Matzah (מצה) — the Unleavened Bread

Core definition

Matzah is the unleavened bread eaten at the Pesach seder, "the bread of affliction" (לחם עוני) "without taste at all" — the aspect of nullification and lowliness (bitul and shiflus), the opposite of chametz, which is "in raising and haughtiness specifically" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 533–535]. It is called meichla d'meheimnusa — "the food of faith" — "the food strengthening the faith... above reason and knowledge specifically" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 536–539].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The difference between matzah and chametz is in their letters: matzah with a hei, chametz with a ches [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 540–541]. The hei refers to the three worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah: the hei has three lines — two connected lines indicating Beriah and Yetzirah (in Yetzirah too much light still shining, "the host of heaven bows to You"), and only Asiyah is as the aspect of yesh — the third leg severed [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 542–550]. The ches too is three lines — only all three lines are connected — referring to the three worlds of kelipah, the three impure kelipos, impure completely; therefore the ches indicates sin (chet) [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 551–556].

Matzah is "a vessel for the revelation of the aspect and level of the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He — from being in the aspect of nullification and lowliness — 'the bread of affliction' specifically" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 557–558]. Precisely because it has no taste and no selfhood, it can receive the highest revelation.

Yet matzah carries within it another meaning — the language of "strife and quarrel" (matzah u'merivah). "The truth being that the matzah is the aspect of nullification and lowliness; but it is only the nullification of the yesh: the yesh still in its existence, only nullified for the hour — not that the yesh was nullified completely" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 559–563]. Matzah effects the nullification in the yesh — it subdues the ego without erasing it — "this being that matzah is the language of 'strife and quarrel'; effecting the nullification in the yesh; therefore needing guarding — as it is written, 'you shall guard the matzos'" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 564–566]. The strife is the inner struggle: the yesh remains, and the matzah must continually nullify it — hence the guarding.

The redemption from Mitzrayim was likened to a lamp: "the lamp only shining the darkness — not transforming the darkness's essence to light literally — only shining in the place it shines; not like the day's light, which transforms the darkness, driving it out" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 567–572]. So the matzah effects the nullification in the yesh — it shines the darkness but does not transform it. "It is a guarded night" (Shemos 12:42): the yesh still in its perfection, and the guarding is for the yesh's nullification [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 574–576].

In avodah this is "nullify your will before His will" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 577]. One reaches "nullify your will" — the yesh's nullification — through the maror specifically: the maror in the seder plate's order is in the middle line, the aspect of mercies — "effecting the many mercies, to be in the aspect 'nullify your will' — the yesh's nullification" [15962/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 578–580]. The matzah's lowliness and the maror's bitterness together produce the nullification of the self.

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Chametz, Pesach, the exodus from Mitzrayim, Bitul (nullification), Meichla d'meheimnusa (food of faith), Maror, "You shall guard the matzos."

Sources