כורך

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.

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What

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.”

Why

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.

How

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.

Biblical Source

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.

  1. What details are included in the Torah’s telling of the Passover ritual? What aspects of this telling characterize it as a prelude to redemption?
  2. The Paschal lamb (Pesach) ritual in Egypt was sandwiched in time between hundreds of years of slavery, and the following day’s Exodus. What is the significance of observing the ritual at that transitional time?
  3. How do the food objects used in the Paschal lamb ritual — the Paschal lamb sacrifice (a gesture of being in God’s service), matzah (a symbol of freedom), and marror (a symbol of slavery) — portray the complexity of the ritual?

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 Presence of Absence

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 אֱהֶי 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

  1. What commonalities can you find between invoking the memories of the no-longer-existent Paschal lamb in Korech and of other significant events which we are instructed to remember?
  2. What value does each memory highlight? What values do you think the Torah wants us to learn from the above memories?

Integrations

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)

  1. What are ways in which we integrate different aspects of our lives?
  2. Through this integration, do the original ingredients maintain their uniqueness? Or are they turned into some new?

In Light of the Video...

  1. Korech symbolizes something that is no longer: the Paschal lamb and the whole sacrificial system in Israel. How does the sandwich we substitute in its place distract from or concretize the missing meat?
  2. What does the missing Paschal lamb say about the presence of absence?
  3. One of the phrases displayed in the video reads: “We cannot know everything, but we do need to know how to search.” What do you think this searching means in terms of memory and present-day reality?