#55-Pesach Inspiration

One of the foods we have on our Kearah is Charoses. Charoses is a sweet blend of apples, chopped nuts, wine, and cinnamon. What exactly does the Charoses signify? The simple answer is cement, but let’s take it a step deeper.

When Bnei Yisroel were in Mitzrayim, they were instructed to construct pyramids for King Paroah. When they couldn’t fill their quota of bricks, they were forced to use their own babies as bricks. The red wine in the Charoses symbolizes the blood of these babies. One could imagine how difficult and painful this must have been for the parents to witness!

Asks R’ Shimshon Pincus ZT”L, “If Charoses is sweet, why is it used to signify the baby’s blood? Secondly, why are we dipping Marror into Charoses?”

There’s a famous halacha that says that if one finds oneself in a situation involving any of the three aveiros chamuros (avodah zorah, giluy arayos, shfichas damim) it’s better to give up one’s life than commit them. (This halacha applies to Jews and non-Jews alike.) What happens, though, if someone is commanded to do one of these aveiros and, out of fear of retaliation for not obeying the command, he/she caves and ends up committing one of these aveiros?

The halacha is that this person is considered an oneis, and he/she is not held accountable in beis din.

Building on this thought, there’s an interesting Medrash that goes as follows. Paroah instructed the Egyptians to take all the baby boys and throw them into the river. This would obviously kill the babies, which is one of the aveiros that even non-Jews are forbidden to commit. But we know that the Mitzriyim did do so. Why?

Many of them were very afraid of Paroah; not obeying would mean their own death. They obeyed out of fear, not because they wanted to kill the babies. Would these Egyptians then be held accountable according to beis din? Like we said before, no. If so, at Kriyas Yam Suf, the Malach of Mitzrayim came to Hashem with a valid complaint. He asked Hashem why He was punishing the Mitzriyim for the atrocities they committed if they committed these atrocities out of fear of Paroah, not because they wanted to. “The Mitzrim shouldn’t be held accountable!” he argued. The Medrash says Hashem agreed with this Mitzri Malach until one of Bnei Yisroel's malachim went down to Mitzrayim and brought back one of the “bricks.” When the Malach explained to Hashem the backstory of the bricks, Hashem “got very upset” and replied, “Paroah never commanded you to use babies as bricks! This was done on your own initiative!” Hashem then instructed the Yam Suf to crumble on top of the Mitzriyim, thereby killing them. After this, Bnei Yisroel were able to move on and became the Am Hanivchar and received the Torah.

The lesson from here is that sometimes, in life, our most bitter and painful challenges bring out the sweetest things. These babies, who became bricks, caused Hashem to kill the Mitzrim, which enabled us to become Hashem’s special nation.

This Medrash explains why Charoses is sweet, why we use sweet wine, and why we dip marror into charoses. When we look at the Charoses on the Kearah, we tell Hashem, “Hashem, I don’t understand your ways. Right now, I’m only tasting bitterness, but one day, I know you’ll transform this bitterness into something sweet!”

May we all be zoche to see our “bitterness” turn to sweetness!

Have a chag kosher v’sameich!

*This segment is based on a class given on TorahAnytime by Rabbi Mayer Simcha Sperling.