Rabbi Shimshon Pincus commentary on the Haggadah: Pesach and Maror
Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincus was a 20th century Israeli Haredi Rabbi of American origin
Z'roah - Chesed - The Z'roah is the symbol we use on the Seder Plate today to represent the Korban Pesach. The Korban Pesach is the method through which we internalize the Intellectual Emunah of the Three Matzos. It is the Chesed, the generous giving of the spiritual gift of Emunah. Spiritual gifts are the embodiment of chesed, since chesed implies an unlimited, endless giving of good. And since the good that we are receiving is a spiritual gift, it is appropriate that chesed is the mida [trait] through which we receive this gift, since spirituality is an inherently unlimited, boundless gift as well, as opposed to physical gifts which are inherently bounded and limited by the finite-ness of physicality.
Tiferet – Splendor
Maror is Tiferet because the ultimate expression of Splendor is the beauty that comes from the unification between two seemingly opposite characteristics. Chesed and Gevurah are two distinct traits with their own inherent beauty. But the awesome aspect of unifying Chesed and Gevruah. And why is Maror, bitterness, the best expression of connecting Chesed and Gevurah, kindness and strictness? This is because it is the bitter parts of life where one experiences the unified Chesed that is within Gevurah. When one thinks about the bitterness of the hard times and how, within the difficulty and Gevurah that one is experiencing, is hidden only love and Hashem’s desire to do chesed with us, then that is when one truly feels the splendorous beauty of the unification of the attributes of kindness and strictness. And by focusing on this idea when we eat the Maror at the seder, we can achieve the attribute of Tiferet, in it’s most beautiful form.
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