Chochom

Chochom ma hu omer

What is his question and how does not eating after the korbon pesach answer it. Taam in Hebrew can mean taste and reason.

1 The chochom wants to know the whole torah. And you answer him that tonight one only learns hilchos pesach like one doesn’t eat anything after or with the korbon pesach one also doesn’t learn anything else.

2 Why is it necessary to make the Torah so difficult with eidus chukim mishpotim. Why not just tell us the halachos and mitsvot. On that we answer the more ‘omail’ and the more one understands it the better one keeps it. Like the korbon pesah we don’t eat it at the beginning of the meal only at the end and the whole meal one thinks about it to make sure one eats the right amount beforehand not to much and not too little. And afterwards one also must not eat anything so that it should be on his mind the whole time.

3 The chochom question is in v’eschanon and the torah there answers avodim hoyinu. And here it says ‘af’ meaning apart from what the torah answers you should add on that one must not eat after the pesach. And the reason to be m’ramez the olam habo where there will be the leviaton where there will be nothing to eat after that.

To ‘root’ in his heart the idea of the next redemption.

4 The chochom asks that for three reasons the pesach should be eaten first. Because of eidus meaning the pesach happened at midnight whereas matsa only the next morning. Because of chukim (commandments) meaning the pesach was prepared from the 10th and commanded before matsa. And because of mishpatim meaning the rules of korbonus which is an animal gets sacrificed before a mincha. On that we answer since we cannot eat after the korbon pesach matsa has to come first.

5 The chochom asks why do we make such a ‘fuss’ over yetsiat mitraim unlike all the other galus. We have eidus referring to matsa chukim referring to pesach and mishpatim referring to maror. On that we answer this geula was complete unlike the others, we took everything possible out of Egypt and left nothing there and that translates to ‘ain maftirin achar hapeshach’ afik meaning take out.

6 The chochom asks what is the main thing in serving hashem. On that we answer ‘ain maftirin’ which can also translate one should not talk, apart from pe sach translates to the mouth talking referring to torah and t’filla. ????

7 The chochom asks what is the point of eating the pesach. Why do we eat it. We reply to take out the ‘holy sparks’. And ‘afik man’ which can translate after we have taken this out we must not eat more. The same as in Egypt we must not return since all the holy sparks have already been taken out.

8 The chochom asks why do we need ‘eidus’ meaning to ‘talk’ to say the hagada and the mitsvot. We answer the same as we do not eat after the korbon pesach to ‘clean’ the mouth, to make sure we keep the ‘taste’ of the pesach so we also say the hagada and do the mitsvot to do all not to forget yetsiat mitsraim.

9 The chochom asks why must we carry on doing the mitsvot since on pesach they already had reached the highest madrego. On that we answer ‘ain maftirin’ meaning we are not potur from ‘afik man’ which stands for ‘mayim nukvin’. That means on pesach we only reached this high madrego with hashems help but we have to also reach it with our own efforts.

10 The chochom asks what is the ‘taam’ of the mitsvot. On that we reply the same as the pesach one could not eat anything with it but one had to ‘taste’ it on its own. The same with mitsvot one has to experience the ‘taste’ on its own without extra reasons.

11 The chochom wants to ‘reach’ higher than necessary. So we tell him with the korbon pesach one also wants to ‘reach’ higher and ‘eat’ other things with it, but the torah gives a ‘border’ of how high one can ‘reach’ and says one has to ‘eat’ it on its own.

12 The chochom asks why is it that we have to be ‘commanded’ about the mitsvot. Would we be doing them of our own accord. On that we reply this is only on yom tov where there is great holiness but not on the rest of the year. Like after pesach we don’t experience afikomen meaning something sweet.

13 The chochom asks why could we not hear all the mitsvot from hashem and not just the first two which therefore causes us to forget them. On that we reply if you keep the taste of pesach in your mouth you also wont forget the mitsvot.

14 The chochom asks why did hashem command us eidus chukim and mishpatim. Meaning since we don’t understand the chukim why do we have them and mishpatim which we do understand are not necessary to command us. The answer is that even the mishpatim we have to do because we are commanded to do so. And the chukim have a reason although we don’t know it. And the same as we must not be ‘mvatel’ the taam of pesach, we were not given the taam of the chukim since we would not understand them and we are better off not knowing them so as not to be mvatel them.

15 The chochom asks why do we do the mitsvot of hashem. We answer ‘ain maftirin’ the gemoro has a few explanations what that means. One that one shouldn’t eat sweet things with it, meaning that there is nothing sweeter than it. That is also why we do the mitvot of hashem there is nothing better. Another one cannot eat it in two ‘chaburot’, hashem will also never change us for another chaburo.

16 The chochom is asking why we do mitvot. One should tell him all the halachot of pesach and explain them so well to him that he should realise that they need no extra taam like the afikomen.

17 The chochom asks why he cannot understand the reasons for the mitsvot. We answer that the main reasons cannot be understood in this world only in the next. And therefore one doesn’t eat with the korbon pesach afikomen to give it a taste.

18 The chochom asks what has hashem commanded us in galus since we don’t have the korbon pesach. On that we answer we learn the halachot and that is like bringing it. And the proof that even when we had the korbon pesach the main thing was that the taam of the mitsva should linger on. And this applies today so therefore we must learn about it.

19 The chochom sees the whole sheep in front of him and asks what is the proof it is a korbon from hashem since we don’t give the kohanim anything from it unlike almost any other korbon. We reply that since we eat it only when we are not hungry but already satisfied and cant eat anything after it that proves that it is a korbon and not chullin.

20 The chochom asks why are there so many mitvot with the korbon pesach unlike any other korbon. We reply its to show our love and thanksgiving for hashem for taking us out of Egypt. The same as we don’t eat anything after it to keep the taste in our mouth.

21 The chochom is asking what is the correct way to do mitsvot just for the sake of hashem. We reply, we should do like the korbon pesach which is eaten when we are not hungry and is the last thing to be eaten only for the sake of hashem, so all mitvot should not be done for ourselves just for hashem.