Rabbi's Blog

The food industry is probably the largest industry in the world. Numerous auxiliary businesses and hundreds of workers are involved in the preparation and distribution of meat from the time an animal is processed until it reaches your mouth. Industrial chefs in the quickly-expanding food industry create new recipes and food preparation ideas, introducing new foods and products to this world-wide market place.

Modern medical and nutritional research continuously expound upon the importance of eating healthy, beneficial foods. Halacha recognizes this and details how, what and when a person should eat. On Sukkos we can eat what we want (or what we should) but we can’t eat it wherever we want. On Pesach we can eat wherever we want, but we can’t eat whatever we want. We are strictly governed by the laws of kashrus for Pesach.  Giving thought to this vein of thinking, perhaps the types of foods we choose to consume, within, of course, the context of the laws of kashrus, should be given some more serious attention.

At our weekly Shabbos Kiddush people look forward to taking a bit of white fish or a sliver of herring with onion to layer onto  their crackers. Children are seen mushing tuna or egg salad between two crackers, and then, of course, there are the now-famous Oreo-style cookies where everyone secretly pulls the cookies apart to lick the cream.  I find it intriguing to observe how people need to combine an item with a cracker rather than taking a bite of tuna and then eating the cracker separately. There is something special and unique about putting foods together and eating them in the same bite. 

The modern concept of a sandwich using slices of bread (as found within the Western World) can be traced back to 18th century Europe. However, the use of some kind of bread or bread-like substance placed under (or under and over) some other food, or used to scoop up and enclose or wrap some other type of food long predates the 18th century, and is found in numerous much older cultures worldwide. The first written usage of the English word “sandwich” appeared in Edward Gibbon’s journal, in longhand, referring to "bits of cold meat" as a "Sandwich". It was named after John Montagu, 4^th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread. Others, observing this new food combination,  began ordering "the same as Sandwich!" It is commonly said that Lord Sandwich was fond of this form of food because it allowed him to continue playing cards, particularly Cribbage, while eating, without using a fork, and without getting his cards greasy from eating meat with his bare hands.

On the seder night we recall Hillel the elder making a sandwich of meat from the Korban Pesach and marror by placing these items between two pieces of matza as a reminder for the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. At the seder there are a few references to Temple times. How does the sandwich of Hillel HaZakein cause us to remember the Beis HaMikdash?

The night of the Seder is filled with references to the joining together of the Jewish people. At the very beginning of the seder, we invite the hungry and poor to the meal and even prior to the seder we make sure everyone has the ability to fulfill the Mitzvos of the night. We read of great Rabbis joining together for a seder and discuss the four sons who are representative of all different types of Jews coming together for the family seder. The night the Jews were to leave Egypt, every family huddled together in their homes and demonstrated a sense of unity. During the period when the Beis HaMikdash stood there was no greater time of Shalom/peace in the world. Peace can only come about through unity, through openly and intentionally supporting each other and working to respect each other. The symbolism of Korech, the sandwich, is to teach and repeatedly remind us that if we come together - just as a sandwich - we will reach the level necessary to once again have a Beis HaMikdash. Hillel teaches the importance of Jews coming together. It is worthy to mention that the root letters of ‘Korech’ are Chof Reish Chof which can also be read as Krach, meaning a city where people live together and are not dispersed by distance.

If there were to be a single parsha in the Torah that epitomizes the unity of the Jewish people I might say it is Parshas Acharei Mos. In Vayikra 16:17 the Torah states: “V’Chal Adam Lo Yihiyeh B’Ohel Moed B’Vo,oh L’Chapeir BaKodesh Ad Tzeiso, V’Chiper Ba’Ado, U’V’Ad Beiso, U’V’Ad Kal Kehal Yisrael”. “And there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he (the Kohein Gadol) goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out, and made atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.” The Midrash Yismach Moshe explains the need for Aharon or the Kohein Gadol to atone for everyone’s sins. If someone became impure due to a sin and lacked atonement, they could not come to the Temple. In order to allow everyone to come, the Kohein Gadol cleared their slates from sins, so all of Klal Yisroel were completely atoned, thereby allowing the entire Jewish people to come and gather together to be seen by Hashem and for us, in turn, to see Hashem. It was the act of the Kohein Gadol that brought achdus /unity and the feeling of equality amongst the Jewish people.

There is a certain taste and flavor that foods have when eaten independently, and yet each tastes somewhat differently and is perhaps enhanced when eaten together. The Jewish people could have done Teshuva on their own leading up to the day of Yom Kippur, but they would have run the risk someone being left out. The Kohein Gadol acting on everyone else’s behalf, guarantees their atonement, opening  the path for the Jewish people to come together to be ‘sandwiched’ in an attempt to seek out Hashem. Pesach is the antecedent for Shavuos. We left Mitzrayim as individuals; a mere forty-nine days later this exodus culminated in the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai. “Coincidentally” the forty-nine days of the Omer are used as a time to focus on the Mitzvos between man and man and to blend the Jewish people together.  The Torah depicts the Jewish people at Har Sinai as “like one man with one heart”. The Jewish people are great and individually worthy and precious; but when we join together, when we ‘sandwich’ ourselves, each of us to each other, we are a People, an example of all that is good to the world.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

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