But then the rabbi smiled, and I saw that he had been smiling this whole time but now the smile was wide, not wistful or wandering, and there was a bounty in it. And he laughed and said, But then we eat the charoset.

I laughed too. No, I know this. The charoset is the clay our people used to build the Egyptians their wonders. It reminds us of how we slaved.

No, said the rabbi, It may be a memory of that. But what it reminds me of is that, in our suffering for love, we became great builders, and our clay tasted sweet, and we learned that you need a sweet mortar to build a strong house. You need to take sweet joy with your bitterness and your broken heart, and you will see all the sides of love.

The rabbi ended here. We had other things to do. But I thanked him and held his hand with both of mine. Through him, and his own connection to what was divine in him, I am joyful to tell others what he taught me, why we eat as we do on the Seder.

(Here we combine our matzah, our maror, and our charoset to make a delicious sandwich)


haggadah Section: Koreich
Source: Matt Minnicino