The Flavor of Geulah

It is Erev Pesach and in many ways it still feels like Erev Purim.

This time of year, between Purim and Pesach, is often challenging as we transition from winter into spring and begin preparing for Yom Tov.

This year, Parashas Zachor came together with the eradication of the Haman of our times. The weeks since then have been both harrowing and miraculous. Yes, we are at war. Yes, there are indiscriminate missiles that soar over our heads in an unpredictable fashion. Yes, we are privileged to live in a land of miracles. At the same time, yes, the anxiety and tension are tangible.

As Purim approached, people began speaking about the ‘imminent’ Geulah. The words of the Bnei Yissaschar spread rapidly: that the beginning of the Geulah would be on Purim and culminate with the destruction of Amalek on Erev Pesach. Geulah is in the air.

WhatsApp groups, with hundreds of members, are learning the halachos of Korban Pesach. People are quietly hoping that this year’s Chol HaMoed trip will be to Yerushalayim, amidst a full Geulah.

At the same time, we are still living with challenges and uncertainty.

How do we celebrate Pesach, the Yom Tov of Geulah, when the Geulah feels just out of reach?

I think the answer lies in korech.

Prior to the destruction of the Mikdash, the Pesach Seder was centered around sacrificing and eating the Korban Pesach together with matzah and maror. Hillel would wrap them together and eat them as one. I like to say this was perhaps the first shawarma…

Since then, the Mikdash was destroyed, we no longer have a mizbeach, and we cannot bring or eat the Korban Pesach. Instead, at the Seder, we remember and reenact aspects of that mitzvah.

That is why we eat korech, matzah together with maror, zecher laMikdash k’Hillel, recalling how Hillel would eat the Korban Pesach with matzah and maror. Today, the korban is missing, and what we have is a remembrance of that original “sandwich.”

This also raises a deeper question:

If Pesach is the celebration of Geulah, why is maror still in the sandwich? Shouldn’t the bitterness have been left behind in Mitzrayim? Why is it still inside the “shawarma”? Why is maror one of the items that Rav Gamliel said one must mention in order to fulfill the obligation of Pesach?

To understand this, we can look at the shirah of Pesach.

There are two songs that we read on Pesach: Az Yashir and Shir HaShirim. While Az Yashir reflects on the past, and perhaps the future, Shir HaShirim speaks in the present.

Rav Tzadok of Lublin¹ explains that true shirah can only emerge when a person is fully present. The spiritual levels of our ancestors are more than a historical legend. Rather, these energies are accessible at certain times of the year. Pesach is one of those times.

The shirah of Geulah is about the present as much as it is about the past and future.

Perhaps this is why maror remains in the sandwich, for while we celebrate our redemption from Mitzrayim, the celebration is incomplete if we did not recognize the present moment.

Maror is not only about the bitterness of Egypt. It is about the bitterness we experience now—in our struggles, our fears, in our waiting for a brighter day.

It is this bitterness from which we turn to Hashem in tefillah, which we package up with the matzah and the Korban Pesach to transform into the Geulah. We do not wait for life to be perfect before we celebrate. Geulah is the celebration of the transformation of bitterness.

By recognizing Hashem’s hashgachah in our daily lives, we can tap into the same level of connection with Him as our forefathers did and sing a heartfelt and authentic shirah for the present moment.

As Rav Judah Mischel beautifully writes:

“When the Beis Hamikdash stood, Korech was performed by eating the Korban Pesach together with matzah and maror; today, we honor Hillel by bringing together the different flavors of matzah and maror, and charoses.

Now, as then, we observe this mitzvah b’chaburah, in unity with our family and community. This redemptive act becomes part of the tikkun of sinas chinam; it is an act of balance, of combining very different elements together, somewhat like Hillel’s olerant and balanced combining of divergent halachic perspectives and considerations. In recognizing Hillel’s path, may we internalize his middos and ultimately see the restoration of the Korban Pesach in our days.”

Hillel understood something profound:

When we eat a sandwich, we don’t taste each ingredient separately; we experience the flavors as a blend, one flavor indistinguishable from the other. It’s the “taam” of redemption that is only complete when the sorrow and the joy are joined.

Rav Tzadok teaches that at the time of the Geulah we will sing a Shir Chadash. It will be a time called Shir Chadash—a time when we are able to constantly be in a state of being fully present and recognizing each moment as an opportunity for a new and unique expression of gratitude through song.

It is for this reason that maror is included in the list of items one must mention in order to fulfill the obligation of Pesach. It is so important to recognize that whatever bitterness we are going through is a refining process for our Geulah.

May we have a redemptive Pesach!

1. Resisei Layla 8