26 April 2024
Question
I was researching the reasons behind eating an egg at the Seder. I found two explanations that I thought were very weak. One was that the Aramaic word for "egg" (beya) sounds like the Aramaic word for "wanted" (boya), and G-d wanted to redeem the Israelites. The other explanation was that eggs are eaten by mourners because they represent the cycle of life. Each year the
Seder night falls on the same night of the week as Tisha B'av, the day the Temple was destroyed, so we eat the egg as a sign of mourning. I'm sorry but aren't these explanations a bit of a stretch?
Answer
Each of those explanations alone may seem hard to relate to. But put them together and there is a profound meaning behind them.
One of the central beliefs of Judaism is that Moshiach will come. We believe that there will come a day when the world will see the truth, goodness will prevail, suffering will end and the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem. All nations will serve G-d side by side, and the Jewish people will teach the wisdom they receive from the Messiah to the entire world.
There have been many moments in our history that could have been the moment, when the Messiah could have come. One of them was when we left Egypt. That redemption could have been the final one, Moses could have led us all the way to Israel, and the world could have been transformed once and for all.
But we weren't ready for it. The Jewish people were happy to get out of Egypt. Dayenu! We didn't yet have the vision to transform the entire world. We needed to work on ourselves a lot more, and we have been doing that ever since. Another mitzvah, another good deed, another challenge overcome, and slowly over millennia we have prepared ourselves and our world for Moshiach.
This brings together the two reasons we eat the egg. On the night of the Exodus, G-d wanted to redeem us, not just from Egypt, but from all of our troubles, and bring Moshiach. But we weren't up to it. And so we are still in exile, the Temples came and went, and we are still mourning. G-d is waiting for us to be ready. So let's not miss out on the next opportunity.
Big shifts are happening in the world. Evil has lifted its head everywhere we look, the open hand of G-d is making miracles for Israel, and a spiritual awakening is happening all around us. These are signs that Moshiach is close. We are living in dramatic times. Let's not just pray for an end to the war, but rather an end
to all wars with the coming of Moshiach. G-d wants it. We need to want it too.
Sources
Avudraham, Kol Bo, Beis Yosef Siman 473 Ramo Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 476:2