Pesah:
A shiur from the
Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem

Shirley & Jacob Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Israel

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

The meaning of a Seder ritual after the destruction of the Temple

By Joshua Kulp

In the year 70 C.E. the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. From the time that the Jews had returned from their exile in Babylonia (around 500 B.C.E.) they had observed Pesah every year in Jerusalem at the Temple. The central celebration of the holiday was the offering of the Pesah sacrifice, and its being eaten by groups of Jews, praising God and telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt. 

Now that the Temple was destroyed they were left with the greatest of dilemmas. Without a Temple how could they fulfill the ritual of the Pesah sacrifice? We shall see this dilemma reflected in the following sources.

Two laws are necessary to understand these sources:

1. The Pesah sacrifice must be fully roasted and not boiled.

2. Sacrifices must only be offered within the Temple precincts. While the Pesah sacrifice was eaten outside of the Temple, it was sacrificed within.

Tosefta Beitzah 2:15

• Rabbi Yose said, "Todos the Roman instructed the (Jewish) residents of Rome to purchase lambs for Pesah and to roast them. They (the other sages) said to him, 'He is close to sacrificing outside of the Temple, since they (the Jews of Rome) call the sacrifice "Pesah."

Mishna Pesachim, 7:2

• (Nowadays) one should not roast the Pesah on a spit (since this was only allowed in Temple times). Rabban Gamliel (who lived after the destruction) said to his slave, Tabi, "Go out and roast for us the Pesah sacrifice."

According to Todos and Rabban Gamliel, who both lived after the destruction of the Temple, Jews should continue to eat roasted meat on Pesah, probably in order to commemorate the Temple ritual as much as possible. The contrary opinion, which became the law, said that rituals done in the Temple can only be done there, and are corrupted by being done elsewhere. Hence, the meat we eat at the seder must not be fully roasted.

Why do Rabban Gamliel and Todos want to continue eating the Pesah after the destruction? 

Why do the other sages try to forbid this? What might the generations that lived immediately after the destruction of the Temple have thought about the continuation of Judaism? 

What different strategies may they have employed in order to ensure such continuity?

Today we live after the Shoah, one of, if not the greatest tragedy in our history. How do our responses to the Shoah reflect some of the choices that Rabban Gamliel and the other sages were forced to make?

If you have comments or questions about this topic and would like to further discuss the issue with the Yeshiva teachers, please contact us through our e-mail yeshcon@netvision.net.il or visit our website: http://www.uscj.org/israelcenter/yeshiva/us-yesh.htm.