Hillel definitely had lamb schwarma in a laffa with charif.
The Koreh
̣
non-Proof
A logical place to start is with activities that take place at the seder. Be-
cause of a debate in the gemara (
Pesah
̣
im
115a) as to how best to eat mat-
zah and
marror
, the conclusion is that we should fulfill both opinions.
Korekh, the making of a sandwich of matzah and marror,
was thus in-
cluded in the
seder
. It has been suggested that the word “korekh” means
“roll up,” as in a shwarma sandwich, with soft, laffa-like matzah rolled
with the meat of the Korban Pesah
̣
3
and the
marror
inside, thus offering
incontrovertible proof that Hillel used soft matza. While that may be true,
korekh is not a definitive proof.
The contemporary practice (e.g.,
Arukh ha-Shulh
̣
an
OH
̣
475:7) is to
surround the
marror
with matzah. However, not everyone understands
korekh that way. Rabbenu H
̣
annanel (
Pesah
̣
im
115a) and the Sefer ha-
H
̣
inukh (21) describe the
marror
wrapped over and surrounding the mat-
zah. The
Mishnat Ya‘akov
(475) points out that this was possible only for
those who used leaves for marror, as opposed to many Ashkenazim who used horseradish.
4
Additionally, even the initial linguistic assumption is
likely incorrect. While the root korekh is often used to mean “wrap,” it
can also have the meaning of “surround.” For example, a walled city is
called a “krach” because it is surrounded by a wall, and the hard binding
surrounding a book is a krikhah. Thus, korekh could involve surrounding
the
marror
with hard matzah, much as the city is surrounded by a hard
wall. The haggadah section of korekh offers no proof one way or the other
as to the kind of matzah used. Nonetheless, the following proofs will
show that Talmudic-era matzah and bread were indeed soft and thus Tal-
mudic phrases such as “karikht rifta” for sitting down to eat a meal did in
fact probably mean to wrap a sandwich as is done with a laffa.
3
The Tosefta (
Pesah
̣
im
2:14) implies that meat of the Korban Pesah
̣
was included,
and that is what Rashi and the Rashbam say. Rambam seems to say otherwise.
See Taz (475:9) and Rabbi Menachem Kasher,
Hagadah Shelemah
, p. 169, n. 1.