יום א Date: 13 Nissan, 5774 (4/13/14) – Beitzah#14 {Eliezer}

Spice it Up

Mishna [14a]: Spices and salts are different in regards to how they may be crushed on YomTov. Beis Shammai: spices may be crushed with a wooden pestle while salts must be done using an earthenware flask or a wooden mixing spoon. Beis Hillel: spices may be crushed using a usual stone pestle while salt is done with a wooden pestle.
Why the difference? Gemarah: All cooked dishes need salt (therefore the crushing should have been done before the holiday). However, not all cooked dishes need spices and/or spices lose their flavor once crushed but salt does not.

E’s Lesson: Spices are like Mitzvos in regards to a timely consumption. Zerizus (alacrity) is required to jump at opportunities. The first law in the Shulchan Orech is to literally jump out of bed to say Modeh Ani in the morning. If we delay on a commandment (like spices that lose their essence over time) we may never get the opportunity again. Also, every moment has new opportunities so if we delay one mitzvah until later, we are losing out what we should have been doing at that later moment and can never make it up. Grab all the diamonds we can while they are still bright and shining!