[Avodah] Vihgadto Levincho

[Michael Makovi]

> I was wondering about this chiyuv, once your question pushed me to the
> gezeiras hakasuv idea. Why is there no haqpadah to go to your father's
> home for Pesach? Isn't it the only way he can fulfil his chiyuv?
> What's the matir for saying it's only if they are already at the table
> rather than obligating us to go to his table?
>
> SheTir'u baTov!
> -micha

Well, it would make a lot of sense, IMHO, if the chiyuv is only when
the son lives with the father. Assuming the ta'am of the mitzvah is
that the father is to relate it to the next generation, then once the
next generation is independent of the previous one, the chiyuv ends.
Or perhaps the chiyuv ends when the son reaches bar mitzvah - at that
point, the son is independent in terms of mitzvot, and presumably, the
stick's already been passed to him.

Or perhaps the chiyuv ends when the son moves out simply as a
practical matter - the mitzvah is on the father, not the son, so the
son has no chiyuv to go out of his way to his father's house, and if
the son doesn't come, the father patur because of oness.

Mikha'el Makovi