Yohanan took a clod of dirt and threw it at him
In the middle of the today’s exposition on the details of sacrificing the Paschal lamb is an instructive story involving a tenacious but somewhat arrogant student who pursued a certain curmudgeon of a Rabbi for elucidation of all the knowledge contained in the Book of Genealogies. The notes in the
Koren Talmud indicate that the book contained the genealogies of the powerful families at the time, including some that had sordid histories and the proverbial “skeletons in the closet.” It was a book that must have only been shared with trusted scholars who would not misuse the information contained within it.
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Writing about a lively Passover seder held by Union soldiers in the midst of the Civil War, J.A. Joel of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment delighted in describing what this remarkable feast of freedom on a battlefield entailed. Thanks to “Yankee ingenuity,” the group imported matzah and haggadahs from Cincinnati to West Virginia, devoured an entire lamb (since they didn’t know which part was the shankbone), and substituted actual brick dust for
haroset. And because no horseradish was available to serve as the bitter herb, the company dug up a local weed to serve the purpose. It turned out to be quite bitter, as Joel describes: