The Egg of Tisha B’Av & Pesach
The Rema (O”C 476:2) makes an odd association between Tisha B’Av and Pesach:
הגה: נוֹהֲגִים בִּקְצָת מְקוֹמוֹת לֶאֱכֹל בַּסְּעֻדָּה בֵּיצִים, זֵכֶר לַאֲבֵלוּת, וְנִרְאֶה לִי הַטַּעַם מִשּׁוּם שֶׁלֵּיל (ג) תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב נִקְבַּע בְּלֵיל פֶּסַח
The reason we eat eggs on the Seder Night (Pesach), is because the Seder night is somehow connected to the mourning of Tisha B’Av.
Huh?
Yes, it happens to be that the first night of Pesach always falls on the same day of the week as the night of Tisha B’Av, and by Tisha B’Av, too, the custom is to eat an egg, but it feels something more is beneath the surface connection here.
Egg = “No Mouth”
The egg is featured at meals of mourning because it “has no mouth.” Mourners are understood to have “no mouth” – mourners practice silence, their conversation is limited, they don’t exchange greetings with people.
On Tisha B’Av, too, we have many practices of mourning, including limited conversation and no exchange of greetings, and thus the egg is appropriately featured at the Tisha B’Av se’udas hamafsekes to remind us we have “no mouth.”
But what does “no mouth” have to do with Pesach? If anything, lack of speech would be the opposite of Pesach! We’re encouraged to speak all night with Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim. Even the word Pesach is understood as a construct of two words: “Peh Sach,” literally the mouth speaks!
Tisha B’Av & the Loss of Speech
To understand this, we need to explore the true “no mouth” mourning of Tisha B’Av. The first Tisha B’Av happened in the desert with the sin of the spies. The spies caused the Jews to cry in vain, so Hashem gave them real reason to cry. That day it was decreed that the Jews would wander in the desert for 40 years, but that was also the day that God stopped speaking with Moshe for 40 years. For 40 years the Jews received no Torah. Speech was literally silenced. Real speech, Divine speech was suspended. Since then, on every Tisha b’av we curtail speech, including Divine Speech – one is not allowed to learn Divrei Torah. The reason is obvious, that is the day Torah ceased for the 40 years in the desert.
This explains that G-d went silent, but what does that have to do with our silence?
Loss of Speech = Rejection
The answer is that G-d not speaking to us was a sign that G-d did not want to hear from us, either. When G-d speaks to us, it’s not just to give us orders, but rather to invite us in conversation. G-d wants to hear from us. He wants us to be engaged in dialogue with Him. Dialogue, not just with words but with Kavanah, too. Are we G-d-conscious when we Daven? Are we G-d-conscious when we do mitzvos?
Tisha B’Av is the day we painfully experienced G-d not wanting to hear from us – not our tefillos, not our mitzvos:
{יא} לָמָּה לִּי רֹב זִבְחֵיכֶם יֹאמַר יְהוָה שָׂבַעְתִּי עֹלוֹת אֵילִים וְחֵלֶב מְרִיאִים וְדַם פָּרִים וּכְבָשִׂים וְעַתּוּדִים לֹא חָפָצְתִּי: {יב} כִּי תָבֹאוּ לֵרָאוֹת פָּנָי מִי בִקֵּשׁ זֹאת מִיֶּדְכֶם רְמֹס חֲצֵרָי: {יג} לֹא תוֹסִיפוּ הָבִיא מִנְחַת שָׁוְא קְטֹרֶת תּוֹעֵבָה הִיא לִי חֹדֶשׁ וְשַׁבָּת קְרֹא מִקְרָא לֹא אוּכַל אָוֶן וַעֲצָרָה: {יד} חָדְשֵׁיכֶם וּמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם שָׂנְאָה נַפְשִׁי הָיוּ עָלַי לָטֹרַח נִלְאֵיתִי נְשֹׂא{טו} וּבְפָרִשְׂכֶם כַּפֵּיכֶם אַעְלִים עֵינַי מִכֶּם גַּם כִּי תַרְבּוּ תְפִלָּה אֵינֶנִּי שֹׁמֵעַ:
{ח} גַּם כִּי אֶזְעַק וַאֲשַׁוֵּעַ שָׂתַם תְּפִלָּתִי:
{מד} סַכּוֹתָה בֶעָנָן לָךְ מֵעֲבוֹר תְּפִלָּה:
We were “nizufim laMakom” “rejected to G-d.” Thus, we have “no mouth.”
But, the rejection was never a permanent measure.
{כא} זֹאת אָשִׁיב אֶל לִבִּי עַל כֵּן אוֹחִיל: {לא} כִּי לֹא יִזְנַח לְעוֹלָם אֲדֹנָי:
Return of Spech = Chosen-ness
That same day, Tisha B’Av at the end of 40 years in the desert was when Divine, Godly speech returned. The Gemara recounts how G-d started communicating again with Moshe and the Jewish people on the 15th of Av.
Every year the Yiddin of the midbar would enter a grave on Tisha B’Av and sleep. The next morning, only some would rise. The dead remained in their graves. This happened every year until Tisha B’Av of the 40th year. In that 40th year, the Yiddin of the midbar again entered their graves on Tisha B’Av but the next morning all of them arose!
Unsure why no one died, they assumed it was the wrong date, so they did so the next night. Same result, no one died. They did this the next few nights until the 15th of Av when it became clear the decree ended. The only reason why G-d’s word didn’t return on the 9th of Av – the day the decree ended – was because Moshe was still grieving unaware that the decree was reversed.
So, on the last Tisha B’Av in the desert we had “no mouth” – not from rejection, but because we didn’t realize Hashem wanted to hear from us!
Pesach, too, is the yuntif where it became clear that the Yidden were the opposite of rejected. The Yidden were “the chosen.” However, until we knew He wanted us engaged, we waited with “no mouth.” {כו} טוֹב וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם לִתְשׁוּעַת יְהוָה:
Once we got the message, we realized we were chosen to speak.
Egg = Waiting to Speak
This is what the egg represents; The “no mouth” of those who G-d doesn’t want to hear from – the “rejected,” but also the “no mouth” of those waiting to be heard from – the chosen. And once they are chosen, let them speak, endlessly, of how G-d chose us and wants to hear from us. “V’chol hamarbe lisaper, harei zeh meshubach.”
Hashem wants to hear from us. Our Prayers, Our mitzvos. Not the outer shell. He wants us, internally, to be in communion with Him.
Just as the 9th of Av was converted from the “no mouth” of rejection into the “mouth” of the chosen, so too, the future of Tisha B’Av will be converted from a day of mourning into a yuntif, a “Moed,” a day of communion (as in the Ohel Moed –the place where G-d communicates with the Jewish people) – and when we hear the voice of G-d, we’ll know He’s looking to hear back from us.
