Dvar Torah for Pesach

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Hilkhot Rosh Chodesh 6:18-19

OK, so this is not a re-run. As we used to say in Kings County (aka Brooklyn): So sue me.

We ask many questions on Pesach (Passover). One of the ones we don’t ask, but may be tempted to ask, is Tevye’s question: Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a wealthy man? The answer to this deep philosophical question? Matzah.

We know that the matzah that our ancestors took with them on their way out of Egypt tasted like manna. The manna itself is lechem abirim (the bread of the mighty, i.e., the angels). Why do angels eat manna? Because manna is welfare, an undeserved gift. Angels do not have free will. Whatever they do, they must do. Therefore, they do not earn their bread. Similarly, when we left Egypt we did not earn our freedom. It was an itaruta d’l’eila (an awakening from Above). So God commands us to eat matzah on Pesach as a reminder: for the time being we, too, are on welfare.

This is why matzah is called lechem oni (bread of poverty). It is unearned, undeserved. There is no greater poverty than having to eat such nehama d’khesufa (bread of shame). But matzah is also lechem d’asvata (bread of healing). Eating it on Pesach cures our soul. It improves our daat (awareness) so that we can perceive more clearly and regularly that God is awesome in  kindness He does and that He keeps on doing good, without any unfairness whatsoever. Even when we find ourselves hard-pressed to make the payments we will also realize that God’s judgement is true, that even the little we do have is pure compassion on His part. Because after everything we’ve done, we really don’t deserve anything. Every penny we get is manna. (Tevye, you listening?)

Related to this realization that our understanding is currently in need of repair is Reb Noson’s comments about the universally loved song Chad Gadya, which is sung at the end of the Seder. The question is, why? What does it have to do with the Seder? Reb Noson explains:

“The theme of Chad Gadya is the perversion of justice. The cat ate the goat for no reason. It was totally unjustified. Now, the dog comes along and bites the cat. The cat certainly deserved it. But what’s it the dog’s business? Who made him the judge? So he gets hit by the stick But who made the stick the judge? And so on.

“This is all masterminded by God. Each of the players gets what he deserves, but each of them, as “executor,” behaved unjustly, which is why he gets punished. We simply cannot understand how God decides to judge the world and we are at fault if we attempt to second-guess Him. Because “His thoughts are very deep” (Psalms 92:6), inscrutable. This is also the meaning of Hillel’s statement: “Because you drowned someone, you were drowned. Those who drowned you will suffer the same fate: they will be drowned” (Avot 2:6).

“The messages of Chad Gadya, then, are two: [1] Don’t second-guess God; [2] don’t do an avlah (a wrong) to someone else, even is he deserves it. The ultimate “balancing” of the scales of justice is accomplished only by the justice that God metes out. Which is why Chad Gadya ends “And the Holy One, Blessed be He, came and slaughtered the Angel of Death.” When that happens the ruach hatumah (air/spirit of impurity) will be removed from the world and we will understand why what happened, happened.

“But not before then. Till that blessed day comes we have to believe with complete faith that God’s judgements are moral (Deuteronomy 32:4) and everything that happens is done with great kindness. That’s why we sing Chad Gadya on Pesach. Because when we left Egypt we still didn’t have the ability to judge properly. The song reminds us that until the final judgement we still are unable to understand God’s ways.”

a’kosher oon a’freilikhen yom tov!
chag kosher v’sameach!