Karpas - learning to eat One of the more "strange" the evening of the Seder is undoubtedly the Karpas . Kidush Soon after, before it even begins to fulfill the positive precept of the Torah to relate the exodus from Egypt, we wash our hands ( Urchaz ) and eat a piece of celery dipped in vinegar (according to others in salt water). Before eating it, of course, recite the blessing of frutti della terra . E' una cosa stranissima che apparentemente non ha nulla a che vedere con il cerimoniale della sera. Ma ancora più strano è il fatto che prima di mangiare una verdura intinta in un liquido ci laviamo le mani. Si tratta di un antico rigore non universalmente accettato che in questa serata speciale viene "rispolverato" proprio a questo punto. Da notare che questa stranezza scatena una serie di domande, in parte sollevate anche nel Ma Nishnanà.
Rav Mordechai Elon shlita, nella sua Haggadat Techelet Mordechai , lists four oddities on the Karpas.
- The problem of netillat yadaim .
- Why, if we want the netillat yadaim , the Karpas is so important to dedicate one of simanim, one of the "stations" where the Seder is divided?
- There are several uses about whether you should or should not recline for karpas chaive as for the other elements of the Seder. Some say no, because even the might of the Karpas allusions to particular harshness of slavery. Those which do recline because they recline?
- Because unlike the other night we eat something before the blessing of the bread?
Rav Elon replied that the answer to these questions lies in the fact that the Karpas is to emphasize the fact that this evening we are all princes. The use at the time of the Mishnah and the Talmud, was that the wealthy people opened their meal with an appetizer like the Karpas. was a way to whet your appetite for people who would have then had a hearty meal. I poveri e gli schiavi invece non scherzano davvero con il loro stomaco. Rav Hisda ricorda in Shabbat 140b che, memore di quando era povero e non poteva permettersi un tale aperitivo, anche quando divenne benestante non accettò mai questa consuetudine nel resto dei giorni dell'anno.
Ma la sera di Pesach siamo tutti principi, tutti benestanti, tutti liberi. E lo segnaliamo comportandoci come tali: mangiando il karpas . Rav Elon spiega che uno dei percorsi particolari di questa serata è la consacrazione di quanto mangiamo. Mai nel corso dell'anno, recite blessings 'to achilat ', that which thou hast commanded us to eat. The precept was common to eat something in the shrine. But in our world only at Pesach we are commanded to eat something, and on this we recite a blessing that you have commanded . the evening of the Seder is the time when we rediscover the sacred relationship with food. Eat something (the deck maror and, unfortunately, in the absence of korban ) because it is mizvà. Not to be satisfied. Why is mizvà. The root of true freedom is explained Rav Elon eat something because it is only mizvà. We try to understand what we're saying Rav Elon: If there is an evening where there is that you eat is your soon to Pesach. We arrive at the dinner much later than usual, because this is only half of the Seder (and we know all the protests and the sarcasm that goes with the rash ). When one is hungry eat late. They are the masters and they say, begins the seder stimulating hunger. Increases hunger you have. It must reach the hungry bunch: why you should not eat so much even for lunch. To get to the hungry bunch. And when you're hungry, and you want just something to put under your teeth, that is the time when you eat - exclusively - because it is mizvà. This is freedom. Turning away from the bonds of matter, sanctifying the matter and turning it into a mere instrument of mizvà. I do not eat because I am hungry. I eat because it is mizvà. Mizvà and is hungry to eat mazzat mizvà. This is the evening in which we try to reconstruct the transgression of Adam HaRishon who had been commanded to eat.
"The Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden 'eat' eat." (Genesis II, 16)
[we have deepened the sense of this verse in Bereshit Derashe of the 5760 http://digilander.libero.it/parasha/archivio% 2060/6001.htm ]
Adam had received the commandment to eat. And we have seen in the past that his own inability to eat because it is mizvà (and especially the inability to communicate what Havva) brings the power of the tree of forbidden knowledge. If you are not eating because it is mizvà, says Rav Elon because you end up eating the snake, the instinct of evil, pushing us to do so.
This is what we try to adjust the evening of the Seder. We eat what we are commanded to eat and not eat the chamez, forbidden on Pesach. Raise the food, the more material needs to document human sacred. How to get to this level? Through netillat yadim. Purification is what raises the meter. Before Kadesh, no need to wash their hands. The words, ideas, spirit, can not become impure. But the matter. And to raise the subject, in this very evening, we wash our hands. And then urchaz before karpas . wrong when he tells Adam Chavvà only the ban, not providing the tools to serve God with positive action. And it is the communication mizvà, which together with the same mizvà with us this evening. Tonight I'm not just eat because it is mizvà. You must know to tell their children, their wives and themselves.
