Wearing the Kittel on Passover

By R. Moshe Grunwald (author of Arugat Habosem)

For the Pesach seder, it is the custom to wear a kittel, as the Magen Avraham writes (472:5). From his words, it appears that the purpose is that a person’s heart should be humbled. And I have come upon a reason for this, which is related to our sages’ comment on “and they became there a nation”—teaching that the Jews had their own independent character as a nation there. And our sages state that the sages in Bavel had their own character as a people—i.e., that they wore white clothes(Shabbat 145a). As we learn, the rabbis are called ministering angels (Nedarim 20), for they are outstanding, like ministering angels, of whom the verse states ‘wearing white garments’ (Ezekiel 9:11).

To recall that, we too wear the white kittel.

We learn in Divrei Shmuel of R. Shmelke of Nikolsberg that a person should visualize that he is already in the world of truth and he has been shown his sins throughout his entire life, and he himself judged himself.

As we find in Avot (3:1), “Before Whom will you have to give an accounting of yourself?”—in the world-to-come, our commentators say, a person judges his own deeds. And he is given the choice as to whether to return to this world to correct his deeds.

And certainly after such a visualization and realization, a person will take great care and correct that which he did wrong. And thus it is the custom to wear the kittel: as though one was already in the world-to-come, and one returned to this world, sent to correct himself.

And as a result one should be joyful and happy and give thanks for having received such an opportunity, and then one should rise from level to level.

And an allusion to this may be found in our sages’ statement that “the [greens] are brought before him, he dips the chazeret until he comes to the condiments of the bread” (Pesachim 114a). Yet afterwards the mishnah states, “They brought before him matzah and chazeret and charoset.” That being so, the first phrase is unnecessary.

However, the language of the sages contains an important lesson: that before one opens one’s mouth to tell the story of the exodus from Egypt, one must make an accounting of oneself and consider before God all that has occurred to him in his entire life. And thus his heart will be broken and humble—and not only because of unseemly deeds, but also because of his treating meaningful things lightly, even if he engaged in mundane activities with no higher purpose (as we find in Chovot Halevavot [Shaar Avodat Ha’elokim 84).

The word chazeret is related to the word chazor, review and repent. And that is before he is brought matzah and chazeret—i.e., he reviews all he had done “until he comes to the condiments of the bread”—and Tosafot Yom Tov states that the word for condiments is related to “I was at peace and He shattered me” (Job 16:12)—i.e., a person should repent until he breaks his heart and so deeply contemplate such thoughts until even in regard to the bread which he utilizes to sustain himself he humbles and shatters his heart.

And then the opening of his lips will be straight: “and may the expression of my lips be acceptable before the Master of all created beings.”

Another possible reason for the custom is related to the verse, “he removed his garments and put on other garments” (Leviticus 6:4). Our sages state: “a person should not give a cup to his master in the same clothes that he cooked his master’s food” (Shabbat 114a). And this is an allusion to the garments of the soul—the “rabbinical garments”—that the soul wears in the world-to-come (as referred to in the passage we recite before wrapping ourselves in the prayer shawl).

And here too when he comes to pour the cup for his master, he should not do so in filthy garments that he wears the entire year, but he should remove them with thoughts of repentance and garb himself in garments of regret for the past and a confident heart toward the future.