Beit Or ~ The House Of Light

Kevin writes...

To whom this may concern,

I am creating my own Haggadah and after doing some research I came up with 2 questions on Ur'chatz and Karpas. I wanted to know if you would be able to answer them for me.

Ur'chatz:
I learned that Ur'chatz was instituted to teach the children that there was a time in Jewish history (when people were able to purify themselves from every type of Tumah) that washing the hands was required for food that was dipped in one of the 7 liquids (shulchan aruch 158:4). (This question is based on what the Kol Dodi Haggadah by Rabbi David Feinstein says about Ur'chatz) My question is why did the Rabbis feel the need to have the children become curious and ask questions at the Seder about this particular topic and not pick some other topic like i dont know the mitzvah of tying shoes? why this specific issue of washing for food dipped in 7 specific liquids? what does that have to do with the Seder?

Karpas:
according to Rashi, the Karpas we use at the seder corresponds to the coat that Yaakov gave to his son Yosef. Rashi says that Yosef's coat was similar to the Karpas mentioned in Esther. My question is how did our Karpas go from a coat to a vegetable? when and why was this switch made?

Thank you very much !!!

Rabbi Isaac Levy responds...

Cleanliness is next to Godliness, because the Hebrews lived in the darkness of slavery and had no enlightenment of Torah; so having the Israelites crossing the Red Sea was as if Adonai has purged them of their iniquity.

A green vegetable or Karpas (in Hebrew) symbolizes the time of Spring. It also symbolizes the bitter times the Israelites had to endure in slavery. It is believed the stem of the lettuce is bitter and as it grows up from the ground, the leafy part begins to taste less bitter, which speaks of the transtition from slavery into freedom via the exodus from Egypt.

The Karpas is dipped into salt water at the beginning in order to invoke the children asking the question, "why"?

In closing , the Karpas has nothing to do with the coat of Yoseph; the rabbis like to "connect the dots" which in turn makes for a good story.