The bread of faith which fills the stomach of every Jew over Pesach is more than just an unleavened cracker. Matza, the central food of the Yom Tov, is symbolic of the highest values and virtues of the Jewish people. Made up of two basic ingredients and lacking the arrogant yeasty puff of bread, matza represents humility, simplicity, purity. Yet, there is one element of matza which is characteristic of the entire festival of Pesach which aligns so closely with the nature of Jewish women. It is this often overlooked aspect of the matza which we discuss here, empowering us to internalize, and truly actualize the potential of the matza from within ourselves.
Matza is central to our avoda on Pesach, and indeed on Seder night. In fact, Rabban Gamliel taught that if a person has not said โPesach, matza, maror,โ they have not fulfilled their obligation. The reason given for the prominence of matza on seder night is:
ืขึทื ืฉืืึผื ืฉึถืืึนึผื ืึดืกึฐืคึดึผืืง ืึฐึผืฆึตืงึธื ืฉึถืื ืึฒืืึนืชึตืื ืึผ ืึฐืึทืึฒืึดืืฅ ืขึทื ืฉึถืื ึดึผืึฐืึธื ืขึฒืึตืืึถื ืึถืึถืึฐ ืึทืึฐืึตื ืึทืึฐึผืึธืึดืื, ืึทืงึธึผืืึนืฉื ืึธึผืจืึผืึฐ ืืึผื, ืึผืึฐืึธืึธื
โBecause there was no time for the dough of our ancestors to rise, before the King of Kings, Hashem revealed Himself to them and redeemed them.โ
Since we left Egypt in a rush, the dough which the Jewish people prepared did not fully leaven. To commemorate this, each year on Pesach we eat only matza. While indeed true, this answer seems simplistic. It is an explanation that we are taught from a young age but does not appear to answer the question in depth. Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman, in his shiurim based off the Maharal, asks how we can name an entire Yom Tov (Chag HaMatzot) after a food which we happened to eat in a rush on the way out of a massive, miraculous geula. In what way was this rushed food so central to the Exodus that its name encapsulates the essence of our salvation? Additionally, Hashem could have arranged that we didnโt leave Egypt in the middle of the night. It did not have to be a case of โPharaoh in pyjamas in the middle of the nightโฆโ Hashem could have scheduled a few extra minutes into our exit time, enough time to allow the dough to rise. But it seems that this was not the plan.
Significantly, Rabbi Hartman points out that this part of the Haggada is the only one which mentions Hashemโs name as โmelech malchei hamelachim.โ While we translate this into English as โKing of kings,โ its accurate translation would be โKing of kings of kings.โ This wordier translation introduces another layer of โkings,โ not a human king, but another realm. These kings, based on a Gemara in Chullin 60b are the sun and the moon, our crowning luminaries. It is the orbit of the moon and the earth revolving around the sun which creates time; day and night, winter and summer. The baโal haggada specifically used this less typical name for Hashem to highlight that through the haste of exiting Egypt, Hashem took the Jewish people above time. It is not merely a cute recollection of which snacks we grabbed upon leaving, Hashem set up the entire salvation to be, lechatchila (in the ideal case), in a rush. Hashem rushed us out so that at the time of the nationโs birth at Pesach, time would never rule the Jewish people. The Jewish people would surpass time. And indeed, we are a timeless people.
Matza is central โ not as a symbol for part of our journey out of Egypt, but as a complete encapsulation of what the journey truly was. The Exodus was the beginning of our nation. Our nation began in haste, so incredibly fast, that there was not even those 20 minutes for dough to rise. Matza, in the words of Rabbi Hartman, freezes in time the sacred moments of our identity being formed. The only way for a timeless people to be born is in a way that dominates time, that rushes through it, not waiting for it to pass over them. At that moment, the King of Kings, the King over time, created the holiest haste in the world, to ensure that the Jewish people wouldnโt be subject to the confines of time. This is why our Yom Tov can be named after the matzot. It is the matza which is the emblem of our timelessness, of our immortality and our eternity as Hashemโs people.ย
As Jewish women, our souls are already bound up with the voice of the matza. Our primary avoda is not pinned down by the limits of time. We exist above it, operating mainly in the spiritual realm itself. As we take that holy crunch, we can remind ourselves of the eternity of our people, the eternity of our mitzvot, and the eternal nature of the female avoda.ย
This powerful message of the matza empowers the entire Jewish people. Yet, it calls out specifically to the soul of the Jewish woman. In Yehuda Shurpinโs essay on man and womanโs obligation in the mitzvot, he writes, โthe female soul is more aligned with the general, essential, and timeless principles of awe and faithโฆwhereas men relate more to the detail, the specific law, the particular application within time and space.โ Our entire avoda aligns with the spiritual call of the matza, the voice which tells of the timelessness of the Jewish people.
Matza was created in a rush so that it would not be bound by the earthly constraint of time. As Jewish women, we are exempted from many of the positive time-bound mitzvot, acts that must be performed at specific times, days or seasons. The male role, we could posit, still somewhat occupies the realm of the chametz, the leaven. The male soul is still bound by the limits of the material world, arising to don tefillin at a specific hour, whereas the female soul is living above. The female is the embodiment of the matza; she does not occupy the physical world, she is not dictated to by its limitation of space or time. Her mitzvot are primarily those which are not time-bound. This makes her entire spiritual makeup incredibly lofty, disconnected from the physical constraints of our time-run world.
When we point to our matza, munch it and speak about it at length on Seder night, we are highlighting the part of our redemption which encompasses the identity of the Jewish people: our timelessness. Hashem ensured that at the moment of our nationโs birth, the dictates of time would not dominate the Jewish people. Rather, the Jewish people would supersede time, leaving in the holiest rush possible. As Jewish women, our souls are already bound up with the voice of the matza. Our primary avoda is not pinned down by the limits of time. We exist above it, operating mainly in the spiritual realm itself. As we take that holy crunch, we can remind ourselves of the eternity of our people, the eternity of our mitzvot, and the eternal nature of the female avoda.
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