Matzah: Not Always Crunchy
Chametz is unique. While other forbidden foods are allowed to be in our possession, in regards to chametz, our attitude is take-no-prisoners and exterminate any crumb no matter how minute. Also, most treif (non-kosher) items can be ‘nullified’ if inadvertently diluted with permissible substances. But chametz remains prohibited even if mixed with something a million times its volume.
Spiritually, chametz whose primary feature is that it rises and inflates symbolizes pride. Other negative traits might be tolerable, or even useful, in small, diluted doses. For example, depression is viewed as “a grave sin,” but a small dash of melancholy, counterbalanced by a heaping helping of joy, may help one reflect and rectify one’s shortcomings. The same applies to anger, stubbornness, and chutzpa: as a rule, they are undesirable, yet in the proper context and in the right proportions each has its positive application. Arrogance however, is so spiritually toxic (G-d says of the arrogant, ‘‘I and he cannot dwell together”) /, that we must totally eradicate it from every crevice of our homes and hearts.
Still chametz is only forbidden eight days a year, while other less ‘‘toxic” elements are forbidden year-round. In other words, there is a time when arrogance and pride are objectionable in any context and another when it becomes permissible, even desirable.
This duality was expressed in the Temple offerings. All year round it was ‘‘Passover” in that all grain offerings had to be unleavened. But on Shavuos, two loaves of specifically leavened bread were used. The difference is that on Pesach, G-d extracted a clan of slaves from the “forty-nine gates of depravity” of pagan Egypt, while on Shavuos He took Israel as His eternal bride. Separating these two is the forty-nine day omer counting. The kabbalists explain that the human character consists of seven basic emotions reflecting the seven divine attributes (sefirot) that G-d invested in creation. Each of these seven contains elements of all the others, making for a total of forty-nine traits in the human heart. Thus, the corrupt society of Egypt was a spiritual nadir of “forty-nine unholy gates.”
On that very first Pesach we were physically removed from Egypt; yet we still had to remove the ‘‘Egypt” from within us, to cleanse our hearts of any pagan inclinations. Each day’s count involved the internal Exodus from another ‘gate’. After forty-nine days, we attained the internal purity required to receive G-d on Shavuos.
Hence the difference between the two. One who is still burdened with negative drives and emotions lacks the ability to sublimate pride. So on Pesach chametz is banned. Only upon attaining the full refinement of all forty-nine compartments does leaven become desirable. On this level, pride is no longer the arrogant chametz of the ‘‘Passover” personality, but the selfless pride of one who is exclusively dedicated to the service of his Creator, rather than self.
Generally speaking, matzah once baked cannot become chametz. There however remains an extremely slight chance that some of the flour might have failed to mix completely with the water at the time of the original baking, leaving a few particles of raw flour at risk of leavening should they now come in contact with water. For this reason, many halachic authorities rule that it is best to avoid matzah shruyah (soaked matzah). This underscores how far we go in avoiding chametz.
Nonetheless, on the eighth day of Passover matzah shruyah is permitted. Indeed, the Chabad Rebbes made a point of wetting matzah at these final Pesach meals. Why the exception? As explained, the forty-nine days represent the seven basic emotions, each comprising elements of all seven. The actual count therefore mentions not only days, but weeks (‘‘Seven weeks you shall count”). Indeed, the very name Shavuos means “weeks,” for the internal cleansing is both broad (7 weeks) and detailed (49 days).
The eighth day of Pesach is the final day of week one. Thus, on this day we achieve a ‘‘taste” of the perfection of Shavuos, having refined nuances of all seven traits as they are reflected in the first emotion. In other words, each week is a microcosmic count of its own; and having concluded a full week of character refinement, the eighth of Pesach is a mini-Shavuos, and shares its leaven-tolerant quality. So while outright chametz is still forbidden, we mark this milestone by using the chametz-vulnerable soaked matzah.
This last day’s haftarah (reading from the prophets) describes the harmonious perfection when, “The world shall be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.” /It’s also when the Baal Shem Tov instituted a special “feast of Moshiach,” as a time that is profoundly suited to “taste” the divinely perfect world we are creating, a world in which, “The spirit of impurity shall cease from the earth” and everything, including the pride so abhorrent to G-d today, shall be sublimated as a wholly positive and altruistic force.
Herein lies a powerful lesson. Even if perfection seems a far-off goal, you possess the ability to create a ‘‘taste” of it in the here and now. Start with a single trait of your personality, with a small corner of your community. If you wholly devote yourself to it, you will find in it elements of your entire self, of the entire universe. Your creation of this micro-model of messianic perfection will serve as the catalyst for its realization on a holistic, and ultimately universal, scale.