Pesachim 74 - How does one prepare the Passover lamb?

The slaughtered lamb must be roasted on a spit. Here is the Torah's recipe: "Do not eat it raw or cooked in water, but only roasted over fire, including its head, its legs, and its internal organs." Now the details.

They would bring a spit of pomegranate wood and push it into the animal's mouth until the spit passes through the anus. They would then put its legs and entrails inside it to fulfill "including its legs" instruction - that is what Rabbi Yosi says. But Rabbi Akiba counters that the legs are as if cooking inside the body. Rather, the legs and the entrails should hang outside the carcass to roast directly on the fire.

Now questions. Why not use a metal spit? - Because it has to be roasted "over fire" and not over the hot spit warmed by the fire. Why pomegranate wood? - Because pomegranate is smooth and does not secrete any liquids, which would make it like roasting. How was the lamb's form called, with the legs and the entrails above its head? - the "helmeted kid" because it was in the manner of a warrior.

Art: Shepherdess with her flock grazing  by Cornelis Van Leemputten


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