Post by Akiva on Mar 30, 2009 8:49:07 GMT -5
Yes, I know, it's a pretty basic question. But it strikes me that the answer that leaps to mind first, the answer given by the Talmud (Pesachim 116B) - that we eat Matza because our bread did not have time to rise when we left Egypt, and we therefore ate Matza when we left Egypt - is incomplete.
Indeed, tying the significance of Matza to the dough baking without having time to rise as the Jews hurried out of Egypt leads to 3 questions:
1) So what? OK, the dough didn't have time to rise. What is it about that fact that is so significant that, for the rest of human existence, Jews would have to eat a k'zayis of Matza at every Seder?;
2) If the significance of Matza is tied to the dough failing to rise as we left Egypt, how do you explain the fact that the Jews were commanded to eat Matza in Egypt, before leaving, as part of the Pesach lamb (which, for simplicity's sake, we'll call the Korban Pesach) (see Shmot, Perek 12, Pasuk 8)? Not only that, but consider how the Haggadah itself describes Matza as we start Maggid. Ha Lachma Anya, D'Achala Avasana, b'ara d'Mitzrayim. This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt. Not "as we left Egypt," but "in Egypt." According to the Haggadah, it would seem, the primary significance of Matza is that it was eaten in Egypt, on purpose and in accordance with God's instructions, before our dough ever baked too quickly and forced us to eat Matza accidentally.
3) How is it possible that the dough did not have time to rise? That the dough did not have sufficient time to rise implies that the Jews were caught by surprise, unprepared to leave Egypt. But in directing the Jews to eat their Korban Pesach the night before, God had specifically told them to eat it prepared to leave right that minute - "v'kacha tochlu oso: matneichem chagurim, na'aleichem b'ragleichem u'maklechem b'yedchem, v'achaltem oso b'chipazon ("and you shall eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staffs in hand; you shall eat it in haste"). Yet the Torah tells us that the reason the Jews were forced to eat Matza on the way out of Egypt was a lack of sufficient preparation. (Sh'mot 12:39 - "They baked unleavened cakes of the dough - matzas - because they were expelled from Egypt and could not delay, and had not prepared food for themselves.") Informed, days in advance, that they would be leaving Egypt, instructed to be prepared to leave even as they ate, how could they have neglected to bake bread in advance?
I think one possible answer to the third question may provide us with an answer to the first question, and, possibly, the second as well.
As I mentioned in Yachol Me'Rosh Chodesh, the Jews' enslavement in Egypt had not only a physical component, but a mental component as well. The Jews had spent hundreds of years without the ability to make decisions about their daily lives, and - having nothing to look forward to - without any having any experience at or need to plan ahead. Simply put, they had become used to doing what they were told; as with slaves everywhere, doing anything else likely had adverse consequences.
Perhaps this explains how the Jews could have forgotten something as basic as baking bread despite the clear warning that the Exodus was imminent: they simply had not been told to do it, and so they did not. The Jews were instructed to take a lamb, and they did what they were told. The Jews were instructed to slaughter the lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts, and they did what they were told. The Jews were told to eat the lamb with their families, accompanied by matza and marror, with their staffs in their hands and their shoes on their feet, and they did what they were told. But they could not do more than that - lifetimes of slavery had destroyed the necessary capacity to plan ahead, to vary their daily routine as necessitated by what was to come.
And so, having done what they were told, but no more than they were told, the Jews left Egypt unprepared - an unpreparedness aptly epitomized by the Matza they were forced to eat as their dough baked before it had time to rise. In that sense, Matza can be looked at as the ultimate symbol of the mental aspects of slavery.
Viewed in that light, the answer to the first question is apparent. We eat Matza because it represents the mental aspect of the slavery from which Hashem freed us.
And it may provide us with an answer to the second question as well. Looked at in context, looking forward from the command to the action, there doesn't seem to be any reason for the requirement that the Pesach be eaten with Matza. But perhaps, looking backwards, it can be understood - the Jews were to eat their Pesach (the symbol of their freedom) with representations of the physical (Marror) and mental (Matza) aspects of their slavery.
And as for why the use of Matza, a symbol that would not obtain its symbolism until after the time when the Jews were to eat it on that first Pesach, perhaps there was no choice but to use a symbol that would only make sense looking backwards. The Jews could understand the physical aspect of their slavery even during their slavery, and, as such, the representation in the form of Marror could be understood looking forward. But it is much more difficult (if not impossible) to recognize the internal, psychological difference between slavery and freedom if slavery is the only existence you have ever known. That being the case, no representation of the mental aspect of their slavery could be understandable looking forward - only looking back, after they had experienced freedom, could they recognize the distortion of their psyches wrought by the slavery. Thus, if the mental aspects of their slavery were to be represented at that first Pesach, it would need to be with an anachronism, a symbol that would not be understood or understandable until later - Matza.
Indeed, tying the significance of Matza to the dough baking without having time to rise as the Jews hurried out of Egypt leads to 3 questions:
1) So what? OK, the dough didn't have time to rise. What is it about that fact that is so significant that, for the rest of human existence, Jews would have to eat a k'zayis of Matza at every Seder?;
2) If the significance of Matza is tied to the dough failing to rise as we left Egypt, how do you explain the fact that the Jews were commanded to eat Matza in Egypt, before leaving, as part of the Pesach lamb (which, for simplicity's sake, we'll call the Korban Pesach) (see Shmot, Perek 12, Pasuk 8)? Not only that, but consider how the Haggadah itself describes Matza as we start Maggid. Ha Lachma Anya, D'Achala Avasana, b'ara d'Mitzrayim. This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt. Not "as we left Egypt," but "in Egypt." According to the Haggadah, it would seem, the primary significance of Matza is that it was eaten in Egypt, on purpose and in accordance with God's instructions, before our dough ever baked too quickly and forced us to eat Matza accidentally.
3) How is it possible that the dough did not have time to rise? That the dough did not have sufficient time to rise implies that the Jews were caught by surprise, unprepared to leave Egypt. But in directing the Jews to eat their Korban Pesach the night before, God had specifically told them to eat it prepared to leave right that minute - "v'kacha tochlu oso: matneichem chagurim, na'aleichem b'ragleichem u'maklechem b'yedchem, v'achaltem oso b'chipazon ("and you shall eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staffs in hand; you shall eat it in haste"). Yet the Torah tells us that the reason the Jews were forced to eat Matza on the way out of Egypt was a lack of sufficient preparation. (Sh'mot 12:39 - "They baked unleavened cakes of the dough - matzas - because they were expelled from Egypt and could not delay, and had not prepared food for themselves.") Informed, days in advance, that they would be leaving Egypt, instructed to be prepared to leave even as they ate, how could they have neglected to bake bread in advance?
I think one possible answer to the third question may provide us with an answer to the first question, and, possibly, the second as well.
As I mentioned in Yachol Me'Rosh Chodesh, the Jews' enslavement in Egypt had not only a physical component, but a mental component as well. The Jews had spent hundreds of years without the ability to make decisions about their daily lives, and - having nothing to look forward to - without any having any experience at or need to plan ahead. Simply put, they had become used to doing what they were told; as with slaves everywhere, doing anything else likely had adverse consequences.
Perhaps this explains how the Jews could have forgotten something as basic as baking bread despite the clear warning that the Exodus was imminent: they simply had not been told to do it, and so they did not. The Jews were instructed to take a lamb, and they did what they were told. The Jews were instructed to slaughter the lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts, and they did what they were told. The Jews were told to eat the lamb with their families, accompanied by matza and marror, with their staffs in their hands and their shoes on their feet, and they did what they were told. But they could not do more than that - lifetimes of slavery had destroyed the necessary capacity to plan ahead, to vary their daily routine as necessitated by what was to come.
And so, having done what they were told, but no more than they were told, the Jews left Egypt unprepared - an unpreparedness aptly epitomized by the Matza they were forced to eat as their dough baked before it had time to rise. In that sense, Matza can be looked at as the ultimate symbol of the mental aspects of slavery.
Viewed in that light, the answer to the first question is apparent. We eat Matza because it represents the mental aspect of the slavery from which Hashem freed us.
And it may provide us with an answer to the second question as well. Looked at in context, looking forward from the command to the action, there doesn't seem to be any reason for the requirement that the Pesach be eaten with Matza. But perhaps, looking backwards, it can be understood - the Jews were to eat their Pesach (the symbol of their freedom) with representations of the physical (Marror) and mental (Matza) aspects of their slavery.
And as for why the use of Matza, a symbol that would not obtain its symbolism until after the time when the Jews were to eat it on that first Pesach, perhaps there was no choice but to use a symbol that would only make sense looking backwards. The Jews could understand the physical aspect of their slavery even during their slavery, and, as such, the representation in the form of Marror could be understood looking forward. But it is much more difficult (if not impossible) to recognize the internal, psychological difference between slavery and freedom if slavery is the only existence you have ever known. That being the case, no representation of the mental aspect of their slavery could be understandable looking forward - only looking back, after they had experienced freedom, could they recognize the distortion of their psyches wrought by the slavery. Thus, if the mental aspects of their slavery were to be represented at that first Pesach, it would need to be with an anachronism, a symbol that would not be understood or understandable until later - Matza.
