Page 93 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

rather you do it as a preventive measure so the object won’t be used. However, all agree
Chametz must be destroyed, so you must burn it.

Ta’anit Bechorot: Why Is Ta’anit Bechorot So Lenient? - Avidan Abramson (7th Grade)
There are many fast days throughout the Jewish calendar. Many of them are for different
reasons. Some are very strict, like Yom Kippur. And some are lenient, like the Fast of the
Firstborns (Ta’anit Bechorot) on the day before Pesach. This is a fast day to commemorate that
the first born Jews were saved in Egypt during the last plague. The fast day is so lenient that
some Rabbis say that if you have a Mesibat Siyum, a celebra on celebra ng a Mitzvah, on the
day of the fast, then you don’t have to fast for the rest of the day. Some, such as Mordechai ben
Hillel, a thirteenth century German Rabbi also known as The Mordechai, say that you should
limit your diet on the day of the fast to only snacks. The Bigdei Yesha commentary states that
the reason that the Mordechai says that you should eat snacks is because it is generally
prohibited to hold a fast during the month of Nissan.
Some may wonder, “why is this fast so lenient?” Well, if you are one of those people then you
are in luck, because I am about to explain just that. The reason that Ta’anit Bechorot is so
lenient is because Hashem doesn’t want us to enter a holiday suffering. If the firstborns fasted
the whole day before Pesach then they would be entering Pesach fas ng, which is considered
suffering. The take away from this D’var Torah is that even though fas ng is an important part of
the Jewish religion, joy is also an extremely important part in the Jewish religion.
Pesach - One Day Or Two Days? - Marom Katz (11th Grade)
Before the se ng of the Jewish calendar, the decision of announcing the beginning of a new
month was determined by the Sanhedrin a er they heard the witnesses regarding their sight of
the renewed moon.
Since the decision was made based upon the tes mony of witnesses, there wasn’t a specific

me or day or even length of the renewed month. Meaning, some mes Rosh-Chodesh could
have been one day and some mes two days.
A er the establishment of the new Jewish calendar, Chazal in Masechet Beitza (4b) decided to
keep that tradi on and the way they kept it was through Shloshet-Haregalim (Pesach, Shavuot,
and Sukkot).
Chazal also decided that in Israel, the place of the Beit-Hamikdash, the Jewish holidays will be
celebrated for only one day. So that means there will always be a difference between the length
of the Shloshet-Haregalim in Israel and those outside of Israel.
This specific issue has a direct influence on me since I'm an Israeli but on the other hand I live in
Houston. So the ques on is, how should my family and I behave?

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