Shulchan Arukh Orach Chayim · Siman 472

Shulchan Arukh Orach Chayim 472 — English translation

Translation: Sefaria Community Translation. Section numbers match the Hebrew text above.

1. 1Your table should be set from the daytime, in order to eat right away when it becomes dark; And even if he is in the Bet Midrash, he should leave because it is a commandment to hurry and eat (at the seder) for the children who may fall asleep, but a person should not recite Kiddush until it gets dark.
2. 2He will arrange his table beautifully with fine dishes according to his ability, and he will prepare his seating place to recline in a dignified manner. Rema: Even a poor person who has no cushions should sit on a bench (Mordechai, beginning of the chapter on Erev Pesach)
3. 3When he reclines, he should not lean on his back, nor on his face, nor on his right side, but on his left side. (There is no distinction between a person who is lame and one who is not.)(Tur in the name of Rashi and the Tosefot, in siman 136)
4. 4A woman does not recline unless she is important. (All of our women are called important, but they do not have the custom to recline because we rely on the words of the Ravyah who wrote that at that time they do not recline.)
5. 5A son must recline when dining with his father, even if his father is a distinguished scholar. However, a student does not need to recline before his teacher, even if the teacher is not a distinguished scholar, unless the teacher gives him permission. A great Torah scholar of his generation, even if he did not learn from him, is considered like his teacher and does not need to recline. (This is specifically when they are eating at the same table, but if the student eats at a separate table, he must recline.)
6. 6An attendant [servant] needs to lean.
7. 7Anyone who is required to recline, if he eats or drinks without reclining, he has not fulfilled his obligation and is required to eat and drink again while reclining. (And there are those who say that in our times where it is not customary to recline, one can rely ex post facto on the opinion of the Ravaya, that he has fulfilled his obligation without the reclining. It appears to me if he did not drink the 3rd cup or the 4th cup while reclining, he should not drink again while reclining for there is a concern that such would appear as adding on to the number of cups; however, regarding the first 2 cups he should drink again without reciting a blessing; and similarly regarding the eating of matzoh and ab initio he should recline the entire meal.)
8. 8One needs to drink four cups according to the order. And if one had drank one after the other not in [the proper] order, one has not fulfilled one's obligation of drinking four cups at the Passover Seder.
9. 9The quantity of each cup amongst the four cups at the Passover Seder is a quarter-log after one mixes the wine with water, and then one drinks all of it or a majority of it. And if there are many quarter-logs, a bunch of different people can drink from it according to the number of quarter-logs there are in the cup. And there are some who say that one needs to drink a majority of the cup, even if it contains many quarter-logs.
10. 10One who doesn't drink wine because it hurts him, or he detests it, must force himself to drink in order to fulfill the commandment of four cups
11. 11It's a mitzvah to seek red wine (if the white wine is not better) [Tur].
12. 12One fulfills the obligation with cooked wine and with confectionery
13. 13Even a poor person who is sustained through charity must sell his clothing or sell or rent himself in order to buy wine for the four cups.
14. 14Women are also obligated in the four cups and in all the mitzvot performed on that night.
15. 15Children who are the age of chinuch should have a cup before him. Rema: One should not use a cup whose lip is like that of a krug glass, since one is not able to drink a quarter-log in one sip from it. And one should also not take a cup for a cup of blessing of the Blessing over the Meal like this. ... And similarly with a cup for Kiddush.
16. 16It is a mitzvah to distribute roasted grains and nuts to children so that they will notice the difference and ask

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