The Broken Whole Matzah - Pesach

The Broken Whole Matzah
Passover Second Days

As we prepare to enter the last days of Passover, and the allure of a fresh slice of pizza and real cake start, let us examine more closely this “bread of affliction” that we have been eating since the holiday began some seven days ago. The Matzah, made simply with water and flour and baked within eighteen minutes, has no time to rise. As such, it does not become Chametz-leaven. This simple poor-man’s bread is the Matzah that we are commanded to eat during the duration of the Passover holiday.

But what is it about this bread of affliction, this broken bread, that is so special.

The famous Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859 Poland) known for his witty and pithy wisdoms shared many deep and meaningful sayings such as "there is nothing more straight than a crooked ladder" or "there is nothing more black than the (white burial) shrouds" and most famously, "there is nothing more whole than a broken heart." I want to humbly suggest another pithy wisdom - though obviously my suggestions don't rise to the level of the famed and venerated Kotzker Rebbe - There is nothing more whole than a broken matzah.

I don't speak of the literal Matzah, since as time has taught us, once it gets cracked, it can't be made whole again. I speak however, of the broken matzah that represents a sense of wholeness and humility at the same time. For when we recognize that we are broken, that is the greatest stepping stone and catapults a true sense of self-worth and identity.

The broken matzah, is the eternal awareness that this Matzah will never again be a perfect circle (square for some) again and will always need someone else to complete it. It is the intimate realization that without HaShem we are nothing and without our fellow we are lacking. But when we allow Hashem into our lives and recognize the G-dly spirit in another, we are not diminished, in fact we are elevated to become truly whole.

Pesach is our special opportunity to step away from the “leaven of life, representing ego and haughtiness, and grants us the ability to access our higher selves. While we eat “whole bread” all year, it is during these special days of Pesach that we access our innermost vulnerable selves. 

Indeed, there is nothing as whole as recognizing that we are lacking.

With blessings for a Chag Sameach, Rabbi Y. Marrus