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Take the third Matzah, and also a kezayit (the volume of one olive) of the Chazeret - which is to be dipped into Charoset. Combine the two [like a sandwich], and say the following: Thus did Hilel do at the time of the Bet HaMikdash: He would combine Passover — lamb, Matzah and Maror and eat them together, as it said: "They shall eat it with Matzah and bitter herbs." Now eat them together — in the reclining position. |
כָּל אֶחָד מֵהַמְסֻבִּים לוֹקֵחַ כְּזַיִת מִן הַמַצָּה הַשְּׁלִישִׁית עִם כְּזַיִת מָרוֹר וְכוֹרְכִים יַחַד, אוֹכְלִים בְּהַסָבָּה וּבְּלִי בְּרָכָה. לִפְנֵי אָכְלוֹ אוֹמֵר. זֵכֶר לְמִקְדָּשׁ כְּהִלֵּל. כֵּן עָשָׂה הִלֵּל בִּזְמַן שֶׁבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הָיָה קַיָּם: הָיָה כּוֹרֵךְ מַצָּה וּמָרוֹר וְאוֹכֵל בְּיַחַד, לְקַיֵּם מַה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: עַל מַצּוֹת וּמְרֹרִים יֹאכְלֻהוּ. |
A sandwich consisting of matzah and marror is eaten. Although the commandments of eating matzah and marror have just been fulfilled, we now sandwich them together and eat them to remember the Paschal lamb in Temple times. Korech means “to bind” or “to sandwich.”
Preceding our eating the sandwich, the Haggadah offers us the following passage to read, which also explains its origin and purpose:
זכר למקדש כהלל. כן עשה הלל בזמן שבית המקדש היה קים: היה כורך פסח מצה ומרור ואוכל ביחד, לקים מה שנאמר: ”על מצות ומרורים יאכלהו“ (במדבר ט יא)
“In remembrance of the holy Temple, we do as Hillel [first-century sage] did in Temple times. He would sandwich the Paschal lamb with matzah and marror and eat them together in order to observe the verse from Torah, ‘With matzah and marror it [i.e., the Paschal lamb] shall be eaten.’ (Exodus 12:8)”
Animal sacrifices, including the Paschal lamb, were dependent on the presence of the Temple. Following the Temple’s destruction (the second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE), sacrifices ceased. Korech is a custom that invokes memory.
Take the bottom of the three matzot, some marror, and make a sandwich of them, dipping it in charoset. Recite the phrase from the Haggadah above (“In remembrance....”). Eat while reclining to the left side.
שמות פרק יב
(ג) דַּבְּרוּ אֶל כָּל עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמרֹ בֶּעָשׂרֹ לַחדֶֹשׁ הַזֶּה וְיִקְחוּ לָהֶם אִישׁ שֶׂה לְבֵית אָבתֹ שֶׂה לַבָּיִת: (ד) וְאִם יִמְעַט הַבַּיִת מִהְיתֹ מִשֶּׂה וְלָקַח הוּא וּשְׁכֵנוֹ הַקָּרבֹ אֶל בֵּיתוֹ בְּמִכְסַת נְפָשׁתֹ אִישׁ לְפִי אָכְלוֹ תָּכסֹּוּ עַל הַשֶּׂה: (ה) שֶׂה תָמִים זָכָר בֶּן שָׁנָה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם מִן הַכְּבָשִׂים וּמִן הָעִזִּים תִּקָּחוּ: (ו) וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת עַד אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחדֶֹשׁ הַזֶּה וְשָׁחֲטוּ אתֹוֹ כּלֹ קְהַל עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם: (ז) וְלָקְחוּ מִן הַדָּם וְנָתְנוּ עַל שְׁתֵּי הַמְּזוּזתֹ וְעַל הַמַּשְׁקוֹף עַל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר יאֹכְלוּ אתֹוֹ בָּהֶם: (ח) וְאָכְלוּ אֶת הַבָּשָׂר בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה צְלִי אֵשׁ וּמַצּוֹת עַל מְררִֹים יאֹכְלֻהוּ:
Exodus 12:3-8
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every person a lamb, according to their fathers’ house, a lamb for a household; 4 and if the household be too few for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next to his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every person’s eating you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from sheep or from goats; 6 and you shall keep it until the fifteenth day of the same month; and the entire community of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side door posts and on the lintel of the houses wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the meat on that night, roasted on the fire, with matzot and marror it shall be eaten.
Sandwiching blurs individual identity, acknowledging a preference for confluence and composition. Korech creates a new kind of experience: a composite experience where the sum is greater than the parts. Korech acknowledges the reality that no experience arises in a vacuum; no experience is pure. To become redeemed, both individually and nationally, a person needs to have been enslaved. Reality is sharpened by appreciating the polar opposites that shape it. It is through this lens that Hillel interpreted the Torah’s commandment, “...with matzot and marror it shall be eaten,” as eating all ingredients as one — and not individually or sequentially.
The Paschal lamb ritual continued for Jewish pilgrims who journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem for Passover (one of the three pilgrimage festivals) until its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. After the destruction, the Rabbis of the Talmud included Hillel’s Korech in the Haggadah and the Seder ritual to create memory. As a result, Korech represented that which was absent and might otherwise have become extinct.
Consider the following biblical passages:
.למְַעַן תִּזְכּרֹ אֶת-יוֹם צֵאתְ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, כּלֹ יְמֵי חַיֶּי
“. . . that you may remember the day you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.” —Deuteronomy 16:3
רַק הִשָּׁמֶר לְ וּשְׁמרֹ נַפְשְׁ מְאדֹ, פֶּן-תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר-רָאוּ עֵינֶי וּפֶן-יָסוּרוּ מִלְּבָבְ, כּלֹ, יְמֵי חַיֶּי; וְהוֹדַעְתָּם לְבָנֶי, וְלִבְנֵי בָנֶי יוֹם, אֲשֶׁר עָמַדְתָּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱהֶי בְּחרֵֹב
“Only take heed and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; and make them known to your children and your children’s children; the day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb [Sinai].” —Deuteronomy 4:9-10
זָכוֹר, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה לְ עֲמָלֵק, בַּדֶּרֶ, בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם.
“Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came forth out of Egypt.” —Deuteronomy 25:1
.זָכוֹר אֶת-יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת, לְקַדְּשׁוֹ
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
—Exodus 20:7
Integrating ingredients in the Hillel sandwich:
“He would sandwich the Paschal lamb with matzah and marror together and eat them together.” —The Haggadah
Integrating healing and suffering:
“Healing does not mean the absence of suffering. It means learning to live in a different relationship with the suffering.” —Claude Anshin Thomas (Zen priest, 2009)
Integrating good and evil inclinations:
“One shall bind the yetzer hara [evil inclination] with the yetzer hatov [good inclination] to do God’s work, as it was written ‘with all your heart,’ meaning with both your inclinations.” —Maharam Elsheich commentary on Korech (sixteenth-century Safed, Israel)