Pesach: Relationships and Sandwiches (Based on Gevuros Hashem) Nissan is perhaps the busiest month of the year. A tremendous amount of work is put in, all in preparation for Pesach. For 30 days all we can think about is Pesach, Pesach, and Pesach. Now, if this word is to resound in our head for so long, we should at least understand what it means. This word ‘Pesach’ literally translates as ‘passover’. The terminology stems from the verse (Exodus 12:27) “Hashem passed over the houses of the Children of Israel when He smote [the firstborns of] Egypt.” Strangely, it seems that the holiday’s name came from the last of the 10 plagues. Even if you will argue that the last plague was the deadliest and it was only afterwards that Pharaoh freed us, what is so special about the ‘passing over’ aspect of the plague? Why was this minute detail chosen to sum up the essence of this holiday? Interestingly, the holiday is not the only thing that carries the name ‘pesach’. The sacrifice that was offered when the Temple stood was also called by this name. While one might think that the korban pesach was called thus because it was offered on Pesach, a careful reading of the Torah dispels such a notion. “And they said ‘It is a Pesach Offering to Hashem, for He passed over the houses of the Children of Israel when He smote [the firstborns of] Egypt’.” We see that both the holiday and the offering were independently called ‘passover’. Why? In my search for an understanding of the importance of ‘pesach’, I came across the Mishnah of Rabban Gamliel in the Haggadah. “Rabban Gamliel used to say ‘Whoever doesn’t say these three things on Pesach, hasn’t fulfilled his obligation: Pesach, Matzah, and Maror.’” In this case, ‘pesach’ is referring to the offering, as evidenced by the subsequent elucidation which begins with the words “this pesach that we would eat…” This teaching is hard to understand. Maror and Matzah are obviously central themes. Maror is the reliving of the bitter enslavement and Matzah is the under-eighteen-minutes redemption. But where does the korban pesach fit in? What makes it so important that it is crucial to the fulfillment of the mitzvah of Pesach night? Lastly, let’s analyze the mitzvah of Korech. This step of the Seder is when we take the pesach, matzah, and maror and eat them all together. What is the purpose of this? All 3 of these mitzvos are fulfilled individually at different parts of the Seder. So why must we do them all again? What is gained when we eat these 3 things as a sandwich? Before we answer these questions, let’s analyze the laws of the korban pesach. This offering has an inordinate amount of mitzvos attached to it. The sheep must be roasted and not cooked in water. It may not be cut up and must be put on the spit whole. The Torah forbids breaking a single bone in the sheep’s body. The list goes on and on. What is the meaning behind all these laws? Why does the korban pesach have these particular details? To make matters worse, the korban pesach is called Ha’Avodah – ‘the service [of Hashem]’, as if to imply that this offering is the prototype for all others. Yet, no other korban is like this one! How can we understand this? The Maharal explains the laws of the korban pesach as follows. All of its details are directed towards one idea; namely, the oneness of Hashem. The world is not controlled by good forces and bad forces who struggle for supremacy. Rather, everything comes from 1 almighty Master of the universe. The korban must be kept in 1 piece to allude to this idea. The bones must remain whole and may not be broken in 2. It cannot be cooked in mayim – which is a word that only exists in the plural; rather it must be roasted – a method which removes all mayim and compacts the meat into 1 piece. Now let’s return to our questions. It has been said that if Judaism had to be summed up into a single concept, it would be that of a relationship with Hashem. The entire Torah is directed towards this goal. This relationship began (on a national scale) on Pesach. Pesach is the birthday of the Jewish People. Until the Exodus, we were a disparate group of people descended from common ancestors. But when Hashem passed over our houses and struck only the Egyptians, we were set apart as a people, a unique nation - the Children of Hashem. The fact that Hashem passed over our houses during the final plague is not a minute detail at all. Hashem choosing us as His nation is the sum total of the holiday and is indeed the only reason there were any plagues in the first place. Our relationship with Hashem thus began. However, as the expression goes, it takes 2 to tango. By definition, a relationship is comprised of 2 parties. Hashem did His part; the Jews still had to do theirs. The job of the Jewish People is to do Avodah – Service of Hashem. Avodas Hashem is the tool that we use to make a relationship with the Almighty. Every mitzvah brings us closer to Him, and every aveira distances us from Him. When the predestined time for the Exodus came, the Jews were lacking any merits to be freed. They had no mitzvos which made them unique as a people or worthy of being passed over when Hashem punished the Egyptians. So Hashem provided the korban pesach, which was the prototype mitzvah in that it tested the new nation to see if they would take that step to initiate a relationship with the Creator. Doing this service, with all its requisite laws, would show that the people believe in the one and only Master of the Heavens and the Earth. By offering up this korban they would be declaring their willingness to begin working on a life-long relationship with G-d. Then, and only then, would they be worthy of being passed over. Only through Avodah are we Hashem’s people. I think that we can now understand the Korech sandwich. This sandwich is made up of 3 ingredients – the korban pesach, matzah, and maror. As mentioned, the pesach declares the oneness of Hashem. This idea of oneness is essential if we are to have any relationship with the Creator. He is omnipotent, and everything comes from Him. Nothing happens in the world if He doesn’t decree it first. All good things that happen to us (read: matzah) are coming from His will, as are all negative things that occur (read: maror). When bitter things happen we are very quick to blame G-d; with happy occasions, less so. But our Avodah is to wrap it all together and ‘ingest’ the idea that there is but 1 Source for everything that occurs. If we can realize that the same all-powerful and loving Father who sends the good is the same all-powerful and loving Father who sends the bad, perhaps we’ll merit seeing how the bad that He sends is, in reality, good. by S. Winiarz
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:06:07 +0000
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