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Holiday #10 (101) |
Pesach 5768 |
April 18-27(+28) | |
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Pesach SederEvery person should be filled with awe to fulfill the commandment of our Sages to conduct the Seder and read the Haggadah and he should not take it lightly. And even if it seems to him that certain things might not be so important, he should do them all, for there is nothing this night without meaning. Maharil From the Rebbes The "Festival of Matzot" / the "Festival of Pesach"On Passover the Jewish people praise G-d, and G-d praises the Jewish people. In the Torah the holiday is referred to as the "festival of matzot," in commemoration of the Jews' willingness to go off into the desert without waiting for their dough to rise. We, however, refer to it as "Pesach," literally "He passed over," in remembrance of His having passed over our homes during the slaying of the firstborn. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev The Maharal's Magic MatzahBy Jonathan Udren (written for our Kabbalah site: www.kabbalaonline.org )What Seder table would be complete without the thin, crispy, cracker-like unleavened bread known as matzah? Strange that the Torah would choose such a lackluster food item as the symbol for a miraculous deliverance from slavery. It could have chosen a symbol that illustrates power, or even a food with greater character. Yet this simple unleavened bread somehow expresses the nature of the Jewish people as they became a free nation. How?Additionally, we call matzah lechem ani, usually translated as bread of affliction. What does celebrating redemption have to do with eating something called "affliction"?! With these questions in mind, the Maharal of Prague in one of his seminal works, Gevurat Hashem offers us a deeper look into that hard bread on the Seder table, and how it contains the essential message of Jewish identity. First, the Maharal opens with a passage from the book of Deuteronomy, and then begins his analysis (bolded): "For seven days you shall not eat leaven, eat matzah - lechem ani - because b'chipazon (usually translated as "in a hurry") you left Egypt." Matzah is called lechem ani because it is the opposite of enriched matzah (what we know as egg matzah) with its added oils or honey…since the ani [a poor person in Hebrew] has no money; he only has himself. First, the Maharal provides us with a new, creative definition of lechem ani. Instead of bread of affliction, he understands it as simple bread. Matzah has no additives, no preservatives, no added sweeteners; it is just flour and water. The word ani, literally a poor person, is likened to this kind of bread since the poor person also has nothing except for absolute basics. From this perspective, the poor person's lack of possessions allows him a type of freedom from the burden of the physical world. True, his independence comes at a price that none of us would be willing to pay; still, conceptually he represents autonomy, and stands in stark contrast to the slave, who is completely tied to the will of his master. Therefore, G-d commanded us to eat lechem ani, what we call matzah, on the night we left Egypt, and every subsequent year after. Just as matzah only contains essential items, and is not weighed down by extra ingredients, so too with the Nation of Israel; on the night of redemption, Israel was released from the chains of bondage and entered a level of existence free from the will of Egypt. Beyond lacking extra ingredients, an important element of matzah is that it also lacks time. The entire process of making a piece of matzah cannot go beyond eighteen minutes. For the Maharal, time is also an essential factor in understanding the Exodus. And from this you can understand why the redemption had to occur in the first month (Nisan) specially, because redemption can only come from that which is separate, and that which stands by itself…the first month has no connection in time (to any other month) since it is the first. Above we spoke about the relationship to other in the realm of space; here the Maharal is illustrating the same point in the realm of time. In the realm of time, that which is first is the paradigm for all that follows it. The second and third months are always in relation to the first month. Their whole identity is completely based on where they exist in relation to the first month. But the first month has no relation to what is before or after; it is simply first. Therefore, redemption had to occur during the month of Nisan, in the first month. Just as simple bread expressed independence within space, Nisan, the first month, represents independence in time. Amazingly, our redemption was a moment of freedom expressed throughout existence. The Maharal then leaves us with a cryptic sentence that expresses a truly profound idea: Therefore it is fitting that the redemption should occur without any passage of time… In order to understand this statement, we have to look again at the passage that began our journey: "For seven days you shall not eat leaven, eat matzah - lechem ani - because b'chipazon (usually translated as "in a hurry") you left Egypt." The passage tells us clearly that there is an essential relationship between the eating of matzah and coming out "in a hurry." But, according to the Maharal, it doesn't mean that we left in a hurry, like someone late for work, running out the door with his bag still flopping open. We left Egypt in a moment outside of time, a non-moment moment. In our miraculous redemption we were lifted out of the constraints of time and space. We were carried out of Egypt with complete independence in all facets of reality, and miraculously entered the world stage as God's chosen nation. That magical moment of redemption made an indelible mark that is intrinsically
ingrained in our identity. Simply look through the pages of history and
see how we defy all the rules. No nation maintains its identity in the
Diaspora as we have. No nation had the gall after two thousand years of
exile to return home, pick up the pieces and build a modern state on the
ashes of the Holocaust. In our very nature we are a people of miracles;
we defy the laws of history and nature. And come Nisan, sitting at the
middle of our Seder plate on the first night of Passover, we have matzah,
the simple bread that illustrates the concept of freedom, and points us
towards our true identity as the People of Miracles.
(The annual blessing upon fruit-trees in bloom) GETTING RID OF CHAMETZ AND THE ORDER OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SEDER: The search for chometz is Thursday evening, April 17,
immediately after the evening prayers. It is not only a physical search
but a spiritual one also. We must check ourselves for pride-spiritual
leaven-the great separator between man and G-d. If you have not yet done
so, Friday is the last available time to sell your chometz to your local
rabbi. We burn the chometz by late morning on Friday, spiritually destroying
any remaining barriers between ourselves and the Divine, even though we
save some bread to eat for the Shabbat evening and morning meals. We stop
eating chometz by midmorning on Shabbat (check with your local rabbi or
Jewish newspaper for the correct times), and flush whatever remains down
the toilet. On Shabbat afternoon, before the Mincha Prayer, we read about
the bringing of the Pascal lamb. On Saturday night we say the evening
holiday prayers with much joy and add reciting the entire Hallel. Then
we proceed (well rested from Shabbat) to the Passover Seder table.
MATZAH In each instance, the matzah should be eaten within 4 minutes. How much is one ounce of matzah? To fulfill the commandment of eating matzah, it is strongly recommended to use shmurah matzah. What is shmurah? Ask your rabbi or go to www.passover.net.
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