Halacha:

Gittin,  Sefirat HaOmer 

Machshava:

Pesach 

Mishna:

Menachot 

Holidays:

Tisha Bav 

Description

There is a custom to begin the seder meal with a hard-boiled egg, which is a sign of mourning. The Rema (OC 476:2) explains this puzzling custom by pointing out that Tisha b'Av always comes on the same day of the week as the night of the seder, creating a startling link between Pesach and Tisha b'Av, between destruction and redemption. To try to understand this, I set out with a few of my MTVA students to explore the link more deeply. Our journey took us to a few interesting sites in Jerusalem's Old City and then, back in the bet midrash, to two fascinating Gemarot - one in Gittin and the other in Menachot. What emerged was a powerful insight with very timely relevance!