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Koreich, directed.
Contributed by Serena Jake

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Jake Beckhard is a stage director and dramaturg of new and existing plays. He was just Jewish enough to make it into Birthright.

It has been put to me to write a passage for the Koreich step. 

We do the Koreich step and eat the Hillel sandwich so we can fulfil our obligation of Matzah and Maror. Hillel invented his eponymous sandwich back when we had the Holy Temple to resolve arguments over the commandments of eating both matzah and maror.

To me, this sounds like a funny argument to have to sit through if you’re hungry.

I am not a writer; I am a director. Directing, especially directing plays, is the fine art of taking very clear instructions (say this here, walk there afterwards) and adding significantly less clear instructions on top. 

The intended effect is to bathe the audience in sublimity, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

In that spirit, here are some additional instructions I have added onto the very simple play of Koreich. Think of it as a solo play each of you is about to perform alongside each other. Because you are busy performing, you are also your only audience. So it is my fervent hope that somewhere in here, as an attentive audience member to yourself, you receive a little blue rush of sublimity.

1.  Break off two pieces of matzah - one from the top piece and one from the bottom piece - to make your sandwich.
When everyone has taken their matzah, trade for a piece you think is better than yours. As you’re trading, send your trading partner a little secret psychic message. Ideally something nice, like an apology, or a compliment. Good. 

2.  Take some charoset and knife it onto your matzah.
Think about how, in Gibraltar, they mix actual brick dust into their charoset to further strengthen the metaphor of the mortar used by Israelite slaves. Check in with your breath. At some point later in the seder, find a time to clear your throat. You only get one, and if someone notices, you’ve failed and must try again. Good.

3.  Spoon some bitter herb onto your charoset.
Take a little taste of your bitter herb, then look around. Without anyone cueing, everyone at the table must now say in unison “Ooh, mama, that’s some bittah herb!” If it goes badly the first time, try again. Good.

4.  The reader will now say the words: “This is what Hillel did, at the time that the Temple stood. He wrapped up some Pesach lamb, some matzah and some bitter herbs and ate them together.”
While saying them, trace the outer edge of your matzah. Imagine a “matzah paper cut.” Good.

5.  Close the sandwich and take a bite.
Close your eyes while you chew. This part is only for you. Remember a place you loved that no longer exists, or at least not in the same way. Somewhere you could have arguments about trivialities with folks you trusted. What a gift, that you are a vessel for that place, carrying it day by day into the future. Take another bite. Good. 

6.  Turn the page.
haggadah Section: Koreich
Source: Jake Beckhard

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