PESACH 1^st DAY 5785

The Jew and the Egg … It’s Worth the Price

Did you have any unusual foods at your Seder aside from the usual Seder foods? In the past few years, I often found myself talking about foods that we now can eat on Pesach that our forefathers never could have imagined like: Kosher l’Pesach pizza … that I can understand. I assumed it was to celebrate the exodus of the Jews from Sicily. I’ve heard of caterers making Kosher l’Pesach sushi with quinoa instead of rice. We live in the age of Kosher l’Pesach Crispy O’s, Frosty Flakes, griddle cakes, potato chips, Bazooka bubblegum and pina colada macaroons! What a country!

But this year I can’t help but focus on one food for Pesach that we’ve always had available—a food that in some ways has always been available since the dawn of creation. And yet, this year everyone’s talking about it because it’s so expensive. Of course I’m talking about eggs!

Can you believe that America is now importing eggs from Turkey and South Korea? It’s because eggs are so expensive and hard to get. In Atlanta a dozen eggs can be about $5 and in California as much as $11! But we must have them for the Seder. An Egg is on the Seder plate, and we eat eggs in salt water right before dinner without any pomp and circumstances. Why do we eat an egg?

All sorts of explanations are given. The most basic one is mentioned in the Mishna—almost 2,000 years ago. In addition to the Korbon Pesach—the pascal lamb offering that was brought for Pesach—there was an offering called the Korbon Chagigah—the festival sacrifice. The shank bone symbolizes the Pascal lamb, the egg, the festival sacrifice.

Over the generations, other explanations have been added. Some say the egg and shank bone correspond to Gd’s 2 messengers—Moses and Aaron. Others say the word “egg” in Aramaic is called beya, which also means “pray” or “please” … so an egg is a form of prayer.

Still others point out the egg is traditional food for mourning because of its rounded shape which can then symbolize the cycle of life—and expressing our mourning over the devastation of the Holy Temple. A symbol of mourning the Temple is appropriate since the night of the 1^st Seder always falls on the same night of the week as Tisha B’av—the day of mourning for Holy Temples.

Nevertheless, I believe that a case can be made that this year when we look at the egg at our Seders there’s something unique about it that’s so relevant today. Aside from its taste, what makes an egg unique? What makes it different from a potato or pasta or most other foods? Just this: you boil a potato or pasta and it becomes soft. But the longer you boil an egg the harder it becomes!

Since October 7^th 2023, the people of Israel have shown the world that all your assaults, all your protests, all your resolutions, all your boycotts, and all your rockets will not soften us. Rabbi Doron Perez, the head of World Mizrachi, reminds us that the former leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, famously wrote his spider web theory: Israel looks like a strong society, just like a spiderweb looks strong with all of its intricate webs. But it’s not strong at all … a spiderweb is transient and with one swish of the hand you can destroy it. And so, the people of Israel, they look strong, but are divided from within and weak.

Was Nasrallah wrong? Of course! We are not like the spiderweb. The people of Israel are like an egg—the hotter things get, the stronger and harder to defeat she becomes. Look at what Israel has gone through. As someone put it: Israel is the only country in the world whose citizens can be subjected to daily attacks from hostile forces who live right next to you. You think it’s normal to drive a car and consider that someone might shoot you, stone you or toss a Molotov cocktail in your way? Is it normal to stand on a street corner and wonder if a vehicle will ram you? Is it normal to walk on the sidewalk and speculate whether someone will stab you? Is it normal to sit in a cafe or on a bus and contemplate whether someone has placed a bomb there? And is it normal to be the recipients of enemy rockets and missiles on a regular basis?

There are no words to fully describe what Israel has been through since Oct. 7^th. I don’t know how they do it. One day you can be working in an office and the next day you’re in a uniform in Gaza! One day your father sleeps at home, the next day he’s gone and you’re not sure if or when he’s coming back! One day all is normal, the next day it’s your grandmother who’s taking care of you because your parents have been called up. Can you imagine living like this? Remarkable!

In Israel, this generation, Generation Z, has often been criticized for being superficial, shallow, misinformed, and social media obsessed. In Israel people doubted they had the same warrior spirit of Israel’s founders and builders. After Oct. 7^th we learned they were wrong. Israel’s young soldiers have proven willing and able to fight a tough war … and have shown that they are true heroes that we can count on to protect us. This is a generation that lost friends, evacuated the wounded, paid shiva calls, but never lost hope, and pressed on.

And you know what else? They kept having babies! While the birth rate is down in most every civilized country, Israel is the only developed country with a growing population. Unbelievable! They’re bringing more Jewish children into this crazy mixed-up world. How do you explain that?

Or try this: last year 30,000 new immigrants moved to Israel—this while a war is raging! And if that’s not enough, you know what else? In last month’s Gallup World Happiness Report, despite a 1½ years of war, Israel was ranked as the world’s 8^th happiest country. What a country! What a people!

We no longer go to our slaughter like sheep. We now roar back like the lion of Judah. We must think about all this at the Seder. And if you need a reminder, just look at the egg. The hotter it gets the harder it gets. Hashem oz l’amo yiteyn, Hashem y’varech et amo bashalom, “Hashem has given strength to his people, may He now bless us with peace,” with the return of our hostages, and with a truly joyous Pesach. Amen!