Minhag Madness | Imamother

amother

Tue, May 03 2005, 10:23 pm

ok, here's the question. What do most Lubavitchers do at the seder regarding the mah nishtana? Who says it? My husband and I disagree about this. I won't say what my opinion is.

Second question. For those of you that don't eat gebroks, do you set the table first and then eat your matza out of a bag or do you eat your matza on a napkin, clean off all the crumbs and then set the table?

gryp

Tue, May 03 2005, 10:39 pm

people do the mah nishtana differently as far as I know, but in my house growing up we all said it one by one, youngest to oldest. it took a very very long time....

some people do it all together at once, and by some the youngest says it and everyone else says it quietly.

as far as gebrokts goes, we didnt set the table until shulchan orech and every spot on the table was decrumbed. and we ate matzah over napkins before shulchan orech, and during the meal we had to eat it off to the side of the room against the wall over the floor.

but pesach is over.... until pesach sheini at least Very Happy

gryp

Wed, May 04 2005, 9:42 am

the Romaine lettuce is completely dried and the maror is wrapped inside the lettuce. nothing wet touches the matzah, and only the maror is dipped into charoses and then shaken off just in case.

supermom

Thu, May 05 2005, 12:39 pm

yeah but when you take a bite out of the lettuce there is always juice. by the seder noone ever spills wine or anything that might actually touch the matza? we always have accidents at our table with wine every year we never miss a beat. you can't always be to careful with not eating gabraks.

gryp

Thu, May 05 2005, 1:34 pm

supermom, im not sure what you mean... lots of people dont eat gebrokts and there are no accidents because we are careful about it.

what kind of juice comes out of lettuce? as far as I know there is no juice in lettuce...

the wine is kept away from the matzah so when it spills, the matzah is far away.

matzah is kept away from all other foods or liquids too. some people say its ok to eat matzah with dry foods ie. cheese, but I mostly know people who dont eat matzah with anything at all.

supermom

Thu, May 05 2005, 1:59 pm

maybe our lettuce is nice and juicy meaning with a lot of water. Confused

with kids and all what do you do with the wine? they drink it off the table? I understand by the rest of the yom tov meals you can seperate the matzah from the rest of the meals but not by the seder. it is hard. no matter how careful you are they are always someone to have some what of an accident.

gryp

Thu, May 05 2005, 2:14 pm

Quote:

no matter how careful you are they are always someone to have some what of an accident

why do you keep saying this?
im telling you if you are careful nothing happens.
every single pesach ive lived through there has been no gebrokts.

and if you happen to find a crumb of matzah in a becher or plate somewhere, whats the big deal, you throw it out or put it aside. the main thing is that you dont eat the wet matzah.

by the sdarim the matzos are kept seperate also, people have different ways of keeping them seperate. I wrote in another thread what we did in my house growing up.

as far as the lettuce goes, it is completely dried before we use it on the matzah, like I wrote in the other thread.

supermom

Thu, May 05 2005, 2:24 pm

I keep repeating it because unless maybe not in your house but in others their are accidents. I was at my inlaws house and they were also very careful and by the second cup one of them were a little bit to the typsy side and there went the whole bottle of wine all over the matzahs. that is why I was wondering that means that when a person does not eat gobraks they don't go crazy if wine or other things get by mistake wet. that is what I am asking. and you answered me thank you that people are not overly 'crazy' if by mistake something does fall.

gryp

Thu, May 05 2005, 2:29 pm

the point is really not if matzos got wet or not, the point is what you did with the wet matzah.

maybe you keep the matzahs on the table in a different place where we do, but when the wine spills, it still doesnt reach the matzahs.

Yael

Thu, May 05 2005, 2:52 pm

to answer the original question: in my family everyone says mah nishtana youngest to oldest, though the married children have the option of saying it queitly or in front of everyone.
as for the matzoh, we dont eat it in a bag or anything but before shulchan aruch we completely clean off the table first then set it with plates and food. we also wash out the kiddush cup plates if they got full of crumbs.

1stimer

Sun, May 08 2005, 2:03 pm

rg wrote:

some people say its ok to eat matzah with dry foods ie. cheese, but I mostly know people who dont eat matzah with anything at all

wow! how do you manage to eat a k'beitza at each meal? What do you eat for breakfast?

gryp

Sun, May 08 2005, 2:20 pm

Quote:

wow! how do you manage to eat a k'beitza at each meal?

I assume the meal you mean is the yomtov meals and not the sdarim. im not sure exactly how much a kbaitza is, but as far as I know, you only have to eat enough to bentch on.... as for the sdarim we eat many kzaisim if you add up motzi/matzah, korech, and afikomen.
im not going to say it was easy for me this year, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do...
if you want you can search through all the matzos until you find thin ones and it makes it much easier. the thick ones are pretty hard to get through,,,

Quote:

What do you eat for breakfast?

now thats a whole different story. on yomtov, anyway we dont wash before davening/kiddush, on chol hamoed there are other things to eat besides matzah depending on your chumrahs.

I guess matzah is more of a snack when you cant eat it with anything.

queenie

Wed, May 11 2005, 5:10 pm

I thought that this thread would be more about the Mah Nishtana than matza. We eat it out of bags. We try to eat off the table but at least you can have matza during the meal if you want to. I find the bag keeps the floor and the table cleaner.

The kids in each family say the 4 questions together. Married children don't usually say it unless they want to. Then they say it together. I mean, a 28 year old woman with children saying in to her father, "tatty, I have a question..." is a little silly. That part of the seder was written to get the little kids interested and to be a part of the seder.

613

Wed, May 11 2005, 5:20 pm

Can I ask another minhag question?
My family and my husband's family (both litvish) have differing minhagim as to who reads the haggadah. In one family only the father reads, everyone else follows along (or spaces out). In the other, the father reads aloud and everyone else reads it to themselve (in an undertone).
Is one right or wrong? I'm guessing that I must do my husband's minhag- but even when I'm at my parent's house for seder?
Oh, another "different" minhag- one family only father does Orchatz, other family everyone does Orchatz. So again what should I do?

Last edited by 613 on Thu, May 12 2005, 11:32 am; edited 1 time in total

queenie

Wed, May 11 2005, 7:56 pm

0613 In my father's family, he definitely led the seder but everyone participated and read along. He even asked questions and told stories and had little anecdotes.

In my husbands family they are still figuring out what to do. My in-laws have been married 35 years and every year it's a disaster. Pardon me for saying this but, I really hate going to their house for a seder bc it just isn't a nice seder.

So, 0613, what exactly was your question?