Friday's Fantastic Pre-Pesach Vort

As those familiar with Rabbi Frand's Thursday Night shiur are aware, the first portion of the shiur (approximately 40 minutes) is spent on halachic topics and the second section focuses on the parsha . The Thursday's Parsha Tidbits post that I try to put up on Thursday nights is a summary of the vorts from the last twenty minutes of the shiur, but occassionally there are vorts said in the halachic section of the shiur which I can't resist writing about. Below is a summary of one of those vorts. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand quoted the Vilna Gaon who writes in the Divrei Eiliyahu about two pesukim in Parshas Bo (Shemos 13:6-7) that states that Shivas Yamim Tochal Matzos ... Matzos Yeachael Eis Shivas Hayamim. Loosely translated, the pesukim say - for seven days you shall eat matza ... matza shall be eaten throughout the seven day period.  However, the pesukim appear to be redundant and this needs to be explained. Additionally, the pesukim change grammatically from kal to nifal where it transfers from active to passive. Finally, the word matzos in the first pasuk is spelled without a vav but the second time it has a vav. 

The Gaon explains that there are two concepts - a person should eat matza, but he should also make sure that others can eat matza as well. Thus the pesukim are not redundant - a person is obligated to eat and to make sure others have matza to eat. This also explains the transition from active to passive since it is your obligation to make sure others have matza to eat as well. Finally, the reason that there is a vav in the second mention of matza is to teach that you should eat a matza, but you also need to ensure that others have the matzos that they need. 

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!