Last year I suggested that commemorating the Mikdash, the Temple in Jerusalem, is a central, if unarticulated, theme of the Pesach Seder (here)

The central act of remembering the Mikdash is Korech.  Right before we eat our festive meal, we wrap matzah and maror together and eat them with a declaration about Hillel and then we move on.

החזרת והמצה והפסח לילי יו”ט [הראשון חובה ושאר ימים] רשות ר”ש אומר לאנשים חובה לנשים רשות הלל הזקן היה [כרכן] שלשתן זה בזה ואוכלן . . .

The [bitter] lettuce and the matzah and the Passover offering are obligated on the first night of the [Passover] Festival, and on the remaining nights [partaking of them] is optional. Rabbi Shimon says, it is an obligation for men but optional for women. Hillel the Elder would wrap all three of them together and eat them.  (see here)

But  time once was that Korech was not the only way the Mikdash was commemorated in the Tannaitic era.  R. Gamliel had an alternate way.  He ate roasted lamb at his Seder.

אֵין צוֹלִין אֶת הַפֶּסַח לֹא עַל הַשַּׁפּוּד וְלֹא עַל הָאַסְכְּלָא. אָמַר רַבִּי צָדוֹק, מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל שֶׁאָמַר לְטָבִי עַבְדּוֹ, צֵא וּצְלֵה לָנוּ אֶת הַפֶּסַח עַל הָאַסְכְּלָא.

One may not roast the Paschal lamb on the metal spit nor on a metal grill [askela]. However, Rabbi Tzadok said: There was an incident with Rabban Gamliel, who said to his slave Tavi: Go and roast the Paschal lamb for us on the grill.   (see  here)

אַף הוּא אָמַר שְׁלֹשָׁה דְבָרִים לְהָקֵל, מְכַבְּדִין בֵּין הַמִּטּוֹת, וּמַנִּיחִין אֶת הַמֻּגְמָר בְּיוֹם טוֹב, וְעוֹשִׂין גְּדִי מְקֻלָּס בְּלֵילֵי פְסָחִים. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹסְרִין

Rabban Gamliel also said three things as leniencies, in opposition to the view of most of the Sages: One may sweep the room of the couches on a Festival, i.e., the dining room, where they would recline on couches to eat, as there is no concern that by sweeping the room one might come to fill in the holes and level the ground. And one may place incense consisting of fragrant herbs on burning coals in order to perfume one’s house on a Festival. And one may prepare a whole kid goat, meaning a kid goat roasted whole, with its entrails over its head, on the night of Passover, as was the custom when they roasted the Paschal lamb in the Temple. However, the Rabbis prohibit all three practices: (See here)

Gamliel was not alone in this practice. His contemporary Theodosius of Rome had the same custom.  The Tosefta Beitzah 2:15 records:

תודוס איש רומי הנהיג את בני רומי ליקח טלאים בלילי פסחים ועושין אותן מקולסין. אמרו לו: אף הוא קרוב להאכיל קדשים בחוץ, מפני שקורין אותן פסחין.

“Todos of Rome instituted the practice for the people of Rome to take lambs on Passover nights and prepare them roasted whole. They said to him: He comes close to feeding people sacred offerings outside [the Temple], because they call them Passover-offerings.” ( see here)

In the eyes of the Mishna the practice of eating roasted lamb was perfectly valid.  The Mishna in Pesachim 4:4 says it clearly

מָקוֹם שֶׁנָּהֲגוּ לֶאֱכֹל צָלִי בְלֵילֵי פְסָחִים, אוֹכְלִין. מָקוֹם שֶׁנָּהֲגוּ שֶׁלֹּא לֶאֱכֹל, אֵין אוֹכְלִין . ..

In a place where people were accustomed to eat roasted meat on Passover evenings, outside of Jerusalem or after the Temple was destroyed, one may eat it. In a place where people were accustomed not to eat outside Jerusalem, one may not eat it. (see here)

Choosing one or the other was a matter of local custom.

Over time, R.  Gamliel’s practice came to be rejected.  That rejection is best demonstrated by R.  Gamliel himself. While he had the practice of eating a roasted lamb on Pesach night, he did not require others to do likewise.  Rather he enacted the Halacha that we must merely recall the Korban Pesach during the Seder.

Why? When the Rabbis were busy instituting commemorative practices to keep the memory of the Temple alive, why did they choose korech over the far more obvious candidate — roasted meat?

After the Churban, R.  Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted a number of practices “zecher l’Mikdash,” in commemoration of the Temple.  In one instance, he mandated that a practice reserved only for the Mikdash be adopted by everyone after the Churban.

 בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיָה לוּלָב נִטָּל בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ שִׁבְעָה, וּבַמְּדִינָה יוֹם אֶחָד. מִשֶּׁחָרַב בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, הִתְקִין רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי שֶׁיְּהֵא לוּלָב נִטָּל בַּמְּדִינָה שִׁבְעָה, זֵכֶר לַמִּקְדָשׁ.  

Originally, during the Temple era, the lulav was taken in the Temple for seven days, and in the rest of the country outside the Temple it was taken for one day. Once the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai instituted an ordinance that the lulav should be taken even in the rest of the country for seven days, in commemoration of the Temple.(see here)   

Following that example, it would make far more sense to imitate what happened in the Mikdash on Pesach, just like we do on Sukkot.  We should be eating roasted lamb.  Why don’t we?

The........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)