Running Out of Time
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld on April 9, 2010 | Tags: Pesach
Pesach Day 8, 5770
The Shulchan Aruch (458) records that it is a custom to bake matzah specifically on the afternoon of the eve of Pesach. The reason is because that is the time when the Paschal lamb was offered and so it is a custom to bake the matzah at that exact time; as you may know by now, our synagogue baked matzah on the eve of Pesach this year.
We were the only synagogue in the area to be able to perform this mitzvah. There are a number of reasons why that was the case.
First, baking matzah presents many practical and technical challenges. One needs a brick oven, well water that was left to cool over night, flour that was watched from the time of the harvest, a special tool to perforate the matzot, a finner to crush the dough, and a large group of people to bake the matzah.
Those normal challenges are compounded on the eve of Pesach. Not only is that a time where many people are busy preparing for the Seder, but it is also a time where the laws of chametz are even more stringent. Prior to the afternoon of Pesach, a drop of chametz can be nullified if there is the correct ratio of greater than 60 times the amount of matzah to the chametz. Prior to the afternoon of Pesach it is permitted to own chamtez, so it is permitted to own any dough made in the baking process that does not become matzah.
But on the eve of Passover it is prohibited to own any chametz and even one drop of chametz can make the entire batch of matzot invalid.
So there is a special urgency to the making of matzah on erev Pesach. During the 18 minutes of the matzah baking we had to stop and clean up the dough and burn any remaining pieces. The entire time that the matzah is being made we were chanting, “kol perurin yiheyu mevutalin, all crumbs must be nullified.” And if any part of the matzah looked questionable we had to discard the entire piece.
You might be wondering, why did we need to bake the matzah on erev Pesach? Isn’t it just too risky? After all, in the process of making matzah we could inadvertently be making chametz.
But that is exactly the point of matzah. Matzah is a mitzvah that lives on the edge. By definition, the only grains that can be used for the baking of matzah are grains that can also become chametz. If the grain can’t become chametz, then it can’t be used for matzah. This shows us that the matzah itself is double edged. It will either be holy matzah or it will be unholy chamtez, but it won’t be something neutral like, for example, a piece of fruit.
In fact the Talmud records that Rava (Pesachim 40a) even went a step further. He would actually soak his wheat in water in order to bring it closer to fermenting, but then pull out the wheat from the water just before the matzah fermented. This was done in order to increase the intensity of the mitzvah by watching or guarding the mitzvah with greater fervor.
What value is there in increasing the possibility that the mitzvah could fail? What is the message here?
The essence of the baking of the matzah is to remind us to push ourselves and to challenge ourselves spiritually. This is why we must specifically bake matzah at the most intense and difficult time.
Anyone who was with us when we baked the matzah knows that there is a great feeling of excitement when baking matzah. That excitement comes from the great, almost Herculean, challenge involved in the baking. The challenge is that we might fail. Nevertheless the rabbis teach that that is the greatest time to bake the matzah. We are pushing ourselves to succeed. Some rabbis are even afraid to bake matzah on the eve of Pesach out of concern that we might fail. But the overwhelming position is that that is the right time to do it. Sure we might fail, but we are nonetheless challenging ourselves to succeed.
And that is what is needed in order to achieve spiritual greatness. We need to push ourselves at all times. Sure we can fail when we take on a great challenge. But if we don’t even try for greatness then we have truly failed.
That is the essence of baking matzah. This same idea is found on the last day of Pesach (which is really the seventh day of Pesach). That is the day when the Israelites faced the Egyptians at the sea and the Egyptian army drowned.
But why did our ancestors have to battle the Egyptians face to face? Why did they have to walk through a sea that only split at the last second? Couldn’t Hashem have manufactured a situation where we escaped without facing the Egyptians?
Some point to an unorthodox reading of the verse that talks about the Exodus. Velo nacham elokim derech eretz pelishtim ki karov hu. God did not take us out the way of the Phillistines because we could not run from our adversaries. Instead He led us back into the army of the Egyptians, ki karov hu, for it was close.
The Israelites needed to face off against the Egyptian army. In order to be truly liberated in a spiritual sense they could not run from their enemy, they needed to wrestle with it and defeat it. The intensity of the direct encounter with the Egyptian army showed them that they could succeed spiritually.
So too, with the Matzah: When we bake the matzah we are pushing ourselves and awakening our spiritual adrenaline. We are reminding ourselves not to be afraid to fail and not to settle for mediocrity when it comes to spiritually, but to seek a deep and exciting connection with Hashem. In order to realize that connection we must always be willing to challenge ourselves spiritually. .
The great challenge of the mitzvah of matzah also contains another component which I want to share with you.
Recently I read a terrific book about Israel called Start-Up Nation. In this book the authors wonder about why Israel has had such phenomenal success in the world of High-Tech start-ups. For example, after the US, Israel has had more successful start-ups launched than any other country in the world.
One theory for this is that Israelis recognize that they are all living a life that is short on time and thus they act quickly and decisively. Here is a quote from the book:
“When an Israeli man wants to date a woman, he asks her out that night. When an Israeli entrepreneur has a business idea, he will start it that week. The notion that one should accumulate credentials before launching a venture simply does not exist. This is actually good in business. Too much time, can only teach you what can go wrong, not what can be transformative.”
As you may know the entire matzah baking process takes a total of 18 minutes. From when the flour hits the water, to the kneading and the pressing, and the rolling, until the matzah is placed in the oven, we have 18 minutes. Not a second more.
We experienced this when we baked the matzah, the first time, on a Sunday night, a few days before Pesach. As we stood there, we gave the children in the room a stopwatch with clear instructions: when we get to one minute start counting out the seconds--60, 59… And so we began to bake the matzah. As we got closer the energy became greater and greater. And as we entered the final 10 seconds there was a mad rush to get as much matzah as possible into the oven. The spiritual energy in the air was palpable. It was a very special thing to be a part of.
The countdown is also a broader spiritual idea. It is a reminder that our time on this earth is fleeting; our time is limited. The countdown is at the core of what the matzah is all about. It is a reminder to perform the mitzvah of matzah with great alacrity lest we miss our opportunity for the mitzvah.
The verse says ushemartem et hamaztot, you must guard the matzot. Rashi says: “Do not read this as matzot but as mitzvoth; just like the mitzvah of matzot must be done with great speed and zealousness, so too every mitzvah must be done in the same manner.
The idea of a countdown as we bake the matzah reinforces this notion that our time to serve Hashem in this word is running out.
Of course, a countdown is not only found in the baking of matzah. It is also found in the mitzvah of counting the Omer. There it is a count up and not a count down; but it is the same idea. The Torah says, “usefartem lachem, you must count for yourselves 49 days from the second day of Pesach until the giving of the Torah at Sinai.
Right when we are liberated by the holiday of Passover, the holiday of redemption, we must begin to count. We are reminded that that with our liberation comes responsibility for our time in the world is finite
This counting is a reminder that each day is gone, just like that, poof. As we count towards the receiving of the Torah we are being reminded that our time in which to serve Hashem is very limited.
Indeed, our rabbis are always reminding us that from the moment we are born our clock is ticking, and our time is running out. Matzah might only have 18 minutes, but in the scheme of things, relatively speaking, we don’t have that much more time than that.
From Pesach to Shavuot it is a custom to study Pirkei Avot. This work teaches us hayelodim lamut, those who are born will eventually die. Since this is a fact, we must not deviate from our mission even for a moment.
This lesson was once taught to me by a professor of mine in college. His name is Professor Louis Feldman. He is a senior professor of classics at Yeshiva University. He is the world expert on Josephus and Philo and he has written thousands of pages of impeccable scholarship.
There was once an exciting event happening at the University—an academic of great renown was visiting--and I asked Professor Feldman if he would attend. He responded: “Oh I can’t go to that. My time is running out and I still have so much left to accomplish.”
I will never forget that conversation.
That is in a nutshell the dual message of matzah. Push ourselves to succeed spiritually with great intensity and remember that our time is running out. We simply don’t have that much time left to accomplish everything we need to do.
Today is the last day of Pesach and it is a reminder that another holiday is almost gone. We worked so hard to prepare for it and it is now leaving us. How sad!
And of course we end the holiday with Yizkor. And at yizkor we are reminded of these twin ideas contained within the matzah. We reflect on those who are no longer physically here and we are reminded that our 18 minutes too, are almost complete; our lives are relatively speaking not much longer than the time it takes matzah to become chametz. So in our remaining time we will try as best we can not to settle for mediocre spirituality and and a mediocre relationship with Hashem, but instead to challenge ourselves to serve Hashem with greatness.
We have one more day to eat our Matzah this year. As we eat it today let us remember how we used to eat matzah with our loved ones who are no longer here.
And so today let us eat the matzah in their memory, and in their memory let us commit to the values of the matzah. For it is the matzah that teaches us not to settle for mediocrity and not to waste our time and our lives. As Pirkei Avot teaches: “Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short, the work is great, the laborers are lazy, the reward is much abundant, and the Boss is impatient!”
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Rabbi Shmuel HerzfeldJoined: August 8, 2007 Shmuel is Rabbi of Ohev Sholom -- The National Synagogue, the oldest Orthodox synagogue in Washington, DC. His communal responsibilities include teaching classes, coordinating adult education, creating programs for the elderly,the youth, and the sick, and ministering to the pastoral needs of the... Divrei Torah (30) |
