by Yehuda HaKohen .”You shall safeguard the matzot, for on this very day I will have taken your legions out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day for your generations as an eternal decree.
In the first, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening shall you eat matzot, until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening.” (SHEMOT 12:17-18)
“Matzot shall be eaten throughout the seven-day period; no hametz may be seen in your possession, nor may leaven be seen in your possession in all your borders.” (SHEMOT 13:7)
The Maharal of Prague explains in Gevurot HaShem that “matzah is simple as it is not combined with additional ingredients such as leaven, which would compound and complicate it. Simplicity in essence denotes independence, for an independent being is free and not bound together or dependent upon others. A slave is bound to his master and completely dependent upon him while a free man stands independently, not bound to anyone else. Hence, matzah specifically is an appropriate symbol for the Exodus.”
The Maharal’s explanation of matzah as simplicity and hametz as complexity provides an essential key for understanding the Jewish Diaspora attitude. The word hametz shares the root letters of l’hahmitz (to miss), symbolizing the idea of missing an opportunity. Because it includes leaven, hametz is complex and therefore prone to miss out.
When a person defines himself according to his complexity – by what he has acquired in life – he naturally becomes unable to live up to his pure inner essence. An illustration of this idea is a Jew who has completed medical school and now thinks of himself as a “Jewish doctor.” Another example could be a Jew, made to feel comfortable in the United States, identifying himself an “American Jew” or a “Jewish American” (the order of the words is not important). One who defines himself according to the external factors he has acquired in life is complex and therefore frightened to take risks.
In the years leading up to the Holocaust, many Jews in Europe had possessions and professions that they were not prepared to abandon. Their complexity kept them psychologically trapped until it became too late for a physical escape. The Jewish leadership in America, meanwhile, was frightened to sacrifice the success they had achieved and were therefore powerless to save their brothers overseas. They feared accusations of disloyalty if they were to focus on the “Jewish aspect” of the war effort against Germany. And they feared that a great influx of Jewish refugees would increase anti-Semitism within the United States. Due to the complexity of the Jewish Diaspora mentality, an opportunity was missed and six million were lost.
A complex person is generally not ready for sacrifice because he is frightened to lose that which he has acquired. While external factors alone do not automatically cause a person to be complex, how that person relates to these factors can easily reveal the extent of his complexity. A rich man who is fearful of becoming poor is not ready for Redemption. In times of crisis, such a person would be unwilling to part with his material wealth and comfortable lifestyle.
A wealthy Jew in touch with his true inner self, however, is willing to leave behind everything he owns. Although he may know how to appreciate worldly goods, they do not define, trap or complicate his soul. Such a person is ready to sacrifice his money at any moment in order to assume responsibility for his people. Instead of viewing himself as a wealthy individual, he is simply a piece of the greater Hebrew Nation.
Matzah represents simplicity, which is the true essence of a person’s soul. While the demands of a healthy society often necessitate that people become doctors, soldiers, builders and plumbers, these are only talents acquired in life and not a person’s true inner essence. Practicing medicine, fighting wars, constructing homes and installing pipes are things that Jews must often do – especially when building an independent Hebrew state – but they can never define who or what a person is. Being simple, therefore, is the self-awareness of one’s deepest and truest inner essence.
While matzah is the bread of affliction, it is also the bread of liberty. One who views himself as simple can never be trapped by complex external factors. He has no difficulty recognizing who his brothers are and identifying danger before it becomes mature enough to strike. So long as one understands his true essence in its simplicity, he cannot be enslaved and is ready for Redemption.
The courage of simplicity stems from the understanding that a person has absolutely nothing to lose. He is prepared to risk everything to take responsibility for the future of his people. This willingness to sacrifice oneself for the Nation of Israel is born out of a love that elevates one’s soul from the level of the individual to that of the collective. The Maharal explains in Netzach Yisrael that fear is the shell of love and that the stronger a person’s love grows the weaker his fears become. Fear and selfishness are symptoms of complexity while love and courage are products of simplicity. Fear results from a lack of compassion and paralyzes a person into irresponsible dormancy. But the less fear one possesses, the more he is willing to sacrifice and the stronger his light can shine to the world. He becomes capable of daring action due to the freedom of simplicity that the matzah represents.
When the Hebrew Nation received a chance to be born out from Egypt, the majority of our people had viewed themselves as Egyptian Jews. They defined themselves according to their complexity and therefore perished in the ninth plague of darkness, missing the opportunity to be born with their nation. The minority of Hebrews, who defined themselves as simply Israel, snatched the opportunity to be born and went on to receive the Torah at Sinai. They realized that they had nothing to lose because all they really were was Israel and one cannot truly live up to being part of Israel while existing in the Diaspora separate from the Jewish mission. As the Redemption process continues to unfold and we are confronted with newer and greater challenges to overcome, we must strive to attain a genuine simplicity so that we may succeed in ingathering our people back to our borders, establish the Kingdom of Israel in full glory and fulfill our national mission of shining HaShem’s Divine blessing to all of mankind.
With Love of Israel,
-Yehuda HaKohen
Am Segula
