The next thought which is from Rav Schwab is not
from his Sefer on Chumash but it is from his Sefer on Tefillah by Kriyas Shema
where he discusses Yetzias Mitzrayim at the end of Kriyas Shema. I will start
with a basic concept and then go to a Kasha and answer.
When Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim we went from being
slaves to Paroh to being Avdei Hashem. There was no in between stage where we
were free agents so to speak. The truth is that it is a healthy thing. The
healthiest thing is when a person goes from one obligation to another. By
marriage we say (Beraishis 2:24) (עַל-כֵּן,
יַעֲזָב-אִישׁ, אֶת-אָבִיו, וְאֶת-אִמּוֹ; וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ). It is healthy to go from a home where
you live with parents and you are obligated to follow their wishes to a certain
degree and then to get married. It is going from one Avdus so to speak to
another. When a person lives alone for a period of time it is very difficult to
adapt to living and having to put up with other people. So the healthy
relationships go directly to directly to their next obligation and that is what
the Ribbono Shel Olam did. They went straight from being Avdei Paroh to being Avdei
Hashem.
Now let’s turn to the Parsha. In the Parsha we learn
about the Mitzvah of Matzah. (מַצָּה זוֹ שֶׁאָנוּ
אוֹכְלִים, עַל שׁוּם מָה). Why
do we eat Matzah we ask at the Seder? (עַל שׁוּם
שֶׁלֹא הִסְפִּיק בְּצֵקָם שֶׁל אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לְהַחֲמִיץ עַד שֶׁנִּגְלָה עֲלֵיהֶם
מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא). That when we left Egypt our dough did not have time to rise.
There are two difficulties with this? First of all it is hard to understand
that the dough did not have time to rise. It takes only 18 minutes for the
dough to rise. Certainly Yetzias Mitzrayim took longer than 18 minutes. In
addition, Chazal say that once one works on the dough, once one is actually
kneading the dough it becomes Chometz quickly afterwards and it does not need
18 minutes. 18 minutes is when you are mixing flour and water. However, once it
is made into a dough it becomes Chometz more quickly. So what does it mean that
there wasn’t enough time? It must be that there was some miracle involved. What
was the purpose of the miracle?
Kasha # 2 (הָא לַחְמָא
עַנְיָא דִי אֲכָלוּ אַבְהָתָנָא בְּאַרְעָא דְמִצְרָיִם). At the outset of the Seder we say this. The Matzah is the
same bread that we ate in Mitzrayim because it takes a long time for the Matzah
to digest. The Mitzrim fed their slaves Matzah so that they wouldn’t have to
feed them again. So that Matzah is the food of Avadim. Now, that is a second
reason for Matzah. At the outset of the Seder we give that reason. Then when it
comes to (מַצָּה זוֹ שֶׁאָנוּ אוֹכְלִים, עַל שׁוּם מָה) we give the reason of (עַל שׁוּם שֶׁלֹא הִסְפִּיק בְּצֵקָם שֶׁל אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לְהַחֲמִיץ עַד
שֶׁנִּגְלָה עֲלֵיהֶם מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא) that we went out so quickly that it
didn’t have time to rise. They seem to be 2 totally different reasons.
Rav Schwab answers that they are not 2 reasons they
are one. In Egypt as slaves we ate Matzah. When Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim
they must have been thinking that this dough is going to rise and now we no
longer are going to eat the bread of Avadim. (הַקָּדוֹשׁ
בָּרוּךְ הוּא) caused a
miracle for a reason. (הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא) caused it not to rise and indeed they
were continuing to eat the bread of Avadim because Hashem was saying to Klal
Yisrael Avadai Heim, a human being is not a free person. A human being is
obligated to do the Ratzon Hashem. This is the Machshava thought on the Parsha.
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה