Page 12 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

Karpas - Avichai Tarshish (6th Grade)

The stage of Karpas at the seder consists of vegetables dipped in salt water. The type of
vegetable to be used for Karpas was never specified in Halacha; rather it only said a green
veggie. All veggies can be used for Karpas, which is pre y interes ng to me as it shows the
flexibility that our Sages gave to enable us to perform this important mitzvah. Having different
possibili es for karpas may also be a tool to arouse curiosity of the children at the beginning of
the seder, which is a major theme of the evening.

The Purpose Of Karpas - Bracha Teigman (12th Grade)
There are number of reasons as to why Karpas is eaten at the seder. I’m sure at one period in
your childhood you were told that Karpas served as a way to suppress one’s hunger before the
long dreadful wait for the meal. Or maybe you have been taught that the dipping of vegetables
is a sign of freedom; slaves did not have these luxuries. However, has it ever crossed your mind
that the act of dipping a vegetable may have represented something so simple? The Mishna in
Arvei Pesachim ‫ קיד‬states: .‫“ הביאו לפניו מטבל לבחזרת עד שמגיע לפרפרת הפת‬They brought before
him, to dip the le uce in, un l you get to the one with the bread”.
The exact verse - ‫ עד שמגיע לפרפרת הפת‬is referring to Karpas and ‫ לפרפרת הפת‬refers to the
mitzvah of Marror; this first dipping (Karpas) comes before the second dipping (Marror), which
follows Motzi Matzah. The Gemara concludes that this first dipping was implemented “ ‫כדי‬
‫”שישאלו התינוקות‬, so that the children would ques on and ask why they are weirdly ea ng
vegetables before a meal; we regularly do not eat immediately a er kiddush before formally
beginning the meal with bread.
We can learn from Karpas, an independent element of Seder solely for ques oning, that
ques ons and the children's educa on -‫חינוך‬- are so crucial in our seder experience and in
everyday Jewish life.
Do Mitzvot Require Kavana? - Noah Meimoun (11th Grade)
Suppose you are walking to Shul on Rosh Hashanah, and on your way, you pass a different shul
(not yours), and from the windows you hear the blasts of the Shofar. As you walk past, you do
not think much of it, as you plan to listen to the Shofar when you get to your shul. However,
when you get to your shul, the shofar had already been sounded and you missed it. Now the
ques on is, did you fulfill your obliga on of listening to the shofar when you passed the first
shul, even though you did not have the inten ons in mind that those blasts would be the ones
to fulfill your obliga on?
This ques on, whether you fulfilled a mitzvah if you did not have Kavana (inten on) while doing
it, is heavily discussed within Masechet Rosh Hashana, however it also appears in Masechet
Pesachim. On Daf 114, the Gemara goes into a discussion regarding whether Mitzvot require

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