And now for the grand finale we come to one of the most fundamental testimonies of the matzah; so fundamental that we’ll see that it’s a eidus we’ll have to think about not only on the eighth day of yom tov but on Isru Chag too and then on the next day and the day after that too. And we’ll keep listening to that eidus again and again all the way till next year, next Pesach, when we’ll start all over again.
You remember at the Seder how the child asks his father the four questions, and the wise father gives his answer. He doesn’t even have to be so wise because the Baal Haggadah tells him what to say:
עֲבָדִים הָיִינו לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ ה' אֱלוֹקֵינוּ מִשָּׁם – We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out. That’s the answer. There’s more there but this is the answer; this is the crux of what the father answers his son.
The Father’s Answer
Now, if you recall, the first of the four kashes was the question we’re discussing now: מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה ... הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה מַצָּה – “Why are we eating matzah now?” That’s what the child, and all of us too, want to know. And so we’ll have to say that this answer that the father gives, “Because we were slaves in Mitzrayim and Hashem took us out,” is the answer to the matzah question as well.
“My son,” the father says, “you're asking why we do certain things, why we eat matzah, why we do other things. But you have to know, it’s not only four questions, it's taryag questions – why do we do all the laws of the Torah? And in each law there are many different details. So it’s many questions; very many questions.
One Size Fits All
“And there is one answer to all of them: עֲבָדִים הָיִינו לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם – We were slaves to Pharaoh and when they gave us orders we couldn't ask any questions, ‘Why do we have to do this or that?’ If you asked a question – ‘Why do we have to collect straw for the bricks and still complete the same amount as yesterday?’ – so they knocked your teeth out. ‘No questions,’ the Mitzri said, ‘You do what you’re told because you’re an eved.’
“And now the time came and they walked out of Mitzrayim, free from their taskmasters! But not they escaped on their own, walked out on their own; no, Hashem took them out! Instead of serving a basar v’dam, a flesh and blood king, we were taken out now to serve the Melech Malchei Hamelachim, the King Above All Kings. בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם יְהוּדָה הָיְתָה לְקָדְשׁוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל מַמְשְׁלוֹתָיו (Tehillim 114:1). It means we came out of Mitzrayim so that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should rule over us and we should fulfill whatever He tells us.”
The Fundamental Testimony
And so matzah, like all other mitzvos, is because of avodim hayinu. We don’t need reasons. Of course, there is no harm in knowing reasons – especially a mitzvah like matzah which is testifying to so many things – but the fulfillment of the mitzvos, obeying the mitzvos, is not contingent upon knowing any reasons. Because there already is a reason; it’s the first and best reason, the reason for everything we do:
עֲבָדִים הָיִינו – We were slaves to Pharaoh in Mitzrayim, וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ ה' אֱלוֹקֵינוּ מִשָּׁם – and Hashem took us out. And so we’re His slaves now and now we'll do whatever He tells us.
That's the most basic and fundamental reason for obeying the Torah and that’s why, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu began giving the Torah, He introduced Himself like this: אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם – I am Hashem your G-d Who took you out of Mitzrayim (Shemos 20:2). Because that’s the introduction to everything.
A Different Type of Freedom
We didn’t come out of Mitzrayim for liberty, for American liberty. Liberty, that’s for Americans; that’s for the Negroes and their Emancipation Proclamation. But us? We exchanged one form of shibud for another form of shibud. Instead of being avodim to Pharaoh, now we became avodim to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
And therefore when you put on tefillin tomorrow morning and you put on tzitzis tomorrow morning and when you say krias shma and tefillah and when you give charity, when you salt meat, when you learn Torah, when you make kiddush on Shabbos, when you sit in the sukkah, when you take your clothes to the shaatnez laboratory for inspection, when you raise frum children in a frum home, whatever you do, you have to realize that all these things are expressing only one thing. Torah and mitzvos is merely a demonstration that you are subject to Him.
Don’t Even Say It!
That’s what our Sages tell us. The Mishna (Berachos 33b) says that if someone composes a special prayer, a piyut praising Hashem for commanding us in the mitzvos as a way of teaching us good character so מִשְׁתִּיקִין אוֹתוֹ. We tell him, “Keep quiet. Don’t say such things!”
Why? So the Gemara says we tell him to stop שֶׁעוֹשֶׂה מִדּוֹתָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא רַחֲמִים – because he’s making the laws of Hakadosh Baruch Hu as if they are laws of mercy, וְאֵינָן אֶלָּא גְּזֵרוֹת – but really it’s not so; they’re only decrees. And Rashi says, they are decrees of a Melech, of a King, in order for us to show that we are His avodim.
Of course every mitzvah has solid benefits for the doer. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has planned all the laws of the Torah so that by doing them, we learn something. We gain in character, we gain in our minds, we gain in our neshamos, absolutely. But our purpose in doing mitzvos is not for that. We only have one purpose and that’s to serve Him. The whole Torah is nothing but avodas Hashem; nothing but a form of demonstrating that we are subject to Him and loyal to Him.
Isn’t that a novel idea? The laws of the Torah are not for good character and mercy and lessons; they’re not for this or that. Of course they’re for that too but fundamentally every mitzvah is for the purpose that we should be able to demonstrate that we are avodim, that we serve Hashem.
The First and Final Eidus
And therefore on Chag Hamatzos, we should remember this function of the matzah. “I’m eating this matzah because avodim hayinu; because Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose us to be His servants. And it’s because of that great privilege, that’s why I’m eating matzah today – to express my servitude to Him.
“And that lesson of the matzah, that testimony, I’ll take with me all year long whenever I have the privilege to do any mitzvah – ‘I’m doing this now to express my avdus to You Hashem and to demonstrate my undying loyalty to You.’”
The Matzah Testifies
The mitzvos are our obligation toward Hashem which we fulfill without any questions – just like we had to fulfill our obligations to Pharaoh in slavery. We did not gain liberty when we were redeemed. Hashem redeemed us so that we may serve Him.
