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Is there a time limit to the Seder?

by Mrs. Dinka Kumer

  

Library » Holidays » Passover » Seder » Laws and Rituals | Subscribe | What is RSS?

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We eat the Afikoman as “dessert” after the meal in memory of the Paschal Offering and the Matzah which was eaten with that offering. 

Since the Paschal Offering had to be eaten before midnight, we must finish the Afikoman before midnight.1

After the Afikoman is eaten, there are no time limitations for the rest of the Seder.

Footnotes

  • 1. Talmud tractate Megillah 21a Tosfos titled L'Asuei. Shulchan Aruch Orech Chaim 477:1. In Chabad they were only cautious about this for the first Seder; whereas at the second Seder they had no time constraints - see Hayom Yom 15 Nissan.

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Holidays » Passover » Seder » About
Matzah
(pl. Matzot). Unleavened bread which is eaten on Passover, especially at the Passover Seder (feast), commemorating the Matzah which the Jews ate upon leaving Egypt. It consists of only flour and water and resembles a wheat cracker.
Seder
Festive meal eaten on the first two nights of the holiday of Passover (In Israel, the Seder is observed only the first night of the holiday). Seder highlights include: reading the story of the Exodus, eating Matzah and bitter herbs, and drinking four cups of wine.
Afikoman
The larger portion of the broken middle matzah on the seder plate. The afikoman is eaten towards the end of the seder. In many families, it is traditionally "stolen" by the children and "ransomed" by the parents with the promise of a gift.