Tag Archives: slavery

Passover – Matzah: Celebrating our Dependence on God

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Matzah clearly plays a central role in the Passover holiday.  On Seder night, there is a specific mitzvah to eat matzah.  In addition, the Torah prohibits the consumption of matzahchametz, the antithesis of matzah, for all eight days of Passover.  What do matzah and chametz symbolize, and why are they so central to our celebration of Passover?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808 – 1888; Frankfurt, Germany), explains that as we know, matzah is bread that is made from dough that was not given time to rise.  This type of bread would generally be eaten by one who is pressed for time.  As a matter of fact, the Talmud nicknames matzah, lechem oni – poor man’s bread.  A poor man is always in a flurry trying to survive and therefore has no time to allow his dough to rise.  Throughout our slavery in Egypt, our Egyptian masters did not allow us the time needed for our dough to rise.  Hence, we usually ended up eating matzah.  Upon our long awaited departure from Egypt, we still ate matzah, as the Egyptians were driving us out, again not giving our dough time to rise.[1]  Matzah, therefore, symbolizes servitude.  Chametz, on the other hand, is the bread of one who is his own master.  He can allot however much time he desires to make sure his bread rises appropriately.  Chametz symbolizes independence. Continue reading Passover – Matzah: Celebrating our Dependence on God

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Parshat Vayigash – The Risks of Freedom

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egyptian slaveryIn another few months, we will reach the holiday of Passover, celebrating our redemption from Egyptian slavery.  We will spend two long seder nights amid eight complete days thanking God for liberating us from the terrible oppression that we faced in Egypt.  But wait a second – who sent us down there in the first place?  Jacob and his children emigrate from Canaan (Israel) to Egypt in this week’s parshah, and the Torah is very clear that God wanted them to go.  As a matter of fact, two generations earlier God had already informed Abraham that his children would be exiled to Egypt and that it would be there that they would develop from just a family into an entire nation.  Why did we ever have to leave Canaan?  Why couldn’t we transition into nationhood in our own land? Continue reading Parshat Vayigash – The Risks of Freedom

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