For as long Mrs KB and I have been married, I have been a chassid of Rabbi Zev Cohen of Congregation Adas Yeshurun in Chicago. He has such a powerful and positive way of speaking which I find inspiring and I try to make his replay of his derashas for Shabbos Shuva (given on Hoshana Rabbah night) and Shabbos HaGadol (given on the motzei Shabbos of Chol HaMoed) every year. This year due to the public health crisis, the actual Shabbos HaGadol derasha was given on the Thursday night before Yom Tov and the following week it became available on line at www.adasyeshurun.com. The shiur had some wonderful insights on the Seder Night and the health crisis gripping the world. Same rules as usual apply, although I have not attempted to summarize the entire shiur, I have tried to reproduce these vorts 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' Cohen.
R' Cohen prefaced the shiur by stating that it relates to an issue on matza which has bothered him for many years. He began with a quote from Shemos 12 which has a commandment from Hashem to take the sheep for the Karban Pesach and to eat it with matza and marror. The first reference to matza takes place in 12:8 where the pasuk states that the Karban Pesach should be eaten צְלִי־אֵ֣שׁ וּמַצּ֔וֹת עַל־מְרֹרִ֖ים יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ - this is the first command to eat matza.
Then in 12:18 the Torah specifically commands to eat matza at night, stating בָּֽרִאשֹׁ֡ן בְּאַרְבָּעָה֩ עָשָׂ֨ר י֤וֹם לַחֹ֨דֶשׁ֙ בָּעֶ֔רֶב תֹּֽאכְל֖וּ מַצֹּ֑ת . Rashi on this pasuk states - this is the obligation for us to eat matza. The first pasuk 12:8 was only for that generation in Egypt, but this reference in 12:18 is the ongoing commandment.
Following this in 12:28 the Torah states וַיֵּֽלְכ֥וּ וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֖וּ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶת־משֶׁ֥ה וְאַֽהֲרֹ֖ן כֵּ֥ן עָשֽׂוּ . Rashi explains that this is to praise the Jewish people that they did everything that Moshe & Aharon commanded them to do. Rabbi Cohen said that this implies that they ate the matza, although there is nothing stating that the Jews ate matza in Egypt.
Rabbi Cohen then cited to Shemos 12:34 wherein it states וַיִּשָּׂ֥א הָעָ֛ם אֶת־בְּצֵק֖וֹ טֶ֣רֶם יֶחְמָ֑ץ - the nation carried their dough before it became leavened. R' Cohen said that this pasuk has bothered him for more than 40 years. Why did they carry dough instead of baking the matza? Rashi said that the Egyptians did not allow the Jews to wait for it to become matza.
The pasuk continues to say that they also carried מִשְׁאֲרֹתָ֛ם - their leftovers. Rashi explains that this was their leftover matza and marror from Egypt. So they ate matza and marror in Egypt that night in Egypt and took their leftovers with them...but they also carried out dough and put it on their shoulders.
But why are they carrying dough? They were commanded to make and eat matza which they did, because they carried out the leftovers. So where is the command that they make dough which had no time to leaven?
In Shemos 12:39 the Torah tells us וַיֹּאפ֨וּ אֶת־הַבָּצֵ֜ק אֲשֶׁ֨ר הוֹצִ֧יאוּ מִמִּצְרַ֛יִם עֻגֹ֥ת מַצּ֖וֹת כִּ֣י לֹ֣א חָמֵ֑ץ כִּי־גֹֽרְשׁ֣וּ מִמִּצְרַ֗יִם וְלֹ֤א יָֽכְלוּ֙ לְהִתְמַהְמֵ֔הַּ וְגַם־צֵדָ֖ה לֹֽא־עָשׂ֥וּ לָהֶֽם - the Jews baked the dough that they took from Egypt. But why did they do this in the first place?
R' Cohen quoted the mishna in Pesachim 116b which is recited in the Haggada which states that anyone who does not recite Pesach, Matza and Marror did not fulfill their obligation at the seder. The mishna specifically mentions in connection with the matza - because they were redeemed. This is repeated in the Rambam 7:5 in the general sense of matza. However in the next chapter the Rambam says that it is because the dough did not rise before Hashem redeemed us from Egypt.
R' Cohen then asked - if you look at the seder plate and saw the head of a goat on it, you would understand the geula reference. But what about the matza is geulah? Its what they ate in Egypt.
R' Cohen then proved this from the Ha Lachma Anya piyut at the seder where we say - this is the bread of affliction that we ate in Egypt. If we wanted to show redemption, we should have brought a walking stick!
R' Cohen quoted the Abudraham who asks the basic question - if the command to eat matza is not because the dough did not become chometz and the pasuk previously had a command to eat matza before we even left (12:18). He answered in the name of R' Yosef Kimchi that the commandment was given because of what would happen in the future - they would want to have the matza and Hashem commanded in advance to do so.
However, this still does not explain the concept of the dough.
R' Cohen next quoted the Rambam in 6:10 which states that there is a commandment from the Torah to eat matza because of the pasuk in 12:8. But the Rambam says that its because of the dough in chapter 8!
R' Cohen quoted the Brisk Hagadda which asks - if we are already fulfilling the obligation to remember the redemption of Egypt by praying Maariv, why are we doing this again at the seder? He answers that Maariv fulfills the obligation to remember the leaving of Egypt, but the seder has an obligation to explain the leaving of Egypt.
R' Cohen extrapolated from this - there is an obligation to eat matza which was the poor man's bread that we ate in Egypt. But we also have an obligation at the end of Maggid to eat matza, because of the way that we left Egypt with the dough.
R' Cohen then quoted the pasuk in Devarim 16:3 where the Torah states לֹֽא־תֹאכַ֤ל עָלָיו֙ חָמֵ֔ץ שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִ֛ים תֹּֽאכַל־עָלָ֥יו מַצּ֖וֹת לֶ֣חֶם עֹ֑נִי כִּ֣י בְחִפָּז֗וֹן יָצָ֨אתָ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם לְמַ֣עַן תִּזְכֹּ֗ר אֶת־י֤וֹם צֵֽאתְךָ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ . Rashi explains that the first half the pasuk explains that the matza we eat is because of the slavery in Egypt and then there is a separate matza obligation which is of the geulah, symbolized by the dough.
R' Cohen then said - what does the matza on the seder plate represent to you? Its a tasteless gastrological issue - no one is going to say (like a bagel) - what a good matza this is! So why is it there?
R' Cohen then quoted a Maharsha who explains that if the reason that we eat the matza is because of the dough that was carried - we should eat the matza after chatzos - since this was carried out of Egypt after chatzos! Yet, we don't eat matza after chatzos.
R' Cohen quoted a gemara in Berachos that says that we left Egypt at night. Rashi states that this means that the Egyptians gave them permission to leave. R' Cohen said that this is seen in the pasuk in Shemos 12:33 which states - וַתֶּֽחֱזַ֤ק מִצְרַ֨יִם֙ עַל־הָעָ֔ם לְמַהֵ֖ר לְשַׁלְּחָ֣ם מִן־הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּ֥י אָֽמְר֖וּ כֻּלָּ֥נוּ מֵתִֽים - the Egyptians took hold of the Jews and essentially said - "please leave!" This is what the Maharsha means - the Egyptians saw that their first born children were dying and they said to the Jews go - but we did not actually go with the dough until after chatzos - so why don't we eat the matza after chatzos?
[R Cohen then digressed to tell a story that this gemara was what he prepared with his father on the farm for his bechina for Mesivta of Long Beach. They drove in on Chol HaMoed Pesach eating oranges and he passed his bechina].
R' Cohen then quoted another question from the Maharsha - why did they take the dough? Who told them to take the dough? This is not about the future.
He quoted the Abarbanel who said - there was already a command in Egypt to eat matza. Where did this concept of the dough come from, if they were commanded to eat matza in Egypt! The Abarbanel answers that there was a command to eat matza in Egypt, but when they left Egypt with dough on their own and a miracle occurred, they accepted on themselves to eat matza and this became an "addendum" to the mitzva of matza.
R' Cohen remarked that this is all well and good to explain why there was a mitzva after the fact to eat the matza in addition to the command to eat matza that was given in Egypt. But why did they take the dough in the first place?
R' Cohen said that there was no command to take the dough and bake the matza - they chose to do it on their own. He quoted R' Schwalb who stated that when Hashem revealed himself to the Jews on seder night, time stopped, the world stopped and nothing became chametz, which is why even though they traveled more than a mil (which we use as our barometer - the 18 minutes is the time that it takes to walk a mil) the dough did not become chametz.
So when the Jews were in Egypt they ate the matza, which was slave bread and the Egyptians made us eat it because it is hard flat bread that fills us up. Now that the Jews were leaving, they said - now we will eat real bread - we will take dough so that we can bake real bread. However Hashem responded, My dear children - you will not eat real bread, you will still eat slave bread. Why? Because before you ate the slave bread as slaves of Egypt, but now you will be My slaves and I will make a miracle so that the dough does not become chametz. Before you ate the Egyptian bread as slaves to Egypt, but now you are My slaves and its My matza which is the bread of freedom. This is because My matza will free you.
R' Cohen a mishna in Pirkei Avos which says make My will your will. They left Egypt with the thought of eating real bread, but Hashem said I wont let it rise because I want you to do what I want, and if you do, then you will be free.
R' Cohen then asked - do we want to be out of our houses? Of course we do! Do we want to be in shul? Of course we do! We want to have guests at our seder and not just be home with the limited members of our household. We want our parents and/or grandchildren to be with us.
But we need to ask - do we want to have these people at our seder because that is what we want, or because its what Hashem wants? Do we want to have bread because its what we want, or because its what Hashem wants? The Jews said - we want bread because we are free. And Hashem said - My dear wonderful children, I don't want you to have bread, I want you to have matza, My matza.
R' Cohen then said that he is not trying to explain why the world is in the crisis that it is, but we need to ask why do we want to go to shul? Is it because we want to be in shul with our people? Because we want to see other people? Because we can't concentrate at home? But whose will is that? Is it bread or matza?
R' Cohen asked - if the Jews were on such a high level, why was their first thought that they wanted to bake bread?
R' Cohen went back to the Rashi on 12:34 and specifically the words "מִשְׁאֲרֹתָ֛ם צְרֻרֹ֥ת בְּשִׂמְלֹתָ֖ם עַל־שִׁכְמָֽם". Rashi explains that when they left they had pack animals, yet they carried these leftovers on their shoulders because they were in love with the matza.
R' Cohen then gave his punchline - this was the first mitzva that the Jews did in uniformity - Pesach, Matza & Marror. The Egyptians then came in and said "Get Out!" But we love this mitzva and we cherish our leftovers. So what do we want to do? LETS MAKE MORE MATZA! However, they had to take the dough with them before it was ready. And they took the dough with them and traveled to various cities. At that point the dough should have become chametz. The Jews thought about it and said Hashem is not letting us do the mitzva. We want more matza! Its our first mitzva and we are in love with it, but Hashem is continuing to make us move. And the Jews took the dough off their heads and looked at it and the dough remained dough, it did not become chametz!
R' Cohen observed that there were Siyum HaShas all over the world, from MetLife stadium to multiple other locations, through the Agudah and through Dirshu. More people learned Meseches Berachos the first sixty days after the Siyum HaShas then probably at any point in history. But Hashem is asking do you want to do these things for Me or for you?
R' Cohen then read from the Chofetz Chaim's haggada with a story about after WWI when quiet was restored and a wheat merchant came and asked for a beracha. He asked - now that the good times returned and you are still in business why do you need a beracha? The merchant responded - when times are tough and product is scarce, people but what I have and they are not particular about the merchandise. But now, the prices are down, people poke through the produce, ask for a bargain and then buy on credit.
The Chofetz Chaim took that mashal and applied it to mitzvos. When times are good, in Shamayim they look at every mitzva and they look to see if it was done with proper intentions and fully and completely. But when times are tough and the quality of learning has decreased and the G-d fearing are diminished - now is the time to amass a fortune. Hashem is saying - my wonderful children - how do you learn when its not so easy? How do you daven when its not so easy? How do you live when its not so easy?
R' Cohen said that one of the first questions that came to the Choshen Mishpat Kollel when the virus struck was - can you gauge for supplies? The Chofetz Chaim says now is the time to corner the market on mitzvos - how will you do when its tough. And the Jews thought the dough they took out was going to be chometz, but it was still matza and then Hashem said OK - show Me that you can still eat more matza. Show Me that you can daven without a minyan, just like you can when there is a minyan to support you. Show Me that you can have a seder even when there are not 20-30 people at your table. We say that we can't daven on our own, but show Me that you can. And even if you can't learn because the kids are all on top of you, show Me that you can teach the kids by making Berachos out loud.
R' Cohen said that there will be a time that we are all back together and we will enjoy, but we need to show that we are doing this for Him and not for us. When we pick up the matza at the beginning of the seder its servitude. But at the end of the seder we pick up the matza for freedom and for Hashem.
R' Cohen closed by saying that Hashem has the power to end this now and for every person to get out of the hospital and recuperate. He can bring us all to Jerusalem instantaneously. But if we show that we are doing this because He wants us to do it, then maybe He will do this for us because this is what we want.
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