Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul.

The class covers the Mishnah and Gemara in Pesachim 39a-39b discussing which vegetables may be used for Maror on Pesach. The Gemara establishes criteria for valid Maror species, including having sap and a pale green color, and concludes that both criteria are required according to the halacha. A lengthy discussion explores why lettuce is the preferred species, connecting its symbolic properties to the Egyptian enslavement, and rejects the notion that one must seek the most bitter vegetable available. The Gemara then derives from a comparison to Matzah that Maror must be an edible vegetable grown from seeds, ruling out options like bitter fish bile, bitter tree bark, or poisonous plants. The class concludes with a discussion of why multiple Maror species are valid and introduces a question regarding the laws of Kilayim when planting these species together in one plant bed.

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(0:00) Mishnah: Valid Maror species

(1:34) Criteria for valid Maror

(3:26) Searching for the most bitter

(4:52) Why lettuce is called Chasa

(5:19) Egyptians compared to Maror

(6:38) Chazon Ish on bitter lettuce

(8:08) Source for Maror being a vegetable

(10:52) Rejecting fish bile as Maror

(11:22) Maror must grow from the ground

(13:42) Why so many Maror species?

(17:40) Planting Maror species together

(18:05) Kilayim and Maror species

(21:56) Resolving the Kilayim conflict

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