Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: Why Do We Eat Matzot? Affliction or Redemption

[Music] You see your tomorrow. [Music] Okay. Hi everybody. We have a very nice turnout. Um I guess uh the desire to get away from PES cleaning brings people to a share at night. But uh we very much appreciate your coming and um we have our dedications as always. We pray for the victory of our soldiers in all the fronts of the war, the lasting unity of ami Israel and for all of those whose health has been affected by the war and the safe return of all of those all of the hostages and their reunification with their families. uh Rafu Schlma Borak Benfreda Dvor Zida Batana and Yil Ary Benut. May the Lima Torah be a rama for them Israel. Uh in addition we have a special dedication uh leoy nishmat kana Laura Elisa Bata Jean who was nerret on the first day of pesak at age 23 the day of pesak 19 years ago and u the mother added the words uh to my beautiful and beloved daughter and I know that even after so many years there is still pain. And I hope that Hashem should give you uh much much comfort. In addition, an anonymous contribution was made for the of all of our our hostages to remain safe and totally healthy in their homes. Hashem's protection of all of Kalisel the Gulma Bhra Vuo the month of Nissan of course is auspicious for redemption. Finally, I do want to announce that Yon has already reached 85% of its goal for its Kimiska campaign to help the families that have difficulty uh meeting the many many expenses for the Yam Pesak and uh donations can still be made uh on the website and below in the description box. Uh there's a general mitzvah of Stockra and certainly before Pesak there was a special mitzvah of Moim or Kimra Pisk. I also want to mention uh obviously all of you know that I has a beautiful beautiful new center at 52. Uh they already do have a daily shakras minion and god willing this shabas shabas as well as the first day of pes they will start uh services and we'll also have it the last day uh of pesak I guess shabas and pesak and kamoid as well. Um hopefully this will be a pilot program to have these mñan on a regular basis. Um if you enjoy a bit of a slower davening uh with more uh cavana uh please feel free to uh come by. I think you will find it a very comfortable and congenial place. I think is food served as well or breakfast every day. Breakfast every day. It might be a little bit tough. Pesak. Okay, figure it out. uh uh but again I think uh I think every I think if you come you will enjoy it and uh I certainly wish the Boness center much hat in being a welcome of Toret Fela and Gamil. Uh and then finally uh the share is sponsored by Dr. David Weisskoff in honor of families that suffer from parental alienation. This is such an interesting dedication that that I actually want to say a few unsolicited words about the problem of parental alienation. I hope that none of you experience this any time, but it indeed is often a problem for reasons either because of divorce or sometimes even without a divorce. there is simply a rift between a parent and a child that's absolutely heartbreaking and there's not always an explanation for it but it very much does exist and I think number one pesak is a very opportune time to focus on it there are a number of points in the seder that talk about the relationship of parent and child among which of course is the famous passage of the four of the four sons in which on one hand we might have good son, bad son, the kakam, the wise son, even the simple son is on kind of on the good side. And then you have the Russia, the evil son, and the one who is doesn't know how to ask, which is often interpreted as apathetic or bored. That's kind of an interpretation. And the babe used to say that the good thing about that is that even the bad son is at the table. The bad son is participating. And although he's attacking, although he's hostile, at least he's there. The real problem in contemporary life is not so much the son that's there and is hostile, but the son or the child who doesn't even show up. That's the fifth son that we really very much have to think about. And that's where parental alienation comes in. I also want to mention that this is highlighted in the ha Torah. We know that this shabas which happens to be er of pesak. But this shabas the shabas before pesak goes by a special name. It is called Shabbat the great shabas. And it's a bit of a mystery exactly why is it called the great shabas. According to one interpretation it actually means the long shabas because the dashot are so long that people will get a little antsy. This is actually quoted in some shoddom. It's the long shabbath because of the drashot uh that uh that are given. But uh the tour brings a well the best known reason why it is called Shabbat. And that is remember that we have a tradition from the Gomorrah itself recording from an earlier source that the Jewish people left Mitzim Thursday morning. That means Thursday morning was tess vav Nissan if because that's the first day of pes. That's the day we left. Now that means the shabas before was the 10th of Nissan. If you just count backwards on the 10th of Nissan we were commanded to take a lamb in preparation for the carbon pesak. The lamb was one of the deities of Egypt. So the day that we took the lamb was actually a very dangerous day for us because the Egyptians saw that we were appropriating their religious symbol symbol with the intention of killing it. So it is recorded in the medish that on that 10th of Nissan which was the shabas before Pesak many Egyptians gathered together to kill us and God did a prep miracle so to speak in killing those enemies and that's why it became known as the great shabas because that was the shabas of the great miracle. Now the Maral asks the obvious question. We normally don't connect miracles to days of the week. We connect it to a calendar date. So if you want to celebrate the great miracle that on the day that we took the sheep, we were rescued, we should make the 10th of Nissan uh a holiday, not the Shabas before Pesak, which that year happened to be the 10th of Nissan. This year is the 13th of Nissan. Right? So the moral explains that we see here a very important idea about Shabas itself that it's not just the miracle that happened on that day but it's going back and you see Mitraim all miracles all good things that happen in the world enter the world through the portal of Shabas. So the kak of redemption that happened on the 15th of Nissan entered the world the Shabbat before. This is what we say in the ma that Shabas is the source of all blessing. Everything good that happens during the week enters the world through Shabas including mitim and therefore it's called Shabbat because mitim is is called an expression ofah the great hand of God. So through Shabbat that power entered into the into the world. Now uh yet another reason why it's called Shabbat is because the ha uh mentions at the end eliohavi will come on the great day of god. Now I have a special affinity for this of Torah. It happens to be my mitzvah. bar mitzvah shabas. Uh I still remember the difficulty in making a bar mitzvah party like you know two days before pes but you know we managed. I still remember this gigantic leftover bar mitzvah cake that we somehow had to figure out what on earth to do with it but we had a non-Jewish neighbor with a bunch of boys who lived right under us. So they took care of it for us uh and and and the like. Uh but in connection I'm still talking about Dr. Weisskov's dedication. If you if you've lost me here I want to mention that the hurra of Shabbat is very significant because it is the last prophecy of the last prophet in the Bible and that's the prophet Mali at the very beginning of the second temple. after him there's no more prophecy for a while. No prophecy. So in a sense he's giving you the last direct message from God because he's the last prophet and this is the last prophecy. And his message at the very end of the Torah is remember the Torah that you got from Moshe. Because you're not going to have prophets giving you all sorts of messages, but you still have that Torah. And then Hashem says, "Behold, I will send you eventually the coming before Mashiach Eliohani before the day of God comes." And Ela Navi, of course, according to our tradition, never died. He was physically carried up to heaven as the book of Maloim reports. And of course, every once in a while, he gets sent down to earth in different disguises to do different things for the Jewish people or for individuals, Elio Hanovi. And Eliovi, of course, is the announcer of Msiach. But what is the specific mission that he's given? What is redemption? It could have been many things. It could have been the building of the basikt. It could have been the engathering of the exiles back to where it is. All of those things, all those wonderful things. But the one thing that it says is leavim. He will return the heart of the fathers, heart of the parents who are estranged from their children. And the parents will come back to the children if it's from their side and the children will return to the parents. So it's an interesting thing. What do you think about when you think about Msiah? So again, we think about a million things. world peace and the bas mikdash and the restoration of prophecy and Hashem being accepted as you know the king of the by by everybody all those beautiful visions but the particular last picture that the last prophet wants you to have is parents and children will come together again because there is nothing as important there is nothing as beautiful. So in many many ways, Dr. Weisskoff dedicating the shar and I think this is the first time we've ever had a dedication for that particular cause uh and uh to kind of honor and support the families that suffer from parental alienation. It's very very appropriate. It's connected to Pesak. It's connected to the haft Torah of Shabbasto and it's kind of the fondest vision we have of Yumot Mashiach the coming of the Mashiach. Now I do want to point out that Rashi actually offers slightly different nuance. Rashi says when it says he will return the heart of the fathers to the children it's not just referring to the relationship but it refers to the path of chuva generally that the parents will come back to God through their children and I have to say that hashem we've seen some of that uh you know I I work for it's my my day when I'm not in IBA and uh we recently lost our great Rashiva the founder of our in fact last night was the schlloan and there was a semas and which was quite a miracle that we're able to finish shas by the 30th day and uh one of the things that we've seen over in our for 50 years over 50 years is that through the children who gravitate there can be a transformative effect on the parents and on the grandparents. So it's a reversal of the norm, right? The traditional norm was the parents raise the child in accordance with the Torah. But the Nvi is morames that as we approach Mashiach there may also be an opposite direction in which the children will bring the parents back to Akadesh Baru and that and that that we've seen. So again it's uh there's a lot uh to think about and what can I tell you you know uh it is true on one level that a pesak seder is a holy event even if you're all by yourself and it's very important to understand that I know that since co there are times that people did have a seder by themselves and the point is a seder is a seder no matter what because you're never alone you're always with Hashem so even if you're all alone you're always with Hashem which means you're never alone. But at the same time, everyone understands that having it with with your children is a special special idea. And the very mitzvah in the Torah is described as you should tell your child. Now granted the say speak to the inner so this wasn't invented by PBS uh speak to the inner child within you. Okay, there's such aic thoughts. But the simple shot obviously is that this is a great b a great um bonding experience of connecting as we share our history and we share our destiny and we communicate in that way. So I guess my braha for everybody is that uh you should have a seder in which these bonds are strengthened in which the connections are made and they should carry over not only in pes but should carry over after pes to the whole year uh till we're z to promise or mal's promise. Okay. Um so I do have uh a lot of stuff I want to talk about. You always run out of time. It's you know pesup is coming. What can I do? Um I I want to start off with actually a very very very simple question and I really hope you have thought of this question yourself cuz if not you're not thinking. So because because it is actually a very very obvious question. Why do we eat matzah and pesa? Well, of course, the Torah says we have to eat matzah and pes. But why? So, we are told and the Hagada says this because our forefathers did not have time to let our dough rise. So, the simple meaning would be the following. If you picture it in your mind, uh it's the morning of the 15th. The plague of the firstborn has already happened at midnight. So, the Egyptians are they want to kick us out, but God doesn't want us to leave in the middle of the night. God is waiting until daytime, but we're trying to make our bread and it takes a while for dough to rise and ferment and become. So, normally we would wait till it rises and then we put it in the oven. But the Egyptians are saying, "Get out, out, out, out, out." So, the Egyptians are kicking us out, but more importantly, Hashem is also saying, "We got to leave right away." Because, as the Arizal explains, we're on the 49th level of impurity. And if we would have stayed another minute, we hit 50. We're unredeemable. So as a result, we had to bake our bread prematurely because both because of the lat of the Egyptians and primarily the commandment of God, we had to go now. We couldn't go later. We couldn't let our dough rise. And therefore to commemorate the the hurriedness by which we had to leave Mitzam. Every time I eat matzah I remember the idea of the we had to get out then. Now let me point out that this explains an interesting principle. Theic principle is that the only grain that is kosher for matzah is grain that could potentially become kame if you let it ferment. And those are the five grains. Wheat, rice, spelt, oats, barley. The reason why you can't have rice matzah putting aside kits, but let's assume you're Sparty. No even spartum cannot have rice matzah at the seder because riceally cannot become the fermentation process is not the same. There's even a scientific difference there and therefore only things that are potentially ktz are kosher for matzah. Something which cannot become is not kosher for matzah. Now superficially you might think that's counterintuitive because if is bad maybe the best matzah should be something that cannot become why would we insist like it's like living dangerously. Why would we insist you got to have something that potentially can become? But the answer is very simple because if the symbolism of of matzah is we left in a hurry and we didn't have time to let the dough rise, it only symbolizes hurriedness if it could have risen in a way that would have become. If it's not capable of rising with rice, you can wait five hours. that's not going to become as a result the symbol of cannot be seen except in those things that potentially could become okay that's fine but here's the question the implication of that narrative is that had we not been in a rush we would have let it rise and we would have baked it and we would have left mine with bread that's the implication we would have made bread but we were rushed and if we had to bake it before it risen. But here is the problem. Already roesan two weeks before God commanded the Jewish people to eat matzah not to eat and not even to possess our own for seven days. in it's eight days but but seven days in the Torah which means by the time Pesak morning came first of all the night before we ate matzah and how do you connect it to we didn't have time I mean that didn't happen till the next morning so what was there kavana in eating matzah at the seda that's one question but another question is the story itself doesn't make sense because if the Torah already told us two weeks before that you're not allowed to eat for seven days and you're not even allowed to possess or own for seven days. So by the time the 15th of Nissan came in the morning, we didn't have the option. We had to make it matzah. So, how could the Torah then say, "Oh, the reason we have matzah is because we didn't have time to let our dors." Okay, you can plead the fifth. I'm not going to ask you if you actually thought of this question, but you should have. Forgive me. I'm a little tired. Uh because it is a really good question. Meaning the whole reason that's given for matzah doesn't make sense because they already were foreclosed from making matzah from making two weeks before. pericute base chapter 12 of the book of Shmos. So let me share with you there are a few a few answers to this and some of them are are quite complicated and we don't have time to go into it but I want to share with you just one answer and this is an answer of the run raenu Nissan who is one of the great commentators great rishonim and the ra actually says the following and if you look at the verses in chapter 12 of schmos it fits so beautifully he says there is a distinction ction between year one pes one which is the pes of mitim and year two which is in the desert is later in other words pesak after year one he shows from the reading of the pukim that pesak year one the prohibition of kamates of eating kamates was only for one day not for seven days and it only encompassed eating the KT and not owning it. The 7day extension and the extension on ownership didn't become activated until year two. Therefore, here is what the Ran said. Yeah, the first Seder they ate matzah for sure. And I'll talk about why that was so. But what they could have done the next morning is they could have baked bread. They couldn't have eaten it that day, but they would be allowed to possess it and they could eat it the following days. And the only reason why the extension was for the whole seven days starting year two is because of what happened that morning that they were kicked out in such a rush that they didn't have time to let their dough rise. In other words, year two changed because of the events of year 1, but year one itself, they could have had bread, not to eat that day, but to bake. Now, which means the following. It actually means that although they were already told on year two, they're not allowed to have for seven days. They were told that, but they didn't know the reason yet. They didn't know the significance of gee, why am I being told that next year I can't have bread for seven days. Don't know. But I am told that next year there's going to be such a thing. So when did they when did the light bulb turn on? When they saw that when they tried to make bread on day one to have for day two, they were kicked out and they had to bake it matcha. Aha. That's why God told me I have to not uh that I I I don't have to remember the In other words, they were given a mitzvah based on a future occurrence and they didn't realize the significance until that future occurrence took place. Again, this is a little bit of a complicated explanation. uh but this is how theran understands the the story. So the remaining question that you might ask is okay I understand that the prohibition of kamates for seven days both in terms of eating and in terms of possession didn't get activated until year two and that was because of the of year one. But why did they eat matzah the first sader? What was the significance of eating matzah the first seder? It certainly see when I eat matzah when we eat matzah at our seder we could say it commemorates the kipazon but when they ate matzah at the seder it didn't commemorate the kipazon because the kipazone didn't happen yet. So what if you were at that first seder what is it that you would be thinking about? So the answer is and we see this is mirrored in the hagada that there's actually two different symbolic meanings for what matzah represents. remember in the beginning of the hagada beginning of the magit after the kdish after the the breaking of the matzah so we begin with the only paragraph of the hagada that's in Aramaic it is not in Hebrew of course um some of yoda at the very end is also Aramaic but that's not part of the haga mandatory hag itself but the mandatory part of the is the paragraph that begins This is the bread of affliction, right? It's Aramaic that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt. And then we say, "Anyone that is hungry, let him come and eat." Of course, that's always a problem. We're already at the table. The door is closed. Okay? But nevertheless, at least in theory, you know, the home should be open. Now, what does it mean? This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in Egypt. So, the Ebenezra explains the Ebenezra in addition to being a great biblical commentator was also a traveler, a world traveler. He went visited India. He went to many, many countries. And he writes that he was in India and he saw the Maharajas would give their slaves matzah, unleavened bread because matzah, as we're going to find out, stays in your stomach a long time. And therefore, uh, the master doesn't have to feed that much food. You have this fullness of the matzah. So matzah is called the bread of affliction because it was the bread that was given to slaves. So the Ebenezra says matzah is called the bread of affliction because the Jewish people as slaves ate matzah. So just like mor is a commemoration of the bitterness of slavery, matzah on one level is a commemoration of the bitterness of slavery, the bread of affliction. Now let's keep in mind that the haga then gives me a later another reason later meaning in ana matzah is described as the bread of affliction of slavery of servitude that's the beginning of the maggot at the end of the mag when we quote the famous statement of Robin Gumlio anyone who does not explain the three fundamental precepts of Pesak does not fulfill his obligation. And what are the three pesak? The corban pesak, the pesco lamb, the eating of the matzah and the morar. Now when it explains the matzah, what reason does it give for the matzah? The reason that we started off with that there was no time for our forefathers to let the dough rise because they were chased out of Egypt and therefore they had to bake it as matzah. So the matzah commemorates the haste by which we left mitim. So I hope you see that the maggot is bracketed with two different descriptions of matzah. The beginning of the maggot, the matzah is described as the bread of poverty and affliction. The end of the maggot, the matzah is described as the bread of redemption, of hurriedness. We had to get out. God saves us the last minute. The cavalry, the supreme cavalry comes. As the Arizal says, let me remind you. Had we stayed another second, we would have hit level 50. We would have been irredeemable. Which means matzah is a multifaceted symbol. Unlike Marar which is clearly a symbol of slavery and unlike the Pascal lamb which is clearly a symbol of God redeeming us, matzah straddles two ideas. It is le oni the bread of poverty and ga the bread of redemption the bread of is hurriedness and that's bracketed with and the rabbio paragraph so what I would suggest to you is that although at our seder when we eat matzah we have both of those kavano note in mind at the very first seder. That would have been impossible. At the very first seder, when they ate matzah, they couldn't have had the idea, we didn't have time to let our dough rise and we had to bake it as matzah because that didn't happen yet. They didn't know. Remember the way the Ran explained it, they were intending to bake bread the next morning, although not to eat it that first day. Which means the kavana of the very first seder was exclusively lemoni and the second message of and hurriedness and redemption got introduced only from the second seder onwards. Now based on this, Maharal has a very very fascinating halic conclusion that's actually relevant for this Shabas. And again, I I don't I don't want to get too technical, but I just I I do want to share the the essence of the kdesh. The Mishna says in arv, the 10th chapter of that in the last quarter of the day, you're not supposed to eat. The last of Pesak, the last quarter of Pesak, including even the Shabbat, you're not supposed to eat because we don't want to ruin your appetite for the matzah. We want you to approach matzah with enthusiasm. This is what the Mishna says. Do not eat in the last quarter of the day until it's the seder time. So, it shouldn't ruin your appetite. This is the Gomorrah uh the Mishna. So Tossvos asks the following question. What is it that you're not allowed to eat the last quarter of the day? It can't mean you're not allowed to eat because is already prohibited from the first quarter of the day basically. Okay. So KT is prepared let's say 10:30 in the morning whatever the exact time is. Now it can't be you're prohibited from eating matzah because matzah becomes forbidden even before kamit you can't eat matzah at all from the morning some people start from kesh some people start from but according to you can't eat matzah the morning of arbes so bread is forbidden let's say at 10:30 matzah is prohibited all the way from the crack of dawn So maybe you'll say, "Okay, I can't eat eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, but that you're allowed to eat." The Gamarra says, "Uh, anything that's not like bread or a breadlike product, you're allowed to eat. You can eat eggs, fish, chopped liver, whatever it is." So Tossvas is trying to figure out when what what are you disabled from eating the last quarter of the day is already user matzah is already user and things that are not matzah you're allowed to eat. So Rabeno Tam the great of Yakov Ber who is Rashi's grandson he's called Rabeno our teacher the perfect one like just like Yakobino is called perfect he's raenu says ah what you're allowed to eat until the last quarter of the day is egg matzah because egg matzah is called matzah ashira rich matzah unlike poor matzah which is only flour and water. Egg matzah is it's mixed with eggs or sugar or honey or chocolate. Many different types of egg matzah because raenutam says the iser of eating matzah of pesak is only the matzah you could use at the seder and the only matzah you can use at the seder is poor matzah not rich matzah. througheno time therefore says you're allowed to have egg matzah until the last quarter of the day. Now I want to point out that um for Ashkanazim the truth is we're Mahm we treat egg matzah like like and we don't have it from 10:30 but ram apparently held egg matzah was not ktz and you could have it until until the last quarter of the day. Now what's Rabeno Tom's idea that since egg matzah rich matzah matzah shira is not kosher for the seder you could eat it on air of pesak until you reach the last quarter of the day because the only isra of eating matzah of pesak is the matzah that you could use for the seder. So, Maral argues the following. Moral is holenam because here is what moral says. Matzah has two symbols. Matzah is a symbol of slavery and persecution. But matzah is also a symbol of redemption and freedom. Now it's true that matsashir is not kosher for the seder but it's not kosher for the seder only because it doesn't meet the criterion of the bread of affliction but it still meets the criterion of it didn't rise and therefore it signifies redemption. So Maral says that if a person didn't have regular matzah, he should actually eat egg matzah even at the seder because at least he would fulfill one of the ideas of matzah redemption and not rising even if he wouldn't fulfill the other idea of matzah. Therefore this leniency turns into a kumra. So and since therefore there is an aspect of matzah that you are yay at the seder erggo you cannot eat egg matzah on pesak at all because it is raui it is fitting to be used at the seder in a uh to to some to some degree and therefore he's left he's back to square one. So if that's the case, we're back to Tossis's question. What exactly is it that you can't eat the last quarter of the day? Kame is forbidden from 10:30 in the morning. Regular matzah is prohibited from the morning. Egg matzah like the moral is also prohibited from the morning. So the moral says you're right. Uh what it means is when it says you can't you can't eat, it means you can't eat fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish. And it means don't stuff yourself. That although the Gammorra allows you to eat it, you eat it in moderation. And lo means don't stuff yourself. Okay. Mean as it may, I don't want to get into something um a little too complicated, but I I wanted to share the fascinating idea that even though matzah ash cannot be connected to the idea of servitude and slavery, it can be connected to the matzah of redemption. And therefore the moral says you should certainly eat matzah that embodies both motifs. But there may be some point in eating matzah here. And I do want to point out that both the Maral and both of whom were Ashkanazim are presupposing that there's no issue with egg matzah. In truth the rama brings the ashkanazic min that we stop eating egg matzah. We treat it like hummates. You're allowed to own it in your house, but we only allow children or elderly who have difficulty chewing to eat egg matzah. We don't allow regular adults. And this was a very big issue. You know the matzah companies, the famous matzah companies that many of you might remember. I think most of them are out of business. Manachev Mashev maybe he's not out of business but there were Stripes and Harit Margaretin. These are the, you know, the the Pesak companies of, uh, our youth in the United States. Uh, so they didn't, they didn't really want to put on boxes of egg matzah, uh, don't eat this product. So they would put references, obscure references in Hebrew. Uh they would say on the side, look at uh chapter 471. And this was written in Hebrew. If you look it up, it says, "Don't eat this unless you're a child or you're sick or you're elderly." But they did it in Hebrew. So people thought it was another hashkah, another hexa. You see more Hebrew letters. Well, like you know more rabbis approve it or whatever it is. So uh Strites broke this from this pattern. Stripes was under the hashka of Rav Arin Salvetic Vash Salvichek's younger brother. Varun was a god and a great sadic and he insisted that Stripes put in English. This product shall can only be consumed uh by those who are elderly, not well or children. So since then the matzah companies have been a little more forward about it. So based on that both the Mar and Raam are not following this Rama or you know the Rama was later but they don't go with that but that's the min of Ashkanaz noward are much more straightforward about thisardim basically say matzah aira is perfectly fine except you can't use it at the seder because the seder requires poor man's bread. uh but anytime other than the seder mats is perfectly fine. So that's why uh difference between Ashkanazm and spidum everybody thinks the only difference is kitios you know which is a a big difference but the truth is matzah is a very big difference that you'll see cookies for example which is matzah um meal mixed with wine or mixed with sugar whatever it would be matzah flour rather not matzah meal uh a matzah meal is different it's already been baked that's kru that's another problem but but um but egg matzah or is made with flour or you know wheat flour and honey, chocolate, egg yolks, what whatever it would be. So uh this will be also something that's only mut for safarim and not for ashkinazim. So one should be aware of that as well. So it's not just kitnos, it is also matzah uh that is a major a major issue. Um but matasure you are allowed to own and that is why many people do advise that the meal that that we're going to have this shabas morning. Uh like again what do you make kamotzi over? It's the same problem. You can't make mozzi over matzah because that's prohibited from the morning of pesak. You can make kamotzi over bread until 10:30. But a lot of people don't want to fool around with bread because if it has crumbs or whatever it is, it's like nuclear material you're handling. So the truth is egg matzah is a very very good solution because you're uh even like the rama, you're allowed to eat egg matzah until 10:30, but you're also allowed to own it even during pes. So if there are crumbs of egg matzah on the floor, I don't have to worry about cleaning them up because even if I follow the rama and I don't eat it, there's nothing wrong with having possession of it. So egg matzah can be a very very good solution uh both through Friday night and shabas morning. Now if you're a svardi, you can eat egg matzah the whole day of pesak until the last quarter of the day. If you're Ashkanazi, you have to stop eating the egg matzah by 10:30. But as I say, crumbs are not a concern. So that's why egg matzah might be a good way good way to go in this difficult era of pest. Of course, what do you do about the third meal? Okay, I don't want to get into into too many uh complications about that. But that is kind of the double symbol of matzah. But the ultimate message about this double symbol I think is in itself a very very interesting one. On one hand, matzah symbolizes adversity. It symbolizes challenge. It symbolizes difficulty. It symbolizes suffering. It is the bread of affliction. On the other hand, it symbolizes redemption. We didn't have time to let our dough rise and God said, "You got to leave now." And on one level, these are opposite ideas. But on a deeper level, they actually work together. Because we have to look in our own lives and understand that it is through the adversity and through the challenges in life, that we grow and we become who it is we're destined to become. Uh nobody wants challenges. Nobody wants difficulties. And if one does not ask Hashem for a difficult challenging life, certainly not. But if that is what is fed to you, if that is what is given to you, you have to take what Hashem has given us. We have to grow from it. We have to become transformed by it. The bread of affliction actually becomes the key to the bread of redemption. And the truth of the matter is we see this In the Exodus story itself, people ask an interesting question. I'm grateful to God because he took our forefathers out of the slavery of Mitzim. Thank you, God, for freeing us from being slaves. Okay, that makes sense. But who made us slaves to begin with? Hashem told Abraham, "Your children will be strangers and enslaved in a land that is not theirs for 400 years." Now, granted, God took us out after 210 years. Okay, that's great. But like, you know, if I put you in prison and and I say I'm coming back in 400 years and I come back 190 years later, I'm not sure you're going to be grateful for it. It's kind of reminiscent of kamas type tricks. Be grateful. You know, we let you out after a year and a half. We could have kept you longer. You know, I mean, gratitude is not the the feeling you have under those circumstances. So the question is, why am I grateful to Hashem for liberating us if it was Hashem who put us into slavery in the first place by his decree to Abra? And the answer has to be along the following lines. We were free. We were slaves. We were free. If the freedom we had after slavery was just putting us back to where we were. Yeah, I think we would have a legitimate China. Why should I be grateful? I had freedom. You took it away and now you give it back to me, but you're just giving me back where I was. But if we understand that the freedom after the slavery was a different type of freedom. If we understand that the slavery was part of the redemption, the slavery was part of the redemption. Then we can understand that in a deeper way we are grateful not only for the redemption but we are grateful to the almighty I don't mean to the Egyptians we are grateful to the almighty even for the adversities of life now how so well I'll mention two particular reasons it is said that the slavery created a tremendous disunityity among the Jewish people, right? They didn't change their names. They didn't change their language. They didn't inform on each other. They didn't intermar. Now there's a steer contradiction here because there is a medish that says that after Yoseph died, the Jewish people made the argument if we were so successful when we were a separate nation. Let's assimilate. Let's be like the Egyptians and then they'll love us even more. So God put into Parro's heart to enslave and oppress the Jewish people. So they know that they can't intermingle. So which was it? Did the Jewish people try to assimilate or did they remain separate, not changing their names and their language? The answer is they were in the process of assimilation. And it was the slavery that made them realize we have to be different. We have to be apart. So slavery was a very rough lesson, a very rough lesson. But it taught us all we have and all we need is our relationship to Hashem in our relationship to each other. So it's not just yet that is part of the redemption. It is the galut of mitim that formed group consciousness, unity, togetherness. We're in it together. As Benjamin Franklin said about the American Revolution, we have to hang together or we will surely hang separately. This is the message of amra. But there's another message in Mitzim which is almost the opposite message. If the slavery brought us together as a nation, it also gave us a universal empathy and compassion for the sufferings of others. The Torah says many times, love the stranger. Although it means convert but but the word literally means stranger for you were strangers in the land of Mitzim. What is Hashem saying? There will come a time that you'll come to your land and you'll be sovereign and you'll be high and mighty and you'll be prosperous. But never forget your origin as oppressed slaves because that will be the source of your compassion for the povertystricken for the suffering for those who don't quite make it, those who are at the bottom of the totem pole, those who don't count. It is no accident why the Jewish people were always in the forefront of whether it's civil rights or whatever it would be. And I'm put myself on a limb here. You know, even those who I do consider very very misguided for sure who agitate for Palestinian rights and the like. And again, there's a lot that's wrong with what they're doing. Okay? I'm not a supporter of that. But the one thing I will say is it comes from a Jewish consciousness in a sense in which if anyone suffers we feel the pain. We feel the pain. Now where does that come from? So it comes from two sources. It comes from the aos and the emos a s and it comes from our collective experience as slaves in mitim. We know what it's like to suffer. We know what it's like to be browbeaten. And therefore, it was God's gift, maybe God's awful gift, to teach us sensitivity to human pain, a source of group consciousness and a source of universal empathy. These are things that we gained not from the Exodus. These are things that we gained from the slavery. The slavery is part of the redemption. I had asked Aasha, why should I be grateful to God for redeeming us if God is the one that put us into slavery? Because the answer is the freedom that we achieved after slavery was not of the same level was a higher level than the freedom we had achie we had ex had had prior to the slavery we grew and therefore going back to matzah the connection of the bread of affliction and the bread of redemption are not opposite ideas but the affliction itself self is part of the redemption. And this is a lesson that we see in Mitzaya and this is a lesson that we can apply and we should try to apply in our own individual private lives. Victor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning again uh not a halically observant Jew but a very spiritually sensitive person points out of his own experiences in concentration camps that we have very very little control over what happens to us in life. Hashem determines things. We don't really know what's going on. But the one control that we have is how we choose to respond. We can choose to grow. We can choose to become great. We can choose to bring out potentialities that would otherwise be hidden and dormant. Or we can choose bitterness and hate. That is our choice. We control how we react to what happens to us in our lives. And therefore we can actually turn even the adversities into redemptive experiences. So I want to wish you all and may you all have a wonderful wonderful uplifting [Music] You see your [Music] body sh Oh my