Matzah

            Matzah has a dual symbolism. It symbolizes slavery and it symbolizes the geulah.

Matzah symbolizes the shibud, the slavery. The Torah[i] refers to matzah as “lechem oni,” “the bread of affliction.” We ate matzah as slaves in Mitzrayim. Matzah does not taste as good as bread. Part of the oppression of the Mitzrim was to give us food that we did not enjoy as much.[ii] The Avudraham[iii] explains another idea. Matzah takes longer to digest than chometz. Therefore, if one wants to feed his slaves and give them enough energy to continue to work for a long time, then matzah is more economical than chametz. The Mitzrim gave us matzah in order to save money. The Sforno[iv] offers another way that matzah symbolizes slavery. The Mitzrim would rush us back to work during our lunch breaks, and we were forced to go back to work early, before we were ready. Therefore, the dough that was baked in the oven did not have time to rise, and we were forced to eat matzah instead of chometz. It is quite clear that matzah symbolizes the shibud, the terrible slavery and oppression that we, Am Yisrael, felt in Mitzrayim.[v]

At the same time matzah symbolizes the geulah. The Torah tells us (Shemos, perek12) that we ate matzah because the Mitzrim rushed us out of Mitzrayim. This is why the Sefer Hachinunch (mitzvah 11) writes that matzah reminds us of the nissim, that we left Mitzrayim so quickly. It is interesting that matzah is baked quickly, taking the dough out of the oven before it develops fully. So too, the sefarim say that matzah symbolizes the geulah. Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim early, before the full, original four hundred years of slavery were completed.[vi] The Aramaic term for matzah is “lachma anya.” The gematria of “lachma anya” equals two hundred ten. So on the one hand this symbolizes the slavery; we were in Mitzrayim for 210 years. But at the same time, one reason we left Mitzrayim early is because the slavery was so intense and the oppression was so severe. Therefore, the same gematria of “lachma anya” equaling two hundred ten is also a remez to the geulah. It was only two hundred ten years because the oppression was so severe. Another example of matzah symbolizing the geulah is that Chazal[vii] interpret “lechem oni” to be “bread of talking.” This means it is bread over which we say many things. We are supposed to tell the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim over the matzah, in front of the matzah.  We see that Chazal already interpreted the posuk to refer to matzah not only as a symbol of slavery, but also as a symbol of the geulah. This is the source for the idea that during most of maggid we keep the matzos uncovered because one is supposed to tell the story with the matzah in front of him, seeing the matzah while telling the story.[viii]

Am Yisrael ate matzah twice when they left Mitzrayim. They ate matzah once at night together with the Korban Pesach; and they ate matzah again the next day when they actually left Mitzrayim, when the Mitzrim rushed them out. The Abarbanel[ix] says that this represented the two symbolisms of matzah. The matzah we ate during the day clearly represents the matzah of geulah; we ate matzah because the Mitzrim rushed us out. The matzah we ate at night with the Korban Pesach symbolized the shibud. The Torah writes, “eat the Korban Pesach with matzah and maror.” Maror clearly symbolizes the slavery. And since the Torah groups the matzah together with the maror, it seems that the matzah we eat with the Korban Pesach has the same theme as the maror, the theme of the shibud. So, the Abarbanel explains, we find the two themes of matzah reflected in the two times we ate matzah when we left Mitzrayim.

Both of these aspects of matzah are mentioned at the seder during maggid. We refer to matzah at the beginning of maggid as the “bread of affliction,” “ha lachma anya.” And at the end of maggid we refer to matzah as the bread of the geulah. At the end of maggid we say, “why do we eat matzah tonight? Because theMitzrim rushed us out.” It actually works out very well that we begin maggid focusing on matzah as the symbol of slavery, and we end maggid focusing on matzah as the symbol of geulah. Exactly! During maggid, we are describing and talking about the process of leaving Mitzrayim. We begin maggid, in a sense, as slaves. And we end maggid free, as a free nation. It works out beautifully that the two themes of matzah become the book ends of maggid. We begin maggid focusing on one theme of matzah: we are slaves, “ha lachma anya.” And when we end maggid, we are free: the bread of geulah.[x]

One can raise the following question. Why? Why did Hashem work it out that matzah, which had been the symbol of slavery, also becomes the symbol of geulah? Hashem could have orchestrated Yetzias Mitzrayim in a way that the symbol of geulah would have been, let’s say, Brooklyn Bakery brownies. It would have been a lot easier to eat a k’zayis within two minutes if we were eating a k’zayis of brownies instead of matzah. What is the message that the same matzah that had been the symbol of slavery suddenly becomes the symbol of the geulah?[xi] One explanation[xii] is as follows. This shows and teaches us Hashem’s complete control over world events. On Pesach we experience giluy shechinah. When something completely unexpected happens, and this unexpected occurrence is part of the salvation of Am Yisrael, that reflects giluy shechinah. The very same matzah, which, for generations, was a negative symbol—the symbol of slavery, the symbol of oppression—suddenly  becomes the symbol of geulah, overnight; that is something only HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Himself, could bring about. So matzah having this dual symbolism is a further expression of the giluy shechinah that we are experiencing on Pesach.

These are some of the ideas that we can take with us into our lives from the various symbolisms of matzah.

ChagKasherv’Sameach,

B. Ginsburg

[i]Devarim, 16:3.

[ii] See HaSederHa’Aruch, 142:2.

[iii] See Hegyonei Haggadah, p. 86.

[iv]Devarim, 16:3.

[v] There is a beautiful gematria. The Aramaic term for “lechem oni” is “lachma anya.” The gematria of “lachma anya” is 210, exactly the number of years we were in Mitzrayim.

[vi] See HaSeder Ha’Aruch, 142:1, quoting the Tiferes Yisrael.

[vii]Pesachim 115b.

[viii] See the Rama (end of Siman 573, with the Gr”a).

[ix] See the Abarbanel on the Hagaddah, in his discussion of matzah, as further explained by Rav Mersky in the Hegyonei Haggadah, p. 78.

[x] See Hegyonei Haggadah and Rav Nevenzahl’s Haggadah (p. 58) for a discussion of this point.

[xi]Rav Hirsch (Shemos, perek 12) develops a good approach to this question. Even as we were leaving Mitzrayim, and even after we left Mitzrayim, we were still servants. We had become servants of Hashem. Hashem was teaching us that even in our “freedom” we were never totally free. We became free to serve Hashem. Instead of serving the evil Pharoh, we now had the freedom to serve Hashem. But we were never free to “do whatever we want.” This idea that we were still servants even during and after Yetzias Mitzrayim is reflected in matzah, which is a symbol of slavery, also becoming the symbol of freedom.

[xii] I heard this idea in the name of the Rav zt”l.