פרשת צו - פסח שאלות

Grades 1 and 2

1. What is not allowed to happen to the fire on the Mizbeach? (6:6)

2. What is the name of the Korban that we bring if we sin? (6:9) 

3. What is the name of the Korban that we bring if we want to thank God for something? (7:11)

Grades 3 - 5

1. What happens to the leftovers of the meal offerings? (6:9)

2. In what four instances is the thanksgiving offering brought? (Rashi 7:12)

Pesach questions- all grades!

1. Pesach always occurs in this season. _______________. What is another name for Pesach in Hebrew that matches this season?

2. What are two other names for Pesach?

3. At the Seder we drink four cups of _______.

4. How many questions are in the Mah Nishtana?

5. Why do we eat Karpas at the seder?

6. Why do we eat Charoset at the seder?

7. What were the first three Makkot?

8. What is the Hebrew date of Pesach?

9. Why do we have a Zeroa, a shank bone, on the seder plate?

10. Why do we have a Beitza, an egg, on the seder plate?

11. What were the names of the Rabbis that stayed up all night talking about the story of Pesach? (hint: the names are in the Haggadah)

פרשת צו-פסח

How Hard Could it be to Make a Sandwich?

There are many opinions on how the sandwichכורך  should be made, put together, and eaten.

 מהו דתימאthat all you need to do  is take two pieces of מצה  and throw in some old junk to remember when we left Mitzrayim.  קמ״ל it isn't so simple. Inבמדבר פרק ט פסוק יא  it says על מצות ומרורים יאכלוהו  which means on מצה  and  מרור we should eat it. The word "it" is referring to the קרבן פסח.

There are millions of opinions on how we are supposed to make and eat the sandwich. If you look in  מסכת פסחים then you will find on ,דף קטו  page 115, opinions how the sandwich should be built. The  גמרא talks about how הלל  ate the sandwich.  רש״י says that included פסח, מצה, ומרור  and so should we.

According to the  רמב״ם instead of the  קרבן פסח he thinks that  הלל had  חרוסת in his sandwich, and because of that we should too. The ברכה  on  כרך is ברוך אתה ה׳ אלוקינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וציונו על אכילת מצות ומרורים. Later on we say the ברכה  ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על אכילת הזבח  -.This shows that כורך and the קרבן פסח  are separate ideas and they should not be combined because wouldn't we say the ברכה of קרבן פסח during כרך because that is when we eat it first?

According toרביננו חננאל  the מרור  should be physically mixed with מצה also,  הגדת מועדים וזמנים have the same opinion. 

We think that in the sandwich there should be פסח, מצה, מרור  because that is what is said in the פסוק.

Since there is no קרבן פסח  now, we think that the sandwich should just be מצה ומרור  not חרסת.

In  ערוך השולחן,סימן תע"ה, סק"ז it says that we need to split מצה  into two pieces and put מרור  in between. In our opinion this is to make a closed traditional sandwich.

There are some opinions that discuss if the sandwich should be open or closed. רש״י  says that the כורך  needs to be an open sandwich. On the contrary רמב״ם  in thinks the sandwich should be closed. In רשב״םs commentary on the גמרא it seems that he thinks it needs to be open. However, it says מצה in parenthesis which shows that he actually thinks it needs to be closed. The opinion of group is the same of theרמב״ם .

 How should it be eaten?הלל  the creator of the sandwich ate it in one bite because it says in

במדבר פרק ט פסוק יא, על מצות ומרורים יאכלוהו.  which means, onמצה  and  מרור we should eat it. הלל  interpreted the word יאכלוהו  as you should eat the sandwich at once. How much מצה  and  מרור should be in your sandwich? The answer is כזית מצה וכזית מרור .

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,

Amichai Citron, Daniella Shlagbaum, and Omer Benharush

ויקרא Questions

1^st and 2^nd Grade

1. Is a Korban Olah a male or female animal? (1:3)

2. What type of bread is brought with the Mincha offering? (2:4)

3. Is a Korban Shelamim a male or female animal? (3:1)

4. Why is a Korban Chatat offered? (4:27)

3^rd – 5^th Grades

1. What kind of animal is the Korban Olah in this Pasuk? (1:3)

2. What does the person who brings the Korban do with his hands? (1:4)

3. What kind of animal is the Korban Olah in this Pasuk? (1:10)

4. What is the name of the Korban you bring if you sinned by mistake? (4:27-29)

פרשת ויקרא

As we begin reading Sefer Vayikra this week, our focus for the next few parshiyot will be on the issue of the korbanot, the sacrifices that Bnei Yisrael were commanded to bring as the central part of their service to Hashem.  While we are unfortunately no longer able to perform the rituals associated with the korbanot and the Beit HaMikdash, there are many messages to be learned from them that are eternal and relevant to us today.

There is a famous dispute concerning the reason for animal sacrifice with Jewish law.  Rambam writes in his Moreh Nevuchim that the entire system of sacrifices was meant as a strike against idolatry, most notably the Egyptian idolatry that the Jews had been surrounded by for centuries during their years of slavery.  Rambam writes that it would have been too difficult for the Jews to worship Hashem using rituals that they had never before encountered, and thus Hashem allowed them to do what they had seen in Egypt.  However, to make the point that these rituals were not similar to the idolatrous rituals of the Egyptians, Hashem instituted a wide variety of very detailed laws that had to be followed in order to offer an animal sacrifice.  Furthermore, the very animals that were selected to be brought as sacrifices included the very animals that the Egyptians revered, and thus our korbanot have an aspect of sacrificing the very deities of the pagans whose society we were rejecting.

By contrast, Ramban sees the korbanot as having a much more personal aspect to them.  He notes that the fact that Hashem allows us to achieve atonement via animal sacrifice is a tremendous act of mercy.  In truth, someone who sins should have to pay with his own life; instead, we are given the opportunity to offer an animal in our stead.  However, the korban is only effective if we can look at the animal who is taking our place, if we can see his flesh and blood on the altar, and think to ourselves that, but for the mercy of Hashem, that should have been us.  One who brings a korban has to consider that he should really bring himself as a sacrifice.  

This lesson of the Ramban should resonate for us as well as we begin the month of Nisan this Shabbat.  At the Pesach seder, we are commanded to tell over the story of יציאת מצרים.   Rambam famously comments that we do not only tell over the story, but we have to see ourselves as if we were actually redeemed from slavery.  Both with regard to korbanot as well as with regard to the telling of the story of the Exodus, we are called upon to not merely go through the motions of a ritual act, but to internalize the message behind that act.  Only by doing so will the mitzvot be able to make an impact on who we are as Jews and the relationship that we are able to develop with Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov,

Rabbi Dr. Aaron Ross