Charoses: Bricks, Straws, and Blood

The Tur explains that the charoses is considered secondary to the marror and therefore the bracha of “al achilas marror” covers the charoses as well. This is somewhat similar to the bracha that is recited on the lulav, “al netilas lulav.” There are four species that we use to fulfill the mitzvah on Sukkos. Yet, there is no special bracha for the esrog, hadassim, and aravos. This is because the bracha we recite on the lulav covers them as well.

To some, the recipe of charoses is highly personal, and they would never dream of using prepared charoses. Moreover, some charoses recipes are simply not available for purchase. Perhaps the most unique recipe for charoses is one that contains crushed brick. Now your jaw might drop when you hear this jaw-breaking recipe, yet there is a recorded custom that people added crushed brick to their charoses.

The Gemara says that, according to Rebbe Yochanon, charoses symbolizes the mortar that the Egyptians made us use in the manufacture of bricks. What can possibly be more authentic to symbolize the cement than actually adding crushed brick to the charoses?!

The Maharam Lonzono was aghast when he heard of this custom. He remarked, “Are you supposed to make yourself bleed on Purim to recall the murderous decrees?!” Certainly not. He reasoned that adding crushed brick is simply taking the symbolism too far. He suggested that the custom arose from an errant text in the Rashbam. The text of the Rashbam in our published Gemara actually reads “Earthenware (CheReS) that is ground well to remember the cement.” (Pesachim 116a) It seems to totally support the custom of adding inedible dust to the charoses. However, the Maharam said the elimination of the Hebrew letter “sof” made the charoses really tough. The word was not supposed to be “CheReS” but “ChaRoSeS”. The last letter was left off. With the proper text, the Rashbam is saying that the charoses should be ground well to remember the cement. It should not be liquidy or chunky.

On that note, Tosfos senses a contradiction. The Gemara here seems to suggest that the charoses should be thick like cement. Yet, in other places, the Gemara said that the charoses should be treated halachicly like a liquid. Therefore, he opines that one should initially make the charoses thick, and when the time for dipping comes, one should add red wine to it to liquify it. This recalls the blood that the Egyptians shed. This custom cannot be fulfilled, however, when the seder night is on Shabbos. Adding wine to the thick charoses would be considered the melacha of kneading.

The Gemara relates that the merchants of Yerushalayim would cry out, “Come and purchase spices for the mitzvah [of charoses]” What is the purpose of these spices?

The Rashbam says they symbolize the straw that was used in the brick-making process. The Rema comments that one should use ginger or cinnamon because they resemble straw. Whereupon, the Mishna Berura comments that the spices mentioned by the Rema “cannot be ground well and resemble straw.” From the comment cited in the Dirshu it seems that the Steipler Gaon would grate the spices himself with a meat grinder so that the spices should remain long. It would seem that one who uses ground cinnamon for charoses has totally lost the symbolism of straw. Rav Dovid Feinstein, zt”l, writes, “People season the charoses with ground cinnamon. But this is needless because ground spices do not symbolize straw. I am surprised that we neglect to enhance our mitzvah performance by obtaining this ingredient.” (Laws of the Seder-Kol Dodi) He notes with approval that in recent times it became possible to obtain cinnamon sticks for Pesach.

It’s quite ironic that it would seem that there is more of a basis for adding ground brick to charoses than ground cinnamon! However, according to Rav Dovid, zt”l, we should add neither.