[Avodah] Text for Bittul Chametz

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Comparing all my haggados, they all have virtually the same text for the Bittul Chametz which follows the Bedikah. But there are many differences in the text for the Bittul which we say on the morning of Erev Pesach.

In the longest versions, there are three phrases:

- dachazitay ud'la chazitay
- dachamitay ud'la chamitay
- d'viartay ud'la viartay

The first thing I noticed is that some hagados put the first of those three in parentheses, and some omit it entirely.

The second thing I noticed is that in the Hagados which have a translation (either into English, or translating this Aramaic into Hebrew) almost always give only two phrases, generally relating to seeing and destroying. Only a very few Hagados translate all three phrases. In the ArtScroll Machzor, "observe" appears in the first phrase, and in the ArtScroll Youth Haggadah, "recognize" appears first.

>From Jastrow's dictionary, I got the impression that "chazi" and "chami" are synonyms, with little or no difference between them, other than "chazi" being more common in Bavel, and "chami" being more common in Eretz Yisrael.

If that is so, I find it curious that all the hagados include the Israeli word, while the Bavel version is the one frequently omitted or parenthesized. Even odder, that seems to be the reverse of the text in the poskim: Mechaber 434:3 and Aruch Hashulchan 434:6 both have "chazi" but not "chami".

I'd like to hear from others about this. Specifically, can anyone point to a difference in meaning between "chazi" and "chami"? Or has anyone heard anything authoritative regarding the proper nusach to use? Are there any communities which specifically use one nusach or another?

As a side point, I note that all nuschaos include both parts of the third phrase: "which I destroyed or did not destroy". Of course I must be mevatel the chometz that I did not yet destory, but I find it odd that I'm also being mevatel the chometz that I already destroyed. This seems superfluous to me, and my guess is that "d'viartay" is included purely to preserve the double-phrase symmetry of the section. If anyone can offer another reason to include it, I'd be interested to hear it.

Akiva Miller

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