Y
anky lit two matches, waited for them to turn black, shook out the flames and crushed the ashes onto the hard-boiled eggs in the waiting bowl. The children watched closely and then began to fight over who would get the blackest egg.
“I need the biggest one, because I’m the saddest!” said Eliyahu.
“No, I’m much sadder than you, give me the big one!” insisted Nechumi.
“Don’t make me laugh, kinderlach, it’s Erev Tishah B’Av,” said Yanky. “And just like it’s a mitzvah to be sad about the burned Beis Hamikdash, it’s also a mitzvah to be mevater. So I think, Eliyahu and Nechumi, we should let Bentzi choose first.”
