seder-inspired questions

[cellio]

An online Jewish community I'm fond of has some unanswered questions that came out of Pesach this year. Can you answer any of them, dear readers?

• Why do we designate specific matzot for seder rituals? We break the middle matzah; we eat first from the top one and use the bottom one specifically for the Hillel sandwich. Why? What's the symbolism? (I'm aware of the interpretation that the three matzot symbolize the three "groups" of Jews -- kohein, levi, yisrael -- but that doesn't explain these positional associations.)

• If your house is always kosher for Pesach, do you have to search for chameitz? That is, is the command to search for chameitz, period, or is it to search for any chameitz that might be in your house, and if you know there isn't any you skip it?

• Why does making matzah require specific intent but building a sukkah doesn't? When making matzah (today I learned), it's not enough to follow the rules for production; you have to have the specific intent of making matzah for Pesach, or apparently it doesn't count. This "intent" rule applies to some other commandments too. But it doesn't apply to building a sukkah; you can even use a "found sukkah", something that happens to fulfill all the requirements that you didn't build yourself, to fulfill the obligation. Why the difference?

I tried searching for answers for these but was not successful. I have readers who know way more than I do (and who can read Hebrew sources better than I can). Can you help?

Comments

[hlinspjalda]

I think I've seen something about the matzot one; I'll ask Mr. Fixer if he remembers.

[cellio]

Thanks!

[hlinspjalda]

OK, we found something in one of our haggadahs, The Night that Unites, which we picked up on a sales rack at the local Judaica shop a couple years ago. I haven't read much of it since it's so Shlomo-y, but Mr. Fixer remembered this passage.

The middle matzah is Levi, right? Between Cohen and Israel? The Levi'im were "exempted from hard labor" in Egypt (Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 6). Rashi says "the work of Egyptian slavery had not been imposed on the tribe of Levi" (Rashi on Exodus 5:4). Therefore the Levi'im broke their bread, of which they had enough to share, and gave to the people who didn't. So that haggadah says you break the middle (Levi) matzah because of what the Levi'im did.

Now, my copy of Jacob Freedman's The Polychrome Historical Haggadah, which annotates the entire haggadah with respect to when a passage was introduced into the text, says that the breaking of the middle matzah is Gaonic, i.e., 650-1050. So maybe there's a relationship among Midrash Tanhuma, Rashi, and the dating of that addition to the haggadah.

[cellio]

Very interesting! I did not know that Levi had been exempt from hard labor in Egypt. (Even though it's right there in the Rashi.)

Are you interested in posting an answer on Codidact (so you'll get the credit)? If not then I can post one, linking here, but if you're open to Yet Another Thing On The Internet, I invite you to join us. :-) (Since I asked the question there I want to bring this answer there too.)

[elbren]

i don't know the answer to the searching for chametz one, but it has come up for a celiac friend. (i think she does formally sell the one bottle of vinegar in her fridge that matters.) so, looking for an orthodox and celiac forum might help?

she also is most likley to get glutened during passover - matzo crumbs get everywhere, even if she's using tortllas herself.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip; I hadn't thought about the celiac angle.