Sicha of the Rebbe – Why Do We Eat Matza?

The Rebbe says:

1. The Passover Seder has fourteen steps . Maggid (telling over the story of the exodus) is the fifth step. During this stage we raise our Matzah (unleavened bread) and say:

“The Matzah that we eat, what is the reason? Because the dough of our fathers could not become leavened before the King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them, as it is said, ‘They baked the dough that they had brought out of Egypt into Matzah cakes, because it had not fermented, for they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves’ ” .

2. The Rebbe now asks a question which the previous Chabad leaders have also asked:

The Torah tells us that Hashem (G-d) had commanded the Jewish people to eat Matzah on the eve of their redemption- the night of the tenth plague- before midnight (Chatzos), as it says, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening time you should eat unleavened bread” .

The Torah then tells us that after the Jewish people were redeemed (after midnight) and were already outside of Egypt they baked Matzahs because they had no other food, as it says, “They baked the dough that they had brought out of Egypt into Matzah cakes, because it had not fermented, for they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves” .

If this is the case, why do we say that we are eating Matzah because our fathers ate Matzah outside of Egypt after they were redeemed? Saying this implies that if our fathers wouldn’t have eaten Matzah once they were redeemed we wouldn’t eat Matzah today; but surely we would still have to eat Matzah today because there is the commandment that Hashem gave the Jewish people earlier, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening time you should eat unleavened bread” , which is before our fathers ate Matzah outside of Egypt.

Instead, we should be saying that the reason we are eating the Matzah today is because Hashem commanded the Jewish people to eat Matzah on the night of their redemption before they were actually redeemed!?

3. The Rebbe now begins to explain the answer that the previous Chabad leaders have answered:

The word “Matzos” (plural for “Matzah”) in Hebrew can be spelled, “Mem Tzadik Vov Suf (מצות(”, or it can be spelled without the Vov- “Mem Tzadik Suf (מצת)”.

If you look closely at the two abovementioned verses in the Torah regarding the eating of the Matzah, you will find that the Torah spells the word, “Matzos”, differently in each one.

In the verse regarding the Matzah which our fathers ate after they were redeemed from Egypt (after midnight), the word, “Matzos”, is spelled with a Vov (Mem Tzadik Vov Suf- מצות). On the other hand in the verse regarding the Matzah which our fathers ate before they were redeemed from Egypt (before midnight), the word, “Matzos”, is spelled without a Vov (Mem Tzadik Suf- מצת).

What do these two different spellings represent?

[Translator’s addition: The letter, “Vov”, is a line starting at one point and goes straight down. This symbolizes Hashem’s downpour of energy from above to below].

The verse regarding the Matzah which our fathers ate before the redemption (before midnight) spells the word, “Matzos”, without a Vov (מצת) because it was before Hashem revealed Himself and took the Jews out of Egypt. On the other hand the verse regarding the Matzah which our fathers ate after they were redeemed (after midnight) spells the word, “Matzos”, with a Vov (מצות) because this was after Hashem revealed Himself and took the Jewish people out of Egypt.

[At this point we do not yet have the complete answer to our original question as to why we say that we are eating Matzah now because of the Matzah our fathers ate after they left Egypt, and not because of the Matzah they were commanded to eat earlier on].

4. The Rebbe now shows us how this explanation (of the differences between the two verses) also explains another discrepancy:

With regards to the Matzah that our fathers ate before they were redeemed from Egypt (before midnight) the Torah says that the Jewish people had to guard the Matzah to make sure that it did not leaven . However with regards to the Matzah that our fathers ate after they were redeemed (after midnight), the Torah says that the Matzos couldn’t become leavened and they would not need to be guarded .

The question that begs to be asked is why the Matzos which were baked before they were redeemed needed to be guarded so that they would not leaven, whereas the Matzos which were baked after they were redeemed didn’t need guarding?

However, according to the above explanation this makes perfect sense:

Leavened bread represents ego (just like the dough which rises). Unleavened bread represents a state of nullification before Hashem; “The poor man’s bread”.

Therefore, the Matzos which our fathers baked after Hashem revealed Himself and redeemed the Jewish people from Egypt (the Matzos with the Vov) didn’t need to be guarded because it was impossible for any ego to rise itself up. However the Matzos which our fathers baked before they were redeemed (the Matzos without the Vov) needed to be guarded because Hashem hadn’t revealed Himself yet and there was the possibility for ego to rise itself up.

Additionally, this explains the meaning of the words that we say in the abovementioned section of Maggid, “This Matzah that we eat, what is the reason? Because the dough of our fathers could not become leavened”: Being that this refers to the Matzah which our fathers ate after Hashem revealed Himself and redeemed them, the dough could not physically become leavened because Hashem’s presence was felt in the world.

5. The Rebbe now concludes the answer to our question as to why we say that we are eating Matzos today because of the Matzos which our fathers ate then after the redemption as opposed to the Matzos which our fathers were commanded to eat before the redemption:

Up until this point in our discussion we have explained how the first-ever Passover experience (at the time of the Jewish people’s redemption from Egypt) had a difference between before the Jewish people were redeemed (before midnight) and after they were redeemed (after midnight). However this difference was only by the first-ever Passover.

Once we received the Torah on Mount Sinai there is no difference between before midnight or after midnight. In other words, even the Matzah which we eat today on the first night of Passover before midnight has the specialty of the Matzah which our fathers ate then after midnight (after redemption)!

A proof to this: The verse in the Torah that commands us to eat Matzah nowadays on Passover reads, “For six days you shall eat Matzos” , and this verse spells the word, “Matzos”, with a Vov (which we explained earlier means that there is the revelation of Hashem, which was after midnight at the time of our Exodus from Egypt).

We now have the answer to our question: The reason why we say that we are eating Matzos nowadays (after the giving of the Torah) because of the Matzos that our fathers ate then after they were redeemed (and not because of the Matzos that our fathers were commanded to eat before they were redeemed) is because even our Matzos which we are eating today before midnight have in them the specialty that those Matzos had then after Hashem revealed Himself (after midnight).

6. The Rebbe is now going to continue this discussion by explaining that not only does the Matzah which we eat nowadays (after the giving of the Torah) before midnight have the greatness of the Matzah which our fathers ate then after midnight (after Hashem revealed Himself); it is actually even greater than the Matzah which our fathers ate then after midnight (after Hashem revealed Himself) for three reasons:

7. The first reason why our Matzah is greater:

The Matzah which we eat today on Passover comes after a whole year of service to Hashem (from the Passover of the year before until that year’s Passover) and therefore the Matzah includes in it the greatness of our service to Hashem.

An example and a proof to this: The revelation of Hashem at the splitting of the Sea of Reeds was amazing, however, the revelation of Hashem at the giving of the Torah was even greater. How did this come about? Through the Jewish people working on themselves for forty nine days from the time of the splitting of the sea until the giving of the Torah, each day elevating themselves one level higher from the level before.

The Jewish people were at the lowest level of impurity (Tumah) when they were in Egypt; they were at the lowest level of the forty nine “gates” of impurity. However, through working on themselves they were able to reach the highest “gate” of purity.

Actually, the Jewish people were not only able to elevate themselves to the forty ninth “gate” of purity; they were even able to attain the highest level of purity- the fiftieth gate , which is a present from Hashem. And this level of G-dliness is even higher than the revelation of Hashem at the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

(The Rebbe now explains how the revelation of Hashem at the time of the giving of the Torah was greater then the revelation of Hashem at the time of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds in two aspects:

Firstly, at the splitting of the Sea of Reeds the revelation of Hashem was only for the time of the actual splitting whereas the revelation of Hashem at the giving of the Torah permeated every Jew for all time. This is because they had worked on themselves and made themselves a proper vessel to receive and contain it.

Secondly, the actual intensity of Hashem’s revelation was much greater at the time of the giving of the Torah than at the time of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds).

The bottom line is that Hashem revealed Himself to a greater extent at the giving of the Torah then at the splitting of the Sea of Reeds because the Jewish people had worked on themselves.

Surely this also applies to our Matzah which comes after a year’s worth of work.

8. The second reason why our Matzah is greater:

The Matzah that our fathers ate after they were redeemed was not eaten because they were commanded to; they needed to eat food so they baked their dough (and it didn’t turn into leaven bread because the revelation of Hashem was in the world so it was impossible for ego to rise itself up, as we explained earlier). However the Matzah which we eat nowadays after the giving of the Torah is a commandment from Hashem and when Hashem commands us to do something it puts an infinite strength in it.

(You may ask: The Matzah which our fathers ate before midnight on the night they were redeemed was indeed a commandment from Hashem, as we mentioned earlier. If so, the abovementioned special quality of our Matzah nowadays is not unique!?

Answer: The great quality of fulfilling Hashem’s commandments is primarily after the Torah was given. A commandment from Hashem before the giving of the Torah does not have the same intrinsic quality).

9. The third reason why our Matzah is greater:

On the seventh day of Passover there is no obligation to eat Matzah . (Of course you still cannot eat leaven bread (Chametz); however there is no obligation to specifically eat Matzah). We eat Matzah on the seventh day of Passover because we want to have as much to do with Matzah as we can (so that we can connect ourselves to this level of nullification as much as is permitted).

The level of fulfilling something which we are not obligated to do, but want to do it anyways, is higher than fulfilling something that we are obligated to do, and this is the level we will have when Moshiach (the Messiah) comes; we will elevate things even though we don’t need to. For example, food; we will not need to eat it because our bodies will sustain themselves, however we will want to eat so that we can elevate the food.

At any rate, the seventh day of Passover contains in it some of the greatness of “Moshiach times”. Moreover, being that the first day of Passover is clearly connected to the seventh day of Passover, we must say that the Matzah which we eat on the first night of Passover contains in it at least some of the special qualities of the seventh day- “Moshiach times”.

10. After explaining how our Matzah nowadays is greater than the Matzah which our fathers ate then after they were redeemed, the Rebbe now asks a question and answers it:

Question: If our Matzah is greater then our fathers’ Matzah, why do we say (at the Seder table) that we are eating Matzah today because of the Matzah our fathers ate? Our own Matzah is greater!

Answer number one: At the Seder table we are commanded to tell over the story of the exodus from Egypt and we must discuss how everything was then. Therefore, when we discuss the Matzah, we describe how it was then even though our Matzah now is greater.

Answer number two: We read in the Haggadah , “If Hashem would not have taken our fathers out of Egypt we would still be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt”. This means that even though we were already redeemed from Egypt and already received the Torah, we must still have some connection to the situation that our fathers were in then. Therefore, we talk about the Matzah as it was then. However, this does not negate the great things our Matzah contains today.

11. The Rebbe now ends off with a Blessing for the complete and ultimate Redemption:

In the merit of us now ending this gathering by giving Charity (as we always do) which hastens the redemption, just like Passover ends with the seventh day which has some of the specialty of Moshiach times (as we explained), and furthermore, Passover outside of the Land of Israel ends off with the eight day which has the light of Moshiach- the prophecy of, “and the whole land will know Hashem like the waters which cover the sea” , should be fulfilled immediately!

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Sefer Hamamorim Torahs Menachem, entitled, “Matza Zu”, Tuf Shin Mem Tes.