Pesachim 39a (לט.) — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

It is a positive commandment from the Torah to eat maror on the first night of Passover, together with the Paschal offering, as it is written: “They shall eat it with roasted fire, and matzot, with bitter herbs.” And one fulfills the obligation of maror with any vegetable that contains bitterness.

And these

are the

vegetables with which a person fulfills his obligation on Passover

for the mitzva of maror:

with lettuce,

with tamkha, with ḥarḥavina, with endives, and with maror [

a vegetable whose name is maror]!

And

one fulfills the obligation with them, whether

they are

moist

or

whether

they are

dry!

But one does not

fulfill the obligation with them when they are

pickled

in vinegar,

nor

when they are

boiled [

cooked extensively until they have disintegrated],

nor

when they are

cooked

in the ordinary manner of cooking.

The measure for eating maror is an olive-bulk. It is not necessary to eat a complete olive-bulk from one species alone; rather,

they combine

all these species

to form an olive-bulk!

Thus, if one ate half an olive-bulk of one species and half an olive-bulk of another species, he has fulfilled his obligation.

And

not only with their leaves, but

one fulfills the obligation

even

with their stalks!

And

one also fulfills the obligation

with

maror of

demai!

But not with maror that is tevel. And although the tithe of vegetables is only rabbinic, one nevertheless does not fulfill the obligation with it, because it is a mitzva performed through a transgression.

And

likewise, one fulfills the obligation

with

maror of

first tithe from which its teruma has been removed,

the teruma having been removed from it [the terumat ma’aser]! Even if they brought it into the granary in the form of stalks before the great teruma was removed from it, one fulfills the obligation with it, as explained above with regard to matza.

And

likewise, one fulfills the obligation

with second tithe and consecrated property that have been redeemed!

Even though they were not redeemed in the proper manner ab initio, as explained above with regard to matza.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: With lettuce, with tamkha, with ḥarḥavina, with endives, and with maror! And it proceeds to explain them.

“Lettuce”

is

ḥasa [

lettuce].

“Endives”

are

hindavei [

a type of grass].

“Tamkha”—

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Its name is tamkhta!

And it is what is called nowadays “lettuce.”

“Ḥarḥavina”—

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: It is the fiber of the date palm!

That is, a fiber that grows and winds around the date palm. It is a species of seed [Tosafot].

And “maror”

is

merirata.

Bar Kappara taught: These are the vegetables with which a person fulfills his obligation on Passover: with endives, with tamkha, with ḥarḥalin, with ḥarḥavinin, and with ḥazarin [

lettuce]!

Rabbi Yehuda says:

One fulfills the obligation

even

with

field endives, and

with

garden endives, and

with

lettuce!

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

Garden endives [

that is, ordinary “endives”]

and lettuce—

they were

already taught at the beginning

of the baraita. What, then, did Rabbi Yehuda add by saying this?

And we answer: Rabbi Yehuda came only to add field endives, with which one fulfills the obligation despite their having an additional name. For they are not called simply “endives,” but “field endives.” And

this is what he is saying: Even field endives

are

like garden endives and

like

lettuce,

and one fulfills the obligation with them.

Rabbi Meir says: One may even

fulfill the obligation with

assuvas, and

with

tura, and

with

mar yervar!

All of these are species of vegetables.

Rabbi Yosei said

to Rabbi Meir:

Assuvas and

tura are one

species. And the vegetable

is

bitter. And this is

the same species that is called

mar yervar!

They are all one vegetable, which has three names.

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: These are the vegetables with which a person fulfills his obligation on Passover: with lettuce, with endives, with tamkha, with ḥarḥavinin, with ḥarginin, and with hardufnin

Rabbi Yehuda says: Even wild lettuce and Galin lettuce

are

like them!

One fulfills the obligation of maror with them, despite their having an additional name and not being called simply “lettuce.”

Rabbi Ila’a said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: One may even

fulfill the obligation with

arkablin!

This is “the fiber of ḥarziyeta” mentioned in tractate Eruvin. It is a large, thick fiber, a species of plant in its own right, which climbs over the date palm in the form of strings, like grapevine branches.

And

Rabbi Ila’a said:

I went through all of the students

of Rabbi Eliezer,

and I sought a colleague

to support me, who had also heard this from him,

but I did not find one. When I came before Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, he acknowledged to me

that Rabbi Eliezer had permitted “arkablin” as well.

Rabbi Yehuda says:

One fulfills the obligation of maror with

any

vegetable

that has sap!

When it is squeezed at the place where it was cut, white sap like milk emerges from it.

Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka says:

One fulfills the obligation with

any

vegetable that is not intensely green like a leek, but

whose appearance is silvery,

meaning that it is somewhat pale.

Others say: Every bitter vegetable

has these signs. It always

has sap, and its appearance is silvery.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From the words of

all the tannaim

together

who explained the various names of all the vegetables,

we learn

that every

bitter vegetable has sap, and its appearance is silvery!

For all the vegetables mentioned have these signs.

Rav Huna said: The halakha is in accordance with Others!

One fulfills the obligation with any vegetable that has all these signs.

Ravina found Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, searching for merirata [

for he was seeking the vegetable called “maror” for the mitzva].

He said to him: What is your reasoning

in preferring maror to the other vegetables? If it is

because it is more bitter [

because it is especially bitter], nevertheless it is not the most preferable. For

indeed,

“lettuce”

we learned

first.

And

likewise,

the school of Shmuel taught: Lettuce

is preferable to all of them!

And

likewise,

Rabbi Oshaya said: The mitzva is with lettuce

rather than with the others!

And

the reason is as

Rava said: What is ḥazeret?

—

Ḥasa!

And

what

is the reason it is called

“ḥasa”?

Because it is a reminder of the fact

that the Merciful One had mercy upon us [

that the Holy One, blessed be He, had mercy upon us]! It is evident that lettuce is suited for the mitzva of maror. This is why it was given this name, as a remembrance of God’s mercy upon us when He took us out of Egypt.

And Rav Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: Why were

the hardships of the

Egyptians compared to maror [

as it is written: “And they embittered their lives”]?

To tell you: Just as this maror, whose beginning [

at the beginning of its growth] is

soft, and

at

its end

its stalk becomes

hard

like wood—

so too

the

Egyptians.

So it was with them:

Their beginning was soft, and their end was hard!

At first, they treated Israel gently. They enslaved them only in exchange for wages, in order to entice them to work. In the end, they worked them with crushing labor. It is evident that the choicest fulfillment of the mitzva of maror is with lettuce, which possesses this characteristic.

Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, said to Ravina: I retract my position!

I retract my position and will no longer seek out “merirata” .

Rav Raḥumei said to Abaye: From where do you know that this maror

which the Torah commanded,

is a species of vegetable?

Say

that it is

the gall of a kufya [

the gall of a fish called kufya].

He said to him: Maror was juxtaposed with matza. Therefore, we require maror that is

similar to matza. Just as matza

comes from

plants grown from the ground, so too maror does not

come

except from plants grown from the ground.

He further asked him:

And say that it is hirdof

[a bitter tree with which Moses sweetened the waters at Marah]! From where do we know that it is a vegetable?

He answered him:

We require it to be similar to matza.

We require it to be so.

Just as matza

comes from

a species of seed [

for it comes only from the five species of grain],

so too maror

is only from

a species of seed.

He further asked him:

And say that it is harzifu

[a seed that is a deadly poison for animals and is not edible], and from where do we know that it is an edible vegetable?

He answered him:

We require it to be similar to matza.

We require it to be so.

Just as matza

comes from edible produce

that is purchased with second-tithe money

[for second-tithe money may be exchanged only for food, as it is written: “And you shall spend the money on whatever your soul desires, on cattle, sheep, wine, and strong drink, and so on”],

so too maror

must be food

that is purchased with second-tithe money

.

Rabba bar Ḥanin said to Abaye: Say

that one does not fulfill the obligation of

maror

except with

one

species alone! Let us require specifically the bitterest species of all. Why, then, does one fulfill the obligation with many species of vegetables?

He said to him: After all,

“bitter herbs”

is written.

This indicates many species.

He asked him again:

And say

that “bitter herbs”

means

two

species only, for the minimum of a plural is two.

He said to him: Since it was juxtaposed with matza, it is

similar to matza. Just as matza

comes from

many species [

the five species of grain],

so too

with regard to

maror

one fulfills the obligation with

many species.

Rabba bar Rav Huna said that Rav said:

All the

vegetables concerning which the Sages said that a person fulfills his obligation with them on Passover may be planted in one garden bed!

It might have occurred to us that they are not subject to the prohibition of diverse kinds when planted together because they are all one species. The Torah prohibited only the planting of two species together.

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

Does this mean that the prohibition of diverse kinds does not apply to them?

Rava objected:

We learned:

Ordinary lettuce

and

Galin lettuce

are one species. Therefore, they may be planted together, and the prohibition of diverse kinds does not apply to them. And similarly,

endives and field endives, leeks and field leeks, coriander and field coriander, mustard and Egyptian mustard, and Egyptian squash and rambuza squash [

a bitter squash that must be sweetened in hot ashes]—each pair may be planted together by itself. This is because the two vegetables in each pair

are not diverse kinds in relation to one another!

Even though one of them bears the name of the vegetable itself without an additional name, while the other is called by an additional name [such as “Galin lettuce” or “field endives,”], they are nevertheless one species.

It follows that only the two members of each pair, such as

“lettuce”

and “Galin lettuce,” are not [

not diverse kinds in relation to one another]. But

lettuce and endives,

which belong to two different pairs,

are not

one species. Although both are included among the vegetables with which one fulfills the obligation of maror, they are diverse kinds in relation to one another. This is difficult for Rav.

And if you would say

as a resolution that

all

the species mentioned in the above Mishna

were taught together

and even if they are not members of the same pair, they are not diverse kinds in relation to one another—this cannot be said.

For

Rav himself said

that

they were taught as pairs

in the Mishna. Specifically, the two members of the same pair are not diverse kinds in relation to one another.

And we answer:

What is the meaning of

“may be planted

in one garden bed,”

that Rav said

[with regard to all the vegetables with which one fulfills the obligation of maror]? He did not say that they may be planted in a mixture. Rather,

they may be planted in accordance with their requirements!

They are indeed different species, and they may be planted only in accordance with the laws of diverse kinds—that is, at a distance at which they do not draw nourishment from one another, such as by distributing five species over an area of six handbreadths by six handbreadths.