interesting!
Wow!
Yasher koach!
Couple of minor points:
1. The explanation of לא יאכל עד שיסב as meaning "no eating before the Seder" is found in Tosafos to Pesachim 99b, s.v. ואפילו; it's not original to Tabori, although maybe the linguistic analysis is.
2. It could indeed be that סחר doesn't really mean reclining, and it is true that the Gemara (Pesachim 86b) speaks of "sitting" (יתיב) on a couch to drink (and Rashi indeed points out there that this was the sort of thing reserved for important guests); for that matter, the verse in Yechezkel that you cited also refers to sitting on a couch. But then, why indeed would the Targumim have chosen סחר as the standard translation of ישב, even when there's only one person eating (as in Bereishis 27:19)?
3. In the Tosefta you quoted, I think the second mention of פרפריות means the main course rather than dessert, just as in the last sentence it means courses. (Which would explain why indeed they need to say a blessing over it: the main course wouldn't be covered by the blessing over the appetizers, since those weren't eaten in the same place as the meal, as Rashi points out in Berachos 43a about the wine.)
Thanks for all the kind words!
To Alex:
1. True about that Tosfot. However, there it's only discussing how the poor person needs to wait - Tabori (and others) expand it to all participants (by a different punctuation of the Mishna).
Before I started looking into this, I hadn't realized that there's a whole school of thought about how the original seder meal preceded the magid. Tabori talks about it - unfortunately I don't have the book at home (only found it in the library.) Breuer discusses it in Pirkei Moadot (but doesn't really talk about haseiva.) I've had that book for years, and never read that chapter. I hope to do so this Pesach.
2. What I wrote about סחר is my own guess. The problem is that I can't find any sources other than the Targumim - but that doesn't mean they don't exist. So I basically think that the Targumim used a verb which clearly was the Aramaic version of סבב. They did so to indicate הסיבה which meant "reclining" by their time. So I think that Rav Hai Gaon's point wasn't probably the intention of the Targumim. However, he couldn't have even made it if סחר meant reclining in other contexts.
3. Could very well be about the Tosefta. I borrowed that translation from some common sources found online. I wish I had paid more attention to the significance of that Tosefta when I was looking at the Tosefta K'Pshuta in the library...
The only other place I can think of where סחר is used in connection with a meal is in Akdamus ("מסחרין עלי תכי דכדכוד וגומרתא", in the description of the future feast for the tzaddikim). But it is true that there too it doesn't necessarily mean reclining, and indeed some translations render it as "sitting around tables."
Well, Akdamut was written by a Rishon, who was likely influenced by the Targumim.
This site:
http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/searchroo...NERAL&
lemma=sxr
mentions סחר as having the meanings "to dine" and "to sit around to dine". But it does not provide sources.
great post!
מועדים לשמחה
CAL does roughly mention the sources, but does not give specific citations.
(I really wish I had their data so I could rebuild their web site more sensibly...)
Those meanings are basically ascribed to the Targumim you suggested and to Samaritan Aramaic (which afaik is mostly their targum, too, but it is known to be more literal than other targumim).
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