account in the Haggadah of five leading sages of the Mishnah the second century C.E., Rabbis Eliezer, Joshua, Eleazar ben Azariah, Akiba and Tarfon, who spent the entire night in Bnei Brak talking about the Exodus from Egypt, is found only in the Haggadah, but the debate is cited in the Mishnah (Berachot 1: 5) and in the Midrash, and a similar story is found in Tosefta of this tractate (Pesachim 10:12).[13]
Following the ruling prescribed in the Mishnah "that according to the understanding of the child, the father instructs him" (Pesachim 10:4), the Haggadah liturgy includes the section of
The statements of
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59264-312-7.
- ^ a b c Kornfeld, Mordecai. "Introduction and Bibliography for Pesachim". dafyomi.co.il. Kollel Iyun Hadaf of Yerushalayim. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ehrman, Arnost Zvi (1978). "Pesahim". Encyclopedia Judaica. Vol. 13 (1st ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd. pp. 327–328.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Pesaḥim". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- ISBN 978-1-59264-312-7.
- ^ a b "Introductions to Tractates - Pesachim". Dafyomi Advancement Forum. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ "Manuscripts". Collections: Hebrew and Yiddish. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek [Bavarian State Library]. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
Munich Codex Hebraicus 95, France, 1342: "the world's only remaining almost entirely preserved manuscript of the Babylonian Talmud.
- ^ OCLC 1043172244.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Epstein, Isidore, ed. (1938). "Pesachim: Translated into English with Notes, Glossary and Indices". The Babylonian Talmud. Vol. Moed. Freedman, H. (translator). London: The Soncino Press. pp. xi–xiii.
- ^ a b c Kulp, Joshua (2014-05-02). "Introduction to Pesahim". Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Retrieved 2020-04-06.[permanent dead link]
- ISBN 978-1-59264-312-7.
- ^ Kulp, Joshua (2014-05-02). "Pesahim, Chapter 10, Mishnah 1". Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Retrieved 2020-04-06.[permanent dead link]
- ^ ISBN 0827600194.
- ^ a b Goldschmidt, E.D. (1947). Haggadah shel Pesah (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Shocken. pp. 12–13.
- ^ a b c d e Goldschmidt, Ernst Daniel (1978). "Haggadah, Passover". Encyclopedia Judaica. Vol. 7 (1st ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd. pp. 1079, 1091.
- ^ ISBN 978-9657760369.
- ^ Lauterbach, Jacob (1933). Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. Vol. I. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. pp. 166–167.