Eating the Roasted Lamb with Matzah and Bitter Herbs

"And they shall eat" (Exodus 12:8): there is no "eating" of less than an olive's bulk. "The flesh": and not from the bones, nor from the sinews, nor from the horns, nor from the hooves, but whatever is edible on a full-grown ox. Just as on a full-grown ox the wing-tips and the cartilage are edible, so here the wing-tips and the cartilage. From here they said: the soft sinews are like flesh in every respect, yet even so one is not counted for the offering on their account. "On this night" (Exodus 12:8). Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: "on this night" is stated here, and below it says "I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night" (Exodus 12:12). Just as "this night" stated below means until midnight, so "this night" stated here means until midnight. Rabbi Akiva said to him: why do I need that? It already says "you shall eat it in haste" (Exodus 12:11), at the hour of haste. Then what does "on this night" teach? That it is eaten by night and is not eaten by day like other holy offerings. "Roasted with fire" (Exodus 12:8): and not roasted on a spit, nor roasted on a grill, nor roasted by any other means. From here they said: one does not roast the Passover on a metal spit; and if he roasted it so, he pares away the spot it touched and eats the rest. Rabbi Yehudah says: just as a wooden spit is not burned through, so a metal one does not transmit heat. They said to him: a wooden spit is unlike a metal one, for of wood, when part is hot the whole is not hot, but of metal, when part is hot the whole is hot. "Roasted with fire" (Exodus 12:8): from the fact that it says "but roasted with fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts" (Exodus 12:9), it is a commandment to roast it whole as one. From where, if he wished, may he cut it up and lay it limb by limb on the coals? The verse says "roasted with fire" in any case. "With matzah and bitter herbs" (Exodus 12:8): here Scripture includes many bitter herbs: lettuce, endive, horseradish, and others, and bitter herb. Rabbi Yehudah says: also wild herbs and field lettuce. Rabbi Ilai in the name of Rabbi Eliezer says: also another bitter plant. I went around to all his disciples seeking a colleague to confirm this, and I did not find one. "With matzah and bitter herbs they shall eat it" (Exodus 12:8): it is a commandment to eat them all together. Hillel the Elder used to wrap them together and eat them. One might think they hold one another back; the verse says "they shall eat it," even one of them.