The Maimonides Minute

Why, on Shabbat, is a person allowed to smell a myrtle attached to the ground, but not an etrog attached to a tree?

Why is it forbidden to use a wheel-and-pulley system to draw water on Shabbat? In what circumstances is drawing water allowed? And why can't a person climb a tree on Shabbat - or even before Shabbat, with the intention of spending Shabbat at the top?

Join the Maimonides Minute for the final episode in our re-release of our series on the Rambam’s laws of Passover.

This shiur reviews the eighth chapter of Hilchot Chametz uMatzah, and describes the Seder - start to finish - according to the Rambam. This includes a description of the Rambam's own Seder, as well as the Seder as it was in the time of the Temple.

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

In this shiur we continue explaining the laws of the Seder itself, including the requirements to recline at certain points of the Seder, to drink four cups of wine, to have charoset upon the table, and to eat maror.

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

Join the Maimonides Minute for the re-release of our series on the Rambam’s laws of Passover.

Today we begin explaining the laws of the Seder itself, including the source in the Torah for the mitzvah of telling the story of the Exodus, as well as which elements must be included in the story.

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

Immediately following the discussion of the Four Sons, the Haggadah presents a paragraph about the proper date for telling the story of the Exodus... and then the story itself begins. What is this paragraph doing here? Frankly, why is it part of the Hagaddah at all?

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

Join the Maimonides Minute for the re-release of our series on the Rambam’s laws of Passover.

In this shiur we continue with the laws of matzah, including the prohibition of eating matzah on erev Pesach, and the necessity of the afikoman being the last thing that a person eats at the Seder.

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

Join the Maimonides Minute for the re-release of our series on the Rambam’s laws of Passover.

In this episode we start looking at the laws of eating matzah on the first night of Pesach - namely, what is the exact nature of the obligation, and what kind of matzah is acceptable to fulfill the mitzvah.

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

Join the Maimonides Minute for the re-release of our series on the Rambam’s laws of Passover.

This shiur examines the laws of hag'alah - that is, kashering vessels so that they may be used for Pesach.

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.

We quote the mishnah from Masechet Berachot at the beginning of the Seder, which discusses whether the third paragraph of Shma needs to be recited at night, or in the times of the Messiah. What is the basis behind this disagreement? And how does it shed light on a midrash which claims that the curse of the serpent in the Garden of Eden will never be lifted?

This shiur is sponsored in memory of Chava bas Pesya.