An Egg-celent Custom

Rabbi Dov Pianko

One of the items on the Seder plate which sometimes gets overlooked is the beitzah (the egg; some have the custom to roast the egg as well). It does not have a specific role in the Haggadah, or step in the Seder where we are supposed to point, eat, or remember it. What is the role of the egg at the Seder and what are supposed to do with it?

The Sefer Taamei Haminhagim by Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Sperling (1851-1921), explains that the reason we include an egg on the Seder plate is in remembrance of the korban Chagiga. This was a korban which was brought on the 14th of Nisan in the Beit Hamikdash, and was eaten alongside the Korban Pesach.

Some have the custom to eat an egg before they begin their meal on the Seder night. This could be in remembrance of the fact that the korban Chagigah was eaten alongside the korban Pesach (Mishna Berura 476:11). Others suggest that we eat the egg because we also need to remember that we don’t have the Temple and we should be mourning that fact at the Seder (Shulchan Aruch Harav 476:6). We know from other areas of Jewish life that the egg is a food which is associated with mourning practices. We also have a custom to eat an egg on erev Tisha B’av, which not coincidentally, always falls on the same day of the week as the first Seder (Rema 476:2).

Pesach and Tisha Ba’av represent high and low times for Bnei Yisrael. Tisha B’av is the lowest point on the Jewish calendar. It is the day of national tragedy; the Jewish people as a nation are all mourners on that one day. On the other extreme is Seder night, when we celebrate national unity and peoplehood. It is the event that commemorates our transition from slaves to “a kingdom of princes and a holy nation” (Shemot 19:6).

The Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer of Pressburg, 1762-1839) links these two minhagim and these days of the year. Unlike other foods, which become softer the more they are cooked, an egg becomes harder the longer it stays on the fire. It thus symbolizes the Jewish people, who become stronger as a result of the oppression we endured and continue to endure. Persecution has not weakened the Jewish people, and has only made us a prouder, stronger, and more confident nation. That egg is a symbol on both Pesach and Tisha B’av–during the low and the high moments–that should remind us of all that we have gone through-but that ultimately we persevere!