Pesach Vort from The Beis Halevy Looking Forward to Complete Redemption

Looking Forward to Complete Redemption: Lesson from seder night being same day of week as Tisha B`Av. Great for anyone that eats an egg by the seder
ואכלו את הבשר בלילה הזה צלי אש ומצות על מררים יאכלהו
They shall eat the flesh on that night — roasted over the fire — and matzos; with bitter herbs shall they eat it (Shemos 12:8).
The Midrash (Eichah Rabbah, Pesichtos 18) cites the verse from Eichah (3:15), “Hisbiani va’merorim hirvani laanah — He filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood,” explaining that the first half of the pasuk refers to the first night of Pesach, in which we eat maror, while the second half refers to the night of Tishah B’Av, in which we mourn the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and are filled with intense bitterness. The Midrash goes on to say that from the same bitterness with which Hashem filled me on the first night of Pesach, He sated me with the wormwood of Tishah B’Av. To back up this point, the Midrash informs us that the Pesach Seder is always on the same night of the week as the night of Tishah B’Av.
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (Beis HaLevi ad loc.) poses several questions on this Midrash: While the first night of Pesach and the night of Tishah B’Av do fall on the same day of the week, the similarity seems to end there. The Seder is a night of celebration, while Tishah B’Av is the saddest night of the year. What is the connection between these two days, whose moods seem poles apart?
Additionally, if the bitterness is a reference to the maror we eat at the Seder, how can we use the word “hisbiani — filled (satisfied) me” in conjunction with it? According to halachah, we are only obligated to eat a ke’zayis (the size of an olive) of maror, and the requisite portion for seviah, satiety (Berachos 49b), is a ke’beitzah (the size of an egg).
The Beis HaLevi explains that the korban Pesach must be eaten al hasova, when one is full. The reason, says the Gemara (Pesachim 119b), is so that taste of the korban Pesach will linger in the mouth long after the Seder. By eating it when full we are assured that no more food will be eaten to cancel out or dilute its taste. This follows the maror, which we eat to recall the bitter enslavement in Egypt. That night, we went from enslavement to freedom; in a gastronomic way we remember both. But the taste of the Pesach must remain, as from hereon in, our cheirus, our freedom, began.
Yet this is only true according to the Sages who are of the opinion that the matzah and maror should be eaten separately, followed by the korban Pesach. According to Hillel, whom we remember by eating the koreich sandwich, the maror is eaten along with the matzah and the meat of the korban Pesach. Hence, the taste of both the meat and the maror will remain in the mouth. The Midrash is therefore describing the opinion of Hillel, whereby everything is eaten at once, when one is full and sated.
But why should this be? The maror commemorates the enslavement from which we were now freed, and though we went from galus to geulah that same night, we ended on a high note — with our departure from Egypt. Why would we want the taste of enslavement and bitterness to remain in our mouths?
Although the decree of enslavement revealed to Avraham at Bris Bein HaBesarim was to last four hundred years, Klal Yisrael were redeemed after only 210 years. While Rashi (Bereishis 15:13) accounts for this by reckoning the four hundred years from the birth of Yitzchak and that the Exodus was at the correct time, others say that we did indeed leave early. As we recite in the Haggadah: “she’HaKadosh Baruch Hu chishav es hakeitz — for HaKadosh Baruch Hu calculated the end.” Hashem expedited the redemption from Egypt by 190 years, the gematria of the word קץ. Bnei Yisrael were at the forty-ninth rung of impurity and could tarry no more. Staying any longer would have resulted in total assimilation and the snuffing out of the last spark of purity that remained.
The Beis HaLevi explains (see Drush 4 in the Drushim section of Shailos U’Teshuvos Beis HaLevi for further elaboration) that the early Exodus came at the price of having to make up the lost years at a future time. We were leaving, yet the redemption was not complete and we would have to go into galus again. Thus, the seeds of Tishah B’Av were planted at that time.
That is why the taste of maror must linger along with the taste of the korban Pesach; we experienced freedom, but also the awareness that the debt will come due. “Hisbiani va’merorim hirvani laanah.” As it says in Midrash Eichah, the fact that we are satisfied with maror on the first night of Pesach is an indication that there will yet be a Tishah B’Av.
What may seem like a bitter vort does have a sweet ending. In Drush 4, the Beis HaLevi also discusses the custom cited by the Rema (Orach Chayim 476:2) whereby some people eat an egg (a food served to mourners and also eaten before the onset of Tishah B’Av) at the Seder, as a reminder of the aveilus of Tishah B’Av. Which makes us wonder: Why do we spoil the happy occasion of the Seder with thoughts of tragedy?
Based on what we have explained thus far, the answer is very clear. The redemption from Mitzrayim was not complete; the full four hundred years had not been served and there was a debt that had to be repaid. Leaving that night was not the complete fulfillment of the promise at the Bris Bein HaBesarim, “Ve’acharei chein yeitzu birchush gadol — And afterward they shall leave with great possessions” (Bereishis 15:14). That will only happen in the future.
By eating the egg, and recalling the night of the Ninth of Av, we remind ourselves that the Ultimate Redemption has not yet occurred. Despite the challenges and hardships we face in this Galus, we can be confident that the promise of a Geulah Sheleimah is still in place and will yet be fulfilled