English translation — מאמר מצה זו תשמ"ט

With the help of Heaven*.

13 Nissan,

the eve of the 14th of Nissan,

5749.

"This matzah that we eat, for what reason? Because the dough of our forefathers did not have time to become leavened until the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them."

And it is explained in the discourses of our Nesi'im,

that this statement—that the reason for eating matzah on Pesach is because it did not have time to become leavened—

[is made] even though the commandment to eat matzah was before this,

for regarding the commandment to eat matzah it is written,

"In the evening you shall eat matzos,"

[where] "matzos" is spelled deficiently, without a vav,

and in the verse, "And they baked the dough which they brought out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, etc.,"

it is written "matzos" plene, with a vav.

For the commandment to eat matzah is before midnight,

and since before midnight they were still in Egypt,

before the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them,

therefore regarding this matzah it is written "matzos" deficiently, without a vav,

in contrast to the verse, "And they baked the dough which they brought out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, etc.," which speaks of the matzah they baked

(and ate)

after they left Egypt

("the dough which they brought out of Egypt")

which was after midnight,

after the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them,

therefore regarding this matzah it is written "matzos" plene, with a vav.

And this is also why regarding the matzah before midnight it is written,

"And you shall guard the matzos,"

that it requires guarding so that it does not become leavened,

whereas regarding the matzah after midnight it is written, "And they baked the dough... into unleavened cakes, for it had not leavened,"

meaning that by itself it did not become leavened,

for the matzah after midnight is of the level of "matzos" plene, with a vav,

the revelation of the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealing Himself to them,

and therefore it does not require guarding from leavening.

Now, this distinction between before midnight and after midnight existed only in the first Pesach,

before the Giving of the Torah.

However, after the Giving of the Torah,

even though the matzah eaten on the night of Pesach is before midnight,

it is of the level of "matzos" plene, with a vav,

for it contains

(also)

the elevation of the revelation of the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealing Himself to them.

And this is what is said in the Haggadah: "This matzah that we eat, for what reason? Because it did not have time... to become leavened"

(meaning that by itself it did not become leavened)

"until the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them."

2)

And it can be said that the matzah that we eat after the Giving of the Torah

is on a higher level even than the aspect of the matzah of the first Passover before the Giving of the Torah.

For since the revelation of the King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He, in the matzah that we eat after the Giving of the Torah comes through the precedence of service in the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos throughout the entire year

(before Passover),

it is a more elevated revelation.

And this is analogous to the superiority of the revelation of the Festival of Shavuos, the time of the Giving of the Torah, after the service of the Counting of the Omer, over the revelation of the Exodus from Egypt,

for the revelation of the Exodus from Egypt,

although it was an exceedingly lofty revelation

(in His very glory and essence),

nevertheless,

since the revelation was from Above,

it was only temporary,

and through the service of the Counting of the Omer,

the service of the lower being

(after the revelation of the Exodus),

they draw down, in addition to the forty-nine gates,

after the completion of the forty-nine gates,

also the fiftieth gate

(and this gate too is drawn down through our service, as it is said,

"You shall count fifty days"),

and within the fiftieth gate itself—in addition to its lower aspect, which is related to the forty-nine gates

(analogous to Arich),

also its higher aspect

which is above any relation to the forty-nine gates

(analogous to Atik),

which is more elevated

even than the revelation of the Exodus from Egypt.

And it can be added that the superiority of the matzah we eat after the Giving of the Torah over the matzah after midnight that existed then

is

(in addition to the fact that the revelation in the matzah we eat comes through the precedence of service in the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos before Passover,

but rather)

also because the eating of the matzah itself is a mitzvah.

For the matzah after midnight at that time was

(primarily)

because the dough of our forefathers did not have time to become leavened

(due to the revelation from Above),

and there was no service in this

(or fulfillment of a mitzvah).

But the matzah we eat after the Giving of the Torah is connected with the service of man,

the fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating matzah.

3)

And it must be understood: When we say, "This matzah that we eat, for what reason? Because the dough of our forefathers did not have time to become leavened,"

behold, the matzah that we eat

(after the Giving of the Torah)

has the superiority of service and the virtue of fulfilling a mitzvah

[and within this itself—a mitzvah after the Giving of the Torah],

so how can we say that the matzah we eat is because it did not have time to become leavened

(for that it is matzah and not chametz came about by itself,

because it did not have time to become leavened)?

And the explanation can be given as follows:

For the mitzvah of telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt is to relate the matter of the Exodus as it was then.

And furthermore

(and primarily),

since had the Holy One Blessed be He not taken our forefathers out of Egypt, etc., we would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt,

therefore even now

(and especially on Passover night),

even though we are already after the Exodus and after the Giving of the Torah,

the state and condition that existed then also exists.

Therefore we say

(in the telling of the Exodus in the Haggadah)

"This matzah that we eat... for what reason? Because the dough of our forefathers did not have time to become leavened until the King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them,"

for in the matzah that we eat before midnight, there is, in addition to the virtue of the matzah before midnight—the virtue of the service of the lower being in fulfilling the command of the Holy One Blessed be He

(as it was before the Giving of the Torah),

also the virtue of the matzah after midnight—the virtue of "it did not have time to become leavened"

(in which leavening is impossible)

due to the revelation from Above.

And in addition to this,

in the matzah that we eat there is also the elevation from the aspect of the Giving of the Torah,

the fulfillment of a mitzvah after the Giving of the Torah.

And furthermore,

it also contains something of the virtue of eating matzah on the seventh day of Passover, which is optional

(above obligation),

which is akin to the eating of the future to come.

4)

And may it be His will,

and especially as they conclude

(as is customary)

with the giving of charity25,

in the manner that the conclusion of all the days of Pesach is on the seventh day of Pesach,

and moreover, the conclusion of all the days of Pesach

(outside the Land)

is on the last day of Pesach, on which the revelation of the illumination of Moshiach shines26,

therefore the haftarah of the last day of Pesach is about the coming of Moshiach

[And one can connect this also with the eighth day of Pesach,

for in the haftarah it is written27

"On that day, the Lord will again set His hand a second time to acquire the remnant of His people that will remain from seven places of exile

(Ashur,

Mitzrayim etc., and the eighth—the islands of the sea)

and bring them to the state of the eighth—the state of the true and complete redemption],

and the prophecy will be fulfilled28

simply and in all details, and also in the inwardness—"the earth will be filled with knowledge of Havayah as the waters29

cover the sea30."